A tale of four cities: Barcelona!

Written 7.8.2010

            I am a lucky woman. At this very moment, 12:32 AM on July 8^th, 2010 I am sitting in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The ship made good time and we arrived 8 hours earlier than anticipated. As a result, we are at this very moment berthed in the dock. We cannot get off the ship however until tomorrow morning when Immigration & Customs will come onboard and clear us for disembarkation. So as I look out my window I can see cloaked in the darkness, the outlines of the Croatian homes and roads nestled on the hillsides. I would take my customary arrival picture but it is much to dark to see anything in the picture. So, I have gotten ahead and behind all at once. As you may have noticed it’s been a while since I wrote. Since my last post entry I have officially become an international traveler and have experienced through all my sensory receptacles the best of Barcelona, Spain, Rome, Italy and Naples, Italy. We have docked in those three ports. And I must say it has been more than amazing…I have done a poor job of chronicling these experiences in this space but I hope to rectify that problem immediately! Starting now………………….

            Barcelona is a beautiful city, full of history, architectural wonders, and a strong cultural heritage. We arrived on the morning of June 24^th, after nine very long days at sea. I got up early to watch the ship come into the harbor. The ship typically comes into harbor at the crack of dawn. The ship is usually making its approach at about 630-7am. As this was the first port, many people on the ship woke up to watch our arrival to Espana! I will attempt to detail the process below. It was amazing to watch it happen in Spain but it’s the same process for all of our ports.

            The first step in the process is that a little boat comes alongside our ship. This boat is called a pilot boat and on that boat is a pilot. The pilot boat comes alongside our ship and the pilot jumps out of the boat and onto our ship. All this happens while both vessels are moving. It is really cool to see.  The pilot comes onboard to help the Master (the captain of the ship is known as the Master) and the crew bring the ship into the port. This process I am told happens with any big ship that is entering a port. So in short time, the ship is guided into the harbor, the anchor is dropped and we are docked. The last few minutes as the ship comes to a stop are often very rocky and you can literally hear and feel the ship glide into those last few meters. Once the ship is berthed, the customs and immigration folks come onboard to inspect the manifests (the list of passengers), passports and make any inquiries regarding passengers. By international law or practice, the customs and immigration officials are within their rights to demand to see, face to face, anyone on the ship. Thus far, the immigration and customs process has been relatively easy and there have not been any interrogations. The whole ship is usually approved carte blanche and is cleared for disembarkation. Concurrent to the customs and immigration folks coming onboard the whole shipboard community has a meeting with a member of the United States Consulate/Embassy. This meeting, called a diplomatic briefing is mandatory for everyone. During this meeting the diplomat talks about the politics and economics of the country we are entering. They also discuss the relationship between the U.S. and that country and other things of note. In all the ports thus far they have also included information about safety and security concerns and what folks need to be aware of. In Spain, the diplomat spent significant time talking about the widespread occurrence of petty theft, pick pocketing and scams particularly of tourists. The previous night the shipboard community had a logistical pre-port meeting were many of these same security issues were discussed at length. Despite these NUMEROUS warnings, many of the students were pick pocked or the victim of petty crimes during their time in Spain. Mostly because of poor decision making and not using the good sense that God gave them. Anyway, I digress. So the diplomat does their briefing and at the conclusion of their talk and a Q& A session, the ship is fully cleared. At this point passengers can leave the ship.

So now that I spent so much time detailing what telling you about the logistics of it all, you probably want to know what I did and my experiences while in Barcelona. Well here it is………….

Barcelona is located in the Catalonian region of Spain. The Catalans have aspirations of separating from Spain because they see themselves as a separate nation. Most Catalans identify more strongly with their Catalan heritage than a Spanish one. Native Barcelonans prefer to speak Catalan than Spanish---although they do know how to speak Spanish.  The signs in Barcelona were primarily in Catalan. The culture is evident. This strong identity is so evident that Spain won a world cup game and there were very few people in Barcelona celebrating. Whereas in Madrid, the whole city had a party for the win. So that was cool to see and witness.

