Life at Sea

So I got on the ship on Saturday! I'm pretty sure there was magic involved because it was incredible. We took a two hour bus ride from London to the port at Southampton, and when we got off the bus...there she was. Everyone was SO excited and the energy was incredible. It only took about an hour to get through security, check in, and get to our rooms. Nice, clean bureaucracy.

My roommate's name is Katrina. She's from Boston and says "wicked" a lot, so it's a lot like living with my roommates from home (what's up Kate and Marriah). She's so nice, and we're definitely going to be good cabin-mates. Our room is actually a lot bigger than I was anticipating...although it could be that I just didn't have enough room to pack as many clothes as I wanted. The walls are magnetic, so I hung up a bunch of pictures of everyone from home and I've started adding city magnets to my collection. So far I have New York, DC, London, and SAS. My cabin is on deck three, and I have a nice big window that I can watch the water through when I'm pretending to do homework.

Our first day here, we spent time exploring the ship, which is super confusing, especially when you keep forgetting which side is port and which is starboard (I've got it down now though so don't worry). Decks 2-4 are all cabins, and then decks 5-7 are where the rest of our lives happen. Deck 5 has the main dining hall and some classrooms, as well as cabins for professors and their families. Deck 6 has the Union (which is the biggest classroom and where we have a lot of ship meetings) the computer lab, library, piano bar, more classrooms, the Garden Lounge dining room, and an entrance to the outside, where there are tables to study. Deck 7 has the wellness center, fitness center, and pool deck. It takes about 5 minutes to get from one end of the ship to the other, which is really good for someone who is constantly running late.

After we looked around for a little bit, we had a lifeboat drill that required us to wear close-toed shoes, a long sleeve shirt, long pants, and a hat. It made me nervous because I know if there's really an emergency there is no way I'm going to remember a hat. But apparently we have to do the drill once a month, so maybe I'll get the hang of it.

At 1700 we left Southampton and headed out into the water! We all had bubbles to blow and everyone was outside cheering - so much community love right then. We were officially off! And stuck together for four months...so let's hope we're all really nice as we initially seem.

The second day on the ship was orientation...6 hours of it. I won't go into detail, but it was boring. Most people fell asleep and didn't show up for the second half. But afterwards we had the activities fair which was fun. I signed up for zumba with Kelly...shocking, I know. Everyone was out on the deck watching the sunset that night, and I think we all felt pretty good about life right about then. How could we not? We were surrounded by incredible people, heading out on an incredible journey.

Day 3 was when our A day classes started. I had Comparative Politics, Public Health, and Global Ethics, all of which I already had friends in (always a bonus). The profs are obviously all smart and talented, but they also all have so much personality. Sitting in class with them is fun. And my comparative politics prof has a special interest in Cuba - she and I will get along just fine!

That evening we passed under the famous bridge that connects Sweden and Denmark. It was an awesome experience, made more so because I've driven across the bridge. Seeing it from a different perspective was cool.

Day 4 we had our B day of classes, of which I only have one - Foreign Policy of the US. I woke up 5 minutes after the 8 am class started (oops...blame all the time changes and jet lag), but I was still only 10 minutes late. Champion. It's a history-based policy course, which is new for me, but I think it will be really good.

Lunch was the best part of that day, though. We got there just as it was starting, and the stewards invited our group to eat with the Captain and the dean. So cool! They both have awesome stories from all over the world, and were so funny.  We definitely felt like the cool kids...everyone else was jealous. And now the Captain knows me by name and says hi to me in the halls, so I'm officially awesome. He's a redhead too...I feel like we have a special connection.

We've kind of developed into a routine now - early breakfast, noon lunch, nap on the deck, dinner at 1800, and then stargazing by the pool. I was starting to think life couldn't get better...but then I remembered we'll be in Russia tomorrow. So life is definitely about to get better. To prepare, we watched Anastasia tonight. Because there really is no better way to get ready for St. Petersburg than to sing along to "Once Upon a December." I'll be in the Motherland for four days, so look for a new post after that!

Foggy London Town

So London was a bit of a whirlwind...which I guess I should get used to for this semester. I left Tuesday afternoon, and got to London around 8:30. I left one bag at Heathrow because goodness knows there was no way I was dragging 150 pounds of my stuff through the Tube. It was hard enough with just one bag and a backpack.

I finally made it to the hostel at 11. I stayed at St. Christopher's Inn at London Bridge, along with 30ish other SASers. After I checked in and dropped off my bags, I met up with a group in Camden Market. Since I got there at lunch time, we immediately went to a pub. Very British right? There were eight of us, and it was definitely a good introduction to my future classmates. Everyone was super nice and inquisitive and SO excited to be traveling. Side note especially for Kate: I found a Laudree directly across the street from a Paul...so we should clearly go to London together.

