Shipboard Life

the ship in nassau, bahamas

Day 1 in Trinidad

May 24, 2011

We are at our first port – Port of Spain, Trinidad and after a whole day’s worth of work, I finally got to get out of the ship at 1700. Once we (Ros, Kaya, me) got out of the port area, we went left and then saw that we had to cross a very major street with five lanes during high traffic time. I forgot to say that we didn’t have any lights in front of us to help us cross or remind cars to stop. After some nervous laughter and what seemed like a lifetime of waiting out cars speeding at minimum 45 mph or just completely stopped waiting to go, we were able to cross with me in the front waving my hands up and down like a bird. We walked through the city and saw numerous historical buildings – Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the Old Fire Station Tower, the very cool and modern national library, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, the Red House which is under construction or rather repair, the Old Public Library, the Cabildo, the Treasury Building, and the Old Police Headquarters. What was my favorite buiding was the last one on the list – the Old Police Headquarters had some of the same arches and look of what can be found in the Alhambra in Spain. It is described as Gothic and while I am not an architecture expert, I can’t help but think of something that was made by the Arabs or Moors in Spain. this building was built in 1876 from limestone and was the site of the old West India regiment barracks.

Several blocks from this building, I saw the education ministry’s building. Compared to the rather noble and majestic looking Police Headquarters building, the Education Ministry’s building looked worn, non-descript, and frankly, may be called a “dump.” It makes one think of how society may value one type of “service” over another. What I enjoyed the most besides walking and getting to know my colleagues (we ended up picking up another faculty member – Dean), was talking with the police officer outside of the headquarters. He was so friendly and was fascinated with the multi-racial make-up of our group. He was shocked that I was considered American by my colleagues because according to him, I was not. We all assumed that he thought it was because I was Asian. We had a fun conversation telling him about the diversity in the United States even though he may not see that in the tv and movies he watches from the west.

We ended the evening after walking through the city at the Hyatt overlooking the water, the ship, and the lovely sunset. So peaceful, so calm with gentle breezes, a perfect way to end a very busy day.

Day 1 of the Voyage!

Hello from the Caribbean! We left the Bahamas on May 20^th and are now on our way to Trinidad (By the way did you all know that Trinidad and Tobago is one country?). It’s the first sea day for all of us as a community of learners and despite the relatively calm seas, we are experiencing some sea sickness that has resulted in some missed classes. Yesterday’s orientation went well – imagine doing student orientation in 7 hours and getting students to learn everything they need to know about their living learning environment in that time.
I gave my first speech to the community during the orientation and started off with quotes from “Oh the Places you will go” by Dr. Seuss.

Some of you have asked for my daily schedule at sea (in port / land, it changes since I take various trips/independent travel).

Here it is:

0530 – wake up

0545 – work out

0645 – cabin, prep for day

0800 – breakfast and get to know students, faculty, staff, lifelong learners

0900 – meeting with the administrative dean (that is the 4 deans)

1000 – meeting with the Staff Captain (2^nd in command of the entire ship)

1100 – phone meeting with ISE

1200 – meeting and lunch with Living Learning Team (aka student affairs division)

1330 – break unless there is another meeting with students, etc.

1500 – office hours/desk time

1730 – dinner

1900 – Events (student life, explore seminars, film series)

2100 – Events (student life, faculty / staff gatherings)

2400 – downtime / sleep

Bahamas Here We Come!

We had quite a day and evening. I came on the ship after traveling from New Orleans with about 1 hour worth of sleep. I met our fabulous Living Learning Team and am so excited to work with them and the faculty, staff, crew, and officers of the MV Explorer. We have been going through our training and more to come tomorrow. This is such a wonderful opportunity and I feel so lucky to be able to experience another "voyage of a lifetime."

Semester at Sea MayMester 2011

In a couple of days, I will be off to my third semester at sea voyage - this time t0 7 countries in 26 days (well with training and a couple of days off at the bahamas, a total of 30 days). Our voyage itinerary can be found at

http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/itinerary-calendar.php.

I hope to be able to blog a bit or at least put up some pictures of our voyage. This one is unlike any other (what SAS voyage is anyway?) but we hope to do some really good work in all of the countries that we visit. Our goal is to be engaged, to work with the locals identifying and solving critical issues that will enable them to have better lives, and like other voyages to learn how to be better members of our global society. I'll miss all of my family and friends "on land" and of course August and our Rafa! Feel free to email or to write notes on the blog -

Graduation Weekend

At Casa 425 i Claremont Enjoying the beautiful sunshine, fantastic weather, and busy with graduation activities. More info and pics to come as I celebrate and then pack up for the next adventure - Semester at Sea Summer Short Term Voyage 2011 that starts in less than 5 days!