On the day of our arrival in Spain, I spent the majority of the time close to the ship. One of my work related projects is working with the Inter-port students. Inter-port students are students who are native to the countries we are visiting who join the shipboard community for the purpose of increasing our understanding of their home country. The students join us the port prior to their home country and travel with us to their homes. So the first day in Spain, I was waiting for the Italian inter-port student to arrive. Luckily, SAS had contracted for a shuttle bus to provide transportation between the ship and the main commercial district. I rode the bus to the main area, Las Ramblas and spent most of the day walking around and exploring. Las Ramblas is a large pedestrian boulevard, which snakes through the middle of the city. There are shops, restaurants and places to buy souvenirs along the road. There are also street performers. This is a place where a lot of crime occurs because of the density of tourists in this space. If you come to Barcelona, you will spend some time along the Ramblas. I hooked up with a group of graduate students and just strolled down the street. We ended up seeing a couple of Gaudi’s famous buildings and a bar named Obama. Obviously took a picture of both but I was considerably more interested in the Obama bar than the Gaudi buildings.

            Gaudi is a famous architect who designed a bunch of buildings in Barcelona. Who cares? Apparently everyone else and their momma but me. The lines to take pictures and view these buildings wrapped around the block. I was happy to see them but did not have any transformative experience at the sight of them. I have come to the realization that I am not that interested in architecture. I felt a bit sacrilegious telling my traveling companions, “No, I don’t want to walk a mile and half to look at a bunch of gaudy buildings. I don’t want to hike a hill to look at them and I definitely am not spending money to go inside.” Needless to say, I found other activities to occupy my time. Again, I digress; the first day was pretty low key. Oh one other thing about Barcelona is that one of the major plazas contains a monument to Christopher Columbus. Want to guess my thoughts about that? Boo! Yeah I know Christopher crossing the Atlantic turned out all right for the Spanish but he wins no awards in my world so a momentous monument in his honor was less than impressive in my mind.

            Day 2 in Barcelona found me on a SAS trip to Montserrat. Montserrat is a monastery located way up high in the mountainsides of Barcelona. The views going up the mountain were absolutely breathtaking and it’s hard to put into words or capture in pictures. I took a couple of videos and only that comes close to capturing the beauty and awe of the mountainous region. After spending a day in the urban center of Barcelona, it was wonderful to retreat into the natural beauty of the surrounding countryside. Once you get up to a certain point in the monastery, you get off the bus and you can hike up higher on the mountain. You also can enter the monastery. I did this trip with Chela and we chose to enter the monastery first. There were lots of clergy, nuns and monks wandering about. The grounds of the monastery were beautiful although it was overrun with tourists from all over the world. The monastery is famous not only for its location but also because it is home to the Black Virgin Mary. I did not get a chance to see the Black Virgin because the lines were so long but if I ever find myself in Spain, I will visit Montserrat again and hopefully see the Black Virgin. Now as you know I have limited interest in the Black Virgin as a religious symbol or icon. I am more interested in the existence of a Black figure given the largely negative perception held of the Moors (Muslims) and most people south of the Spanish border by Spaniards.

            This brings me to another topic….race and Spain. In general there were not many black people in the part of the country we were. The black people I did observe were primarily street vendors who seemed to largely originate from the Continent. While I did not feel unwelcome in Spain I did not necessarily feel welcome. I don’t want to impose my American sense of race relations to a different context but I don’t think Spain is a country I would feel comfortable traveling through by myself. Maybe just me but that’s my sense.

            So Montserrat was beautiful, hope you were able to see my pictures in the slideshow. I included comments so you know what you are looking at.

            After Montserrat, we came back to the ship and hung out for a little bit. We were able to find two free tickets to another SAS trip called Barcelona at Night. Before telling you about this trip I must tell you that the students who make it on this trip in general, have MONEY! It costs 10,000-15,000 for the summer voyage. Granted a number of students get scholarship and other financial aid to finance the expense but this is by no means a voyage that a typical working class family can afford to finance. As a result, some of the elements of the experience are taken for granted. Students were required to purchase their trips back in April. However once they came onto the ship and made new friends, they suddenly had other plans. Their non-refundable trip tickets became disposable to them. When that happens students have two choices, they can either donate their ticket to the free box for any other member of the shipboard community to pick up or they can try to sell them. Being the frugal woman that I am, I often check the donation box for trips. I am lucky to have a friend who is equally as frugal. So to continue the previously started story, we found two free tickets for an excursion that night. So who looks a gift horse in the face? Not us! So off we went. It was awesome. We visited Mont Juic where many of the Olympic complex was built for the 1992 summer games, including the torch. It was cool. From a certain point on Mont Juic you can see breathtaking views of the entire city. From that vantage point, I was able to take an awesome picture of our ship docked in the harbor. Our free trip also included a tour of Spanish Village--- this constructed area in which architecture from all over Spain was contained. That also was nice to get an overview of how different buildings are constructed in the country. It felt a bit like a Disney World set. But oh well. The Spanish built this area specifically for a World Exposition Fair. After that we drove by Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia. His unfinished masterpiece that is still in construction. They have been working on this building since 1882. I still don’t get what is taking so long. Just call the building finished and be done with it but oh well! The final stop on our evening tour was the fountains for a beautiful night show. It was lovely.

