Day #8
I’m trying to get in the habit of writing a little bit after Global Studies when I’m wide awake and in a reflective mode. Right now I’m sitting in a little nook up in the Faculty/Staff Lounge just watching the ocean roll on by. I spent a bunch of time yesterday getting ready for our “Activities Fair” that is happening this evening. This is the day where all the students have a chance to sign-up for a number of different activities, including the Ambassador Program (hosting students from different countries and organizing events with them), Students of Service (students who raise funds for different organizations through different means on the ship), and many other organized activities including all of the sports, recreation, and wellness activities that I get to coordinate. I’m really excited to put together a master list of fitness and recreation activities. There are so many talented people on this ship! I’ve already been approached by 3 different yoga instructors, a tai chi instructor, pilates, abdominal workouts, step aerobics, self-defense workshops, etc. The other really cool thing about this ship is that an alumnus purchased and had built a large, enclosed netted area on the 7th deck where folks can play basketball, volleyball, badminton, or soccer without fear of the ball going overboard. So, I also have a group of students who are excited to organize all sorts of tournaments and such. I don’t think I’ll have a lack of assistance, which is GREAT for me!! J
This morning I woke up and worked out on the elliptical machine for a while, which is a bit interesting in itself because of the rocking motion of the ship. Out of the corner of my eye I could see students almost falling off the treadmill. It’s definitely an art to keep your balance. Then, I went outside and joined in on a student-led yoga class, which was amazing. Even though, again, the balance thing is a little tricky… doing yoga poses while looking out at the ocean is a pretty amazing experience. Definitely complements the inner harmony of yoga. LOVE IT.
The big issue of yesterday was the first night of “Aft”er Hours. I won’t go into the whole thing, but Nancy will appreciate the drama of the ticket sales. Long story short – ISE has instituted a policy that students must purchase a ticket for every alcoholic beverage they plan to consume (only beer or wine). There is a 4 drink maximum for the 2-hour late night service on the back deck, and a 2 drink maximum for the 1-hour pre-dinner service. So… students have to stand in line at a designated time to purchase said tickets, show their ID, have their ID # written on the back of each ticket, and choose what (and how many) drinks they would like to have. How this process came about, I do not know, but it was a total clusterf*ck. (pardon the language).
Since it was the first night that they could purchase alcohol, hundreds of students stood in line for literally 3 hours. The ticket selling even started to encroach on the designated “Community College” night which students were supposed to attend for their Global Studies class. At that point, I totally lost it and couldn’t contain my feelings of how unorganized and inappropriate it was for the ship (and us) to be selling alcohol tickets for 3 hours, wasting the students time and our time. Needless to say, this topic will be the first item on our agenda at our Student Life meeting today… we need a different system. Supposedly this system has worked for past voyages, but I don’t see how.
Thankfully, after all the drama of the ticket sales, our first “Aft”er Hours night went really well. Students had a blast, it was a beautiful evening, and there was no trouble – at least none that I saw or heard about. So, that’s all good. I think it’s hard for the students on the ship who are 22 and 23 years old because they actually have LESS privileges in terms of drinking than they normally do, while the 19 & 20 year-olds on the ship have more. All in all, the policies that are in place are very strict for two main reasons:
1. We are on a SHIP in the middle of the ocean, under international regulations, and when it comes down to it, safety is the utmost concern.
2. There are always a few (or more) students who abuse their privileges, cause a ruckus, put themselves & others in unsafe situations, and because of them, the responsible students have to deal with very strict policies.
This is why it’s a little bit difficult for me to adjust to working in residential life again. I really DO NOT enjoy being a bouncer for the “Aft”er Hours evenings, but as long as the students keep it real, I think we’ll be okay. It was actually fun last night to interact with the students while they were hanging out… most of them feel very comfortable drinking in front of us and know that we’re not there to judge them or be the police. We’re just there for safety, ultimately.
Blah, blah, blah. Okay, I’m done with that now.
Wanted to give a big SHOUT OUT to Sarah & Danny!! Congratulations on your engagement! I couldn’t think of a more amazing couple… except perhaps my PARENTS who are having an anniversary today!! Woo-hoo!
Joe & I will toast to both of you tonight.
Three more days at sea, and then we arrive in Honolulu on Saturday morning at 0700.
