At Sea

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  San Juan, Puerto Rico
Tuesday, January 24, 2006

January 22, 2006

Time: 23:00 hour

Place: On the MV EXPLORER

I have been at sea now since Thursday. So let me just say a word about seasickness. It is not a good time. I have been sick everyday and felt like my head has been in the clouds. Yet in spite of feeling terrible the ship is amazing. I am on the fourth floor and live in the Arabian Sea, as the call it. My roommate is from L.A. she is very nice and we get along really well. I have gone to all of my classes now, Global Studies, Introduction to Africa, History of the Global South and Minority Groups. I like my classes but there seems as if there will be a lot of work involved in all of them. For my classes I have to attend FDP's which are Faculty directed Programs, in which the professor's lead the field trips with I am looking forward to. I also have had to sign up for my trips for the countries coming up and that is very exciting to have to look forward to. We have been learning a lot of Puerto Rico the historical information and information on the geography of the island. We also have been focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean. I didn't know much about this area except for it's location on the map so it had been good to learn before we dock tomorrow in San Juan. We dock in San Juan at 8 am and then have to go to a diplomat meeting in the morning, after that I am going to tour Old Town. Tomorrow night we are planning on going Dancing. Tuesday I am going on a Bio-Luminescent adventure, and on Wednesday I am going caving. I am sure they will all be great adventures. The ship is beautiful the stairwells are glass and are light up with great quotes, my room is very nice. Classes are challenging with all the rocking and seasickness. It feels as if there has been a cloud over my brain and I can't retain any new information because of the rocking of the sea. Today has been especially bad with the waves. The seasickness has improved I think I am finally working on achieving my sea legs but the rough waters today is quite the test. The Captain put an advisory out today for us since the waters are so rough, and the elevators and some of the decks were closed off. As I am writing tonight the waters are tossing things about and slamming drawers open and shut. There is this consistent creaking noise throughout the ship of the interior walls and furniture adjusting to the movement and back again. When the ship hits hard enough there is this rumbling from other vast waves hitting at the same time and the whole ship shakes for a few moments. My roommate Jamie and I just shared a laugh over this profound rattle of the cabin, because it was so strong it was unnerving and we gave each other this look of you felt that too right... Ship life is very different from what I am used to. Everything moves and anything could fall at anytime. I have realized through all this that I don't think I will ever go on a cruise. It just would take most the vacation to get my sea legs and it is not a fun process to go through.

I haven't met many people yet, it is hard and being sick hasn't helped. I want to spend most of my free time sleeping I don't know whether this is due to the medicine I have been taking or not. I hope though that in time I will meet some new friends. I am trying to switch some of my classes because I want to take this environmental politics class over History of Africa, since I don't want two history classes at once. Add/drop days are after we leave San Juan. We had a pre-port meeting tonight learning about the dangers and street facts of San Juan. It has been really nice to get background historical and native advice about San Juan. I didn't realize the murder rate in Puerto Rico was 3x that of New York City! San Juan is known as "La Ciudad Amurallada" or the walled city. Just a key random facts about where I will wake up to in the morning. Tomorrow we will arrive at 7:30 in the morning and then there will be a pilot boat will meet us and someone from the pilot boat will jump onboard and put up the Puerto Rico Flag. Then customs will come abroad and they will come with drug dogs room to room and then we have to each individually talk with customs in the staff room. At the same time at 8:30 we are having a Diplomatic Briefing. Once we can finally get through customs and go aboard we are free to roam the streets of Old San Juan. Our boat is ported one mile from Downtown so we have to catch a bus to the city. I also found out that I get cell phone service! Which is great but the problem is that I don't have my cell charger and so I can't do much with it! Oh well I will try and find a internet café and post and check my email. No internet has been let's just say different. You don't realize what a huge part it plays in your life until it's not readily available. I am missing many people at home and I am already looking forward to the summer and working for camp. I am also excited about the future of this semester of not being seasick, the trips I am signing up for and the people I meet and the experiences I will have. I should go to bed so I can wake up in Puerto Rico!!! Tonight I am falling asleep to a rocky ship and crashing waves with dreams of Puerto Rico..... and of course dreams of you.......