Two Days at Sea

All of the students boarded the ship on Sunday and we departed from Nassau, Bahamas at 5:00 Sunday night. This was the first “sea-legs” test and I have to say that I am passing with flying colors! There are quite a number of people wearing the wrist bands, patches, and taking pills to calm their nausea – but, I am happy to report that the sea is treating me well. And on the plus side, I don’t think that I have ever slept so well – the room is completely dark and the swaying rocks me to sleep like a little baby!

The sea has been fairly calm as well. It rained for about an hour yesterday, but for the rest of the time it has been sunny and beautiful. All of the students are outside tanning all day (many are now burned), but I have mostly spent my time in the Faculty/Staff Lounge reading and chatting with people. It is a very odd feeling to be an outsider both within the student body and also the staff/faculty – Anzaldua’s borderdweller comes to mind constantly. Additionally, we are treated like royalty on this ship. The stewards make our beds and clean the rooms every day, there is a wait staff for the dining halls, a bar crew and even a spa for massages – all of this seems to me, quite contradictory to what should be a “real-life” experience. In essence, the ship has become a version of the so-called 1st World, rather than a collective space for engaging in the difficult questions of this privileged random identity. Perhaps this will happen as time goes on; however, I wonder how that can even be possible, when all one has to do if they feel uncomfortable or challenged – is return to the ship and feel at ‘home.’

Ah the deep thoughts of the sea – I imagine these thoughts of digestion will occupy most of my very open time schedule J Anyways, tomorrow, we reach Puerto Rico and will stay there for 3 days. We set our clocks ahead 1 hour last night and had our first Pre-Port meeting to talk about what people might expect to encounter in the city. I am happy to be leaving the commotion for awhile – The first day, Tom and I are going on a tour of old San Juan and then on the last day, we will be hiking through a rainforest. In between there, we will most likely wonder around. The whole week everyone has been talking about going to the Target in Puerto Rico to pick up some of the odds and ends forgotten or needed – so difficult to leave the American lifestyle behind…

I am sure that I will more interesting stories to report once I return from Puerto Rico, but until then things are pretty calm and dare I say a typical college environment – just on a beautiful ocean. Love to you all.