Location: Middle of the Atlantic Ocean

First Full Day on the Ship! Orientation and lots of it, meetings started at 9am to discuss all of the dos and don’ts of living on the MV Explorer. It introduced us (the voyagers by numbers)- 603 students, 27 international students, 12 countries, 15 port cities, and 50+ faculty and staff make up our on-ship community. BY THE WAY, I’M NOT ALLOWED TO CALL IT A BOAT. IT IS A SHIP. SORRY IM NOT SORRY. So the SHIP is really cool but quite confusing with it’s forward and aft, portside and starboardside, and not exactly clear map and sign system but I’m trying my best to find my way around. Being here is nerve-wracking and exciting and surreal. I really cannot believe that I will be living on this ship for 4 whole months. The constant rocking (which got especially bad last night—oh hey did I mention there are two hurricanes that we are trying to go BETWEEN) makes me sleepy as I am supposed to be paying attention to on-board safety procedures. I can’t believe I’m actually here and that SAS is finally happening. I especially can’t believe that I will be in ESPANA in a week!!
I already feel a little changed being here and it’s becoming more and more obvious how truly special this program is. I already know I could never explain this boat to someone- what it feels like to have the Atlantic Ocean as your backyard, to look out the window and see nothing but endless waves (BIG WAVES), to have the ocean rock you to sleep every night. Life is different here- you say hi to everyone you pass in the halls, you sit at a random table at lunch and in class, introducing yourself to whoever’s around, you continually repeat your hometown, college, and major just like freshman year Welcome Week. But it’s not the same as meeting people that you know you will go to school with. Because these people on the ship…these people are the ones you are going to go to school with, and live with, and eat with, and see the freaking world with and it’s definitely a whole world of possibilities with each new person you meet.
So then you sit a lot and listen a lot about safety and drinking and field programs and community. And you are bored and sleepy from the waves that you aren’t quite sure you’ll ever get used to. And right when you are about to fall asleep in your chair Archbishop Desmond Tutu strides up to the podium. (Did I mention we’ll be travelling with an archbishop for 4 months? And that he walks around and wears t-shirts and jeans like the rest of us?). And then Desmond Tutu- the man who changed the face of Africa and the world through his fight against apartheid- tells you that YOU inspire HIM! That young people leave him in awe. He tells you that you CAN change the world. That your belief that we can end world hunger and poverty ARE attainable. He tells you not to ever believe that you can’t do whatever it is you set your mind to. And so it is a good day.
I hope the feeling I had after he spoke stays with me in each new country I visit and with each new experience that this voyage brings me because I always want to feel that way. Full of hope and promise and trust that I am exactly where I am supposed to be.