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.
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.
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