Here's to Looking at You Morocco :)

It is hard to believe that as I site here writing this, that the engines
are starting back up and we are about to leave our first port of this
incredible journey. The past four days have flown by and I'm worried
that the same will happen with the rest of the voyage. The experience
reminds me of a lyric from one of my favorite Counting Crows songs, "A
Long December." They lyric is "I can't remember all the times I've told
myself to hold onto these moments as they pass" and I'm starting to
realize that I'm going to have so many moments this summer that I want
to hold onto and not let pass. I'm really glad Morocco was our first
port because it is so different than what we are all used to and will
have probably led to culture shock for many of our students (we have our
first post port reflection in about half an hour so I'm sure I'll hear
about some of the students experience during that). To be honest with
you, I'm not really sure what I was expecting of Morocco. I've been to
Egypt so I thought it would be like that, and in some ways it was and in
others it was completely different.


I got up early the day we arrive to Casablanca to watch us pull into
port. It was an amazing experience and one that I am glad I sacrificed
sleep to have. Immigration took forever and a day because the Moroccan
officials wanted to see everyone on the ship. Unfortunately due to visa
issues, four students had to stay on board for the entire four days we
were in Morocco. I was leading a field program for the first two days
that went to Marrakesh, the Atlas Mountains, and the Ourika Valley so
once everyone from our program had gotten through immigration we headed
off the ship and started our longish drive to Marrakesh. Due to the
immigration issues we left two hours later than the field office had
planned so we had to adjust our plans for the day just a little. There
were 31 people on the trip and they ended up being such an amazing group
of students, staff, faculty and family members. I really couldn't have
asked for a better trip to start off my time in Morocco. Our guide,
Feta, was absolutely incredible telling us so much about Moroccan
history, life, culture, and basically anything else that we wanted to
know. He was also so kind and funny as well.

If you have never been to Morocco or to a Moroccan restaurant then let
me tell you, you are missing out on some of the most amazing food ever.
I literally could have stayed and eaten everything under the sun in this
country. Our first stop on the trip was directly to lunch at a
traditional restaurant where we were greeted with singers, musicians,
and dancers. Lunch was a three course feast with the traditional Tagine
being served as the main course. Tangine is amazing and I need to marry
someone who knows how to cook it or who can learn how to cook it. After
lunch we did a walking tour of part of Marrakesh visiting the Bahia
Palace and the Ben Yousef School (Koran School). We then headed to the
souk (market) which was gigantic. I have no idea how we managed to walk
through the Souk without losing half of the group! The market was
amazing and I really wish I had another day to just spend going through
it. The last stop of the night before heading to our hotel was the
Djamaa el fna Square where we saw snake charmers, food vendors, and the
saddest monkeys who were forced to wear diapers. That night I was able
to relax in the hotel (being a trip leader and keeping track of 31
people is not easy at all!!) and skype with my parents.


The second day we made two quick stops in Marrakesh before heading to
the Atlas Mountains. We went to the Marjoelle Gardens which are
absolutely gorgeous and were a nice relaxing way to start the day. We
also had a shopping stop to get some souvenirs since we hadn't been able
to shop in the market the night before. After those stops, we jumped
back on the bus and headed to the Atlas Mountains and the Ourika Valley
to visit some Berber Villages. I don't know what I expected of the
mountains, but I didn't think they would be as big or as beautiful as
they were. They absolutely took my breath away and reminded me of how
much I miss seeing mountains on a daily basis. We got out in a village
and were able to walk around for a little bit and see how traditional
Berbers live today. We also got to go to a Berber family's house and
have lunch with them which they cooked from scratch for us that morning.
It was the best food I have eaten in a long time and I have no idea how
I'm going to be able to eat potatoes again after the ones they served us
because they just melted in your mouth and were so delicious. I honestly
don't think I'm going to have a field program live up to this one or a
guide as amazing as Feta for the remainder of the voyage, but fingers
crossed the rest of the ports live up to this trip. I should also
mention that there is another Lindsey on the ship who is our admin
assistant who was also on the field program. She was a great help to me
keeping the group organized and we had an amazing time bonding on the
trip over several quite entertaining things that happened, so yay for
having new friends on the ship :)


On our third day in Morocco I did another field program but this time I
wasn't leading it and was headed to Fes which I had heard was amazing. I
had an awful time. The only good things were the lunch (more amazing
tangine) and getting to see the city from on top of hill. I'm really
disappointed because I had heard how great the city was, but this tour
did it no justice whatsoever. We were basically shuttled from shop to
shop to watch demonstrations and then buy things. We had a couple other
stops at a mosque and a wood carving museum, but overall it was not a
good experience :(

