Cabin Fever

All is well on the MV Explorer but I'm ready for land!

Last night we met our "Extended Families." Its a really neat program you can sign up for that connects you with a couple other students and either a life long learner, staff or faculty and you sorta make your own family group out of it! It was really nice and I'm meeting with them again for dinner befor we get off the boat in Barcelona.

The boat however was not so nice yesterday. After dinner I had to take a bonine (motion sickness tablet) and I wore those pressure point bracelets. I ended up passing out about half hour after taking them at 7:30. Hahaha good thing there were no madatory meetings last night!! I slept for 9 and 1/2 hours last night. Totally didn't even study for my midterm which I had this morning because I just fell asleep. OoOopsiesS! But no worries Mome and Dad the test wasn't bad at all and allegedly there's a curve. Yay

But then after my test, I slept for another 1 and 1/2 hours, went to lunch and then slept for 3 more hours!! So I've got about 14 hours under my belt right now, though most of them were probably to make up for lost time and also because of the bonine.

Supposedly the boat has been extra dicey because we were so close to the opening of the Mediterranean. All of the water bottlenecks in the strait of Gibralter and gushes out, creating fast choppy waves.

Speaking of the strait of Gibralter - we are there now! Refueling for about 4 more hours right under the rock. Pretty exciting to not be moving right now. And even more exciting SPAIN IS IN 2 DAYS!

I'm a little nervous for Spain tho because they have the worst pick pockets in the world - even worse than Naples (they're 2nd worst...so happy to be going to the 2 top pick pocketing cities on earth). According to my one Professor, last year when SAS made this trip, 10% of the students were pickpocketed THE FIRST DAY. Whatttttt. And he said he personally saw a girl get thrown onto the street when a thief on a motorcoach grabbed her purse (that was around her shoulder) and yanked it off her - taking her face first into the pavement... Ummmmmm. So basically I'm just gonna cry and put everything in my underwear or the bottom of my shoe or that super akward money belt I bought.

As for an update on the rash - it has spread to my stomach, but is less severe overall. So yay!

Wish me luck & I hope all is well in the US - specifically BelleVernon, York and of course Lansdale.

 

Not Enough Hours in a Day

But really, there aren't! Since we've been losing an hour almost EVERY NIGHT, SAS students are basically living in terms of 23 hour days.Tonight we lose another hour. We lost an hour last night and the night before that and the night two nights befor that.  Right now it is 3:10 pm. So by signing up for an 8am, I sorta signed up for a 4am that will eventually turn into a 2am or 1am. !!

 

All is well at see. We passed the Azores (sp?) and tho I was in class and didnt get to see them, it is comforting to know that we are only about a day away from land now.

 

Something funny for my York friends: you know that Redmans Lake water thing in York on the way to the MD border? Well there was randomly a picture of it in my water treatment book. No description. No explanation. Just a picture of York. So strange!

 

I just got in from laying out - its getting colder outside! Our global studies teacher actually told us he saw it snowing yesterday so I didn't lay out but as it turns out, he just saw the foam from an upper deck that the crew were cleaning....

 

Last night I participated in the ship's Amazing Race. It was basically an 8 person really really hard scavenger hunt. And more than half the boat played so things got real intense real quick. My team's name was Team Team. HAHAhAh we thought we were so funny.

 

I have not been sea sick since that one time when I was just really hungry lol but I do have a rando rash on my back! Which appeared the one day i WASNT in the sun. And its getting itchier and covering 40% of my back. So I'm just not gonna let it see the sun for a few days and I'm gonna wash all my clothes and hopefully it goes away! My guess is maybe the detergent they use on our sheets? Because I got it the day after they changed them...typical me!

 

We have out midterms in either 2 or 3 days and then we pass through the Strait of Gebralter and see the rock with all of the apes on it and THEN! We finally! port! in! Barcelona!

 

Well that is all for now.

