WEEK 1 - katelyn lilian

Aloha

Putting into words what the past week has entailed seems to be a daunting task, probably impossible. Clearly, this experience is something I don’t think anyone will really understand unless you live it yourself.

(P.S. don’t yell at me for spelling I know its awful)

Quickly some random things I’ve learned or picked up on in the past week:

-There IS a difference between drowsy and non-drowsy motion sickness medication (make sure you know the difference).

-It is possible to take a nap from 6pm-11pm and still get a good night sleep.

-I’m on a SHIP not a BOAT and on a VOYAGE not a TRIP (even though nobody really uses the right terms).

-1/3 people you meet are from Minnesota (a bit of an exaggeration, its actually closer to 1/7 people, but basically the whole state come out of hibernation for this… but can you blame them?).

-It is possible to fall asleep in all six classes you have in a day.

-You get unnaturally excited when you see another boat or bird for the first time in a week.

-There is nothing like watching a sunrise and sunset over the ocean everyday.

-Somehow time on a ship goes faster than you thought and slower than you thought at the same time, it’s like its own world.

-Somehow everyone becomes a morning person while at sea.

-It is ridiculous what some people think Minnesota is like.

Like I said, there are a million and one things I could tell you about the first week and all the things that happened. I guess to start I can tell you about getting on this thing.

We took a 2 hour bus ride to Ensenada, Mexico to board the M.V. World Odyssey. The whole process of getting off the bus and getting into our rooms was about a 30 minute ordeal once we got off the bus and was wildly exciting. For those on the 6:30am bus ride, we showed our excitement on the inside.

Our room (Josey’s and I) has quickly become our second home…we have a decent amount of free space around the cabin because we didn’t bring a lot of stuff. However, the snack cabinet is fully stocked. Although, the food has been awesome so far so the snacks are more because we have nothing else to do.

One of the first things people asked me when they found out I was doing this, was if I got seasick. LUCKILY I didn’t, although a lot of people are. The first two days I had a dull headache from constantly readjusting my eyes (it’s like putting on and taking off glasses every five seconds with the movements on the ship). The movement of the ship puts you pretty much you to sleep immediately, just ask Josey. We fell asleep on the second day from 6:00pm-11pm the woke up for an hour then slept until 8 the next morning.

We have had a week of classes and they have been awfully hard, I mean when were not in class all we have to do is lay by the pool, read, or hang out with other people. Like I said, its a tough go. On A days we have class from 9:30-10:30am and 5:00pm-6:20pm, while on B days we have class 9:30-10:30 & 12:30-1:30. It is a bit strange to have class on Saturdays and Sundays, but when you get to spend other hours of the day at the pool or on one of the decks, it worth the sacrifice. If you’re curious, we have classes in random places, like our restaurants, so a lot of our classes look like this:

You’d think we would all get sick of doing hardly anything all day, but turns out when you gaze at views like this all day, doing nothing is doing something. Really, the views are second to none so far. However, we’ve played a lot of cards, had a lot of random conversations (especially about the weather) and loved every second.

The best part for me so far (other than the whole experience and meeting people) has been morning here. Seriously, there is nothing like watching the sunrise, getting breakfast outside, and spending time reading or relaxing before class.

TODAY, we port in Honolulu, Hawaii… our first port and everyone is off the moon excited. I’ll try to keep a log of all the adventures today, were going on a catamaran and snorkeling then to Waikiki beach.