My last day, today, was spent in Casablanca. I went with two of the
other RDs to the Hassan II Mosque which was GORGEOUS and HUGE. Its the
second largest mosque in the world and was built over a period of 6
years from 1987 to 1993. The amount of work put into it and the details
of the mosque are just unbelievable. The roof opens up, I mean, how cool
is that?? After the tour of the Mosque we walked back to the medina to
go shopping. I wish I had had time to shop in the markets of Marrakesh
and Fes because Casablanca didn't compare to either of them. I managed
to spend all of my dirham though and my favorite purchase is my new pair
of Aladdin pants. They are amazing and I pretty much just want to wear
them every day. And don't worry Lauren, I got you a present in this port
:P This image doesn't come close to giving justice to the mosque we
visited today:

Amazingly all of the students made it back to the ship on time (well
technically 3 field programs were late, but that doesn't count) so no
one has dock time at the next port! YAY! I have a busy busy week ahead
of me as we are gearing up for Sea Olympics Sunday (I'll post more about
that later) and I have beverage service duty tomorrow night
(BOOOOOOOO!!!). Tomorrow we will be bunkered at Gibraltar all day so
that will be amazing to have a view of the rock all day while I work :)

Rolling Seas

Tonight is the first night where I've really felt as though we are on a
ship. We spent more than an entire day at anchor off the isle of white
before we really headed out into the sea this morning around 6am. The
ship has been very rocky tonight and for the first time, I feel a little
sea sick right now. I'm hoping all my students are doing ok, but it
looks like we might be in for a pretty rocky night of sleep.

Today was the first day of classes for all of the students. It is so
interesting to see how the ship turns spaces into working classrooms and
crazy to see over 500 students wandering around the ship with their
backpacks going to class or sitting out in the public areas studying and
doing homework. This truly is a floating academical village. I've been
able to check in with quite a few of my residents and most of them seem
to have enjoyed their first day of classes. A couple switched classes,
but overall they are excited and a little overwhelmed about all the work
they have to do for the semester. We have some pretty amazing professors
on the ship and I'm hoping to be able to sit in some of the larger
lectures throughout the course of the voyage so I can see the amazing
professors in action.

We had our first large event last night the Activities Fair. This is an
opportunity for students to sign up for different clubs and
organizations or make their own. The event was a huge success, but was a
little stressful to put together just because there was so much to do in
such a little amount of time. Our Dean Stacey best describes this
experience as being Res Life on crack. Everything is so much more
intensified and moves at such a quicker pace because we have such a
short amount of time with our residents. I was in the B.Y.O.C. room for
the event which meant "Bring Your Own Club" it was super popular and we
actually have more clubs than we have space for, but that is a great
problem to have as it means more students can get involved! I'll be
advising a few groups including the photography club and the
international student association. Tomorrow night we have another large
event, our first community event, which Tiffany and I (along with our
student workers) are in charge of. We are playing a huge game of mingle
(but calling it sponges) and the winner gets to be the first person off
the ship in Casablanca which we think is pretty darn cool. Then after
the game we are having a dance. Hopefully it doesn't get too crazy.

Tonight we also had our first beverage service night. All evenings when
we are at sea students are able to get two drinks with dinner (either
beer or wine). Every other night, students get an additional beverage
service from two hours from 9pm-11pm where they are able to get three
additional nights. Tonight was the first night of extra beverage service
and during that the RDs have to go and act like hall monitors to make
sure that students are being safe, responsible, and not sharing their
drinks. It actually went really well and not as many students showed up
as I thought would, but what was awful is how cold it is on the ship
during this. The event is held on the 7th deck by the swimming pool, so
outside and us poor RDs have to stand outside in the cold for two and a
half hours watching the students drink. Next time we have one, I'm
wearing like twenty layers of clothing.

My favorite thing so far has been the connections that I have been
making with my students. I know about 60-70% of their names right now
(its really hard!! RAs, I feel for you now) and my goal is to have them
all down by the time we get to Casablanca. They are an amazing group of
students who are a lot of fun, which means that may lead to some
challenging situations throughout the voyage. I'm really excited to
continue to be part of their community and get to know them. I've also
spent most of my evenings in the faculty/staff lounge connecting with
others on the voyage, which is great, but also not very good for my
liver or for my pocketbook.

I find out tomorrow if I am leading any field programs, so I am really
excited about that! I'm hoping the seas calms down soon because this is
rough. Only a few more days and we will be in Casablanca where I promise
to post some pictures!!

...And We're Off!

Well, we are kind of off. We left Southampton today around 5pm and set
sail for Morocco. We are actually currently anchored by the Isle of
Wright since Casablanca is not as far away from Southampton as the
number of say we allotted for it. We should be anchored here until about
10pm tomorrow night. So we are on our way, but technically we aren't
going anywhere right now (with the exception of rocking back and forth).

