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!
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!
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