I checked into my room on the ship very early and got my entire luggage and was completely settled by 11:00am. I�m happy to report that we got one of the largest rooms on the ship. I have an outside triple with a desk and a couch. My roommates are very cool and we get along extremely well. They are both interesting guys, Will is from New York and goes to school in Chicago. His grandpa use to own the Atlanta Braves and sold most of his shares to Ted Turner a few years ago. My other roommate is Pat and he�s also from New York. We didn�t do much the first day except settle in and meet other people. Life on the ship is excellent. They tell you it�s not a cruise but that�s what it feels like. Food on the ship is much better than cafeteria food or anything I could make. The staff mainly consists of Philippino men who have been working here for years to support their family back home. I feel rather uncomfortable with the situation where they clean our rooms, change our sheets, make our beds, and do our laundry. They also take our trays; plates and silverware after were done eating. It makes me feel like we�re the rich white kids and they are the oppressed servants.
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I haven't taken pictures of my room yet but I promise I will. My room is actually maybe a little bit larger than some of the other triples. We have two beds on the floor and one bunked and we have a couch! Although our bathroom is kind of small but we only use it to go to the bathroom and to shower. The main deck and promenade deck have square windows, I live on the upper deck which is
below the main deck so I have a porthole.
I no longer have seasickness, I think when I threw up the first time it was because of food poisoning but I'm not sure. I did take the Meclizine pills but they knock you out. At our medical center here they give out free Meclizine pills.
Things are good on the ship. I love my classes. Core starts at 9:20 in the morning and by the time lecture is done half the class has fallen asleep. The other day our Dean fell asleep. It's hard having morning classes because the ship rocks from side to side and it puts you to sleep, everyone is experiencing fatigue and I mean everyone. On top of that we've gone through two time changes
in the past week. Me and my roommates take a nap at least once a day.
We had a quick meeting about the Challenger with a moment of silence and that was it. It's kind of hard to be emotional about it because we have no television, in fact we didn't hear about it until the afternoon. How is it like there?
p.s. In three days I'll be in Brazil, are you jealous?
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Life on the ship has been very relaxing and quite pleasurable. We had a ten-day stretch between Cuba and Brazil. We don't have any weekends so there's class every single day. When we're at sea for more than ten days they do give us a day off. For our day off we celebrated Neptune Day. Neptune Day is a celebration for all those crossing the Equator for the first time.
The festivities started in the morning (which you know isn't my best time of the day) and everyone starts off wearing their swimming suit. We formed a huge line and got fish guts and oatmeal poured on top of us. Then we got hosed off in the swimming pool and as we exited the swimming pool we had to kiss a fish. After that, we bowed down to King Neptune (a staff member dressed
in white robes and a tin foil crown) and got knighted. It is also a tradition to shave your head after crossing the Equator for the first time. I know that you're thinking, that I didn't have the guts to do it but I did. It's the first time I've ever had my hair this short. I was kind of afraid because I didn't
know what my head looked like. I have to say though that I've been getting a lot of compliments and have been told that I have a nice symmetrical head. The waves going from Cuba to Brazil are the largest so near the end I couldn't wait to get off the ship. On top of that, the food really sucks at the end of each voyage because they are running out of fresh food. One meal they used left over sausage from lunch and combined with a meat dish from dinner. That dish consisted of pork, chicken, and beef. I love meat just not all mixed together like that. It's been extremely hot and temperatures have been in the 90's. With the heat air conditioning is a necessity, but of course as our luck would have
it the boiler broke and for the whole week the air conditioning wasn't working properly at all. We have our thermostat set at 55 (the lowest it will go) and we still have to sleep with the covers off. All these things didn't matter because I was far too excited to go to Brazil.
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As for life on the ship, classes have been well. We had our first geography exam and I did alright, I got a B+, which was a 42 out of 50, and the overall average was a 37 out of 50. I think they might curve it or something. I'm not really sure. I'm also in Comparative Politics and we are reading a fascinating book about modern slavery. Did you know that there are 23 million people enslaved worldwide? It's a very interesting class, probably my favorite and my professor is so cool, she's a human's rights lawyer. She teaches law in Africa and she has experience with women's right and is working for the legalization of same sex marriage. She's a pretty hip lady for being from North Carolina.
I'm in a cultural anthropology class and right now we are looking at the cultural differences of language. Our professor use to live in Kenya so he is very experienced with African culture, which is a plus since I'll be in South Africa in two days. I'm also in a Geology course where we learn about global warming, environmental ethics, and public policy. Since I still needed a science credit and I'm policy oriented (remember I'm a poli sci major) I couldn't of picked a better class. My professor is a young guy and he has his wife and two year old boy on board. He's a very cool guy and a pretty strong environmentalist.
Every week we have an inter-port lecturer from every country that we are going to and lecture on their country in our geography class. This week our inter-port lecturer is a historian who use to work with Nelson Mandela and a huge political activist against apartheid in the 90's. During apartheid in South Africa the security police were afraid she was becoming too intelligent for her own good (she's Indian, and blacks and Arabs were looked down upon in South Africa) and arrested her numerous times for no reason so she left the country and became a political refugee in the United States. While in the U.S. she got her Master's or Ph. D I can't remember which one at Yale. I didn't know much about apartheid in South Africa but hearing this women speak truly inspired me. She talked about the gross human rights abuses that went on during apartheid. She said that whites would come and take their land for neighborhoods and forced them to move. They were not allowed to hold political office and their children's schools didn't even have a roof while the white school next door had air-conditioning, two swimming pools, a hockey field, with many other amenities.
