Embarkation

Embarkation
               
        They released the tethers at almost exactly1700 hours, as you can imagine students were pressed against the side rails and a large cheer rose as the Captain sounded the horn. Most of the students had only been on board for a few hours and were still introducing themselves  to the person next to them while waving their parents goodbye.
              
The Voyage so far

        For the first leg of the Voyage, the MV Explorer has been a social experiment. That are almost 500 hundred college kids
placed in this strange environment where almost no one knows one another. Sure there has been some communication through facebook or a few students who boarded together, but for the vast majority it is a clean slate. There are students from Poland, Kenya, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Venezuela, Canada and about 40 of the 50 states represented on this Voyage. To top that off, there is a crew of almost 70 "Lifelong Learners" and around 30 faculty and their families aboard.  aboard. My first few days were a blur of interactions and orientation.
      
Speaking of orientation, the first two days were filled with it:
      
Life Boat Drills
Floor (Sea) Meetings
Welcome speeches
Safety Lectures
Academic Honesty Lecture
Medical Lectures
Independent Traveling  lectures
              
       You name it, we  heard it, and by the end of the day it was painful. Not because of the content (though that helped) it was mostly that fact that all of us were sitting silently in a room for hours upon hours taking in bit after bit of information when there were still so many introductions to be made. I was stopped many a time in the hall by other students who just wanted to talk to someone they hadn't met. The excitement of embarkation had not worn off in the least and was still buzzing throughout the ship.
               
The Ship
              
         The ship is beautiful! I'd imagine it will become our giant White and blue 25000 ton safety blanket while in other ports of call. My room is in almost the exact center of the ship as I am staying in an inside room on the middle deck towards the center of the deck lengthwise. My room consists of two twin beds, a small tv and refrigerator, desk, storage and a bathroom.
              
        Around the ship there is a gym, pool, spa, pool, library, and computer lab aboard, none of which I have had the opportunity to use. What I have made extremely good use of is the ping pong table. Building on the note I made earlier about the unique social environment here; I witnessed a doubles match consisting of the ships Photographer and the Director of the South African Cape Town Opera/Drama Teacher vs. two fellow students.
              
The Classes
              
         The classes are easily one of the most exciting aspects of this voyage to me. This is the first time in my academic career I have had the option of choosing whichever class interested me with no regard to major requirements. This freedom has left me with an academically confused schedule to say the least:
              
Global Studies (Required for all students)
U.S. Ethics and Foreign Policy
Academic Writing Workshop
The Business of Food
Marine Biology
              
        In addition to primo courses I was able to get, the quality of the professors leading them is incredible. Just take a moment to think about what they are getting in return for their services and you start to see how SAS (Semester at Sea) was able attract such good professors. Each has had extensive international experience as a prerequisite, with mine alone hailing from  Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell with  multiple Fulbright scholars and at least a dozen books published between them.