The past couple days since I last wrote have been very very busy. We are
on the ship now and clearly based on my last paragraph, the students are
also on the ship. We got on here Sunday afternoon and had time to find
out way our this absolutely beautiful ship. I've seen pictures, but let
me tell you, pictures do not do this ship justice. Unfortunately with
the internet situation, I can't upload any pictures to these blogs, but
when I get to port and am able to find wifi, I will make sure to share
pictures of the ship, my cabin, and our week of sailing. I have a cabin
all to myself and my wonderful steward Auxilios put my beds together
today so I now have a double bed for the rest of the voyage. The cabin
is actually a little bigger than I imagined with lots of storage areas,
however the bathroom is tiny. It is still a wonderful place to be living
for the summer and really I'm only going to be spending time sleeping in
here (and maybe the occasional "small gathering" in the cabin).

My students are amazing! I have 71 residents in the Baltic Sea and to be
honest with you, I have no idea how I am going to learn all their names.
My goal is to have it done by Casablanca, so I have about 4 days left to
accomplish this. I have several international students along with US
students from all over the country. A few of my residents came together,
so I am hoping that we won't have any roommate issues. It was so much
fun today though waiting in the hallway for them to get here and pretty
much bombarding them as soon as they got down the hallway. Seeing their
excitement has made me even more excited about this voyage. We also had
our first sea meeting tonight, so I was able to see all of my residents
in one place and have the opportunity to get to know a little more about
them. We are doing another meeting tomorrow night to discuss what type
of community we want, so I will be very interested to see how that
meeting goes. I have all boys surrounding my cabin, so that will also be
interesting especially with the 70 to 30% male female ratio.

One thing that I need to update you all on is that my voyage has had an
itinerary change. We will no longer be going to Istanbul. Even though
things may settle down before we were planning to be there in July,
there is just so much uncertainty and the city is not safe. College
students in Istanbul right now would also probably be a recipe for
disaster as so many of them would probably want to go see or join the
protests that are happening. Instead of Istanbul we will actually be
visiting two ports that I went to on a cruise I took in 2009- Crete and
Kusdasi (I know I spelled this wrong, but its 1am and I'm lazy).
Students are really excited to go to a Greek Island, but there are a lot
of people disappointed that we are no longer going to Istanbul. I had an
amazing trip planned and won't be able to get all my money back for it,
so I'm clearly disappointed but I 100% trust SAS and know that they are
making this decision with lots of information that I am not privy too.

I've done a really good job getting to know people so far and have
really enjoyed hanging out with faculty at staff. We have a lounge that
is just for us, so after a long day it is really nice to go up there at
night, enjoy an adult beverage, and socialize with other folks on the
ship. You should also know that I've found my twin who I was separated
at birth from, Tiffany. We have so many similarities that it is scary!
She is also on my desk right across from me so we get the opportunity to
see each other every day and we are actually working on several large
events together as well. We've taken lots of pictures together so I will
make sure to post some of those for you all!

Tomorrow is orientation for the students so it will be a very busy day
and then myself and two other RDs are responsible for planning the
activities fair tomorrow night, which is a HUGE task! The boat is
currently rocking me to sleep, so even though I would love to write
more, its time for sleep!

Orientation

The past two days have been super busy, but I wanted to make sure I got some sort of update posted before we head to the ship. I think I'm still in disbelief that this is all happening, so I'm hoping when I actually see the ship tomorrow afternoon that I will finally realize that I'm not dreaming and I'm actually heading on this voyage. As you all know, I left London on Friday afternoon and came down to Southampton. I arrived here around 3pm on Friday and pretty much dove right into everything.

We started Friday night out with a social for all the faculty, staff and families who will be sailing together this summer. I FINALLY got to meet all of the RDs and Student Life Staff in person which was amazing! We've all been talking over conference calls the entire spring, so it was great to finally meet in real life rather than just listening to each other talk over the phone. We have an absolutely great group with staff from different backgrounds and experiences. Per usual, I am the baby. I think 3 years separate me and the next youngest RD. We all click really well though and I can already see the great strengths everyone brings to our team. After the social our team headed to the mall for dinner where I finally had some Nandos. If you are ever in the UK, you need to make sure you have Nandos because it is DELICIOUS!!! I ended the night running over to ASDA for some last minute items and more snacks for the voyage and then settled into my hotel room so thankful to not be staying in a hostel any more.

 I'm Official!

One of the other RDs, Tiffany!

Today was jam packed with orientation sessions where we learned more about the mission and values of SAS. We also heard more about what the community will be like and what our specific roles will be. We also had some great time interacting with faculty and other staff. I especially enjoyed sitting down with faculty members and telling them what it is that RDs do, both on the ship and in real life. Several of them were worried about having to interact with students in their "homes" and responding to crisis situations so I think they were very happy when I let them know that the seven RDs do this every day and know how to handle students after hours. It truly seems as though we are going to have a great community on the ship, so I can't wait to finally get there! We also got to spend some time as just the RD staff and I'm really glad we got that time before we get on the ship.