After lunch, we headed to Green Park, where we briefly saw Buckingham Palace, and then walked around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens for a few hours. It was 80 degrees and sunny, so everything was gorgeous. But eventually our feet started to get angry at us for not giving them a break, so we went to the original Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We got to see their vault with guitars and clothes from icons like Madonna, The Who, and the Beatles. Pretty awesome for a music lover like myself. After finishing our burgers, we headed back to the hostel, where we hung out with some other SASers on the roof until my eyes refused to stay open any more.

The next day, I decided to get an early start and do some exploring on my own (don't worry mom - I didn't get kidnapped). It was a much more typical rainy British day, so I put on my duck shoes and raincoat and got a hot coffee before walking across the Thames into the business district. It was 8 am, so morning rush hour was in full swing. Seeing that side of London gave me a different perspective on the city - this is where I come to explore and see new things, but for so many people this is just daily life. Eventually, I accidentally came across the Tower Bridge as it was opening for the day. So I bought a student ticket and went inside. Because it was so early, I had the place pretty much to myself, so I could explore the Bloody Tower and Crown Jewels in peace. TWAMP moment: I saw a scepter made for King William and Queen Mary! After about an hour of that, I decided to take the Tube to Westminster. There I saw the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. I think that's when it finally started to hit me that I was actually in London. And I started to get SO EXCITED. I get to spend all semester exploring new cities. It really doesn't get better than that.

                 

But I couldn't dwell on my awesome for too long, because I had to meet a group back at the hostel at noon so that we could go to the Harry Potter studios!! As a nerd, I was uber pumped for this. It got even better when we got there and there were 12 other people just as pumped as I was. I had found my people. We spent over three hours exploring the Great Hall, Gryffindor Common Room, and Potions classroom and took absurd amounts of pictures. Because it was as close to Heaven as we're going to get for a while. We finished up the tour with a taste of butterbeer and a group photo in Mr. Weasley's car. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel for dinner at the pub and more roof time bonding. It was only the second night and already I was sure that I am going to have the time of my life on this trip - SASers are just so much fun.

Our third, and final ( :-( ) day in London my friends and I met up with some other people for breakfast crepes. We could barely fit in the shop, but they were worth it. Those skinny little pancakes will always hold a special place in my heart. After buying some typical London souvenirs, we headed out to the British museum for some culture. It was a really cool museum - plus it was free, so that's a bonus for traveling college students. We saw the Rosetta stone and Greek and Roman statues. And my friend Jordan helped me (forced me?) to face my fear of mummies (but really...if one haunts me I'll never forgive him). A few hours later, we found ourselves back at Buckingham Palace for a quick photo shoot before going to Westminster again. We finally got back to the hostel at 6, at which point we had to drag our bags onto the Tube to get to our new Heathrow hotels. Big shout-out to John for carrying my bag for me! My blistered feet appreciate the pity. I finally got checked into my hotel at 8:30, and headed back out to meet everyone at the Hilton bar for a "last night on land" celebration.

All in all, it was a BUSY couple of days. As we go forward, I'm sure every port will feel like this. But now that I have my taste, and I am so hungry for more. LET'S DO THIS TEAM!

We're on the boat now, but more to come about that after classes begin!

All My Bags Are Packed

TODAY'S THE DAY!! I finally managed to get everything packed last night - two duffel bags, one backpack, and one tote. One duffel weighs 46.8 pounds, and the other 50.0 so I'm a packing champion.



I can't believe after all my prep work I finally get to start enjoying this trip. I am so ready for it to be the experience of a lifetime, and I can't wait to start. I'll be flying from Columbus to Toronto to Heathrow, so I'll be in London at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Then I'll take the Tube to a hostel where I'll meet up with a bunch of other Semester at Sea students. We'll spend three days exploring the city together, and then on Saturday we'll board the ship! After that, it should be smooth sailing (yeah that was a pun).

Thank you all for your love and support! Email me at erin.kellogg.fa13@semesteratsea.org to stay in touch :-)

Love Letter

I was fortunate enough to spend this summer with my two best friends, living in an apartment in Williamsburg. Now that I’m home, my time is spent with my family and besties from high school. Needless to say, it's been pretty great. And after all the dance parties, late night chats, and donut runs, I've realized that the people in my life are the best kind of people. Seriously, I love you guys. So as I’m packing to leave for this semester, I’m getting sad about being away from all of you. Who else is going to watch ridiculous horror movies and memorize One Direction dances with me? And what am I going to do without all the weird Snapchat faces? Basically what I’m trying to say in this brief little love note is that I’m going to miss you all SO MUCH. But don’t worry…I’ll bring back presents and stories.

PS – Happy 18^th birthday to my baby brother‼