Now if you've read the email I applaud your patience. I've been very busy with
school and such so that's why it has taken me such a long time to get back to
you all.
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I had a lot to do this week so you should expect a South African update soon because I do want to write one.
I had a lab, paper, and an exam this week between ports which was only six days. I'm so tired because I haven't been getting any sleep. I'm at an internet cafe and only have 8 minutes left so I have to rap this email up. But I would love to hear from you guys tommorrow. I miss speaking to you guys on the phone. If you can find out which hotel I'm staying in that would be great. If not I'll bring my credit card and I'll call you from the hotel and hang up so you can call me.
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It may seem like I'm bombarding you all with the emails but I have to get it out of my system now because I have two more exams coming up. During the week between Cape Town and Tanzania we had the un-Olympics. Every hall is split up into seas. I live in the Red Sea and on our day off we had an all day un-Olympics with events and competed against other seas. The events were ping pong, synchronized swimming, soccer, world trivia, improv, make me laugh, male bikini contest, make a swim suit, pie eating, mashed potato carving, chocolate syrup drop, and an obstacle course. Of course as with every Olympic game we had an opening and closing ceremony. The opening ceremony was the night before the games. We had a lip singing show from each sea during the opening ceremony. One sea's color was pink so they all dressed in pink including the men. My Anthropology professor dressed in a pink halter-top and gave quite an amusing lip singing performance. I haven't been able to look at him the same way sense. Our sea and color was Red, and we sang "Great Balls of Fire."
The ship was extraordinarily rocky for the un-Olympics so all the events that were outside changed to indoors including synchronized swimming. My events were world trivia and improv. We didn't score in the top three for either events but in improv we got fourth. Sadly, our sea ended up getting last place. The professor's sea beat us too. But it's not about the competition it's about having fun. We also had a talent show during that week. I have to say I am quite impressed with the amount of talent we have on the ship, I feel so out of touch with the creative side of my brain when I look at some of the other students. Being on the ship was rather rough because the waves were so big. Luckily the waves have subsided now. The great thing about being on the ship though is seeing the incredible sunsets over the ocean, they are truly out of this world.
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...I hope this eases your ability to express the universal language�
The ability to let it shine with ease�The ability to smile.corruption.
The people
February 14, 2003
I hope you are all as eager to hear my tales of Brazil as I am eager to tell them but tonight my mind wanders on to other thoughts. People are an amazing creature and it never fails to amaze me how we react and cope with different situations. Some go through the transitions of life smoother than others�.
While others transitions are as rough as the seas I sail across every night. I have been dumped onto a ship filled with new faces and new minds, some brighter and more full of color than others. What is it about a person that stimulates you? How is it that you come together with those that surround your days and manage to cross paths with others only once? I have become so close with some of my fellow shipmates and have yet to speak one word to others. It is amazing how we adjust as strange people and manage to come together on this voyage of a lifetime.
After my experience in Brazil, I have become intrigued with Capoeira�. A martial art technique mixed with the beat of African drums. There are several varieties of the art. Angolan Capoeira is used to celebrate and worship the gods of the Candomble religion. The art was brought over from Africa and practiced by the slaves until it was suppressed and outlawed in the 1800�s�. Capoeira resurfaced in the 1970�s with the help of a man named Manoel dos Reis Machado, known to his students as Mestre Bimba. In addition to becoming accepted as a social activity, a challenging game, and a national sport, Capoeira also developed as a means of self-development and an expression of freedom for anyone dealing with his or her own self and social constraints, especially for those who struggle to survive in the present economic situation of Brazil.
With this is mind I began to wonder what is our �Capoeira�? How do we deal with our current situations in America? Or our situations as young adults or middle aged adults for that matter? How do we deal with being a part of the human race, so different and so far apart� different colors, different religions, languages, cultures�? Etc� yet we still all breathe the same breaths and our hearts still beat to the same rhythm. I am not yet to the other side of this world� yet I have found one thing that follows with me throughout this journey and that is my ability to smile. It is understood where my language and culture is not. I feel as though no matter how far I get away from home, no matter how strange the lands become, this will never change. The smile is the universal language.
Being that today is Valentine�s Day I wonder what is love? We often think of it as a noun but it is neither a person, place or thing but a verb... an action word. Dr. Martin Luther King said "Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.� How do I express this action where my tongue is not understood or heard? I have realized that there is a great difference between traveling to see countries and traveling to see people. If only half the world does not know how the other half lives is it my duty to help others understand �my people�? How am I supposed to be this strong and assertive when I do not even know myself? The idea of I is complex in itself�.. I myself am made of many selves, not the person I once was, but also the persons I have tried to be, persons I have avoided being, and the persons I fear I might be.
I find myself having to deal with a feeling that is either startlingly new or else obsessively old. I feel incapable of dealing with it. Granted I am only part way through this voyage, I have been in 4 countries including home in the past month and I notice a striking similarity in these events, people, and places that are fundamentally unalike. The more I explore the similarity the more striking it becomes. Certain people, places, and events stand out in my memory with intensity beyond logic. I flush with shame as I find myself realizing an injustice has been done, and I am powerless to do anything about it�. Or am I?
