(i found that i hate blogging. im going to upload a picture for the time being) sorry mom and dad

Strait of Gibraltar

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Ship life runs together from day to day. I cant seem to get enough sleep with the rocking of the boat cradling me in my bed. I cant seem to get enough to eat. Seriously. With each hour comes hunger eventhough I eat 3 meals a day plus snacks. I cant seem to get anyones names right. With 700 students.. cut me some slack… I cant seem to get up early enough to claim a pool chair.. girls are like madwomen claiming them at 9 am.
Aside from that, life is good. My classes engage my interest each day. The entire student body takes a Global Studies class from 9am-10:30, where we learn about the history of the countries we will embark… I eat lunch at 11:30 and soon after I indulge myself in the sun doing homework or reading for class… I have drawing II at 2:55 and History of an American Musical (with Barrett) at 4:15.  In theatre we finished West Side Story and clips from La Bohéme and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. We also read a strange short story called Maria de Prazeres… Anyway, I eat dinner with a usual crowd at 5:30 and then meander around the ship. Sometimes going to seminars, working out (cough. cough) or just playing card games with randoms people. At night we usually go to the top pool deck to hang out with everyone. They play music and you can get wine… if you want to pay $3.50 for a splash.
        BUT TODAY WAS AN UNORDINARY DAY!! We crossed through the Strait of Gibraltar. The front of the ship was bombarded with students taking pictures and gawking at the inscriptions in the African hillside. Our Global Studies class told us it meant.. welcome buuuut don’t mess with us (not in literal translation). I also got to see WHALES. At about 1800 (yes im cool enough now to write in ship time), they made an announcement so I flew to the port side and there they were… as we stared out into the Mediterranean I could see just tales flipping and the fountains of water blow holes. A girl beside me started singing (Kaitlin this made me think of you) “Hold me.. like the river Jordan”, by Michael Jackson. I thought it was pretty appropriate.
        I will finally be on land in Spain on Thursday. I am extremely excited to revisit such a beautiful city. I have made friends with girls who plan. Yes dad, I actually found friends who made up an entire itinerary for Barcelona. This would be extremely unlikely for my roommates of Bonnie (house @ UK… I miss you all). With the help of “dos and donts” of Barcelona, we have made a list for each day… seeing La Familia Segrada… Gaudi’s other structures… flamenco dancing.. La Rambla.. etc. I feel as if I left Canada two years ago.. yet we still have not made it to one country!
        To end this blog I would like to give a few shoutouts. 1. To Mamma G (barretts mother) for all of the snacks you stuffed into her monstrous suitcases. 2. Megan Reynolds hilarious emails. 3. The intercom man on our boat giving dumb questions of the day “Is lobster expensive because its extinct?” 4.  Obviously my parents.. mother email me back! 5. STEPHANIE SHACKLETTE IS 21 TOMORROW!

friends

three travelers

drugs

A warning to all

June 18,
Barrett and I already missed the second day of global studies… no big deal. I don’t have much to say for today. We had a hall party. I met the deans wife.. and get ready for her name. she told us to call her. MF (short for mary francis) and last name Hoe. Yes, her name is M.F.Hoh… that made my night. I watched the 1st half of west side story and in art class we just did contour drawings of our shoes. I read for class outside on the pool deck with a bunch of girls… we all got farmers tans. Barrett and I also proved the rumor to be correct that on the back of the large picture hung in your room there were past SAS people who wrote tips. Things I cannot share. This email though is solely to warn everyone that you should NEVER wear an entire sea sick patch. These past days I have been wondering why my vision is a bit blurry... I looked closely at myself in the mirror tonight and my pupils were HUGE like druggie huge. Since I had no idea, im probably that girl who has been walking around with extremely creepy eyes. I went to the nurse freaking out bc they are not affected by the light and she told me to cut the patches in half. Im an idiot.

The world is a book. If you don’t travel you only read one page.

