Category: Semester at Sea

Today I started to write one of my papers… I have 2 due tomorrow. I also studied for my test tonight. Everyone else got their heads shaved and had fish guts thrown on them. There are hamburgers and ribs for dinner, today is the best day ever. It is the best of times… it is the worst of times.

The stabilizers are not broken. We’re just not using them.

The stabilizers on the ship are broken. They cannot be repaired until south aftica in 6 days. The pool is splashing water everywhere. I guess ill just take more naps.

In the next 15 minutes we will be crossing over the center of the world.

The sea is getting rough again, and I had to go back to these patches. Half a patch seems like a good middle ground between seasickness and patch sickness. I always used to wonder why some of the light fixtures in the hallways were cracked or not working, then the boat rocked just a little too much and I shattered one. Shhhh! Hopefully someone fixes that soon. Just about an hour ago the internet started working in my room, finally someone is getting things done around here. Clay and I coated our clothes in mosquito repellent today on the fifth deck Everyone looked at us like we were crazy, but I’m not risking anything. The Dengue Fever does not sound like the kind of life experience I’m into. While we were up there we saw a fire hose ready to be used, it looks like the ship is getting prepared for pirate attacks. The waters around here are known for attacks. Also everyone started malaria medication today. Some people aren’t doing too well, the psychologist said she’s getting lots of people coming to her with stories of nightmares. I think my medication is treating me alright, but I never feel good on the ship. Will does not look happy at all. I donated my old rainbows to a orphanage in Ghana, I would have rather donated cash for a pair of shoes but they don’t take cash someone in this organization doesn’t have their act together. My spot messenger (the thing that updates my current location map) doesn’t seem to be working right anymore, apparently “Lithium batteries only” is not a suggestion. I doubt I’ll be able to get it to work again anytime soon, but I guess we’ll see. In our preport logistical briefing they taught us how to use a squat toilet, and what to do without toilet paper. I think I’ll stick to doing my business in the woods. Our tour guide, Frederick Von Frimfrong Benne, tried to rip us off. He is no longer our tour guide. Now we’re going to try to figure out how to visit the water village, monkey sanctuary, a small school, and Accra all by ourselves.

We just heard over the midday announcements that many students are asking, “Does the crew sleep on the ship?”

I dropped english and have an international business exam in 25 minutes. The sun is out again and the ocean is calmer. Only one more day of classes til we get to ghana.

Next stop Ghana, we’ll be there on the 22nd. Today the food was delicious. We had fish and chips, and some macaroni ish for lunch. It definitely wasn’t as amazing as the fish and chips in Halifax, but I’m getting tired of being disappointed at meal times and this wasn’t too bad. 150 tablets of pepto certainly weren’t enough, I’ll need to stock up in South Africa. The amount of assignments I have is insane. When I left, I assumed I would have plenty of free time but this is certainly not the case. I will not be posting my english essays to this blog anymore, I hate the changes that I’ve been forced to make. I’m debating dropping my english class. I would probably have to take it over summer, but this really isn’t working out. All of my other classes though difficult are at least interesting. “Writing around the world” is high school english all over again, but the people make me want to curse incessantly. So far the professor has asked me to rewrite one of my papers, she said “you could do much better” yet most of her comments seem to reflect upon her ignorance of the social issues that affect Morocco. “This seems very judgmental” was the comment that made me furious. Someone in class asked me what gridlock was…. This is going to take some will power. I’m very frustrated, F*$& it we’ll do it live. I’m looking into dropping it in the morning, I won’t let this woman ruin my semester at sea. The other day Clay mixed butter into his peanut butter, I’ve told almost everyone this. There are bagels but no cream cheese, and allan the waiter has left. We now have to get our own drinks and Winter the waiter serenades us with the melodies of Bob Marley. We’ve just completed day 5 of each of our classes, there are 22 days in total. So far I’m about half way through reading 3 of my textbooks, but I’m behind. At Chapman I wouldn’t actually do all this reading, but two of my classes require a short paper to be written before each class. Laundry day finally came, I only had to buy 2 semester at sea shirts to make it through. We had a lecturer today tell us all about sustainability, I stopped paying attention when she attempted to explain that Milton Friedman was wrong and most CEOs don’t really care about profit anymore.

I live in a small metal box… there are no windows. The food makes me sick almost half the time. Someone told me that the primary cause of travelers diarrhea is traveling. We call it the “dies” here, lots of people get it. The liberals anger me, I don’t have time to debate with them, it’s too late. People are discussing how these people need to be more “green”, no one is giving them a chance to live first. It’s hot as africa… and humid too. For some reason though, it’s really not that bad. The seas are really calm so I’m not using the patch, it was too much and sometimes was worse than the seasickness. I’ll post some of my english essays later.