I would LOVE to hear from some of you… please feel free to email me, and I will email you back!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Life At Sea
Hey Everyone!
I finally feel like I have a minute to catch up on writing, so I’m going to take advantage of it. Some of you have been wanting a little more information about the ship itself, so here goes.
So… even though the MV Explorer is a former cruise ship, we have been told by many people that the Explorer, in comparison with larger cruise ships, appears to resemble something like a tugboat. I am looking forward to seeing that contrast in some of the ports! Needless to say, we feel a lot more movement on the Explorer than folks typically feel on larger cruise lines. I don’t know if Joe mentioned this or not, but on the first day of sailing with the students, there were massive rushes to the bathrooms from seasickness. Joe said he saw someone that literally looked green running to the bathroom. Luckily, Joe and I have been okay for the most part. I had one evening where I felt a little off, but nothing more than that. I definitely have my sea legs now! Woohoo! (Knock on wood).
Anyway – the MV Explorer has 7 decks. Deck 1 is for crew only, Deck 2 is the medical clinic and a few student rooms, Decks 3 & 4 are all student rooms (Joe and I live on Deck 4), Deck 5 has the main administrative front desks, the field office, the purser, and many of the deans offices. Deck 5 also has a large dining room and outdoor deck. Deck 6 is the location of the Student Union, Student Life Office (at the very front of the ship… woozy-central), the Library & Computer Lab, the Campus Store, Snack Bar and Piano Lounge, and another full Dining Hall with an outside deck. Deck 7 is my favorite deck. It has the infamous Faculty and Staff Lounge, which is this super swanky lounge area at the front of the ship. They serve coffee and snacks all day, and have a bar service every evening from 2100-2300. We don’t spend a whole lot of time up there, but it’s a nice place to escape when one needs a little peace. It’s also a great place to, obviously, connect with fellow staff and faculty. Also on Deck 7 is the Wellness Center, which includes a very small room with treadmills, elliptical machines, etc., and an outside enclosed area with free-weights and a few weight machines. There’s also a full spa on Deck 7 that offers facials, massages, haircuts, aromatherapy, etc. The prices aren’t too bad… I’ll probably check it out one of these days. Finally, Deck 7 is where the Pool Bistro is located. The pool itself is nothing to write home about. Picture a hotel pool, but smaller. Yeah. But, there is also a large bar on the aft pool deck which is open for service most evenings. Alcohol is only served on particular evenings, which used to be called “Pub Nights,” but which we have renamed “Aft”er Hours… get it??? I came up with that one. Tonight is the first night of alcohol service, so I’ll let ya know how that goes. Unfortunately, the RDs serve as pseudo-bouncers on the After Hours evenings, so I don’t think that will be my favorite part of my job. But, it’s all good. If you’d like to know more about the ship, there is a virtual tour on the Semester at Sea website. (www.semesteratsea.com)
So… can I tell you how cool it is to wake up every morning and look out our GIANT porthole to see the big blue sea!??? I LOVE IT!!!
Our noon report just said that we are at a sea depth of 15, 900 feet!!! Isn’t that crazy!? You definitely get a true perspective on how much of the earth is ocean out here. I LOVE IT. Mom, I definitely have caught the sea bug. LOVE IT.
So… I am stoked about the students on my sea. The Caspian Sea ROCKS! Molly, you’ll be happy to hear that I have everyone on my sea shouting “HEY-O!” whenever anyone mentions the Caspian Sea. They love it. Of course, I have a couple of characters who may make the voyage, shall we say, interesting?… but, that’s just how it goes. Joe is loving the fact that I’m the R.D. and he isn’t. From Day 1 there were some students who were trying to bring alcohol on board and already have dock time. DOH. And, in terms of being on the ship on time, everyone is held to the same standards. If you’re 1-10 minutes late for ON SHIP TIME, you automatically get 2 hours of dock time. It proceeds up from there in 2 hour intervals. Even if you have a scheduled trip in one of the ports, if you have dock time, you may miss your trip. That’s the deal. So, hopefully the students will take it pretty seriously.
Joe and I really don’t have a routine quite yet. It was fun this morning because it was everyone’s first day of Global Studies. Global Studies is the course that everyone on the ship takes together. The curriculum follows the course of our adventure and tailors the lectures and assignments to each port. I was psyched to have class this morning!!
