What happens when I have some free time

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  The Mediterranean Sea, Algeria
Saturday, September 8, 2007

             Well now I am happy to report that I am writing in real time and not past tense, except for the fact that I am not currently on the internet. Since tonight it is only 20:00 and not after midnight, I might just take this opportunity to expound for a moment on the general functioning and energy of this voyage and the wonderful contacts I have already had the pleasure of making. Without all the formal phrasing I should hope, but it was fun while it lasted. :D
             We finally got our class schedules today, and we will have Blue days and Green days, with two classes each day. My classes are organized so that I will have one each morning, 8:30 on Green days and 10:20 on Blue days, and one each afternoon at 2:30. My classes all still sound fun, and so far textbooks are still available in the library. I almost feel guilty for the opportunity this presents for saving money; everyone else has apparently spent a great deal of money for books I didn't buy. But not guilty enough to buy the books; let's be perfectly clear...
             We'll have two days of classes and then one more day of orientation, and then I think the schedule will start to form some sort of normalcy and order. At least in the amount that it can, since we don't really have a structured class week because of the port schedule and such. We will have a day of port prep before and a day of debriefing after each port experience to help integrate the ports into our classes and studies. Everyone will be doing the first Academic Field Program in Portugal; after that my programs are Australia and Shanghai. Ecuador, which was my favorite and first choice, is no longer available to Art and Culture Learning Circle members because not enough students signed up for it. Apparently there are only 8 students in the Art and Culture Learning Circle including myself, a number I find both a blessing and a bit of a curse because of missed opportunities like the Ecuador AFP. The good news is I will know all of those students very well.
             I'm not sure about the Australia AFP though; I was hoping for some independent travel there, especially since the AFP doesn't include a visit to the Opera House and I'd like to see a show there. Unfortunately the only way to switch is to find another student in the same Learning Circle that wants to do a direct trade, and that won't be easy with only 7 other students.
             There actually only ended up being about 200 students; I guess about 100 couldn't get visas and another 100 couldn't scrape together the funds. I am feeling more and more blessed to be here every day. I have met so many wonderful people and already this place is starting to feel like home. I'm even enjoying getting rocked to sleep every night, as long as I get enough air and wind during the day. Sometimes it's hard being down in the hull or shut in a room with a bunch of people watching the water go up and down outside; I get the same kind of swoozy I feel sometimes in the car, not really sick but just a little...bleh. I spend as much time as I can on the deck in the wind.
             At first I was starting to think there would be a problem with the wardrobe I had packed - Athens was so hot not only could I only wear tank tops and shorts but I sweated everything out past the point of being able to wear it again. But on the ship the wind blows almost all the time and mornings and evenings are especially cool and breezy. I'm feeling blessed for my flannels and long sleeve T-shirts, especially when I'm with Lucía, who brought nothing but light clothing and tank tops and is used to equatorial weather patterns. She's a tiny little thing, though, and none of my stuff would fit her. She's also short a bag, still, that is lost in some airport and might be shipped to Lisbon but might not. Alaine is missing one too, and at least two other girls are without all or part of their luggage. Yet another reason I am thanking my stars.
             I met a girl today who is putting together a theatre program "on campus," writing her thesis on a project involving getting many people together from different cultures and collectively writing a script. When I told her about my musical background and my interest in mime and dance, she got really excited and said I was just what she was looking for. I'm really looking forward to some interesting theatre happening!
             I'm not really sure what else there is to say. I won't be able to post as often as I'd originally hoped, since the internet is so expensive and so slow on top of that. I used half an hour of my allotted 4 hours this morning posting the latest four entries, so what I think I will do is let them build up a little, like that, and post every few days instead of every day. I'm hoping to still journal every day - having someone else's interest is helping me get it all down. If it was just me I wouldn't be able to keep it up, as evidenced by my half-written journal from BC two summers ago. So I'll try to write every day, even if I can't post but every 4 or 5. It'll be harder to journal in ports but easier to post. Oy. I will post as often as I can, and hopefully have entries for every day if I can and if it continues to be interesting (a given, right?), and will plan to post lots of pictures every time I get to a port, maybe even twice, on day 1 and day 7 of each 7-day stay on land. That will all just depend on what else there is to do there and what is available as far as internet cafés, I assume.
             Thank you all so much for you interest and support and for your patience. I love you all!!!

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