Neptune Day

Hello all...

 

Well, Neptune Day was an absolute blast.  I should probably start by saying that I myself didn't get fish gutted or kiss the fish.  Instead, I video taped and took pictures of everyone else.  Nor did I shave my head...But a good handful of girls did.  Some of them can pull off a shaved head pretty well.  I give them credit for having the guts to do it.  Their rationale was on point too...when else are they going to be able to shave their heads and not have any repercussions because of it? 

 

For those of you who don't know what Neptune Day is, it's a celebratory day focused around crossing the equator for the first time.  Thursday night at 20:30, 8:30, we crossed the equator and the Captain sounded one long horn blast.  A good portion of us were all out on the back deck celebrating the crossing, but yesterday the real celebration began.  We had a day off from class which was nice, but being woken up at 7:45 to loud drum beats and what sounded like a flute wasn't so nice...at least at that time.  I have a short video of the procession of crewmembers marching down the hall with funny costumes on, beating their drums, and shouting intangible messages.  What a way to start the morning.

 

A group of us grabbed breakfast shortly after that and then proceeded to the 7th deck where the pool is to watch the festivities.  I had seen past SASers videos of Neptune Day, so I had an idea of what to expect.  It was surreal actually being there for myself though, as I have found myself thinking the past 8 days.  There was a short skit performed by faculty members and we had to recite a passage that allowed us to become Shell Backs after being Pollywogs for the first week of our voyage.  Then, the real fun began...

 

There were four huge blue garbage cans filled with "fish guts", which I think was really a small part fish stock to huge amounts of colored water.  Don't get me wrong, it did smell pretty nasty, but it's not like there were fish intestines floating around in the water.  Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff lined up next to the pool and proceeded to get a pitcher of fish guts poured over their heads.  Then, it was time to jump into the pool to wash off.  Soon, the pool had 20 people at a time in it, and the next step was to climb out and kiss the fish, then a ring, and finally get "dubbed" with a sword.  The whole process took about 10 minutes per person, depending on how many people were in the pool.  By them time the whole thing was over, the pool had a greenish brown tint to it...thankfully, they drained it and it was swimmable again by 11:30.

 

Yesterday was an extremely relaxing day, which consisted of laying out on Deck 5, soaking up the sun for most of the early part of the afternoon.  Good thing I wore sunscreen- other kids decided to brave it and now they look like lobsters.  For one, I don't want skin cancer, and two, I actually want to enjoy my time in Brazil...I don't want to be miserable with second-degree burns.  But any who, I digress.

 

There's still a pretty bad cold going around with flu-like symptoms.  I took every precaution such as frequently washing my hands, using Purell after touching communal surfaces, and staying away from others that are sick, but I still ended up coming down with a bad case of the first virus that's going around.  I hope that I can kick it in the next 36 hours, that way I'm good to go for my 4-day trip to Lencois in Brazil. 

 

Today is the last day of classes until the 12th of September and it may be my last blog update until then as well.  I will try to blog about my first day in Bahia, Brazil before I head to Lencois, but I can't make any promises.  I'll have my journal with me though, so I'll be documenting my trip the old-fashioned way.  Three of my classes require me to keep a journal anyway, so I'm killing 4 birds with one stone by journaling.

 

Just a side note- the food is getting REALLY dull really quick.  It's now about a 5 out of 10.  I'm wondering if we'll have more variety after we leave Brazil because they were able to restock on food, but I have a feeling it will continue to be more of the same...potatoes, pasta, lettuce (not salad), and either a fish or meat.  The one thing that I have enjoyed at every meal was the soup.  It's always been good.

 

I think that is about it on the update end.  I am glad to hear that my blogs have been helpful in that they have painted a picture for many parents whose children decided not to blog or write home often.  I enjoy everyone's comments as well...

 

Bye for now,

Amanda

Thank You...

Hello everyone!
 
I just wanted to send a quick update to let you all know that I really appreciate your comments.  I have my entire blog set up now so that I can post from my free email from SAS and receive all your comments through the same email.  Good thing SAS decided to give us those email addresses; otherwise I could see myself going through those 2 free hours before we get to Brazil! :-)  I have loved all the comments from my family, friends, and even those that I have never met.  I do appreciate them all.  They keep me wanting to write more and more.  The next few days will probably be a repetition of the past few days, so I won't bore you with "filler".  When we get to Brazil on September 7th-11th, I will be heading to Lencois up in the Diamond Highlands, a 6 hour bus ride from the heart of Salvador.  I'm going to "blog" the old fashioned way and write in my journal and then I will transcribe my handwriting on to my real blog.  I'm sure you will see a difference in both the length and the detail after my return back to the ship after Brazil.  I have a tendancy to write more elaborately after something exciting  :-)  Well, I do believe that is it for now...I don't know how many parents of other F08 students are reading my blog, but if you haven't heard from your kids, they're probably innondated with reading, documentary watching, club meetings, napping (a very important past time on the voyage I've learned), or just hanging out with friends.  No news is good news sometimes.  Alright, I'm signing off for now! 