Day 3 I did some shopping for souvenirs on the Ramblas. We also visited the Bocquiera, a famous market. We also were able to find a flea market. It was nice to go to the flea market and have interactions with some regular folks away from the tourist drags. I did not buy very much but it was nice to visit a different part of town.

Day 4, we wandered around a mall and got some cool Spanish treats. A good time was had by all.

So my overall impression of Barcelona is that it’s a nice city. However it felt very manufactured and fabricated to me. A little contrived. Many of their major tourist sites were conceived as part of international events, the Olympics or a number of World Fairs. As a result, much of their city is relatively new or renovated. I like that to a certain extent but I like my cities with a little more authentic flavor. I am confident that such areas exists in the city but in my short time I was not able to witness too much of it. Barcelona did have much more graffiti than I would expect from a similar city in the US but I found similar issues in Italy.

Some rituals or things that I am doing during my journey that I think you might find interesting.

• -       I am collecting a magnet for each of my ports.
• -       I buy 2 bottles of wine or special liquor in each port--- I hope my dad keeps his promise to pick me up from Virginia. Otherwise I will have trouble transporting all this liquid on a planeJ
• -       I am sending a postcard to my family from each port. I am also sending postcards to friends at certain ports so be on the lookout for your postcard. If you would like to get a postcard but don’t think I have your address, please send it along.
• -       As we usually get into port early in the morning, I always take a picture out of the window of my cabin of the first site I see upon waking up. So I can remember my first site of each port.
• -       I try to catch a picture of the last sight of each port as we leave. Some of the pictures aren’t that clear but they remind me.

I think that’s it for Barcelona. I will work on uploading my Italy pictures and detailing my experiences there soon. I must admit now, {spoiler alert!!!} that I love Dubrovnik, Croatia!!! It is by far my favorite port so far. I will tell you more about that soon. 

Pictures from Espana

Ship Life: The Good, The Bad & the Ugly! - this is a LONG one!

Tomorrow at 8am, we dock in Barcelona---or Bothanlona, as I like to say. Ask me to say it for you when I get back to the states. It amuses me to no end. Anyway tomorrow we dock and the adventure truly begins. We are scheduled to have a diplomatic briefing at 9am with a representative from the U.S. Consulate in Spain. The ship is expected to clear customs and immigration shortly thereafter and will be allowed to begin our explorations!! Bad news………..we are likely NOT to get our passports stamped. The word is that they will likely clear everyone on the ship without passport stamps. I continue to be PEEVED by these developments! I guess I should be thankful that the USA has such great relations with all these countries that my passport is sort of like a blank check for travel but geez, this is getting in the way of my mementos!  One of these countries better stamp my passport. I think I will try going by the customs office tomorrow and see if I can get the agent to just stamp mine. Regardless, I will be in Espana tomorrow and I really don’t have much to complain about….so I’m excited can you tell????  Anyway,  this entry is intended to be a reflection of my life on the ship. I’m trying to talk about A LOT so I will try to break them down into categories.

The Ship: As I indicated in previous blog, the ship is great! There are seven decks (aka floors) of living space. The first level is completely off limits to the program participants as this is where the crew lives and has all their facilities. We have an AMAZING crew on the ship that takes care of everything on the ship not related to the program. So as I indicated earlier, we have a cabin steward, Edwin, who comes in every day and makes the bed, straightens up the room, puts fresh towels in and replenishes the toiletries…if I leave clothes on the chair, he folds them up neatly….its sort of like a hotel...I have thoughts about this, ask me about it when you see me! 