I am realizing inspiration is a real thing, a gift from the subconscious to the conscious mind. When I sit down to write to you all about my experiences I am paralyzed at the sight of a blank sheet of paper. As I write I question how this dialogue reveals what I care about? What connections do I see between one image and another? How can I strengthen those connections? Am I saying what I really mean, telling my truth about it? How do I explain each day while at port in these 3rd world countries� the cycle of guilt, avoidance, and pressure I endure? I am working on having the mastery to take my experience, whether it is visual or mental, and make meaningful shapes that convey a reality to others. But throughout all this like any good understanding of a story, fictious or true- is a deeper pattern of change, a pattern of connection and disconnection. The conflict of the surface events are like waves, but underneath is an emotional tide, the ebb and flow of human connection. Humans will clash. But human belonging is necessary and the need for community, the need to win out over others and the need to belong to others.
Oliver Wendall Holmes once said that �we must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must not drift or lie at anchor.� This is exactly why I am here. This is how I am stimulated like a drug. The farther I dig into the unknown the more my adrenaline pumps, the more excited I get, the more my fears that hover inside me are exposed. I have found my �Capoeira�. For if you consider the existence of an individual as a larger or smaller room, it appears evident that most people learn to know only a corner of their room, a place by the window, a strip of floor on which they walk up and down. Thus they have a certain security. But because of this the mountains that used to imprison me have become my chosen stalking ground. I am on the verge of a great change, yet I lack the maturity or courage to take that difficult leap to recognition. But this is only my epiphany� an epiphany is a crisis or action in the mind, a moment when a person, an event, or a thing is seen in a light so new that it is as if it has never been seen before. At this recognition, the mental landscape of the viewer is permanently changed. Change for me at this point is inevitable.
So as you follow my emails and my thoughts and feelings, say what you will about them�. but take it as a story. I have realized that no story is interesting without hardship. As Charles Baxter says, �Hell is story friendly. If you want a compelling story, put your protagonist among the damned. The mechanisms of hell are nicely attuned to the mechanisms of narrative. Not so the pleasures of Paradise. Paradise is not a story.� Paradise is where I will arrive when the stories are over. My stories will tell of human struggle, characters confronting their hardships and uncertainties. Hopefully it will make you feel better about your own conflicts and confusions and fears. We have a sense of community together now, of sympathy, a cleansing sympathy. As Aristotle said, "and relief that we are safe in our room only reading the story.� A story of sadness, even tragedy, makes us feel, paradoxically, better as though we are confronting our own conflicts and fears, and have endured.
I do not expect you to understand my thoughts or feelings or to agree with me at times or even yet to be able to follow my rambling ideas, but I do hope if only one sentence in this entire letter, that something I have said brings your inspiration into your consciousness and can somehow make your days better and help you appreciate the green grass we live on as free people. And most importantly I hope this eases your ability to express the universal language�.. The ability to let it shine with ease�. The ability to smile.
Lots of love, Lindsey
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Hey everyone,
The trip I have been waiting for and preparing for is finally here and it is even more incredible than I expected! Tuesday we boarded the ship! Our room is probably the smallest three bed room but its cozy and our roommate is so awesome -- from New York, really cool - I know we are all going to get along great. The atmosphere of the ship is so accepting. Everybody is just looking for a new friend and ready to explore! I love you all - - Roxy
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Cari [item 4 ]
well, needless to say, I'm having the best experience of my life. i could do home tomorrow and be so happy. everyone i met is so nice and so outgoing. really really great people. i have a quad with 3 other roommates. it's like two separate rooms, 2 bathrooms and only one door to get in and out. its not too bad. im never in there. we haven't started classes yet, monday. im meeting so many people from all over so I'll have lots of places to visit when i get back. everyday is so busy and full of new experiences, i cant even keep up with myself. i have to stop sometimes and take out my journal just to make sure i don't forget about all the little things that are happening.
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Tracey [item 5]
My daughter Tracey just called. Days are long -- they've hardly had an opportunity to explore the ship - the first day was the Cuba orientation - and she's been waking up at 'like 5am' and going to bed around midnite. (My kid LOVES to sleep. Can't believe she's getting up early.)
The room is small, but her roomates are 'really nice' and they 'really get along' -- she didn't have last names (sleep deprivation?) but there is Beth from Colorado, who goes to school in Ohio, and Kristin from Alabama, who goes to school in Tennessee.
I'm sorry I don't have more details for Krista and Beth and Kristin's parents.
She didn't mention getting the letter from me which I mailed the day before the deadline.... :-(
She sounded good, and said everyone was having a great time.
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Abby D [item 6 ]
I just got an email from her -- she also had a great time in Cuba -- it's sounding to me like the Cubans assigned a couple of their students to make friends with a couple of ours & show them around the city. They went out a couple of times for dinner & had a carriage ride around the city. She said the guide for the Bay of Pigs tour was one of Castro's v-p's who was part of the original revolutionary regime & was fascinating. She's enjoyed her 1st four days of classes; says the ship's seeming "pretty small" after several days at sea but they all expected that & things are going well. She's looking forward to her Amazon voyage, even sleeping in a hammock on a boat!
By the way, Abby's room is near the stern on the main deck; her roommate's name is Gina (from Chicago area) and friend Elizabeth (Nebraska) is across the hall. She's also gotten to know Erin (the nuclear propagation professor's daughter) and Todd. Sounds like on every excursion they'll be adding to their group of friends, as they get "shuffled around."
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Kelly E [item 7 ]
Hey guys,
So, right now I am half way to Brazil. Life on the boat is a bit..monotonous, but its fun and the food isnt all that bad so I am doing ok. All of my classes are interesting and engaging, but I have this feeling that they are going to get increasingly difficult as time goes on. So how is everything going for all of you? Are classes going well? Whats been going on in all of your lives? I hope all is well with everyone. Well, we left Cuba a few days ago, so I thought I would write and fill all of you in on what I've been up to.
