Aug 2006

By far the most unexpected thing about SAS is the service we get. It is a lot like being on a cruise! Each “sea” (like a floor in college apt’s) has a steward who tends to your rooms. My roommate Jihane and I are taken care of by Ruel. Most of the staff is from the Phillipines and they all speak English. Ruel comes into our room every single day to make our beds, sweep the floor and change our towels. If we’ve left out clothes or books he always stacks or folds them. It’s like living in a palace. Not only that but at meals, there are workers who take our trays, bring us drinks and remove our dishes when we are done. Our laundry is simply stuffed in bags and set outside our doors to be returned, washed and folded, the next day. We are starting to wonder what it’s going to be like to go home and have to do things for ourselves.

As a Freshman I spent a lot of time trying to entertain myself at Baldwin Wallace. I remember knowing right away that I wanted more from college than BW could offer. So while looking up schools to transfer to, I also began looking at study abroad options. I remember vividly the day I stumbled upon the Semester At Sea website. I immediately knew this was something I couldn't live without doing. So I filled out the paperwork right away and waited for the letter that would determine my future. As soon as I got accepted I took it home to my parents. They were leery, naturally. In fact, they made me put it off until the Fall of 06. I had initially applied and got accepted to the Spring of 06 voyage.

Needless to say, Freshman year felt like forever ago as I sat in my room last August preparing for my journey. It had been a long process to get to this day. I had been waiting forever to go and I couldn't believe it was finally here. I remember trying to fit everything I could into 3 big rolling duffels...frantically calling Sam, who I had met on the message boards, to find out why my stuff weighed so much! We talked each other through a lot of the packing and preparing process and were both so excited to finally get to go.

On Friday, August 24th?, my mom and brother drove me down to Pittsburgh where I was to meet Sam for our flight to San Diego. I said a teary goodbye to my mom and watched them drive away. Sam and I, smiling uncontrollably, got situated and waiting for our plane to arrive. As we were waiting, a boy sat across from us with his passport in his breast pocket and I knew immediately he was coming with us. We talked briefly. Little did we know, he'd turn out to be one of our best friends on the ship.

I remember feeling sick on the way to SD. I was nervous but more excited than anything. It seemed so surreal that I was finally getting to do this amazing thing I had been waiting so long for. Even my plane was delayed haha.

When we got to San Diego it was dark and we got a cab to our hotel, the infamous Goodnight Inn! It was about 15 minutes from the airport and in Mission Valley. That night I had some issues and needed cranberry juice so we walked in the dark to a 711 that ended up being in the middle of the ghetto, not a good idea. (Mom and Dad- pretend you didnt read that!..the first of many things!) We should have known when we got to our room and the shower had no shower curtain haha.

On Saturday we woke up early, got a ride from a cop to the trolley station, took a trolley to ocean beach, laid out of a few hours, walked up the pier and then went to mission beach. I had been to San Diego the spring before for Spring Break with my boyfriend, Nick. We had the best day ever riding bikes up the shore so I was hoping Sam would want to do that. So we rented bikes which were really old and rickety and rode up the coast to La Jolla. Last time I was there there were tons of seals which I siked Sam up for but when we got there, there were only 2 swimming in the water. What was cool though was the coves were open so we got to go climb in them. Eventually we rode back up to MB, went to dinner at this incredibly californian beach restaurant and watched sunset. Actually, it was a hassle to get in because I wasn't 21 and the guy at the door didn't seem to understand we only wanted dinner!

On Sunday morning we got up early and got our 8am shuttle to Ensenada! It took about 2 hours to get there and everyone on the shuttle was from the PA/NY area. Whitney sat in front of Sam and I and none of us knew at the time that we'd all end up really close as well! I remember being so anxious on the bus that the 2 hours seemed like an entire 24. I wanted to get there so badly and finally see the ship. Finally, we turned this corner and behind this fence was the ship. The big, beautiful MV Explorer just waiting for us. We pulled up and waited in line to get our ID cards. When we did, Sam and I got excited because she was 4128 and I was 4028 so we figured we'd be right across the hall. Turns out she was alllll the way on the end. We swiped in and went up to turn in our passports and get some paperwork and then finally we met our RA's and saw our rooms. My RA was Nam and my roomie was Jihane Jeanty from Miami, FL! She wasn't there when I arrived and it actually took me all day to finally find her. So we spent the day unpacking and meeting people.

The first few days went pretty much the same way. I don't remember many details. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out where to put stuff in my tiny room. We met the Dean and had our first meal and met our roommate and had a lot of meetings. I am in the Bering Sea which is like a floor in a residence hall.

I remember standing on the edge of the ship watching as we pulled away from shore. If I could only have known then how much I was about to see...