For the most part, I think my days at sea will consist of the following:
Waking Up to the BIG BLUE SEA.
Working out.
Having breakfast on the back deck – SO BEAUTIFUL!
Going to Global Studies.
Working in the Student Life Office/ hanging out with students on my sea.
Lunch.
Student Life Meetings at 1300 everyday.
Working on different work tasks… I think everyone knows I’m the R.D. in charge of Recreation & Wellness, so I get to coordinate all the classes, games, tournaments, and of course, the SEA OLYMPICS (I’ll explain later).
Hanging out/Working Out/Sneaking in on classes if I have time.
Dinner.
Going to nightly “Community College” sessions, where members of the community can share their expertise on a variety of subjects (not for credit, more like a lecture series… supposed to be really cool!)
Being a bouncer at After Hours, helping out fellow RDs.
Having a beer in the Faculty/Staff Lounge.
Hanging out late with my students.
Bed time… the waves rocking me to sleep.
Not too bad of a life, eh? I got to hang out with two of my residents last night – Jess and Coley – who are super cool. My impression is that I am going to absolutely love this experience. As if I had any doubts, but still. This is so cool.
Mom and Dad – I know you have an anniversary coming up!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! And Tara & Hans, CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can’t wait to meet little Lauren! She is adorable!!! Yippee!!
‘til again…
I finally feel like I have a minute to catch up on writing, so I’m going to take advantage of it. Some of you have been wanting a little more information about the ship itself, so here goes.
So… even though the MV Explorer is a former cruise ship, we have been told by many people that the Explorer, in comparison with larger cruise ships, appears to resemble something like a tugboat. I am looking forward to seeing that contrast in some of the ports! Needless to say, we feel a lot more movement on the Explorer than folks typically feel on larger cruise lines. I don’t know if Joe mentioned this or not, but on the first day of sailing with the students, there were massive rushes to the bathrooms from seasickness. Joe said he saw someone that literally looked green running to the bathroom. Luckily, Joe and I have been okay for the most part. I had one evening where I felt a little off, but nothing more than that. I definitely have my sea legs now! Woohoo! (Knock on wood).
Anyway – the MV Explorer has 7 decks. Deck 1 is for crew only, Deck 2 is the medical clinic and a few student rooms, Decks 3 & 4 are all student rooms (Joe and I live on Deck 4), Deck 5 has the main administrative front desks, the field office, the purser, and many of the deans offices. Deck 5 also has a large dining room and outdoor deck. Deck 6 is the location of the Student Union, Student Life Office (at the very front of the ship… woozy-central), the Library & Computer Lab, the Campus Store, Snack Bar and Piano Lounge, and another full Dining Hall with an outside deck. Deck 7 is my favorite deck. It has the infamous Faculty and Staff Lounge, which is this super swanky lounge area at the front of the ship. They serve coffee and snacks all day, and have a bar service every evening from 2100-2300. We don’t spend a whole lot of time up there, but it’s a nice place to escape when one needs a little peace. It’s also a great place to, obviously, connect with fellow staff and faculty. Also on Deck 7 is the Wellness Center, which includes a very small room with treadmills, elliptical machines, etc., and an outside enclosed area with free-weights and a few weight machines. There’s also a full spa on Deck 7 that offers facials, massages, haircuts, aromatherapy, etc. The prices aren’t too bad… I’ll probably check it out one of these days. Finally, Deck 7 is where the Pool Bistro is located. The pool itself is nothing to write home about. Picture a hotel pool, but smaller. Yeah. But, there is also a large bar on the aft pool deck which is open for service most evenings. Alcohol is only served on particular evenings, which used to be called “Pub Nights,” but which we have renamed “Aft”er Hours… get it??? I came up with that one. Tonight is the first night of alcohol service, so I’ll let ya know how that goes. Unfortunately, the RDs serve as pseudo-bouncers on the After Hours evenings, so I don’t think that will be my favorite part of my job. But, it’s all good. If you’d like to know more about the ship, there is a virtual tour on the Semester at Sea website. (www.semesteratsea.com)
So… can I tell you how cool it is to wake up every morning and look out our GIANT porthole to see the big blue sea!??? I LOVE IT!!!
