So since I last posted something here classes have started and we have traveled probably 1200 miles at sea. We are more than halfway to Hawaii, but they have slowed the ship down to almost half its speed, but more on that in a bit.
So classes. I'll give a rundown of the four I'm taking and my opinions thus far.
Anthropology of Stuff: This is a class that talks about how different cultures value objects and commodities differently. The professor is very interesting, and seems to be a genuinely nice guy. He made the effort to learn every one of our names before we had ever seen him. I think the subject matter will be interesting, but it has the makings of a class that will turn out to be way more difficult than originally anticipated (U.Va has like 10 million of those). The worst part is that it's at 8 am.
Global Studies: Everyone on the ship takes this class. It's a way to give a broad history and overview of the countries we are visiting as well as integrate the voyage's theme, sustainability. The main professor is old and eccentric but everyone loves him. Judging by the first 3 days of class, it will be a pretty interesting one. Mr. White, a teacher I've had at U.Va for two other classes, also pipes in, so it is nice to hear a familiar voice.
International Business: The professor is a nice, soft spoken woman with a sharp British accent. The classroom is in the area of the ship that rocks the most, which will be a challenge, but the subject matter is familiar and should be interesting.
Small Group and Team Communications: While I'm not sure what we will be talking about in the actual class sessions, I know I will enjoy this class. It has a focus on the dynamics of working in groups, which is extremely applicable, and as one of the main deliverables we have to plan and execute a service project in one of the countries we are visiting. At this point I'm leaning toward helping with a Habitat for Humanity build in Ghana.
We have "A" days and "B" days everyday at sea, and so we are in any given class every other day. (Exception of global studies which is daily) We have no weekends, but plenty of non class days due to all of the ports where we don't have any scheduled classes.
The community on the ship continues to be a good one. People are still meeting new faces all the time. I've made it a point to sit down and join a random group of people every meal that is possible. Plenty of others do the same and I hope it doesn't stop.
The biggest challenge has been finding ways to occupy time. We are all coming from home with access to phones, tv, internet, jobs, movies, sports, bowling, etc, and it has all pretty much disappeared. So in these first few days of little to no homework, and only 12 hours of class, there is a ton of free time. They have the occasional seminar, and there are various groups of people that get together and play games randomly in one of the lounges, but there still remains a lot of free time. I'm sure that once some clubs and homework get into full gear, not to mention planning for ports, and once everyone is more familiar with each other and able to spend more time just talking, time will fly by.
Finally the boat speed. So the first couple of days we were going 19-22 knots, which is something like 35-40 mph I think, don't quote me on that. I believe we were doing it to avoid the mother of all storms that hit San Diego this week, but once we were away from that system we were apparently ahead of schedule and the boat slowed down A TON. We are now going along at about 10-11 knots, meaning 18-20 mph. The two theories are that they need to squeeze more time for classes and arrive at the port at the scheduled time, and that the boat doesn't have enough fuel so they are making it last. Let's hope it's the class one :)
Anyways, because we are going so slow, the waves are effecting the boat a lot. We are rocking enough that when you look straight out of the window it goes from only being able to see ocean, all the way to only being able to see the sky. It's quite a ride. It makes sleeping and classes an adventure because things fly off our shelves and our drawers fly open constantly.
Anyways that turned out longer than I thought it would be again, but that's alright, there's a lot to talk about. If you have any questions or want to keep in touch please drop me an email at tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net . It has been AWESOME hearing from everyone so far, I really appreciate it.
I see my path, but I don't know where it leads.
Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.
-Rosalia de Castro
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