Atlantic Ocean

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Tomorrow, I will pack a backpack for Spain

Today, I ate my first French Fry, Potato Chip, and bowl of ice cream (2 actually), in a week and a half. (They finally served something decent at lunch 😉

I ate breakfast with Dean Dia (a bubbly and extra vivacious young woman) and a faculty member at 7:30 in the morning… Luckily I had enough sleep to hold a very decent conversation with them.

I sat through my first Global Studies class without getting up due to a wave of nausea. Global Studies is the class that the entire ship takes! It’s located in the Union which is at the front of the ship aka the rockiest, rollercoaster part of the ship… Luckily for me, the Union can’t house all students so some of us spill into classrooms that have a TV feed. These classrooms are also in less vomit-inducing parts of the ship…

It was gorgeous outside today so I soaked in the sun while studying for a while. And I tried to run on the treadmill which is more of an act of balance than anything. I only fell once….

Sunday, my friends and I took a tour of the Bridge which is where all of the controls are and where the Captain is and stuff.. They explained a bunch of navigation things that went right over my head. But it’s okay because we spotted Dolphin! There were a pack of 5 or 6 swimming and jumping along right in front of us! It was incredible.. They were there for a while. And that was the first I heard of any Dolphin spotting because the weather was nicer so the surface of the water was warmer. And we of course had the best view of them... Pretty cool... later that day, I was in the computer lab and we saw more! They were so cute. I got a couple of pictures. Also yesterday we saw land for the first time in 4 days! We sailed through a cluster of remote islands really far off the coast of Europe. It was really cool. The islands were mountainous and up in the clouds. They were on either side of us and we were close enough to see civilization! That was awesome. I so desperately wanted to swim to shore!

This whole 9 credits in 23 days of class is kicking our butts. Here on the ship, you’re either completely giving up on the amounts of homework, or you are skipping out on all the fun to write philosophy papers and study forms of beaches… that’s me. I have a paper due tomorrow at 6:30 tomorrow night, a quiz in Geology, and we lose an hour of sleep on top of it all! This Political Theory class is impossible. We have about 60 pages of reading a night and questions to answer. It's more of a philosophy class than anything and it's at 8 in the morning He's so philosophical and sophisticated with his language and it's really hard to follow. It pretty much goes over my head. Oh well, at least we have a 4 day break from it.

My friends and I planned an independent trip to Seville The first day in Spain (Wed), I will be doing an FDP, or Field Development Program, with my class and some others who wanted to jump on board. These programs are led by our professors and are our chance to take what we are learning to each port. We are required to do about 2 or 3 per class. On Wednesday, I will be with my Geology studying the Coastal Landforms of Spain. Beaches! Waves! Rocks! Geology is fun! Then that night, I'll be watching Flamenco Dancers. That will be really fun because A TON of SAS Students are going on it. Thursday my friends and I are taking a train to Seville and staying in a hostile for the night. We'll be back to Cadiz (where the ship is ported) to celebrate my roommate's 21st birthday on Friday Then Saturday is still open. I'm hoping to just tour Cadiz some more on Saturday because I won't have much time to do so any other day. There have been 3 seminars about what to expect in Spain led by a Spaniard expert! His name is Dr. Gies and he is from the University of Virginia. Tonight, his lecture was on what to eat and what to stay away from in Spain… fried anchovies anyone?? I think I might try it. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Well, I plan to be keeping up with more blogs now that my sea sickness has somewhat subsided. Next time, I will fill you in on my roommates J

Adios!

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Comments

[Grandpa and Grandma]

Blessings!!
We love you and we love reading your blog. Now let's see if we can get a message back to you. What a wonderful experience. I [Grandma] envy few people but must say your trip/classes are making me green [not sea sick green]. We do hope you stay well for the rest of the time. Waiting the next news from you. Love, G and G

[Brian Ecklund]

Hahaha, I can relate so much to the struggle between fun on the ship and school work. It always seems like there is not enough time. You will have a blast in Spain. Dr. Gies was the Dean on my ship and voyage and I spent a week with him in Mexico City. Him and his wife are amazing people and actually really funny. Tell him I say hello and listen to his advice, he knows his stuff!!

[Kristin]

:)
I bet you are looking forward to stepping on dry land :) I'm excited for you love!