Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 82

The last couple days of writing from my journal. I’ve been having a crazy time, waking up before 9 for classes, and spending the day reading, writing, meeting people, and hanging off the railing watching the ocean. It is definitely a lot of fun, but I am seriously missing you guys. More than I even anticipated. Its starting to get to me. Thank you for the comments and messages, the love from a quarter of the way around the world is much needed and even more appreciated. anyway, here it is... Les McCabe, our executive dean, spoke to the “school” yesterday. He talked about ubuntu, a concept introduced to him by the Archbishop Desmund Tutu. The word, translated as humanity, comes from the Bantu language of the Zulu people of South Africa. The concept emphasizes compassion ... read more

Ok, so now that I have my internet and everything set up, it is time to get this blog going. The Bahamas were pretty cool. The hotel I stayed in was amazing and I got to watch the stupid Eagles lose to the Cardinals on a big screen projector. The next day my roommate for the night Alex and I went to the port to get on the ship (we have been told many times that it is NOT a boat). The M.V. Explorer is really cool. It is smaller than the last cruise ship I was on but it has everything we need. The rooms are tiny but I have only spent the nights there so it works out. It has been three days since we left the Bahamas and it is pretty weird to ... read more

Good morning to all of you suffering the way-below-zero temps at home. It is sunny and 80 degrees at 9:00 AM on the ship! I think we made the right decision by going on this trip. When I'm done here I'll put on my "swimming costume" and get some sun. Hee-hee-hee. We are about half-way across the Atlantic. Although there are some sea swells, it is generally quite calm. Mom has worked her way up to a mile walk around the deck. I tease her that she'll be running it by April. Of course, all the great food gives us a good reason to walk. Here's another bit of info: when I asked why there weren't any scones at breakfast, our tablemates looked horrified. Those are only for tea or dessert (which they call pudding or ... read more

Hello Everybody! We made it! We're sailing away off the coast of France, heading South toward the Canary Islands which will be our first stop. The flight from Minneapolis went perfectly -- we had a female captain! -- but I was dismayed to see a layer of snow at the London (Heathrow) airport. I thought we'd left that all behind us. They say they are having their coldest winter since 2000. Of course, it is nothing compared to Minnesota. A car was waiting at the airport to whisk us down to Southampton where we stayed overnight. We boarded the ship, Black Watch, in the afternoon. Our dock was next to the one from which the Titanic sailed. The ship is quite nice. Not too big, only 800 passengers. I think Mom and I will be able ... read more

I was thinking that perhaps my loyal readers might wonder what has been happening now that we are somewhere in mid-Atlantic between the Azores and North America. Well, we are rolling along quite nicely…..in spite of the fact that the forward stabilizers aren’t working. Fortunately, the ship “had” 2 sets of stabilizers and overall, the seas haven’t been that rough. The weather itself, tho, hasn’t been that great as it continues with lots of wind and temperatures that remain in the high 60s. The Europeans on board, however, find the temperature balmy, so they are the ones in the deck chairs (sometimes bundled up like mid-winter) and hot tubs. By about 10:30 AM, the jogging track is filled with people out for their morning walk….(3 times around the track is a mile)….so many that real joggers ... read more