Our noon report just said that we are at a sea depth of 15, 900 feet!!! Isn’t that crazy!? You definitely get a true perspective on how much of the earth is ocean out here. I LOVE IT. Mom, I definitely have caught the sea bug. LOVE IT.
So… I am stoked about the students on my sea. The Caspian Sea ROCKS! Molly, you’ll be happy to hear that I have everyone on my sea shouting “HEY-O!” whenever anyone mentions the Caspian Sea. They love it. Of course, I have a couple of characters who may make the voyage, shall we say, interesting?… but, that’s just how it goes. Joe is loving the fact that I’m the R.D. and he isn’t. From Day 1 there were some students who were trying to bring alcohol on board and already have dock time. DOH. And, in terms of being on the ship on time, everyone is held to the same standards. If you’re 1-10 minutes late for ON SHIP TIME, you automatically get 2 hours of dock time. It proceeds up from there in 2 hour intervals. Even if you have a scheduled trip in one of the ports, if you have dock time, you may miss your trip. That’s the deal. So, hopefully the students will take it pretty seriously.
Joe and I really don’t have a routine quite yet. It was fun this morning because it was everyone’s first day of Global Studies. Global Studies is the course that everyone on the ship takes together. The curriculum follows the course of our adventure and tailors the lectures and assignments to each port. I was psyched to have class this morning!!
For the most part, I think my days at sea will consist of the following:
Waking Up to the BIG BLUE SEA.
Working out.
Having breakfast on the back deck – SO BEAUTIFUL!
Going to Global Studies.
Working in the Student Life Office/ hanging out with students on my sea.
Lunch.
Student Life Meetings at 1300 everyday.
Working on different work tasks… I think everyone knows I’m the R.D. in charge of Recreation & Wellness, so I get to coordinate all the classes, games, tournaments, and of course, the SEA OLYMPICS (I’ll explain later).
Hanging out/Working Out/Sneaking in on classes if I have time.
Dinner.
Going to nightly “Community College” sessions, where members of the community can share their expertise on a variety of subjects (not for credit, more like a lecture series… supposed to be really cool!)
Being a bouncer at After Hours, helping out fellow RDs.
Having a beer in the Faculty/Staff Lounge.
Hanging out late with my students.
Bed time… the waves rocking me to sleep.
Not too bad of a life, eh? I got to hang out with two of my residents last night – Jess and Coley – who are super cool. My impression is that I am going to absolutely love this experience. As if I had any doubts, but still. This is so cool.
Mom and Dad – I know you have an anniversary coming up!! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! And Tara & Hans, CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can’t wait to meet little Lauren! She is adorable!!! Yippee!!
‘til again…
Monday, August 28, 2006
Up and Working...
Congrats to Tera (Joy's cousin) and Hans on their new baby girl...Lauren Elizabeth Patton
Hi everyone... hopefully you all didn't have any trouble finding us in our new blog home. I think this will work out fine and it will be far less stressful for me to update on a regular basis.
I know some of you had issues with the pictures from San Diego and Ensenada and that was because they were broken. Hopefully this link will work.
love ya all... thanks for reading...
guess I could write a little something about our day... Joy got a little sea sick last night after a long meeting in the Union, which is in the front of the ship where the movement is worse. But by the morning she was fine and nothing came up... which was nice. I've been doing well for the most part, a little woosy here and there but I have not taking anything yet but I do wear my cool bracelets around.
Lots of textbook issues, damn UVA bookstore failed to ship many boxes of books, so it could be tough luck for some students who didn't buy books. But it is fun to interact with all the students in the bookstore and I even had a couple of times today where I went for a good 30 min. and forgot I was on a ship in the middle of the ocean. We have a cool thing on our tv that shows us where we are in the ocean, even better is that it plays cheesy 80's music at the same time. Reminds me of being in the office with Brian Stevens!!! (you better be reading this)
cloudy at sea today and no sea life that I saw but I did see another ship off in the distance which was kind of crazy... ok the pictures are done up loading so I'm gonna upload this post, check to make sure it works then conserve some minutes and go have a drink up in the faculty staff lounge.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Had to move
Sorry folks... I tried to keep the cool blog going as much as posible but it just was taking too darn long and we just don't have the minutes to spare. So we are going to do this and see how it works. I will still be doing pictures and such but hopefully it won't take as long.
Joe
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