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!

just another Champaign weekend

It's amazing how there is so much to do (and how much we can d0) in a small city such as Champaign (and her twin city Urbana). Seeing a "broadway" (ok, off broadway but Ave Q and Cabaret were fantastic) show, eating at good restaurants with great and innovative food, and having at least one great bakery (thank you Mirabelle's) makes this a good place to live. And we even host a marathon!

Now if I can only learn how to do things like gardening :-)

chi-town

It's been over a year since I moved from Irvine to Champaign. It's been a great time and i've had fun exploring the "middle" as I affectionately have taken to calling the midwest. Chicago is beautiful (ok, i'm talking about fall,parts of spring and summer) and tasty - so much to do and see! 

Chicago