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Diana B [item 8 ]
Just checking in to let you know how things are going on the Atlantic!!! First off, e-mail is very expensive so I�m trying to limit the amount I send, so don�t be worried if I don�t touch base with you all for a while. We are all writing our letters ahead of time and then saving them to a floppy before getting on-line so that we save our precious minutes.
The ship is great! My room is an outside triple and very large compared to most. We are lucky and have two portholes, which allow our room to be very bright. The inside rooms are extremely dark and therefore not very cozy. We have three beds that are on the floor and an optional bunk that folds down from the wall so we can have someone sleep over if we want. We have one desk to share, which we set up my roommate�s laptop on. It�s really nice to be able to have our own computer because the lab is usually full and the line to get in is long. We also have three closets which are only 1� feet wide, but as tall as the room. We each got two drawers, one is filled with my food and the other is filled with school books. Our bathroom is also huge compared to others. We actually have a bathtub and lots of room to move around. My cousin Katie has a room that is smaller and their bathroom doesn�t even have room to turn around. They have a VERY small triangular shower which you can�t even bend over in. Katie is also in an outside triple, but with only one porthole. Her room has one bunk bed set and one other bed on the floor. They also have a desk with drawer space. We each have our own TV which plays videos from the countries we visit, at night. Katie and I are on different floors but it�s not very far between our rooms and we run into each other often. We both like our roommates a lot and don�t think we will be having any problems over the semester.
Campus life has been a lot of fun. I�ve meet a ton of new people, but each day you see new faces. We just started our classes. The first day I almost overslept�go figure. But I made it barely on time. I have one class on A-days and then two classes on B-days. Then we also have CORE class which is everyday. I really am excited about my teachers and the curriculum. I think I�m going to learn a ton. I already have HEAVY reading loads for my next class. It�s nice that we can sit outside and read though. The view is breathtaking and the sun has been out lately. It�s been really cold and windy for the past two weeks but word is that Brazil is already in the 90 degree range. The dining hall has great food so I�m not going to starve. The lines to get into the dining hall are ridiculously long and move very slowly. It takes about an hour to get through the line when it first opens up. We have been waiting until the last half an hour of dinner before going and the line is usually much shorter then. There is limited exercise equipment and it is very crowded. There is a basketball court and volleyball but they have really limited the hours since classes are held right below the court. The track is not a full circle, but rather a U shape. It is on the boat deck, meaning that all the life boats are on that deck too, which leaves very little room to run. They have limited the hours of the track as well making it more difficult too. I don�t see severe amounts of exercise in my future.
We just got back from our stay in Cuba. It was an amazing time!!! The day before we got there we had non-stop lessons about everything imaginable about Cuba. Geography, history, politics, economics, music, dance�.. Katie and I slept out on the deck the night before we arrived. It was amazing to watch the stars and then later the lights of Cuba in the distance. We woke up freezing but got to watch the sun rise at six over the city and it was a beautiful sight.
We are now on our way to Brazil and finally getting into rough seas. There are a bunch of people who are very sick already but I�m doing just great. I actually love the motion because it puts me fast to sleep at night. The sun is defiantly intense but we haven�t gotten burned yet�thanks for the lectures and sunscreen! Go SPF 30 and 48! My roommate laid out for two hours today without sunscreen. I gave her a lecture before she left, but she wouldn�t listen to me. Now she is crying in our room unable to move and looks worse than a lobster!!!!!!! She hasn�t gotten out of bed for the past five hours and missed dinner. I�m not even sure if she�ll be making it to classes tomorrow. We haven�t had a whole lot of time to be outside but with classes going on now it gives us more open time to get out. The pool was filled up this morning for the first time. Also, Neptune Day is coming up soon when we cross the equator. And NO, I�m not shaving my head. They can smack a dead fish on it, but I like my hair. Most of my guy friends are going all out and shaving their heads.
Well I�m sure there is more that I could tell you but I have to get back to my life here. I miss you all very much and please feel free to write Katie and me at the ports!
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Kimberly [item 9 ]
I am in shock! Just received an e-mail from my daughter. She had her head shaved on Neptune Day! I can't believe my quiet, shy girl did it. Other than the temporary loss of her sanity, she sounds like she is enjoying every minute. She loves her classes and has only the highest compliments about the professors. She will be part of the website team and said it should start after Brazil. Maybe she was just kidding about the hair??!!
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Abby D [item 10 ]
Sorry I didn�t write all of you sooner, but I have been slightly ill for the last two days � in fact, most of the people who went on the Amazon trip got slightly sick. We�re not sure if it was from the actual trip or if it was from the airplane food or something, but we�ve all sort of felt under the weather for the last few days. Luckily today is the first day since Brazil that we�ve had to deal with any sort of rocking from the boat. On Monday the sea was only 1-2 feet and yesterday the sea was smooth. For those of you who have never experienced smooth seas, it�s incredible. The ocean looks like glass and the ship just cuts right through it, and best of all NO ROCKING. But today we�ve been going through some storms so there have been noticeable swaggers in most people�s steps once again.
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Christina [item 11 ]
Hello everyone! How is life back in the good old US of A? I hope everything is going well! I am currently typing this letter on the laptop I just picked up that I am renting from SAS... it's very nice. ;) So here I am, somewhere between Cuba and Brazil, thinking of all you wonderful people back home, so I thought I would write and let everyone know how things are going.