The second level of the ship has more participant restricted areas, along with a medical clinic and some student cabins. The third and fourth are all cabins inhabited by students and staff members. I am on the 4^th deck and I believe it’s the best because I am centrally located to all the good stuff on the ship. Directly above my cabin is the 5^th Deck Main Dining Area. This is the fanciest of the two dining areas and is often used for more formal events. Although it is also used for regular meals as well. Also on the fifth deck is Tymitz Square (named after a rich alum of the SAS program) where the various dean’s offices are located. Also located on this deck is the reception desk where I spend more time than I should buying phone cards to call home. Can you believe they sell phone cards for $20…..now how many minutes do you suppose one gets for that large sum of money…….13 measly minutes. Yeah, a little on the expensive side!!! I keep looking for the Caribbean Dream cards but they tell me they wont work on the shipL

Anyway deck 5 also contains some of the fancy cabins on the ship. Deck 6 also has a dining room which leads out to a outdoor dining area. It is very nice to sit out and have your meal alfresco on a sunny afternoon while watching the ocean waves! Deck 6 is the heart of the shipboard campus with the majority of the classroom spaces, the campus store, library, computer lab and union all occupying the remainder of this level.

Deck 7 is a very interesting space. On deck 7 you will find the wellness center which contains a spa. Yes, we have a spa aboard this ship. Crazy I know but I think I will get a massage before getting home. I hear their massages are wonderful. They are relatively reasonably priced- $55 for an hour. Also on Deck 7 are the nicest cabins on the ship. Sandra Day O’Connor and Julian Bond stayed up there when they were on board. The deans also have their quarters in this area. Cabins on Deck 7 have private balconies…..very fancy!! Deck 7 is also home to the faculty-staff lounge---students are NEVER allowed in this space. (well they are allowed by very special invitation). As it’s a forbidden area, all the students want to go in there. It doesn’t help that the deck has large floor to ceiling windows which provide excellent views for the faculty and staff. But also gives the students a perfect view of everything they are missing. …… sort of evil, I know. The students also want to come into the FACStaff lounge because it is the only place in the ship where alcohol is free flowing. Students are allowed to drink on the ship but in a very restricted fashion so they long to get drinks as easily as the faculty and staff do in the lounge. I personally do not spend too much time in the lounge because its in the front part of the ship…..the front of the ship is usually the most rocky when we are going through choppy waters. A final thing on Deck 7 is the pool. Yes, I said pool. It is a relatively small pool and I think I heard someone say during a tour that the pool water is filtered ocean water but im not sure. At the pool, lots of people lay out and work on their tans. As I am naturally golden brown I am not usually hanging out in this area. Well, sometimes im there but not really by my own desire. The pool deck is where a limited amount of alcohol (3 drinks) are served to students wishing to partake in adult beverages on certain nights from the hours of 9pm-11. I can explain the whole alcohol policy to you if you are interested.

Work on the ship: so since last august when I was offered this position, I have been explaining to people that this was my summer JOB….that while I would be doing some travel, my primary function on the ship would be that of staff member. Most people laughed when I said that and said yeah right.  Well I can report that I have been W-O-R-K-I-N-G hard. Since the students boarded the ship in Halifax, I have been working 10-18 hour days. If I get to bed before 2am it’s a miracle. My daily schedule has gone a little something like this:

 All members of the shipboard community are required to attend Global Studies class, in which we learn about the history, politics and culture of the places we will be visiting. The class begins at 9:15am and ends at 1030am.

After that I usually did some administrative work—send emails, catch up with folks, book rooms.1215-1500 (that’s 3pm to you land lovers!) I was in a student life meeting

1500-1730 I did more administrative work and preparation for my student meetings.

1730-2300 I had a slew of student meetings. I advise/lead/coordinate all the student groups related to diversity, multiculturalism and intercultural competency (its currently 11 groups).  I am also responsible for a “Sea” otherwise known as a floor, of 83 students. I also have an “extended” family of 4 students I meet with.

I am lucky to be working with 2 wonderful graduate assistants who do an amazing job supporting me but all this for 8 days straight takes its toll.