 
-Amanda

Update continuation

It's weird not being home after being home all summer...and it may be even more weird that I'm actually here right now. But it's awesome so far. I've had a wonderful time and I've met friends that I know I'll have for the rest of my life. Currently, I'm sitting on deck 5 aft in the shade from the deck above writing people emails and listening to the sound of the waves and the humming of the engine below. Did you know there's 44,000 horsepower in this ship? That's CRAZY! I would love to see the engine room one day...I wonder if that would be at all possible. I'm starting to get used to the rocking of the ship now, but it's still waking me up in the middle of the night. I keep having dreams about the ship sinking, or it flipping on its side and I shoot up out of bed. I guess that is what some may call a slight case of paranoia. It's neat being able to wake up every morning to the sun shining through our window and being surrounded by nothing but blue sky and blue water. We see the occasional mega barge here and there, and sometimes we pass some unknown island, but other than that, there is nothingness. It truly makes me feel like a speck of sand floating around somewhere in our huge universe.

The only thing I don't like is not being able to know what's going on back home. Yes, we have access to CNN.com and things like that, but I didn't even know that McCain picked his VP OR that she was a woman until two days after the fact. I felt so out of the loop of things. I think that was a pretty ballsy move on his part...I don't know whether I'm for or against it now. This presidential election is definitely going to be one for the record books. I'm glad that I'll be able to vote via absentee ballot for it. Speaking of politics and elections, I think I'm joining the Elections Committee. We're going to be in charge of educating the entire ship on the candidates, their VP's and what their political positions on issues are. I figured the best way to learn what I don't know is to join this club cause they're going to educate us before we educate anyone else.

On that same note, I signed up for Intramural Volleyball, Yoga, the Spirituality and Diversity club, the Health and Wellness club, and I think a few others. We'll see how many I actually will have time for figuring my classes are already more demanding and time consuming than I thought they would be. But hey, this is the best education I'll ever get...it might as well be difficult. I've had all my classes at least once now and I really am interested in them all. I have 2 classes on A days and 2 classes on B days. My first class is at 9:20-10:35 on A days and it's called Religion, Politics and Society. It's one out of a choice of two core courses each student has to take. You have the option of taking both, but I'm fine with taking just the one! I may attend the other one a few times (The Rise of New Great Powers), but I won't enroll in the class. My second class on A days is called Introduction to Anthropology. It's basically what the title says. My professor seems awesome and a little cooky, but hey, she makes the time go fast and her class was entertaining. That one is from 2:20-3:35 on A days as well.

My first of 2 B day classes is at 10:45 and it's called The Psychology of Food and Culture. Again, another awesome class. It's a mix of psychology, sociology, and anthropology that somehow seamlessly blends food and culture together across those disciplines. And finally, my last class on B days is called Race and Ethnicity. It's a sociology class that is going to move at an extremely rapid pace. I haven't taken a sociology class yet in college, so thankfully I took Sociology my senior year of high school and actually paid attention and still remember the basics. My professor, Dr. Scott, is amazing...extremely left in her views (which I noticed a lot of my professors are) so I was afraid that she would teach with that attitude, but she told us from the get go that she leaves her political beliefs outside of the classroom. I wonder why it is that a majority of my professors I've ever had, even at a school like Christopher Newport, are so far left? Maybe I'll be able to sit down with a few of them and discuss it.

The food has been pretty good so far. I'll give it a 7 out of 10 right now. It seems like all we do is eat, go to class, nap, eat, go to class, eat, read/do homework, and sleep. I don't think I'll be able to keep that pattern up for too long without exercising or else I'll pack on a few pounds! My rationale is that I'll get plenty of exercise in the ports we go to...AND that the rocking of the ship makes me use muscles I haven't ever had to use before. Speaking of ports, I'm really looking forward to Brazil. We've been learning so much about their culture and history these past few days in each of my classes that I have a new found enthusiasm to visit Salvador. We learned all about the slave trade from North West Africa to the Bahia area in Brazil today in my Core class. Did you know that 50% of all slaves shipped from Africa ended up in Brazil, 37% ended up in the Caribbean, and only 5% ended up in all of North America? I had no idea...I just assumed that a majority came to the US...see what education does? It kills those assumptions and replaces them with fact. I feel like I'm going to be having quite a few of those "ah hah" moments over the next 3 months when the light bulb just goes off over my head and a little voice inside me goes "DUH". I'll keep you posted on anymore of those.

