galway 2012

A very full day in Galway. Upon arrival, we had to tender (ride in our lifeboats) from ship to dock. This may be our only tender port of the journey, which is fine with me because the tender back at the end of the day was rocky. Thankfully, this was not our tender.

Actually, it was a full day of rocks and rocking. Once off the tender, we boarded a tour bus for the Cliffs of Moher. Tony--our tour guide--was a teacher and a history major and was well-versed in everything from geology to linguistics to Aran jumpers (we call them sweaters) to pub etiquette. We had a couple hours of driving ahead of us so this was a good thing, making a few stops along the way, one at Dunguaire Castle, which neighbored a bog of sorts. Well, here is the photo, along with a portion of the castle from which they would drop rocks to kill people. I love castles.

The other stops were at the Poulnabrone Portal Tomb and a village store, where most of our group of 47, consisting primarily of students, drank coffee and lined up to use the single bathroom, not necessarily in that order. I had a great conversation with an 82-year-old farmer, whose crops were suffering but whose spirit was not.

Once we reached the Doolin Pier in County Clare, we waited for a boat that would take us beneath the 702-foot Cliffs of Moher. We had a chance to take some photos. Actually, this first photo is from near the Portal Tomb...and believe me, this is probably not the last cow you will see in my blogging.

While we waited for the boat, I decided to re-enact the founding of Ireland. Note the fish-n-chips stand in the back.

The boat for the Cliffs was ironically named Tranquility. Let’s just say that several of the students had not yet gotten their sea legs. On the rocky ride over, quite a few resembled the alleged color of Ireland, green. I say alleged because in reality, as tour guide Tony informed us, the national color of Ireland is blue.

Once we got to the base of the Cliffs, however, it was worth every bump it took to get there.

After the Cliffs, we had lunch in Doolin at O’Connor’s Pub. Then we headed to back to Galway.

These are not the last sheep you’ll see either.

Time for a coffee and some people-watching before getting back on the tender to ride the rocky waves back to the ship. Next stop, Dublin.

halifax to galway 2012

Still no whale sighting for me, though earlier in the week, others saw both humpback and pilot whales as well as sharks. The humpbacks were seen slapping the water, something they do to stun the fish prior to feeding. We’ve run into rough seas the past few days so no sightings of any kind except for birds. We had 13-foot swells yesterday. Walking forward to aft has become a sport.

 

I’ve heard that the MV Explorer can reach 32 knots, making her one of the fastest cruise ships in the world, if not the fastest. Although an officer on the bridge claimed only 29 Kts, we average 13.1, or about 15 mph. It doesn’t sound fast on land--and it’s certainly not the 17,500 mph that a rocket ship goes--but this ship moves. I took a tour of the bridge a couple days ago--awesome!--and learned about the stabilizers that help keep our starboard and port sides on a somewhat even keel. The ship requires more fuel for their use, but without them, most of us would be scrambling for the white plastic-coated bags found in stacks around the ship.

On the bridge, there is one man dedicated to looking out for danger. Which guy is it? The Yankee fan?

Besides the rocky seas, we’ve had a number of interesting lectures on our upcoming ports of call: Galway, Dublin, and Southampton. Last night, we also got to hear a talk by Kathy Thornton, who will be the Executive Dean on the Fall 2013 voyage. She was an astronaut, so we learned about her voyages and what it’s like to see 16 sunrises in a day.

This, however, is a sunset from the other night. We only saw one that day, but when it’s like this, there’s nothing better.

So yeah, this is my life right now. Even with all the banging around, it’s a pretty good one. The ocean feels more calm this morning, and we’re scheduled to arrive in Galway at 0630 tomorrow. I plan to be a-wake for it. Uuugh, sorry (this is a photo of the ship’s wake).

More adventures to come. See you in Galway.

boston to halifax 2012

Semester at Sea, Fall 2012. So it begins.

It took a day or so to quit weaving through the ship like the proverbial drunken sailor, and considering that one of my sea legs was wobbly already, this was a huge accomplishment. Now that the boat is docked in Halifax, however, I already miss the rocking waves that must remind me of how the I-who-was-not-yet-an-I, the primordial me, once floated around, growing. I feel the same today, my mind and world expanding.

I was reminded last night by our Executive Dean, John Tymitz, and our Academic Dean, LaVahn Hoh, that this experience changes lives. They were addressing a room full of parents who had boarded for the day, a few of whom had actually sailed on previous voyages, as early as 1972. Now they were sending a child on this amazing adventure. The ship is sponsored by the University of Virginia, and for some reason, it took me until last night to remember that I’d wanted to attend UVA when I first applied to universities at the age of seventeen. A few years after that, I’d also wanted to do a semester abroad. It seems like now--some decades later--I’m having the chance to do both. To imagine, truly, is everything, or at the very least it is the beginning of everything.

The parents debarked last night, and today, close to 500 students from 196 universities will board the MV Explorer and join the journey. Some staff who were onboard only for orientation will leave, connections that already feel much stronger than those usually formed in four days.

The crew--all 181 of them--are amazing. I have to say, my favorite crew member thus far is named Ismael...and yes, he gets the Moby Dick reference all the time. I haven’t seen a whale yet, but you never know. Other crew members that rank high are Dante and Reynaldo, our cabin steward. I know many of the crew’s faces better than their names at this point, but I’m learning. I’ll have to find the statistic on how many countries they represent. Our captain is from the Ukraine, commanding the fastest cruise ship perhaps in the world. At one point, I saw us at 12.1 knots. I’ll have to see how fast she can actually go. I’ve set my watch and clock to 24-hour time, and I say things like “starboard” and “aft” with increasing regularity.

The faculty and staff are also wonderful. I think there are about 70 of them. I’ve already been invited to assist with a video storytelling class. Of course, I’ve worked out three times already. The weights are up on the seventh deck (the highest, not counting the observation deck), and I’ve never had a more amazing view while doing pull-ups. As expected, the equipment is flaked with rust, but if that weren’t the case, I wouldn’t have the view. The first day I worked out, a small yellow bird hopped around my feet. I have no idea where it came from--we were miles out to sea--but clearly, it was unafraid of human company. Yesterday, I saw a ladybug on the back of a chair. My aunt says these are my grandparents here to see me off safely.

As for how I spend my days, the ship has a library onboard, but I’ve spent a lot of time looking out at the ocean. Yesterday, we got to leave the ship for the first time and went into Halifax for the day. A great opportunity to walk around in a city that reminded me a lot of Boston. After walking, I sat with a glass of iced tea, monk blend, at the World Tea House, where owner Phil gave us a mini-lesson on his different tea blends and let us use his phone to locate a camera store. The tea was a refreshing break from the coffee on the ship, which I’m convinced I’ll get used to if I drink enough of it. Hey, I’m grateful there’s coffee! We also had lunch off-ship at an organic spot called the Wooden Monkey. The food onboard is good if somewhat bland, having to meet so many tastes, but I’ve had salad, vegetables, and meat or fish at every lunch and dinner. In fact, I eat more vegetables and a greater variety here than at home...and I don’t have to chop them up.

So, here are my pictures worth a thousand words for the day. I’ll see you again once we dock on the other side of the Atlantic. Even with the fastest cruise ship, it’s going to take a while :).