Despite this RIDICULOUS schedule I love working with diversity related student groups. There is something about sharing experiences with students who are often the ones left out in most circles that speaks to my soul.

In any case, I keep telling people that I will stop working once we reach Barcelona. As we reach Barcelona tomorrow, I’m doneJ ……I’m a workaholic so this is highly unlikely.

My Favorite days on the ship:

So overall I found ship life to be both exhilarating and confining. Its amazing to know you are off heading somewhere wonderful with such a relatively small group of people. However being on a seven level ship with a group of people for eight days can be so stifling. I think I definitely had a case of cabin fever several points during the voyage. Some things that helped lift my spirits:

• -       talking with my boo through MSN chat or briefly on the phone
• -       Hearing from my mom and sisters. Calling my dad for Father’s day.
• -   chatting with family and friends.....if you are on MSN chat, Gchat, or FBchat and you see me online, please say hey! I love hearing from folks back home. {thanks MG for chat time!}
• -       Videos and pictures of my nieces (thank God for FB!)
•       Passing through the Azoros (a series of small islands off the coast of Europe). We passed by them on the morning of 6.19. although we we quite a way from the coast it did my soul good to know that we were not alone on this big ocean. It can sometimes feel very isolating not to see another vessel or sign of life for several days. I could see small clusters of homes perched on the hills. Although it felt like the middle of nowhere to me, someone called it home and that helped settle me.
•      10pm sunset on that same night. On this same night I saw the beautiful image of sea, sky and land, I also was able to witness a beautiful sunset at about 10pm (2200!)! that is so late, I know but it was a nice breezy evening and the colors of the sky hitting the ocean water were simply magnificent.
•      Random sightings of marine life: so I don’t like to look out into the ocean that often because on the choppy days, looking into the water made it worse…..but on some of the calmer days I was fortunate to catch glimpses of dolphins, flying fish, a big starfish and whales. Amazing to see them in their natural habitats out in the middle of the ocean. Really makes you pause to consider the magnitude of God’s power. Just being surrounded by water prompts celestial reflections and I am so blessed to have these opportunity to take this all in. so often in our busy industrialized lives we become disconnected from God’s magnificence as represented by the natural world. It is so very amazing to be in its presence daily! Really helps you to feel reconnected to nature. I must admit however that I will be very happy to be back in a very industrialized solid land tomorrow!

• -       Yesterday, June 22 we passed through the Strait of Gibralter. AMAZING!! I know I use this word a lot on this blog but that’s because so much of it is, truly amazing and no other word will do as an expression of all that is going on. So we passed through the strait at about 4pm. It was an event for the entire shipboard community. Everyone came out to check it out. It was amazingly windy on the front of the ship, felt like a wind tunnel and people had to hold on or risk being thrown about. But the feeling of having Africa (Tanger, Morocco) on one side and Europe (Gibraltor, Spain) on the other was absolutely awe inspiring. I don’t think I can fully capture it in words. I took a video, will try to post but in case it doesn’t ask me for it when I get home. Carved into the ground on the Moroccan side as you entered the strait there was some Arabic writing. None of the people around me read Arabic but we were able to find out later that the writing translated to : God, Country, King. One of the Saudi students aboard the ship explained to me this is significant because this is the order in which Moroccans will strive to lead their lives: by following God, then county and then the King. I thought it interesting.

• -       Its interesting how the color of the water changes with the temperature. When its cold out, like when we were in the North Atlantic right outside Canada, it was so very cold and cloudy, the water was a dark gray color. Now that we have reached the sunny Mediterranean, the water is a smooth, glassy blue. It is so gorgeous and really makes me want to get out there and start enjoying Barcelona!!!

-       I must go now, its late (we are 6 hours ahead of EST) and so much to do on the morrow. Ta ta for now! I will try to update more regularly now that we are in port. I don’t want to lose my memories so will try to capture them soon after their occurrence: )

Minus a stamp & Beaver Tails!!

I apologize for the delay in posting, life on board this ship is hectic! Please find below one of two blogs I intend to post before reaching Barcelona on 6.24. I have pictures to add to this but because the internet is so slow on the ship I decided to post without pics. Will add pictures soon. I miss and love everyone, please leave comments and thoughts!! Four days until Barcelona!!!! 

