We Are Back at Sea!

We have set sail for a second voyage on Semester at Sea!  To see our full itinerary, check out the right side link.

It is no small exaggeration to say it was probably one of the most stressful periods of our lives prior to getting here on this ship right now.  And for Chris, the stress does not end as he teaches two classes every day we are at sea.  He is teaching an introductory course to cultural anthropology and a course on the anthropology of food, which apparently, filled up extremely quickly.  Chris is a bit anxious about this because he worries students signed up hoping the course would be the"Lonely Planet" of foods to eat at each port, however, the course is obviously more theoretical and political, or students wouldn’t get academic credit.  I am sure he and the course will still be loved!

Anyway, back to the stress, which I will soon forget as we tick away the minutes riding the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.  Almost two weeks ago, we moved from Denver, CO, to our new home in Potsdam, NY.  The actual move took three days and two nights with 10-12 hour driving days.  The most difficult part of the trip was the cats as they were meowing and even panting at times.  Quinn did really well, actually, with lots of sleeping in the car seat.  Once we arrived in Potsdam, NY, we had about 10 days to set up shop.  In addition to being a new, large home, most of our furniture had not arrived yet.  Therefore, it was not super comfortable (including sleeping on an air mattress for a week) and the barrenness of the houses only amplified the baby cries and cat howls (all three were struggling with the transition).  Chris and I had lots of late nights trying to get our lives in order and Quinn kept getting up early so we were running on less sleep than usual.  In all this, Chris also defended his dissertation and had some edits to complete before finally uploading his dissertation to the public world! With us being out of sorts, it felt like many things were going wrong for us, such as Chris needing to upload his dissertation again because he put the tables and figures in the wrong order (how dare he!), losing my wedding ring, an ATM card that didn’t work, and losing Chris’ camera during our travels (which we just discovered is at our hotel in England!).  It felt like planes, trains, and automobiles to get to England.  And overall, Quinn did really well, especially on the plane.  However, we are deeply afraid that she has entered the terrible two’s with an extreme desire for independence just days before our two and a half month trip on Semester at Sea where we will need to be highly vigilant.  We still have hope it is fatigue, but she now cries to get her way.  I know, this is common, and I get it.  But, not now please!  In the airport, she was driving us crazy with constant crying because she wanted to walk around and do whatever she wanted (such as riding escalator stairs which weren’t possible because they were going the opposite way) in this extremely crowded airport. She also has decided she hates the stroller, which is not conducive given we will be walking around and exploring many countries soon.  While her comprehension grows each day, she just doesn’t understand rational reasoning right now, which I really look forward to.  Okay, I know this may not happen until age 18.  Again, a person can hope.  So, let me hope, readers!

Despite all this, we made it to England!  We had two days in Southampton, England, for Chris’ orientation, where we stayed at the Grand Harbor Hotel.  Southampton is a cruise terminal, so aka, a really lame destination.  There is a huge Ikea and Toys R’ us, for example, which I shouldn’t knock too much given I MAY have stopped in one of those.  However, Chris has not been to England and this is the only city he may see in England unless we have a little time in London on our last day before heading home.  Luckily, I was able to get to the nearby town of Winchester, which is insanely charming! 

Chris and I were in a program at the University of Colorado at Boulder that entailed befriending an international student on campus.  We befriended Laurence two years ago, a student from England, and he was gracious enough to take a train five hours to spend time with us.  Laurence is a great host and led us around Southampton and Winchester, even though he doesn’t know the towns himself.  He conducted some quick research to identify the key spots and showed us the way, which was so incredibly appreciated given all our energy and mental capacity had been used with moving and getting our physical beings to England.  In Southampton, we ate some great food.  In Winchester, we saw the cathedral, a great hall and dining table of King Arthur, and walked around a quaint creek.  In between, we visited parks so Quinn could get out and stretch her legs, which seemed to help her distaste for the stroller.

Yesterday, we got on the ship!  It was such a strange feeling to be back, let alone back with a two-year-old child.  While I expected to see some familiar faces, as we knew there would be some similar faculty members to the fall 2010 voyage, I wasn’t expecting to see and remember the familiar faces of the ship staff, such as Perry and Henry!   We realize our level of FOMO (fear of missing out) just can’t be at the fall 2010 level as we are definitely going to move slow on friendships and activities, given we now have Quinn to look after and one of us needs to be in the room while she sleeps.  So far, we haven’t even hit the Glazier Lounge, the hot spot for socializing on the ship.  And yet, Quinn sure attracts a lot of attention so there is no short amount of socializing that can still and does happen.  And in case you were wondering, Quinn LOVES the attention and the ship in general.  She gets excited to go to our “cabin,” and just had the chance today to dip her feet in the kids’ pool and was quite upset when I took her away because it was lunchtime.  She has probably high fived and fist bumped 50+ people on this ship so far, and has the cleanest hands of all people on the ship due to her love of the hand sanitizer machines.  She loves running down the halls at full speed, messing with people's computers, and hiding in the curtains (see pic).  I have no doubt she is the perfect child to bring on Semester at Sea.  Quinn is definitely an extravert through and through.  She is adjusting much better than in Potsdam, NY, and Chris and I wonder if all the people and stimulation are a big part of this. Today, she got a funny look on her face at breakfast when she realized we were moving.  It will definitely be a different experience on Semester at Sea with Quinn in many ways.  I do look forward to seeing it all through her little eyes and have no doubt it will give us a fresh perspective.  Speaking of, I better get her up from her nap now.  Let the games begin…

P.S. We brought an inflatable bathtub for Quinn and I think this expression says it all pretty clearly:  “Umm, what is this pathetic thing you call a bath tub?”  By the second day, it went unnoticed and bath time fun proceeded as usual.

P.S.S.  A friend sent us this article.  For a good laugh, especially if you have been on a cruise, check out this article on tips for the perfect cruise from The Onion:  http://www.theonion.com/articles/tips-for-the-perfect-cruise,36303/