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!
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