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We arrived in Canada in the early morning of June 14. I am very lucky to be in a room with a window so immediately upon waking up I saw land! I have never been so excited to see buildings and the various trappings of a dock before in my life. Although the trip to Halifax from Ft. Lauderdale was relatively short, 4 days, I grew tired of being on the ship for such a length of time. So I was so very excited to look out the window and see land! As has become my habit, the first thing I did was take a picture of what I was seeing out of my window. I literally started jumping up and down at the sight of land. Anyway, I think you get the picture……well if you don’t here’s the picture of what was outside my window upon arrival to Canada!

 So it took a little while before we could get off the ship because there was some confusion about whether or not each person individually had to go through customs. After about an hour or so the ship got the all clear and we were allowed to disembark the vessel (like my use of nautical talk?). One of the major reasons I was so excited about this trip was because of the lure of EIGHT stamps added to my passport. Don’t you know those sneaky Candians didn’t stamp our passports. I tell you I was bit peaved but oh well, just gives me another reason to come back to Canada, although I doubt I will make it back all the way to Halifax again.

 a group of us decided that we had to pick up some stuff and go explore Halifax. Being the frugal shoppers that we are we set off to find the nearest Walmart---who goes to Canada and then looks for Walmart…a bit embarresing I know! But before embarking on our Walmart quest we went looking for Beaver Tails….what are Beaver Tails you may be asking. Whatever you’re thinking is probably wrong and likely to be very similar to what I initially thought. Beaver Tails are a doughy, deep fried concoction of warm, cinnamon sugar goodness! It’s a local favorite and we walked almost a mile along the waterfront to get some. Let me tell you, it was worth the walk. I had one, wanted to get a 2^nd one but figured my arteries might rebel. Here I am enjoying a Beaver Tail!!!

                                    

So after consuming two day’s worth of calories. We got directions on how to take public transportation to Walmart. For $2 we got to ride through Halifax and see beyond the area immediately surrounding the port. We saw typical suburban/urban detached homes, a beautiful botanical garden and this gorgeous church. We rode the bus for 20 minutes out to a shopping mall area where we found the Walmart, Best Buy and all the typical stores you find in a shopping district. They took our USD in the store and it was almost impossible to tell we were in a different country. The one tell tale sign of Canadian was that all the items in the store were labeled in English and in French. One of my friends asked about that and I had to gently remind her that French is also an official language of Canada.

We only really got to enjoy Halifax for a few hours because we had to get back to the ship for some meetings…. (I had lots and lots of meetings on the ship-some more enjoyable than others)…but one thing that did happen to me which is worth noting is that my phone broke. For the specific purpose of this trip, I had purchased a quad band phone to use. When I got to Halifax, I was able to make a couple of phone calls but then all of a sudden the phone stopped working. I have a couple of theories on what happened but the important thing is the phone was dead. I started FREAKING out because while I was at sea I was not able to send or receive any calls and I was really looking forward to talking to folks when I reached port. I was so upset about the whole thing and tried to figure out a solution. Since we had such a limited amount of time in Halifax, I would not have time to go back out to get a new phone, battery or charger. NEEDLESS to say I was freaking out when thinking about the possibility of not having a phone to contact my family and friends for the duration of the trip. But then I thought what if I contact the folks where I purchased the phone to see if they could help me. So I emailed them that same day and explained the situation. In a few hours I got an email back from them. They offered to send me a new phone, charger and battery to BARCELONA! Isn’t that AMAZING. So I ordered this phone from a company called Travel Ready Phones on EBAY. They were wonderful!!! They communicated well with me, answered promptly, gave me tracking information for the phone. I found out the phone reached Spain on Friday so it should definitely be at the port by the time I reach Barcelona! How excited am I? ESTACTIC!!

Such was my time in Halifax. It was marked by a lack of a stamp, beaver tails, Wal-Mart, a broken phone and a very considerate merchant. AMAZING!

The students boarded the ship on June 15, 2010 beginning at 8am. We set sail at 5pm and the adventure has begun! Next blog: Life on a Ship, the good, the bad and ugly! 

PICTURES- hot off the presses!!!

My Hair is Ready to Go! (I wrote this entry on 5/30 but forgot to post)

Hello Again,
On Friday, I got my hair braided. This is a momentous step in my preparation because I haven't gotten my hair braided since I graduated from my Master's program in 2005. Check me out. how does it look?!!

