Rocking and Rolling at Sea

Hello again!!

Right now I am sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean getting tossed from side to side because of 20 foot waves (no exaggeration). And those are just the normal small ones too!! We are currently taking a 300+ mile detour around this huge storm that is hitting/about to hit the West Coast. Despite the detour we are still getting like the outskirts of the storm and the waves are just insane. Literally as you walk down the hall, you physically run into every wall. We all joke that we feel like human pinballs lol. We also found out that our detour is taking us through the “Green Strip” which is apparently the worst section of the Pacific as far as rough seas go. It was described to us as the captain picking the lesser of two evils to take us through on the way to Hawaii.

Luckily I haven’t gotten sick yet (thank you all for your prayers, they are definitely helping!). My roommate however got soooooooo sick the second night on the ship. Like really bad. He is better now, but he was not feeling so hot for like 15 hours.

After orientations, everyone was a lot happier on the ship. We had this “involvement symposium” thing where we could all sign up for clubs and orientations with people with similar interests. Then there are people like heading up every organization to organize everything. I signed up for every intramural that they offered; it included dodgeball, basketball (which should be funny), volleyball, and soccer. Don’t really know how soccer will work but we will see. The things I am most excited about that I signed up for were a Bible Study group and a Sunday Service group. I was excited that there were actually a significant amount of people interested in it and I can’t wait till we get started. Oh and I also signed up for Yoga, I just figured “what the heck, why not?!?!?”

My first day of class went well. I have Politics in the morning, and I really like my professor! He was really down to earth and understands that we are all kinda in awe of what we are doing and that school work can be cumbersome. He is also from Moab so I stayed after class and talked to him about jeeping for a little bit. Even though I hate Politics I think I might enjoy that class. My global studies class is the one that everyone on the ship has to take and it was ok, didn’t really do much the first day tho…but I mean I was ok with that haha.

That night a big group of 9 of us went to dinner and talked about doing stuff together in some of the ports and stuff. It was also sweet cause a lot of us had signed up for similar trips on the pre-sale stuff. We ended up going up on one of the decks and decided to play apples to apples. Our group of 9 quickly grew to a group of 17. 17 PEOPLE?!?!?! That is an unreal amount of people playing…but it was freaking awesome at the same!!!! The coolest part was the fact that we were hitting the biggest waves of the trip so far. Like the ship would tilt to one side and all the chairs and tables on the deck (including the ones we were sitting on) would start sliding toward the railing; then we would tilt the other way and slide back to where we started. It was awesome!! It’s also really funny trying to eat because everything slides around and you have to keep a close eye on your drink or it will spill on your neighbor.

My second day of class was pretty much the same as the first one. I enjoyed my Marine Biology class and I actually met another girl from OU, although I already forgot her name. We both had just figured we were the only ones from OU so it was a nice surprise to find a fellow sooner. People are already getting into the routine of class and people are spread out everywhere doing homework.

Your classes are scheduled on either A or B days. For instance I have Politics on A days. Then while we are at sea they just alternate ABABAB. So like today was a B day and I had two classes in the morning and then had a break between 1015 and lunch. So for a nice hour and a half I got to sit out in the sun (it was about 80 degrees today so it was beautiful!!) and do homework/reading while looking out over the ocean. That’s right; I sat outside, with friends, doing homework, on a ship, in the middle of the ocean. Sure beats a classroom huh?!?! It’s so cool just looking out every direction and seeing endless ocean with nothing else in sight. Seeing God’s limitless creation is indescribable, I find myself just staring in awe out across the water just trying to take it all in. I mean it gives Genesis a whole new meaning when it says that God “made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it…God called the expanse sky” Genesis 1:7. It’s literally indescribable to be seeing so much of God’s creation first hand and sailing over miles upon miles of it. God is so incredible and just something as simple as the vast oceans is breathtaking knowing that He designed it and created it!!!

Well I’m gunna go do some more reading for my Global Studies class. Probably go sit outside again cause it feels awesome (it’s the first sun we have seen since we started). Hope all is well! Oh and thank you guys so much for commenting, it’s really nice to hear from you all. I love hearing from you all and it crazy how much I already miss you all.

Love you guys!!

T Smith

The Start of Something Great

Hey guys!

Got a chance to sit down and blog some so here is what I have been doing for my first couple days traveling and arriving on the ship.
So my plane flights to Houston and then San Diego were relatively uneventful. My Houston flight was only 2/3 full so everyone was able to have a window or isle seat and enjoy a lot of leg room. Then on my flight to San Diego I sat next to a nice couple who is from outside of Houston and was leaving for vacation. They proceeded to ask me what I was doing and after I explained that I was studying abroad with Semester at Sea, the girl in front of my turned around and mentioned that that is why she was flying to San Diego as well. We didn’t get to talk much on the plane but at baggage claim we introduced ourselves and made the trip over to the Sheraton together to check in. It’s cool because I haven’t even started yet but I have already made a new friend.