 

<3 Vicki

 

 

Rock the Boat, Rock the Boat Baby

So, "Brush Up on Spanish" ended up being more like "You better be fluent in Spanish cause you're not allowed to speak english and on the first day you have to talk to a partner in the preterit tense".... so I dropped it! Best decision of my trip so far considering I wasn't going to transfer it anyways!

 

All of my other classes are fascinating so far. For my water class, we have to pick 1 aspect of water and compare it in 2-3 of the different countries we are porting in using field experience. And for my Green Urbanism class I'm almost done the next week's worth of reading becuase the book is SO GOOD.

 

Today I didn't do too many exciting things other than what my normal schedule is everyday but tonight at 2000 (aka 8 pm - ah I know the ship is on military time) I went to a program on dining out in Spain! And shoutout to my Dad - the guy talked ALOT about Tapas bars. :)

 

Also shoutout to my Dad for it being fathers day in the recent past. And speaking of the recent past Happy Birthday to my big sissy Alyssa for turning 23!

 

Short post today but I have lots to do homework wise! And also we lose another hour of sleep tonight

 

Love you all <3 Vicki

 

 

PS two good jokes I just learned from my dear friend Kaleigh.

 

 

1. Q. What did the hotdog say when he croseed the finish line first?

 

A. I'm the weiner!!

 

 

2. Knock knock.

 

Who's theres?

 

Freep.

 

Freep who?

 

No thanks.

 

 

  

 

 

First Day of School

And it's not over yet!

 

So far I had my first 1/2hr of feeling sea sick this morning, but no worries - I held myself together and felt much better after breakfast. (So then I was thinking maybe I was just really hungry..lol)

 

Started the morning off bright and early at approx. 6:45 (but we lost an hour of sleep so it was more like 5:45 body time). Got breakfast with my roomie at 7:30 and then went to my first class at 8:00.

 

My 8am is Green Urbanism which is pretty freaking cool cause its all about the sustainable (and non sustainable) aspects of cities; and how the structures and layouts of citiies affect behaviors and lives.

 

Then I went right into my Global Studies class that everyone has to take. The main point of the course is to learn about all of the different countries befor we visit them so that we have a better understanding of their culture/ history but today we learned all about the ship we're on - the MV Explorer. That was actually really interesting becuase they talked about all of the different regulations, why we're registered as a Bahaman ship, how they treat the waste, how much fuel we use, etc.

 

And thennn I went to the gym. And my gym I mean the closet with no air ventilation and so many sweaty people. You have to sign up for 1/2 hr slots because of it's size. It was so hot though!! I'm about to buy a fan in Barcelona and put it in there just so that no one dies!

 

Then I got lunch. I had cream of vegetable soup, a salad and egg & olive salad on rye bread. Yumm

 

After that I layed out and read my 100+ pages of reading that I had already been assigned..

 

The reading for my Green Urbanism was on waste pollution and water pollution. It basically talked about how cities can't handle their own waste so they usually try to export it to other poorer places (whether that be in the US or in developing countires) . It also talked about different waste and water treatment option, and their pros and cons. Plus the book which is called Sustainable Urban Development (by Wheeler) is nice because it's a collection of different articles by different authors and theyre all written so that they're really easy for non-technical people like myself to understand.

 

I read some of my Global Studies but it was a struggle.

 

Then I went inside and didn't recognize my self becuase I look like a Mexican!

Heeheh a slight exaggeration.

 

Thennnnn I had my Water Sanitation and Supply class.

Ok so the teacher that was originally suppose to teach it had a family emergency last week so he bailed. But the substitute prof seems awesome. He was teaching on the May-mester and they just asked him to stick around for the next 2 months and he agreed. I can't wait til I'm retired and can pull that off!

 

But thats gonna be a crazy class, very informal (in a good way), very malleable, and very independent.

 

I just had dinner and in 10 minutes I start my Brush up on Spanish class and then head to the activities fair!