I wish you could see how blue the water is. It's a blue I've never seen before. Take a beautiful royal blue color and mix it with a splash of aqua and that's the color of the ocean that I'm surrounded by. The waves haven't been too big, but the ship still likes to rock a bit. Two nights ago the waves were bigger than normal and a ton of people were getting sea sick. There was a point when you could jump up at the peak of the ship listing to one side and defy gravity for a few seconds longer than normal as it listed to the other side. How much fun does that sound? Good thing I don't get sea sick! Well, I think that's all of the update that I can give right now. All the people I've met so far have been wonderful and I've found the core group of friends that I'll be doing a majority of my activities with. I'll keep you posted on any new happenings over the next few days.

Love you,
Amanda

First Official Update

August 30, 2008

Has it really only been 90 hours since my plane took off from Newark airport? These past three and a half days have been some of the longest days of my life, but I haven't not had a smile on my face the whole time. Even yesterday morning while I was boarding the ship and had sweat in places I never knew could sweat, I was happy. I feel more peaceful than I've felt in a long time. I belong here. My life as I knew it ended on August 27th at 4:30 in the morning when I woke up. In that minute when my eyes opened to my alarm to when my feet touched my ground, the transformation of my pre-Semester at Sea life was coming to a close and my post-Semester at Sea life was just beginning.

Thoughts and emotions, pertaining to Semester at Sea, have been bouncing off the inside of my skull now for three and a half days. We had a group exercise in the Union today (our large meeting room that holds 400 and a few satellite rooms hold the other 275) that let us write three feelings that we were experiencing at that moment down on a piece of paper. It took me a few moments to come up with the words I wanted to choose and I chose elated, excited, and peaceful. I could have written so many more down on that piece of paper, but I do think those three encompass what I'm feeling right now very well. I'm elated to be here, and it's been an absolutely exhillerating experience thus far. I've met people who will one day be at my wedding, who will one day be travelling across the world for a Semester at Sea alumni trip, and who will be just a phone call away when I need to "get away from it all". These are the people who will understand the emotions I am and will be experiencing. They're not only going to be good friends, but they will be my support, as I will be theirs.

Right now, I am sitting in my bed (which is pretty comfortable might I add) trying to type quietly cause my roommate is sleeping already because of sea sickness. I am so fortunate that I haven't experienced a single sea sick feeling. I do have a slight headache, but I'm attributing that to a brain overload. Plus I'm probably more tired than I feel. Last night was my first night here on the ship and I slept like a baby. It's amazing how easily the rocking of the ship can put me to sleep. I think a majority of the people feel that way right now figuring people could hardly keep their eyes awake in some of our introductory meetings the past two days. I guess the rocking of the ship and Dramamine has that effect.

During a meeting yesterday, we had a faculty member speak about the experience of Semester at Sea and the effects that it will have on us. He said that the two main things we have to remember while on this voyage is to be empathetic and flexible. Empathy comes into play for the fact that we will be immersed in cultures different from our own for the next 100 days. We need to have the ability to put ourselves in the natives' shoes in order to garner the most from this trip. But we also must be flexible. Living on a ship with 675 students, 65 faculty and staff, and 200 crew members can become pretty interesting pretty quick. So far, it doesn't seem like we're breathing down each others necks but I know it'll probably happen sooner than later. When that happens, we all need to be willing to be flexible. It's impossible to make 1000 people happy on a ship 100% of the time, but I hope we all can come as close to that mark as possible.

All our orientation meetings finished tonight at 9:45 and classes start tomorrow. My schedule is as follows: A days- 9:20-10:35- Religion, Politics, and Society; 2:20-3:45- Introduction to Anthropology. B days- 10:45-12:00- Psychology of Food and Culture; 2:20-3:45- Race and Ethnicity. I already have about 6 readings I need to finish for both of those days totaling somewhere around 75 pages of reading. This may become more academically rigorous than I was prepared for. I'm not worried much about it though because I enjoy reading and even more so when it's about topics that I'm interested in. Plus I'm excited to learn as much as I can while here. I'll only experience this type of learning environment once in my life and I have every intent of taking full advantage of the situation.

The next few days will be tough but fun. We have class both days, but we also have an Activities Fair tomorrow and there are a few clubs that have caught my attention already like Yoga, Volleyball, and a Multicultural Student Association. I'm happy that I won't have to have a job this semester because I can devote more time than usual to "on campus" activities. I'm never going to want to return to real life after the next 3 and a half months.

Well, I think I'm going to call it a night now...I have to be up early in the morning for breakfast and then class at 9:20. Just a side note, the food has been awesome so far! I'm expecting the monotony to set in a few days from now, but so far I've enjoyed everything I've eaten. I'll keep you all updated every few days or as often as I can. I hope all is well back home!

Amanda- writing from somewhere off the coast of Puerto Rico...