After getting to the hotel I tried to take a nap because I was exhausted from the retreat the night before and had gotten like 2 hours of sleep before I left. I managed to sneak in a 2 hour nap but I wouldn’t really even call it that because I kept rolling over and waking myself up. For dinner I met up with Michelle (my friend from the plane) and her roommate Kendra and her friend Scott. We ate at a sports bar and grill located at the Sheraton and then decided to walk around the marina that was located right next to the hotel. None of us stayed out very late because we all were exhausted from traveling all day and were all experiencing a 2-3 hours time change.

In the morning I woke up, checked out, and headed to get on my shuttle bus for the ride into Mexico. Semester at Sea (SAS) definitely knew how to handle everyone and their mom (literally). The check in process at the hotel was very smooth and all we had to do was attach our room numbers to our bags. Our bags were then loaded onto a U-haul style truck and went to the ship separate from the shuttles. The “shuttles” as they called them were not shuttles but charter buses, so they were comfortable and had plenty of room. As soon as kids stepped onto the buses they were introducing themselves and getting to know each other. I sat by a kid named Graham who goes to the University of Georgia. We immediately started talking about football and got several guys around us in on the conversation quickly. We were all pretty bummed about not getting to watch the Cowboys/Vikings game because it was going on while we were on the bus, but when we heard the final score we weren’t as upset about missing it lol. The girl sitting across the aisle from me noticed my OU hat and introduced herself as Sarah and said she attended Texas A&M. So that was cool cause we got to talk about the Big 12 for a bit and ask each other questions and such. The bus ride took about 2 hours including the border crossing which was boring as usual.

Once arriving in Ensenada and entering the port, we got off the bus and went into a building to go through a security screening process just like an airport. Then on the ship you went through the Union room and stopped at like 10 different stations to make sure all our paperwork was filled out and to receive our ID and turn in our passport, which is good cause they are responsible for my passport and I don’t have to worry about losing it haha. During the process of going from table to table, another girl noticed my hat and asked me if I was from Oklahoma or just went to OU. Long story short, she was from Edmond and graduated from Santa Fe in 08, and she was with a friend from Tulsa. Small world huh? So that all went really smooth and I was done in less than 10 minutes.

As soon as I dropped my backpack in my room I was off to lunch cause I had skipped breakfast in favor of sleep and my stomach was not happy. Then I just explored the ship with another group I met and tried to learn my way around. Our group of 6 got lost 3 times, it’s a little confusing at first but you catch on. I met my roommate when I was unpacking. His name is Adam and he is from Minnesota. Our room is fine, we have more than enough space for all of our stuff, and so far we are getting along great.

At 4 we had our first mandatory lifeboat drill. Okay so picture this…550+ college kids, wearing life-jackets, taking roll, and the one rule is 0 talking. Two words…YEAH RIGHT. I mean are you kidding me?!?! Everyone is trying to get to know people and they are like telling us that we have to stop talking or we won’t pass. Then this guy next to me starts asking the crew-boss man all these questions cause we were just soooo bored. First he asked what we would really be doing if we were sinking and then how many people could fit on the lifeboat. Well that was interesting cause first the guy said 90, then he said 100 and 150 in case of an emergency. So we were all like what? Is this like a magic lifeboat that makes 60 more seats appear? Hmmmmmm. Anyways the whole lifeboat drill was hilarious and there are many more stories that happened during the 30 minute drill that I won’t go into now but it was pretty entertaining to say the least.

We were a little delayed in leaving Ensenada due to a customs/immigration problem but that was eventually fixed and we ended up leaving around 1815 local time instead of 1600. Dinner was our first meal on the ship and it isn’t too mad. There aren’t many options at any of the meals but that’s okay, nothing I can’t live with for a semester. Breakfast was also good the next morning; I actually woke up to go eat. After dinner the first night we had orientation which was pretty boring cause it was just a lot of information that we had all already heard. The worst part was at the end. The ship’s doctor gets up in front of everyone and goes, “Alright guys, the seas between here and Hawaii are going to be really bad!” During the meeting we had all kinda noticed the sway in the ship and some people were already getting pretty sick. After the meeting the sway and “roll” of the ship steadily got worse and worse. I took some Dramamine right after the meeting and was fine; my roommate didn’t get sick either luckily. The beds are comfortable and sleep was no problem. Today is just a ton of boring orientation meetings and telling us how to behave and stuff. No one is really excited about it because all they have done so far is reiterate stuff that we all already know as long as we have actually read the stuff we were supposed to read.

The coolest thing so far is just everyone’s attitudes towards each other. I have eaten every meal so far with different people, I have sat at meetings with different people every time, and I have met so many people already. The awesome thing is that everyone is so friendly. People just want to talk to you and get to know you for who you are and there is no apprehension or being shy so far. It just feels like you have known everyone forever cause you just sit down and start having a conversation about whatever. It’s stinkin awesome!!

Well looks like I have written plenty for two days worth haha. Tomorrow we start our first day of classes and everyone is just kinda ready to get into the swing of things. We have already done today’s morning sessions and are getting ready for lunch and the afternoon sessions to follow.

Hope you all are doing awesome! Love you guys!!

T Smith