The first two days

Hello All,

 

These first two days have been pretty hectic, but I'll give you a rundown of what we have done.

 

On Sunday I left San Diego on a shuttle ride to Ensenada, Mexico at about 9 am. We were stuck at the Mexican border for probably about an hour but had no idea what for. They never came on and checked our passports or anything. After we got into Mexico we had about a 2 hour drive which was interesting. This portion of Mexico had beautiful landscape, our drive was within 500 yards of the coast the whole time and dipped in and out of valleys and rock formations. Despite the views it was clearly very poor, with over 50% of the houses seemingly abandoned during construction or lived in unfinished. We finally arrived in Ensenada and pulled right up to the ship. On the way we passed a number of legit looking Mexican restaurants which we were unfortunately not allowed to go out and try. Our ship was docked right next to the "Carnival Elation" which was probably 4 times the size, but nonetheless everyone was happy to see our new home. After passing security we boarded the ship and filled out some paperwork before heading to check out rooms. Mine is a "Quad" by their old system (It's just called economy now), which means there are 4 of us in 2 conjoining rooms sharing a bathroom. I was fortunate enough to get a bed in the room with a window which is fantastic. We are in the room right next to the engine room literally. It didn't bother any of us though, probably because we were so tired. I can sleep through anything as well, so the extra noise probably helped. So did the rocking boat. Everyone on the ship has been great so far. Most people here know no one and are open and eager to meet new people.

 

After two meals(the food is great, might get repetitive, but a definite plus so far) and unpacking the ship departed at roughly 7 pm and everyone was on the deck and excited to see the voyage takeoff. We then went to an orientation meeting which lasted a while. By the end of it probably two thirds of us were seasick. I went and picked up some free medicine they have and felt better. The ship rocks a lot more than I figured it would, but i'll get used to it.

 

Overall the ship is fantastic. It is still in great condition and could pass for a legitimate cruise ship if not for the 600 college kids on board. The staff is all nice and helpful. The consensus was that we almost felt bad when they came and took our plates and constantly refilled our drinks. No one really expected to be waited on. Our cabin steward apparently makes our beds and cleans our rooms everyday as well. That will be nice.

 

Today, the 18th, we have sat in orientation meetings all day. They are incredibly dry but I assume necessary for liability reasons. The consensus seems to be "Don't be an idiot" but it unfortunately takes 7 hours of meetings to tell us that. Only one meeting left, the activity fair, and that is one I'm actually looking forward to.

 

Tomorrow starts classes and such. I'll give a rundown of what I'm taking and how I think it's going to go after a couple of days in. I also have some awesome travel quotes I'll try and include with my entries, but I left the sheet in my room.

 

Anyways if anyone wants to contact me, I have free email here on the ship at Tdmalinowsky@semesteratsea.net

 

Thanks for reading and I apologize if this is lengthy. It might always be that way, there is a lot going on this semester, but I'll do my best to be concise.

 

Thomas