Where to start? I have so much to write about, and I know you are all just dying to read it! ;) I guess I will just start at the beginning, that's always a good place.
The day I boarded the ship, January 21, was the nicest day out of all of the days that I was in the Bahamas. Of course, I didn't get to enjoy it on the beaches -- I was up bright and early and at the docks by about 6:50 am. I was in the first group of students that went on the ship, which was nice, because there were no lines yet and so I zipped right through the check-in process. All the luggage had to go through security, and therefore didn't begin arriving until an hour or two after the first group boarded.
So, with nothing to do, I walked around the halls and introduced myself to people. (I have met so many people on this trip already; it is impossible to remember all their names. At least everyone else is in the same situation... you will be talking with someone you know or eating dinner with them or something and after a few minutes, one of you will say, "I'm sorry.... I don't remember your name," and you will re-introduce yourselves. It's getting easier, but, wow, it's a lot of names and faces all at once!)
Anyway, back to the first day... I walked into my room, and looked at the names posted on the door. Lo and behold, one of my roommates was named Maren ... I couldn't believe it! I had arranged a meeting for Colorado people about a week and a half before leaving for SAS, and about 5 people had shown up. One of them (who helped me organize the get-together), was Maren. It was odd that the one person I knew ahead of time turned out to be my roommate. Maren is a really sweet girl... I am glad we ended up being roommates. She has never traveled outside the USA, except to Canada. She is from Arvada, CO, but goes to Grand Canyon University, a small private school in Phoenix, and is majoring in English with a minor in journalism.
My other roommate's name is Janell. She is nice, too. She is from Washington, near Seattle. Her major used to be photo but now she kind of "makes her own major." She is really independent and likes going off on her own, and hates the fact that it isn't safe to do that in a lot of the countries. I really lucked out with my roommates, I think.
We kind of lucked out with our cabin, also. It is amazing the differences in the cabins all on the same ship. It sucks, because everyone paid the same price (except outside doubles, which are more), but everyone has such different accommodations.
For example, the rooms on either side of ours are prime. They are large, with big square windows and a couch and coffee table. A lot of the other triples are tiny, barely room for the beds and one desk. The worst are the inside doubles... they are bad because they are dark and seem smaller because there are no windows, and the rooms are small, too. Our room is nice. We have two windows, although they are the normal circular ones, not the big square ones like our neighbors have. We don't have a couch, but all three of the beds are on the floor, no bunk beds, so I would rather have it like that. We have one big desk and chair, and another comfy chair to sit in.
On the desk is the TV... there are three channels, almost always just fuzz, but sometimes at night they broadcast movies about the countries we go to. Before Cuba we had a movie called "Fidel," (kind of a biography/informative type movie), "Strawberries and Chocolate", about the treatment of homosexuals in Cuba (a real movie, not a documentary... it was actually pretty good), and something about urban development, I think.
Our closets are small, but not as small as some. I brought an extra bar to hang things on in the closet, and an organizer for shoes that I put things like film, hand sanitizers, hair brushes, toiletries, etc. in, so it works well. There are drawers in the desk and nightstand so we all got a few drawers, also. It is actually more space than I thought we would have. We have a big mirror over the desk, and a full-length one on the back of the door. Our bathroom is nice... we have a full shower with a tub, the medicine cabinet, and another big cabinet for medicine, toiletries, etc.
There are eight decks on the ship (my room is on Upper Deck), consisting of lots of cabins, eight classrooms, a library, a computer lab, etc. There are two dining rooms. Breakfast is between 0700 and 0830, lunch is 1200 - 1330, and dinner is 1800 -1930. The food is... eh.... dorm food. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are always available and are quickly becoming my staple. I have already gotten sick once on the voyage...on our first day at sea. Only it wasn't from the motion -- it was from the food. I was quickly reminded why I never eat scrambled eggs when I'm out anywhere, and especially not when they are prepared for mass amounts of people. But it didn't seem to bother anyone else.
Now I stick with a box of cereal and some yogurt for breakfast. Lunch and dinner (when not in port) consist of either peanut butter and jelly or a meal packed with carbs.... it seems to be the main thing served.... breads, pastas, mashed potatoes, etc. I am glad I packed snacks because you get hungry between meals. By the time I get back I will either have gained 10 lbs from all the carbs, or lost 10 lbs from not eating... my guess is the former.
The "track" is a horseshoe (a small one) and the "gym" consists of a few old weight machines, it's debatable how well they work, crammed into a little room. But it's home for the next three months. (Speaking of which, it's now less than 100 days until I get back.)
Anyway, enough about all that.... back to the first day. We departed Nassau at 1630. Within fifteen minutes or so we already had our first lifeboat drill. We had another one today, and will have one after each port. It takes a long time, since everyone has to go to their station and they call everyone's names. If someone is not present at one of the stations, they announce their name over the intercom. We have to wait until everyone is present and at the correct station. Everyone has to wear long shirts, long pants, and close-toed shoes, and we have to wait for the captain to go around to every muster station and check it before the drill is over. And all this time we are wearing our life jackets.
The rest of the first day we just got to walk around and meet people, explore the ship, etc. The first full day at sea was a loooong day. The fall voyages have two weeks before arriving in their first country, and have time to learn about the history, economy, etc. in the global perspectives class. We had only one day. We attended what is referred to as "Cuba Boot Camp"... a whole day's worth of orientation sessions on Cuba's history, economy, relations with the US, etc. Sessions started at 9 a.m. and finished at about 9:30 p.m.
