The Ocean is bigger than you thought! We will travel thousands of miles across vast blue emptiness without seeing another ship, airplane, or any evidence of humanity. There are almost no birds. Just the endless sea. This is the real world -- crowded cities and suburbs occupy only a small fraction of our globe.
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| Blue, blue, my world is blue! |
Sea crossings vary from a day to more than a week in length. This is when college happens. Days at sea are school days, with the rhythm of classes and students pulsing through the ship.
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| Sunset from the stern |
Sea days are filled with classes and meals and homework and exams. We don’t keep track of the days of the week but instead have some classes on A days and other classes on B days. We will completely forget the day and date used by the outside world. Ask a student what day it is and they might reply “A16” but almost certainly not “Sunday” or “February 9.”
I almost always wake before dawn. It's easy because we travel ever westward, so clocks turn back every few days with the gift of 25 hours. I wander down to the Berlin to get a mug of coffee and then climb the stairs to Deck 9. Tropical breezes, southern constellations, and the motion of the ship as the colors of dawn spread across the stern. Greeting the other early risers who watch the sun and then a quick shower and breakfast in the Lido.
Global Studies meets at 9:30 and then again at 2 pm. I teach both sections (300 people each time!), so I'm manic all morning. LLLs have a morning seminar from 10-11. I often catch my breath or even a nap after class and then go up to Lido for lunch at an outdoor table.
There's a strong tendency to sit with your friends and become a clique. I prefer to mix it up, find a table with people I don't know, become acquainted with 20-year olds.
Smaller classes meet all over the ship, with about 30 students in each. LLLs can sit in on as many as you wish, or not as the mood takes you. You aren't graded, don't have to do assignments or take exams. Classes are the core of the experience, and it would be a shame to miss out! You might learn some art history, some philosophy, and some oceanography. Or not!
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| Sunset off the port bow in the Red Sea; Egyptian mountains on the horizon |
Many staculty and LLLs head to The Chappy on Deck 7 for happy hour camaraderie and a chance to wind down from the school day. Dinner at Lido is also sunset time. In the deep tropics the days are always 12 hours long, with sunrise at 6 am and sunset at 6 pm (1800). It feels a bit
weird for those of us who expect hot weather to mean 10 pm dusk. Dinner is a good time to socialize while basking in the vastness of the sea and sky.
At 1900 (7 pm) there's always an academic event in the Anderson Union (giant auditorium on Deck 6). Usually, it's a faculty member presenting her research or an interport lecturer explaining the country toward which we're sailing. Sometimes it's a concert.
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| Drone selfie in the Aegean Sea (March 2023) |
From 2000 to 2200 (8 to 10 pm) there's always student-focused entertainment. Sometimes it's a movie, sometimes a concert or show of some kind, sometimes a loud dance party. I usually skip these to work on my class, or hang out with friends, or stargaze from the bow.
I'm almost always asleep by 2200 (10 pm).
