1038 miles into our journey...

I think this picture captures what will hopefully be an incredible next 112 days at sea! 

Our window-less room has meant that we've been taking full advantage of the glorious top deck of the ship. It's the perfect place to sit and contemplate how vast and beautiful the ocean is, and how lucky we feel to be here. Added bonus: the sun loungers are always plentiful! You never have to fight for them, unlike when you are staying at a hotel full of early-rising Europeans, who mark their territory round the pool with fluorescent towels before the birds have even started chirping. Ah, the stress! The conflict! Do I beat them or do I join them? Well, I can hardly beat them if I'm stuck sitting all day on hot concrete which is soaking up the sun like a flaming sponge and burning a crater into my arse, while they frolic, perfectly thermoregulated, between pool and prime positioned sun lounger. But do I really want to stoop to waking up before the breakfast buffet is even open to mark my territory in the morning? Ah, Sheraton holidays.  

OK, completely irrelevant. We had our first class today, mine was Sustainable Communities. We were met with a surprise from our professor; he has shunned tests, papers and finals. Instead, we will be writing and publishing a book on sustainable urbanism! We will be evaluating the development of our destinations in groups of two and writing up our findings, and eventually publish a real book with a real ISBN number which means we will be real 'co-authors'! And I can cross 'write a book' off my to-do list before I'm 25, which is a relief as it's looking a bit daunting right now. However, I did write it at age 13, so it might be time for a re-evalutation. I might replace 'Stuff a 300lb man into a yellow Fiat 500' and 'do a poo on someone's doorstep and set it on fire with something more do-able/career relevant. Or maybe not. 

We also had a ship gym session, and were sweating up a storm on the elliptical while looking out at Danish islands and hundreds of windmills which seemed to be floating on the horizon. We passed through Øresund channel, with Denmark on our right and Sweden on our left, and a bridge connecting the two. I might have a biased, romanticized view of the Scandinavian countries, but the air seemed to smell cleaner and the windmills seemed like dancing moomins. If all else in my life fails, I am going to move to Denmark, live in a communal housing project and milk lots of goats. 

First impressions...

We arrived on the ship bleary eyed, fresh from a whole one hour of pre-departure sleep thanks to a tea and adrenalin overload. However, nothing battles exhaustion quite like walking out of a port building to see a towering expanse of little round cabin windows winking in the sunlight, and knowing that behind one of them is your home for the next 4 months. The ship looks quite literally like the biggest thing I've ever seen in real life. I'm sure all the physics majors on board were not especially appreciative of my awe at how something so large can float, as I'm told there's a simple explanation for this. However, physics or no physics, my jaw still tends to dislocate when I consider that food, water and the combined mass of 1000 people are currently floating over the Atlantic.

We spent the day getting orientated with the ship and the philosophy here; there was a convocation ceremony, an introduction to the faculty and some wise words from the Dean about how to make the most of our experience. The excitement on board has literally been electric, it's almost like no one can believe the journey we are about to make is real. As the boat final left Southampton at 5pm, everyone cheered and blew bubbles.

Eating dinner outside on the deck, Emma and I sat and reflected on just how lucky we felt. It barely seemed like real life, that we could possibly have such a huge adventure in front of us, that we were eating dinner on the top deck of a ship as the sun sank into an endless looking ocean! It was quite special, something I'm not likely to forget for a long time; The most picturesque start to an adventure that I couldn't have written to be more fitting. Here it's surreal, it's inspiring and I'm absolutely exhausted, so that's all I can write for today. Much more to come, I'm sure.

115 Days, 17 Cities, 15 Countries: An Introduction to Semester At Sea

Tomorrow is Saturday, and tomorrow I set sail for 4 months on a giant floating classroom that travels round the Atlantic Ocean.

We journey a sweeping loop which passes through Europe, down the West side of Africa, crosses to Argentina and finishes by following the South American coast North up towards Florida. Really.

When I first overheard someone talking about Semester At Sea in a coffee shop during my freshman year, I assumed they must have been mistaken, or I had misheard them. A huge, water-borne university carrying 1000 people around the globe sounds more like the musings of a bored college student day dreaming in a stuffy math class.

But here I am, writing my first blog post at 4am on Saturday morning, 2 duffel bags packed by the front door, 7 cups of tea deep and about 50 days overdue on my preparation. Not that it matters, because the caffeine fueled, frantic, sleep depriving few days before a big trip are character building!(?) Or at least I have convinced myself of this, to ease the pain of my inability to ever, EVER, prepare for traveling in a way that won't send everyone's cortisol levels through the roof.

Snoozing peacefully upstairs are two wonderful friends from Santa Barbara, Justine and Emma: we are in this together and will be be partners in adventure for the next 4 months. Emma and I will be sharing a thimble sized room, so we will either be married or extremely passive aggressive when we step off the ship in December, but I'm sure it'll be the former.

I've spent the past 3 weeks reconnecting with everyone I love here in the UK; it's been a glorious reminder of the brilliant people I have in my life. I couldn't think of a better send off. I feel grateful to be constantly inspired by their kindness, optimism and good attitude; I hope I can bring some of that on the ship with me. Most of all I appreciate them for vetoing my decision to bring a sewing machine, hand weights and 17 sweaters on board with me.

Please sign up to follow the blog via email if you'd like to stay in touch while I'm away- just type your address into the box on the top right above my picture and you'll get a nudge when I post a new entry.
Also: here is a link to the Semester At Sea info if you're curious as to what on earth it's all about!

Info on Voyage Fall 2013

            Spending precious time with my lovely family on a hot August afternoon: what a treat!