I learned a lot about Cuba I never knew, though. For every port, we have "interport lecturers" come aboard and give presentations, and make themselves available for us to get to know and ask questions. For example, in Cuba a professor and a student from Brazil joined our voyage and will travel with us to Brazil. It was interesting to hear different points of view. Most Americans don't know much about Cuba, and what they do know is the view that is presented by America, and is radically different elsewhere. The US is one of the few countries that still votes to treat Cuba the way we do (i.e. not ending trade embargos).
Here are some facts I learned about Cuba that I never knew before: In Cuba, education is free, health care is free, phones, transportation, and rent, are all very cheap. There are 18 universities in Cuba. Due to the free education, there is almost no illiteracy. There is almost 0% unemployment, although incomes are not very high. More money is coming in from tourism now, so higher prestige jobs are considered to be things like bus boys and chambermaids. There is one doctor per 173 people, only 6.2 deaths per thousand live births, and 99.9% of births take place in a medical facility. There is a zero percent growth rate, meaning there is no overpopulation. But Cuba is still a poor country. It is very, very hard to get a permit to run your own business.
There is no free press in Cuba. The papers publish official statements only, there are no free radio or television stations where people can speak out, etc. But they still receive news, and can discuss world issues with any American just as well or better than we can. They like foreigners, and tend to leave simply because they would rather live in a first world country than a third world country. Who wouldn't? But US officials would like the American public to think it is because of the government. We had a briefing from the US Interests Department in Cuba... the opinions expressed were radically different from those expressed by the Cuban officials.
One interesting thing that we noticed, though, is that people were not allowed to speak with us unless they had a certain pass. We spoke with more people because we got away from the main streets and into the neighborhoods. The US has had an embargo on Cuba for over 40 years, meaning that trade and travel to Cuba is prohibited. Therefore, Cuba must turn to other countries, such as those in Europe, for its trade, which is often more expensive
There is mostly pork and chicken served, and recently fish, because beef is expensive, and there is no grain available to feed livestock. Rice and beans is a staple. The embargo is a shame... the people who really suffer are the citizens. If Fidel Castro wants a steak, he gets a steak, embargo or no embargo. The people the US wants to hurt with this embargo are no worse off than they ever were.
The phones and mail system in Cuba are horrible. Thank you to everyone who sent me mail, but I didn't receive any of it. Cuba is the worst port for mail on the voyage, followed by Vietnam. The rest are pretty good, but no mail was delivered in Cuba to the ship.
The people of Cuba are all descendents of a "trinity" or people: Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Therefore, the skin color ranges from very light and European looking to very, very dark. There is every skin color, hair texture, and eye color in between. Many of the people in Cuba are very beautiful! And they can all dance! I guess it is just because they grow up with it all their lives, but music and dance (salsa) are widespread.
Okay, okay, I know.... I am sorry to drone on and on but there was a lot to talk about this time. Now that you know all about the ship, etc. the other e-mails can be just about ports, and I won't have to go on for so long again. At least, hopefully. Once again, I hope everything is good back home... the dean just announced the Superbowl score. :) See, I'm not quite living in a hole!
Well, classes start tomorrow. It is nine days, I think, until Brazil (we arrive on Wed. Feb. 5). So next time those of you back home are complaining about your five days a week classes... imagine nine days straight. Okay, I promise I am finishing now. I send you all wishes of good mirth :)) See you all in less than 100 days!
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Brian [item 12]
Hey hey,
Hey everyone, how's it going back in good ol Colorado. This email comes to you from just off the Brazilian coast, or somewhere just north, in fairly rolling seas (which forced me to break down and swallow my first Dramamine pill today). Wanted to just send everyone a quick update, hope this finds you well.
Not too much new news to report from my side, heard the Raiders got trampled in the Super Bowl (such good news to get) and have been watching the Iraq thing as it may have direct implications on our ports or potential changes thereof. We actually sailed along a US aircraft carrier a couple days ago, which was sooooo cool to see. It seemed to be very busy, planes and helicopters both very active taking off from the ship and in the skies above. We got buzzed a couple times as close as a hundred feet off our top deck, they were very close. It was so cool, they'd scream at us and then pull up right over us and shoot up into the sky and be gone within seconds. The joke around the ship was the pilots were bored and checking out all the tanning girls on the top deck. Nevertheless it was pretty cool and very fun to watch.
Weather here has been great, low 80's for both the air and water. They filled the pool for the first time today although I was busy with class work and then attending class. They are going pretty well, its pretty weird to be so close to all my professors, they literally are right in front of you in the lunch line or laying out next to you by the pool. Its pretty weird but gives me the opportunity to really get to know them and feel comfortable asking them questions. Class work is OK, the weird thing and thing that's going to be hard to adjust to is that there are no weekends. I know that's such a small thing to stress about, seeing how we theoretically have 5 day weekends in port, but during that time I am so busy there is no way I have time to sit down and look at class work. So instead I will have to stay on top of my work and not fall behind when I would normally catch up using weekend time.
We get into Brazil early Wednesday morning. A group of us are doing an orphanage visit Wednesday, then getting on a plane and flying to Rio the next day until Saturday. We hope to be back Sunday in time to do a field trip to Itapacara Island in Brazil and do a field program for one of my classes. It should be a busy and fun couple of days.
