At Sea!

Thank you again to our friends, the bon voyage committee, for throwing us an amazing party. It was so great to see everyone before leaving. We miss you all!

Wow, we have been sailing now for seven days! We had the first wave of seasickness with faculty and staff on the ship for orientation and the second wave now with the students. I would guess about 50% or so are seasick, probably another 30% fatigued by the seasick medicine. Thankfully, Chris and I didn’t suffer too much, just fatigue from the medicine. We officially have our sea legs right now. We are crossing the Atlantic and trying to navigate away from a hurricane. Last night, many of us could not fall asleep because the ship was (still is) rocking so much. I don’t know how many times the nightstand drawers opened and closed before we got smart enough to block them with a chair. Chris loved this request at 4 AM. To be honest, I was a little resentful as he managed to sleep through all this. Even at 4 AM, it is truly amazing to look out the ship and see only water.

In terms of our jobs, we are insanely busy. We are essentially planning for a semester in a matter of days. It seems my role, the LLCs, are the catch all for duties. I work until 11 PM the next few nights to monitor the drinking on the ship. We have had so many duties and meetings, it has been challenging to plan my programs. I have a student group; and hopefully, they will help a ton with career events and resume critiques. It is really fun to have “sea meetings” with my students and learn about them as individuals, along with the res life world. I have sat with many students during meals and it is always a fun, engaging conversation. In the meantime, I look across the room and Chris will have six elderly women at his table, completely entranced in whatever story he is telling. While he is also exhausted with his job, he is enjoying it tremendously as he loves this population.

We have another four days left at sea with lots of activities. No doubt, it will go fast. Then, we look forward to taking some time for ourselves in Spain. Our 3rd year wedding anniversary is in a few days, while at sea. So, we hope to do something more special in Spain to celebrate. Of course, one may say 3.5 months sailing around the world is a pretty special way to celebrate as well.