At Sea.

This post was written over the course of 3 days. If it sounds choppy, I'm sorry, but I'm trying to keep it unedited and pretty stream of consciousness-esque!

Days 3-5 At Sea.

Wow, it seems like ages since I last posted. Days seem like weeks on this ship, in a good way! Since there is no TV or really much internet, all we have is each other. The long winded conversations over dinner are amazing times for us students as the topics just seem to flow, from what we are planning for Morocco (Marrakesh!) to our friends and family at home.

Yesterday I had my first Digital Arts class. It seems like it will be a really interesting. So far we have to make a self-portrait portfolio. I have added pictures of my family, sushi, my cards and even some funky designs. I have never taken a formal art class, despite my years of scrapbooking, rubberstamping, pottery etc… So I am both nervous and excited for what will come next!

After that I returned to my room for a 30 minute nap. Cat naps are a must on the ship as we are constantly loosing hours. I woke up when Brittany got back from her class and we headed down to the Field Office. The Field Office is a wonderful place because they are the people who help you plan independent trips. They are informed and can tell you how feasible or safe your plans are. We are planning a morocco trip and we were looking for some help and they certainly came through!

Then we headed to the lower dining room to have some dinner. The food on the ship is sort of touch and go. Some things are super yummy (they’ve had some great veggie medleys as well as some rice mixes), while others are just stale (the bread for PB&J).

Next, we headed upstairs to the wellness center to sign up for the gym. They put a new list out every night at 7pm and everyone is limited to a half hour shift. I signed up for the elliptical.

That night was also the activities fair, I signed up for an extended family (where one of the Lifelong Learners ‘adopts’ you) as well as some miscellaneous clubs.

We spent the night (or what you could call a night since 23 hour days mandate early bedtimes) playing catchphrase and laughing. The bonds on this ship are definitely tight.

The next day was my first B day. The ship runs on A and B days so we quickly loose sight of Mondays or Fridays, it’s kind of bizarre but also part of the charm.

On B days I have Global Studies, Intro to Art and Military Force. The Intro to Art guy is really fun, very Mr. Beverley in his tangential stories. The textbook seems interesting and I already have 40 pages due the next day we meet. Military Force seems pretty intense, but the teacher is great so I think I’ll like it.

Ok, I’ll write more later. This ship is seriously SO busy. As I write this I am staring at the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. One of my professors was telling us how the water really changes as we progress and it is SO true. The water right now is a rich blue and calm (for the first time the whole trip-actually). I am off to Shabbat Dinner (yep, they do those  ).

Ok, well before I managed to post this I went to the Shabbat Dinner. Kudos to SAS for making us Challah! There were at least 60 people in the room-pretty amazing. We lit Shabbat Lights and sang songs, it was pretty impressive! To think, we're half way across the Atlantic and celebrating shabbat!


Happy Sailing!
Elyssa