I'm on a Boat

Whoa. These past 3 days have been a whirlwind!

Tuesday, we woke up at 6am (Halifax time – in Austin, it was actually 4am), had a wonderful breakfast at our Halifax Hilton Inn, ordered a cab, loaded all 10 of our bags in, much to the dismay of our cab whose battery died the second we all buckled in. Good thing the Hilton airport shuttle was near because he jumpstarted our car! I embarked on the MV Explorer at 8am and was at the pendodontist (root canal specialist) by 9. Turns out, I didn’t have a root canal at all – I have been clenching my teeth at night (grrrreat news). Then, Caroline, Hayley, Adelaide, Lauren and myself lunched on LOTS of crab and lobster at a restaurant on the waterfront, followed by a trip to Sears to buy some last minute necessities. (Line of the Day: “Like, in America, we have WAL-MART” – Adelaide to our Canadian waitress inquiring where to buy a pillow and explaining how we do things in the ole US of A). We boarded the ship and departed from Pier 20 at 1700 (5pm) and then ate a dinner of salad (which included lettuce and cucumbers) and some wedge potatoes with ketchup. I met my roomies: Wan Wang (from Singapore via UC Berkeley) and Morgan Ganoe (from UVA). We had a meeting with our discussion groups for our required reading ‘Identity and Crisis’ which approx. 7% of the ship actually read. After an eventful day, I took some Meclizine, watched ‘Twilight’ with Hayley and Carol and hit the hay.

Yesterday, we orientated ALL day, and it was extremely uneventful. We met the faculty, staff and crew, watched a bit of an anti-drinking PSA called ‘Haze,’ set up our emails, internet AND intranet, etc. etc. ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets’ played on a loop on the TVs all night.

We set the clocks back another hour and woke up this morning for the first day of class! Global Studies was interesting/relevant and we began our exploration of the history of the Mediterranean. We analyzed the inaccuracy of some scenes and quotes from ‘300.’ Then I had Global Music where we listened to some Tuvan throat singing (namely Orban’s “Back Tuva Future” recording). After the first 2 classes, Caroline, Hayley, Camille (an old pal from NOLA), Isabel (Camille’s friend from UVA), Remy (Camille’s SAS roommate), and myself laid out by the pool and did some reading for our classes. It was pretty warm, but very windy so it was perfect laying out weather – we didn’t sweat a bit (which is a remarkable accomplishment for me)! We watched the pool fill up with crystal clear ocean water. It was crazy! Then I had Geology, where we reviewed the basics of mantle/crust/tectonic plates. I’m about to shower then get ready for our very first PUB NIGHT!!! Check back tomorrow. Oh, and I tried to upload a picture from my cabin, but it's not working :-(