Food is OK. always some variation of a meat (usually pork), fish, pasta and salad. Its good at first, but after many days at sea there's only so much they can do with what they have. We cross the equator Saturday night and Sunday we have a day off classes and celebrate Neptune day. I guess it's a tradition the first time you cross the equator to shave your head and kiss the head of a fish to please King Neptune and promote easy sailing for the rest of the day. They don't make you do it but I will, why not, how many times am I going to ever get to cross the equator. Then they fill the pool with fish guts and let everyone go at it. Haha going to be a good day off from 7 straight days of class. Well its almost midnight here (I think we're 3 hours ahead of you now) and I'm going to head to bed for a good nights sleep which doesn't happen very often. Hope everything is well, send me updates from home and love you all. Thanks so much for getting me here, I'm enjoying it all.
Love you-
Brian
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Brian [item 13 ]
Hello everyone,
Hello from the S.S. Universe Explorer off the coast of Brazil. Happy Sunday snd hope everyone had a good weekend. We crossed the equator this morning which meant that today was Neptune day and we had to all be initiated from pollywogs (those who have never crossed the equator) to seamen. It was nice to get a day off of class to do some lounging and catch up. The ceremony started at 9 this morning when a bunch of the crew, dressed as gods of the sea, walked through the cabins blowing whistles and playing bongo drums and screaming like crazy. After our Tacky Tourist Dance last night everyone was looking forward to our first day of sleeping in so 9 seemed pretty darn early. But it was funny to see those guys all dressed up and slowly people started peering out the doors and watching these guys parading up and down the halls. The dean didn't think there were enough people awake yet so he got on the PA system and said "All sleepy heads and pansys still in your cabins its time to rise and shine." Can't say I've even been called a pansy by a dean before. Earlier this week he said there was a longer line at the library then at the bar at night and he wondered if we were really college students or retired people used to 6 o'clock TV dinners. He's a cool guy, its fun to have faculty that you see all the time.
So anyways, we went out the back deck and the ceremony started by everyone putting on their swimsuits and then the crew would poor a combination of salt water, Bisquick and fish guts all over your head and face. Pretty gross, it was all lumpy and didn't smell or taste all that great. They had us get in the pool and wash off and get out on the other side where we had to kiss what looked like a month-old big fish. Going through that supposedly got us good luck sailing on the other side of the equator. It was pretty funny watching some of the girls freak out about the whole thing. After doing that and having the kiss the feet of some of our professors, dressed up as gods of the underworld and ocean, we repeated some weird chant and were done. It was pretty weird, but with 600 college kids, most hung over with fish guts dripping from their chins, it was pretty fun. Hopefully some of my pics. turned out well.
Then they had some shavers and told us it was also pleasing to these gods if you shaved your head and the hair went overboard. They held a raffle all week and if you bought a ticket for $5 they would pick 5 winners last at the dance last night to have their heads shaved first and by the captain. I entered late last night for the heck of it and actually won. I was really surprised. Out of the 5, I was the only guy to have the captain shave my head. (probably 30 girls total shaved their heads, maybe 50 or so guys) So he took a shaver to my head and shaved it down, my head is so white b/c I've gotten a good tan except for where my hair was. Looks like a shower cap. But it was pretty cool having him shave our heads, these girls were hard core to shave their heads.
Afterwards a buddy and I came back and took a razor and shaving cream and took it down all the way, right now there's not a hair on my head. Its pretty weird, will take some getting used to. Troy shaved his too, Neil didn't. He was under some pretty big pressure from a lot of people to do it but was pretty set on keeping his hair. So yeah, that's Neptune Day.
We had the afternoon off and a couple of us played a long 4-hour game of Risk. Now I've gotta get cranking on my readings, that's the biggest difference about here and home is they assign and expect that you do a lot of reading because the classes are not lectures but mostly discussion and quizzes about the reading for that day. Which is more fun, but means you have to stay caught up. With no weekends to play catch up it means a lot of reading at night when your at sea, esp. with all the distractions its no fun.
I don't know if I said this in my last email but I am rooming with Mark Landers from CU and another guy from Cornell. Allright well its almost 6 here (I think around 2 back in Colorado) and we lose another hour of sleep tonight. We'll be in Brazil Wednesday morning, in Rio by Thursday afternoon. Sounds like it's a pretty cool city. OK gotta study now, or try to. Hard to focus when your view is the ocean. Its been lousy weather the last couple days which has helped, but is still 80 degrees and fun to lounge with a book outside, which usually leads to a nap. Hope all is well with everyone and its been fun getting your emails, keep them coming. Its good to hear from home every once in a while. I'll try to attach some Cuba photos here, we'll see how it works. Adios everyone, sorry this is more like a novel than an email.
-Brian
PS- We heard about the space shuttle yesterday morning but haven't heard much
specifics, if someone wouldn't mind a news update would be good. And sports.
Thanks
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Ryan D [item 14]
As for life on the ship, classes have been well. We had our first geography exam and I did alright, I got a B+, which was a 42 out of 50, and the overall average was a 37 out of 50. I think they might curve it or something. I'm not really sure.
I'm also in Comparative Politics and we are reading a fascinating book about modern slavery. Did you know that there are 23 million people enslaved worldwide? It's a very interesting class, probably my favorite and my professor is so cool, she's a human's rights lawyer. She teaches law in Africa and she has experience with women's right and is working for the legalization of same sex marriage. She's a pretty hip lady for being from North Carolina. I'm in a cultural anthropology class and right now we are looking at the cultural differences of language. Our professor use to live in Kenya so he is very experienced with African culture, which is a plus since I'll be in South Africa in two days.