AHHHH!!! Hello everyone. This is my third day on the ship (we were told to not call it a boat) and I have a plethora of things to say.
        I got into Halifax, Nova Scotia this past Sunday with Barrett and Abbie. Almost our entire plane was filled with college students traveling to Semester at Sea. I met the boy who stole my librarian job that I applied for, his name was Alex and he has a huge head of curly black hair. We took a taxi from the airport and to our hotel and explored the city for the rest of the day and ate at a pub named “Your Father’s Mustache.” On Monday we woke up and Barrett put her hair in the hands of a hotel salon and came back a platinum blonde. When the window opened that morning, our room had a full view of our ship. This created mad excitement.  We walked around and shopped at a lot of their consignment stores, ate at McDonalds (yes Barrett wants to eat McDonalds at every country). Halifax reminded me of San Francisco with its slanted streets and unpredictable weather. In the sun you sweat, in the shade your chilly. That night we went to dinner with 6 UVA girls and went to bar called Argile, a fellow student had rented it out for the semester at sea kids to congregate. We then all migrated to a bar called cheers where Barrett abide and I sang karaoke with the uva girls. Celine Dion “its all coming back to me” I already labeled myself as one of the girls who was the first SAS person to get on stage.
        On June 15, as we lugged our bags, we stood in a 2 hour line to aboard the ship. Barrett soon became “that girl” who had two HUMONGOUS bags that she could barely pull through the line and so a girls father had to help her out. Finally after much anticipation, we walked up 52 stairs and reached the entrance to the MV Explorer.
        The first few days were a blast of overwhelming amazingly fantastic moments, (except for everyone being sea sick.. and walking around the ship trying not to fall over) I met a bunch of new and interesting people. It was as if we are all freshman again. People long to meet one another. Every meal is spent with different students or even faculty. Even our room is like a dorm. We have a good amount of storage space along with our own bathroom. There are two dining halls and a pool deck and a bar (where you can purchase glasses of wine that look like a Barbie could drink from them) The faculty exudes enthusiasm for this voyage. My theatre teacher, Mr. Gillespie, and drawing teacher, Mrs. Campbell, seem to care about our learning experience throughout the voyage rather than forcing our education down our throats. I am extremely excited for my theatre class, we are analyzing West Side Story tomorrow. I also signed up to be in an “extended family” where you are pretty much adopted by the life long learners and faculty. You have a chance to go to their cabin and eat dinner with them and their family or travel with them on port. The ages on this voyage range from 1 ½ to 90.
        Tonight was the first night of serving wine and beer, and although we are limited to a 3 itty bitty glasses… there were multitudes of people on the pool deck. I felt like I was at a college mixer. But meeting new people each day is an adventure on its own. There are so many people from across the u.s and world. All states are represented in the USA except for one, which the dean failed to share with us. Tomorrow we are supposed to have even higher swells than we did today, which was 10 footers. Hopefully our entire room doesn’t go to shambles.
        I miss all of you all, but am having a great time. Write me at cmkosse@semesteratsea.net…

Finally

The last few days have finally come into view as I complete my last purchases and pack my bags for departure. I will be flying out of Louisville at 6:30 am on Sunday to arrive in Halifax, Nova Scotia late afternoon. I will be staying there for two nights before I board the ship at 9am, June 15th. Words can not describe how anxious I feel.

But this post is intended to not only describe my leave, but to gather information from family and friends. PLEASE facebook me with your email addresses because I will have very little contact during my trip due to limited internet minutes while on the ship. I do, however, have an email address when I aboard... cmkosse@semesteratsea.net. Feel free to email me with updates from your lives.

I will be updating this blog as I visit each country and will attempt to add photographs. Kaitlin has seriously asked for me to bring a cardboard cut-out of her head to take pictures of infront of the Egyptian pyramids.. Colosseum.. the grand bazaar.. etc. sooooo we'll see.

I cant believe I have been blessed with this opportunity. I will miss everyone... and will bring home gifts (including the rug requested by nancy).