Life Aboard the MV

Today marks a week and a half on board the MV Explorer. I will refer to the time in two periods: Before Psychologist (B.P…no oil spill jokes please, the ocean out here is quite blue) and After Psychologist (A.P.) The only reason I feel the need to split these up is because I feel like I’ve been on two different cruis-sorry, voyages. The first few days were brutal. Take all the anxiety you feel about being in a new situation and with new people, and then confine your escaping ability to about 8,000 square feet. The entire trip out of Canada was riddled with fog and the occasional “invisible whale,” everyone was anxious, classes hadn’t started so we had 16 hours with very little to do…it was a nightmare. I was convinced that if I saw another boat headed in any direction other than “To Africa,” I was jumping off and swimming to it. Being able to contact my loved ones helped for sure, but nothing could quite help me to escape the feeling of being alone in a big metal box. One of the faculty is fond of giving speeches, but she is notorious for running between 15 and 30 minutes over time. Anyway, she is a huge fan of Desmond Tutu (who is boarding the ship in Ghana) and talks about “ubuntu” constantly (it’s basically about living for humanity, not just yourself. A good message). Every chance she gets, it’s all about ubuntu. I can hear her voice ringing in my ears just typing it…that didn’t help anything during this period.

My roommate’s name is Anthony, he is from Hawai’i and goes to the U of San Diego (along with 16% of the ship). He’s a really nice guy, his girlfriend is on the voyage so I don’t see a whole lot of him. Which might be just as well, because I’m pretty sure he’s allergic to shirts.

So that was B.P. I met with the psychologist, Rosalyn (1/2 of a husband/wife psychologist team) and that was a huge help. Maybe it was just having someone to talk to, but that was a real turning point. I’m in a much better place now and enjoying my time here ten-fold more. I have found a solid group of friends who I traveled with in Morocco (details in the next post) and am much better at finding things to do to keep me busy.

Now a little about the ship. It really is an amazing vessel…there are two dining rooms, one of which has about 20 tables outside which makes for some spectacular sunset dining (the sun sets off the back of the ship for most of the journey.) Really the only thing that could be better is the food…it’s pretty comparable to your typical college dorm food. The only cool part is that we have to restock from the countries we visit, so today I ate a peach from Morocco. Rumor has it that when we get to SE Asia, we get some pretty unique fruits and vegetables. I’ll keep you posted. The ship is equipped with a wellness center (for haircuts, massages and working out) as well as a weight room, a pool with a bar, a doctor’s office, a large meeting room in the front, several study areas, a computer lab…it really is impressive.

The classes I’m taking are architecture, religion, international law and human rights, and then a global studies course that everyone on the ship takes (deals with cultural topics specific to the countries coming up.) So far none are terribly difficult, and besides, I only have to get C-minuses (don’t read that last part Mom.) We are stopping in the Canary Islands tomorrow to refuel because gas is one cent cheaper there…doesn’t sound like a big deal until you get 12,000 metric tons of fuel. We can’t debark though, so my next post after Morocco will be about Ghana! Stay tuned.

Note: I can be reached easily and reliably at tkbazley@semesteratsea.net. I can’t check gmail or facebook so hit me up there.