I'm also in a Geology course where we learn about global warming, environmental ethics, and public policy. Since I still needed a science credit and I'm policy oriented (remember I'm a poli sci major) I couldn't of picked a better class. My professor is a young guy and he has his wife and two year old boy on board. He's a very cool guy and a pretty strong environmentalist.
Every week we have an inter-port lecturer from every country that we are going to and lecture on their country in our geography class. This week our inter-port lecturer is a historian who use to work with Nelson Mandela and a huge political activist against apartheid in the 90's. During apartheid in South Africa the security police were afraid she was becoming too intelligent for her own good (she's Indian, and blacks and Arabs were looked down upon in South Africa) and arrested her numerous times for no reason so she left the country and became a political refugee in the United States. While in the U.S. she got her Master's or Ph. D I can't remember which one at Yale. I didn't know much about apartheid in South Africa but hearing this women speak truly inspired me. She talked about the gross human rights abuses that went on during apartheid. She said that whites would come and take their land for neighborhoods and forced them to move. They were not allowed to hold political office and their children's schools didn't even have a roof while the white school next door had air-conditioning, two swimming pools, a hockey field, with many other amenities.
Well that concludes my email. I'll be in South Africa in a couple of days and I'm so excited. My tentative plan is to attend an AIDS in development lecture on the first day. Then I'm doing the Amy Biehl foundation. Amy Biehl is a woman who was murdered during the struggle against apartheid. Her parents set up a foundation in her name, which goes towards the education and public facilities
to local children and citizens. I'm also visiting an African township and hiking Table Mountain. On the last day I'm going kloofing, which is hiking, rappelling, and swimming on a river/canyon.
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Rusty [item 15 ]
Hey,
Well, I figured it was about time to send another update. It doesn�t seem like it has been that long since I wrote the last one, but a lot has happened since then. We have just finished up our time in Cape Town, SA. The seas during the Atlantic crossing weren�t too bad, and we haven�t hit any big storms. That isn�t to say that the ship hasn�t been moving at all, because several days the seas have had really big swells and so if you look out the window, the horizon slowly goes up, and then slowly goes down. Everyone looks drunk when they are walking because you can�t help but veer back and forth/
Shipboard life is going pretty well. Classes have gotten a little more time consuming now as tests and papers are coming more frequently. It is annoying to have to go to class out here when you really want to just think about the countries and hang out with all of the people, but it is a semester of credit and so I�ll just have to get over it. And, it is a small price to pay for this once in a lifetime opportunity. We had a Valentine�s Day dance where people wore red if they were taken, green if they were available, and yellow if they were mellow about the whole thing. I, of course, wore green. I have made a lot of friends on the ship and I am having a lot of fun.
As I left Salvador I just thought how strange it was to be heading to another port. Usually when a big trip like that ends, you head home, but instead we just gear up for the next port. Pretty cool eh? I will update on South Africa in another email because this one is already getting a little long, but here is a little preview- Rusty in a plane, Rusty not in a plane. That�s right, Skydive Cape Town baby. More on that later.
On my way to fight the lions in Tanzania,
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Abby D [item 16 ]
i love you all and have been terribly entertained by your emails, so please keep them coming. and don't forget, snail mail makes a girl at sea feel really wonderful!!!!!!! and mother, grandma, and jessica, i got the stuff you sent. thank you so much! ok, off to explore salvador:)
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Tracy M [item 17 ]
Hello there again...
Now we�re back to classes. We�ll be in Capetown though by next Wednesday. I�m so excited for South Africa. There are so many things I want to do. I�m doing two Semester at Sea service trips, Operation Hunger and a Township visit (they should be listed on the website if you want to read more about them). Then I really want to tour the winelands and hike Table Mountain and visit the District Six Museum. It�s a lot to do in 4 days, but I�m gonna try and pack it all in.
Between now and when we arrive in Capetown we lose 4 more hours. I don�t know if I mentioned it before, but we consistently lose hours as we cross time zones on this trip. Then when we cross the International Dateline we gain it all back by having two April 29ths. Krista is a little disappointed because her 21st birthday is the 28 so she just missed having two. Anyway, so all of us our constantly tired. There is so much you want to do. I find myself always wanting to elongate conversations because I only have a few months with these people, but a lot of times you just have to cut them off and get to sleep. Its amazing how much those few hours can drag you down.
One other thing�. I received info about my Vicarious Voyage class. Vicarious Voyage is a program that hooks up students on Semester at Sea with elementary or high school classes around the country. They write to me, so I get extra mail, and we send them stuff about our trip. I have a class of 25 third graders at O�Hara Elementary School in Pittsburgh. I�m working with another girl named Tanya. We�re sending them a package in a few days with postcards of the ship for all of them and these Brazilian friendship bracelets. We got a whole stack of letters from them when we got to Brazil so Tanya and I split up the pile and are writing each of them a letter. I�m so glad I�m doing this. They�re letters are so much fun to read and most of them drew pictures too. I�m just easily amused I guess.
Alright, so Mom, now you have your long detailed email (Mom wrote to me saying that some people write really nice long descriptive emails and why were mine so short). I hope I didn�t bore anyone. Its all really interesting to me cause I�ve experienced it all. You�ll have to let me know how it goes over with y�all.
I�m having a great time and I love this trip. Don�t worry about me. You�ll hear from me soon. Thank you in advance for all the letters I�m getting in Capetown that you�ve been telling me about. You have no idea how excited I am. Keep them coming! Let me know when you get mail from me.
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