 

Peace love and miss you all,

Vicki

I'm On a Boat

Yep! I made it on the boat!! (Except technically its a ship with boats on it..)

 

I've officially been onboard for 33 hours.

 

The Bahamas was great until the lock on our door didn't work so we had to change rooms. And then my dad and I went to the casino for a while because we got a promotion card for 5 FREE dollars to play with. But it was very confusing and also unsucessful!

 

I got on the boat yesterday around 8:30 with no problems! Then I met my roommate (who is from California, but was born in Poland and is fluent - I know, right?) and lots of others, ate lunch with everyone (which was really good and very vegetarian / pescatarian friendly), unpacked, participated in the lifeboat drill, got my email and internet set up, layed out for a lil bit and went to a few general meetings.

 

Also, to anyone that was involved in taking the "passport style picture" of me or taking me to walmart to print it - HAHAHAH they blew up the picture and used it as my photo id. I would post a picture but it would use all of my internet bandwith. Wah.

 

To the best of my knowledge we've exited of the Bermuda triangle, but I'm unsure.

 

We have been in safety/community/informational/boring/long/dark meetings all day. Don't get me wrong, it needs to be done, but I definitly have a sorry case of "fanny fatigue."

 

Something to think about - since we are going east, we lose an hour of sleep every other night basically due to time zone changes!

 

Tonight is one of those nights we lose an hour and tomorrow is the first day of classes! I have a Green Urbanism class at 8am tomorrow, Global Studies at 9:20, a Water Supply and Sanitation class at 4:15 and then a 1credit Brush Up on Spanish class at night. VERY excited.

 

Dinner is in 1/2 hour. Yay I'm hungry. :)

 

Best,

Vicki

 

 

PS Email me at vlbisio@semesteratsea.net. Email to that account is FREE for me to access. I also get FREE incoming texts, so you can text me after you email me so I know its worth checking.

 

Bon Voyage

I'm leaving America in approx. 10 hours. Is this real life?

So after a long day of last minute errands, a good home cooked vegetarian dinner of my favorite meal - eggplant parmesan & a good goodbye bonfire....I'm really leaving.

Also, I packed. Okay it took SO LONG. I HATE PACKING.

But, I am in shock and aw of "Space Bags."


Example: This is the amount of clothes I deemed necessary to my trip.  (hehe oops!)

Okay so then I took about 1/3 (probably more like 2/5 actually, but hey who's counting?!) of the clothes and shoved them into this "large" space bag.

 I sucked all of the air out with a vacum.... and wah-lah!!

Hahahah I know this last picture seems like it isn't completely necessary but I wanted you to understand that all of the stuff you saw on the dresser  (and MORE!) fit into 3 of these bags and then shrunk to this size. I know, right! Space bags are the greatest invention since sliced bread.

*Side note - my fingers look mad weird.


Anyways at this point I am "apprehensive" as Catherine would put it.
I'm a little nervous, a little excited, a little hey-lets-just-get-this-whole-thing-over-with, a little wow-68-days-is-a-long-time and a little good-riddance-america.

I will miss my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my guitar, my house, my room and some foods (typical). But I know that what I will gain from this is honestly invaluable and I should really get all that I can out of it.

Wait, I feel really rude because I definitely just forgot I have a fish. I'll miss her too.. hahah

I'll update more in the next couple of days...if I make it through the Bermuda Triangle....!!

But until then - here's the link to a virtual tour you can take of the MV Explorer. If you have nothing to  do, check it out.

Bon Voyage,
Vicki

Less than 3 days

I still haven't packed.
Not one single thing.
But I've been very productive otherwise! I've bought things I needed, ordered lots of euros, said some goodbyes, done some school things and checked the Semester at Sea homepage and facebook page 6 millions times a day.
I basically just have to to pack and read the common reading - Triumph of the City.

BAHAMAS IN THREE DAYS... if I ever pack!

I won't post again until I pack,
Vicki