Life on this Crazy Ship

Aboard the MV Explorer:

Hi!

Robbie asked me to tell him what I do every day on this boat. Also, dad asked what activities I'm doing. This is my response!

Daily Life on this crazy boat:

The first thing you have to know is that I have two different kinds of days: days with class and days with no class. Every day starts the same, though, whether it's WITH or WITHOUT. I wake up every morning at 8:00 (actually 8:15) and eat one peanut M&M. If I'm on top of it, the first thing I do is RUN upstairs to get breakfast which closes at 8:30. After hectic and sloppy enjoyment of a peanutbutter and jelly english muffin and maybe also some yogurt, I return downstairs to my cabin (on deck 3, dining halls are on decks 5 and 6). It should be noted here that walking downstairs on this ship is NOTHING like what you landlubbers are doing. The ship doesn't rock horribly but it's pretty hard to feel stable. I know this doesn't SOUND too extreme but reeeeeally try to imagine it: you can't walk down the stairs without holding the railing. Really think about that. Now add to that equation that you're super tired. You get to know people really well as you crash into them every morning.

After breakfast I have until 9:20 to get dressed. I usually check my email first and my roommate Kendyll and I either talk or don't talk depending on how sleepy we still are, but the atmosphere is always very pleasant either way. Usually we then depart for Global Studies. Everyone has Global Studies and it happens at the same time every day. In Global Studies we listen to this old hippie who I don't really dig mumble about stupid stuff. On day one he explained photosynthesis (Um... I'm pretty sure we've all learned about that.. Also, what does that have to do with ANYTHING) and today he LITERALLY spent at least ten minutes on how days and seasons work ("well the earth's axis is tilted so as our planet circles the sun..."). What. I dozed today. The other weird thing about Global Studies is all 700 of us take it at the same time and the biggest classroom (the Union) holds like 300 so a bunch of people sit in classrooms nearby and watch the lecture on TVs. This works out for sea sick people because the Union is at the very front of the ship where the rocking's the worst and the classrooms are better for their stomach, but it's hard for me to watch a TV tell me about photosynthesis. The good news is the other professors also teach that class, the hippie brings them in to guest lecture and so far every professor OTHER than the hippie has been excellent. We learned about the Caribbean (Sugar, pirates, and other stuff) which was cool.

So that happens every day. After Global Studies it's like any college where people have different schedules. Mine just happens to be ordered so that all my classes are on one day.

WITH class:

After Global Studies I go to US Foreign Policy. My friend Kelsea (spelled like Lexsea!) is in it which is cool and the professor is HILARIOUS. As in he swears really casually and is super old. That class will be the hardest for me I think because there is a lot of rather dense reading but it's really interesting and the class moves along in a lively fashion thanks to Professor Mabbutt.

Then I have lunch. The weird thing on the ship is it's REALLY hard to find your friends. We all have phones in our rooms and we can call each other from there but if our friends aren't in their rooms, you better make new ones for the lunch hour. Which is actually kind of cool since everyone's in the same BOAT on that if you know what I mean. Today I was fortunate enough to run into Kelsea (of USFP) and my friend Thomas. Thomas is interesting. He's from Georgia and described himself as "probably the most conservative person on this ship." He's really up front about it but not obnoxious. Ali and I decided we can be friends with him it'll just never be like a super long intense close friendship. I lifted weights with him yesterday (you'll see when I describe WITHOUT class days) and he kept suggesting I use these light weights. I was like, Thomas back off. The girls in Oregon are buffer than those in Georgia. Figure it out. Lunch was fine. Food's not very good here but it's doable. After lunch Kelsea and I tanned/read by the pool for about half an our.

THEN I have Studies in Poetry. Again I really like this professor. He's also sort of elderly and has a good sense of humor (much more soft spoken than Mabbutt) but, unfortunately, some of the people in the class are lame. I have a friend in that class as well, Colin from C... I can't remember. Connecticut! He made good points about the poetry. But this one girl. Yikes. She prefaces her comments with "I'm sorry, when I analyze poetry I just go way to deep and then I'm always like, I bet no one else will have seen it this way, it's so weird. Sorry. I just go really far into it" like it's weird of her but secretly like she wants us to clap for her. And then she repeats what everyone else was saying but makes it wrong-er. Whatever. I still really like the class.

THEN I have Marine Biology. HILARIOUS professor. The best of all!!!!! He's really nerdy but laughs about it and knows how to make it just absolutely hilarious. He ran into a post today because he was pacing around the classroom and the boat rocked and then he hugged the post and said "I love this post" as if he had meant to do it. Hard to describe his humor but I look forward to that class SO much. It's my favorite. And we learn fun facts about fish (there's some ALLITERATION for you, poetry butthead girl!)

Then, as in, right now, I go to my room and catch up on email. I may rest a bit. Watch some 30Rock or one of the free movies that plays on the TV in my room. Eventually I'll call Ali for dinner and then hang out with friends until it's time to go to sleep. Oh and I have a date with the stairmaster at 8:30 (literally. I had to sign up last night in order to work out today).

WITHOUT class:

I do all the stuff I already said up until Global Studies. Then I take a nap. I wake up for lunch and then I hang out with friends by the pool/do readings for the next day/work out. Mostly I hang out with people. There's a lot of sitting and talking that goes on. And we play cards and watch movies. And they host events every night I forgot that part. There's a swing dancing class tonight and an Open Mic Night one of these days.

PS at the activities fair I signed up for battle of the bands (upcoming I guess) and to volunteer at the writing center as a tutor. So that stuff too.

So life is jam packed. The days are long when you look back on them because so much happens each day. I'm loving it and time is flying.

LOVE,

Martha