Greetings from the Ocean!

Despite missing everyone back home desperately, this place is AMAZING! It is my first full day on the ship and it’s a weirdly wonderful experience thus far. So you can fully understand, I will endeavor to detail what has been going on over by me!!!

I flew out of Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 9 at 7:50pm. While this is an admittedly late flight I ended up needing every minute I left for the airport. I packed that morning (I packed for a 2.5 month trip in 2 hours- I’m sure I forgot something- oh well!) and every second between when I awoke until I left was filled with things to do. I returned the tags to my car to the great state of Delaware and put my car into my sister’s garage and a million other tasks that I swore I would have enough time to do back in May, crept up on me on that last day. Anyway, I managed to get everything done and arrived to the airport with time to spare. I had a brief moment of panic when I thought I lost my wallet when I got to the airport, but alas I found it in my overstuffed bag.

Upon arriving in Ft. Lauderdale I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet room I would be spending the night. My friend Chela has a connect with someone who works for Marriot so were in this beautiful suite for the low, low price of $40 (that’s $20 each folks, you can NOT beat that!). I’ll see if I can post the pictures!

Chela kept laughing at how big my bags were and I tried to express to her that for me, this was a light packing job! Oh well, I think only ONE bag for clothes and shoes for a 2.5 month journey is more than reasonable. The other bag contained my other random stuff such as electronics, medicines/teas, bath and body products, etc! a girl had needs, geez!!!

Anyway so we had a lovely night’s sleep in our super cheap, comfy pad and awoke the next morning ready to start our adventure. After a quick drive to the port, we were all set. I forgot to mention that both our shuttle bus driver AND the port agent who checked us in where Haitian. I am still so tickled whenever I come to Florida or NY by the sheer number of Haitians who are everywhere. Chela was jealous that the driver and I shared a few words in Creole on our short drive. I assured her that we were NOT talking about her!

To continue we board this massive structure, the MV Explorer and my level of excitement and enthusiasm quickly doubled and tripled. Everyone is so incredibly friendly and was wonderful in helping us get settled. There were lots of hugs going around at the check in area! The ship is very nicely and modernly detailed and our rooms are small but nice. Excuse me; our cabins are small but nice. You have to use the proper language when discussing ship related items! I am sharing a room with a lovely woman from Pittsburgh. She also is a PhD student and we have been getting along swimmingly!

So three notable things have happened so far! On the very FIRST day we met Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and have a lovely picture with her. She was very approachable and spent some time talking to us about her thoughts regarding the SPA, which is located on our ship and how she thought this was inappropriate. If you are interested in that, I can tell you more about that conversation! So I have a picture with a judge from the highest court in the land! So cool!!!

The second amazing experience I’ve had today is the opportunity to hear renowned civil rights leader Julian Bond speak. He gave a very thought provoking talk about the unfinished business of repairing America’s racial issues. He did an amazing job tying it to the current immigration debates, which really spoke to me. I also have a picture with this living legend.

The third and final AMAZING thing, which has happened, was sort of random but I think worth noting. I was walking down the hall minding my business and a fellow shipmate stopped and asked me if I was Tutu’s daughter. Who’s Tutu I replied, prepared to say my dad’s name is Jean BaptisteJ Archbishop Tutu he said! He continued to comment that I looked distinguished. How about that? Distinguished!! Made my day it did!

So the ship is great, it’s sort of like a hotel. We have a wonderful steward Edwin who comes and makes our bed and freshens up the room every couple of hours. I have some serious reservations about that level of service for the entirety of the summer. Most of my objections are related to the values we are passing on to the students when we structure a program in such a way. Really raises questions of class and economic consciousness, which many of these students will not consider in a meaningful way. Anyway, I don’t want to get on my soapbox so I will end for now. Please stay tune, I don’t have my camera set up yet but pictures will be come soon. Stay tuned. I miss you and love you and please email or comment. I would love to hear from folks back home!!!

I have full access to email and will be checking regularly so send me some e-loveJ

Sg

p.s. right now the ship is along the coast of Virginia. I will likely pass by PA, NJ and DE tomorrow. I will be sure to wave, if you have a second, wave back. Happy SabbathJ