We have more orientation tomorrow and then we go to the ship in the afternoon. Students arrived on Monday and then we set sail for Morocco Monday night! There might be a chance that we won't get to Istanbul because of everything that is going on over there, so as you might imagine, I am anxiously sitting waiting to find out what will happen and where we might end up instead. I will be really sad if we don't end up going because it was the port I was most looking forward to and because several of us had planned a big trip to Cappadocia. The most important thing though is our safety and the safety of our students. I'll post more if we get updates on the situation.

I would write more, but I really need to get some sleep before our long long day tomorrow. But at least I know when I wake up, it will be the day that I move into my new home for the summer!!!

Wizards, Punks, and Mummies...Oh My!

So its my third day here in London and I only have a couple hours left before I need to leave the hostel and head to my bus for Southampton. I'm starting to get a little nervous about Semester at Sea and meeting everyone (probably its my introvert side that is nervous) but luckily one of my co-workers is on my same bus so I will have some time to spend with them and get to know them which should help calm my nerves.

The past couple days in London have been great. I've become a great map reader and I've really enjoyed getting to see and do as much as I can in so little time. This morning one of my roommates managed to be super loud and wake me up at 5:30, but it worked out because it allowed me to have a lovely stroll around the Buckingham Palace area when no one else was around. It is a beautiful, crisp morning here and the walk was just what I needed to start my day and wake me up! Here are a few pictures from this morning.

 Buckingham Palace and Queen Victoria Memorial

 Memorial for Canadian Soldiers who served in World War I and II in Green Park

Queen Victoria

So back to yesterday, I started the day off heading to the Harry Potter Studio Tour which is about 30 minutes outside of London. The tour is not cheap, however, if you are a Harry Potter fan, this is something that you absolutely have to do. It is amazing to see all the sets, costumes, and learn so many behind the scenes secrets. I literally grew up reading Harry Potter and I knew I was going to be an emotional mess throughout the tour. I actually managed to hold it together until I saw the model of the castle which is just so detailed and beautiful. The details that went into every aspect of the films is so unbelievable and incredible so it was amazing to get to spend time seeing all the heard work that resulted in some of my favorite films of all time. I paid a little extra to get a digital guide which was really nice as it was narrated by the gorgeous Tom Felton and provided lots of extra details that I would not have been aware of it I hadn't gotten it. Here are a few pictures from the studios.

 Great Hall

 Tri Wizard Cup

Snape and Dumbledore at the front of the Great Hall

 Voldermort and Bellatrix Costumes

 Harry's Hogwarts Letter

 The bus that I would NEVER want to ride

Part of the Castle

Once I had finished the Harry Potter Studio Tour which took me a little over two hours, I headed back into London for more exploring. I contemplated taking a nap, but knew that would not be good for jet lag and it would make me mad at myself later for missing out on time to explore. I really wanted to go to a market, but since it wasn't the weekend that meant limited options. If I were here tomorrow I would go to Portobello Road for sure, I guess that just means I need to plan another trip back to be here on a Saturday :) One of the other markets I had heard of was the Camden Market. From what I knew, Camden is an area/market where there are quite a few vintage shops and it tends to house some of the remaining punks in London. When I got there I realized how true that was. There were quite a few characters in the area, but the market was nice- mostly clothing (honestly, it wasn't as great as I had expected but maybe it was due to it not being the weekend and being a little rainy) and I did manage to snag a deal and haggle with a shop keeper to get a new dress. Those of you who know me, know that I currently own over 50 dresses, so I probably didn't need the new one, but it was really cute and its from a London market which makes it 100 times cooler than the dresses I currently own. I also managed to be the best sister ever while I was in Camden and found the makeup that Lauren wanted and even mailed it to her :)

After the market I still had a few hours before the show so I was excited that I had enough time to head down to the British Museum. This is another tourist spot that I had never seen in London and since it was absolutely free it was in my budget to go and visit. You could literally spend days and days in the museum. Luckily for those of us who don't have days to spend in there, they have created an awesome map of the museum which includes the major highlights and don't miss exhibits. I went ahead and did the entire list of don't miss exhibits which included things such as the Rosetta Stone, Easter Island Statue, and Samurai Armor. I also managed to find the Lewis Chess Set which is a set my dad made when we were little and I remember quite well. I was excited to see that and to take a picture of it to send to my dad, or rather to tag him in on facebook. I also spent some time looking around the Roman exhibits as well as the Egyptian ones. I was amazed by everything that the museum has and especially by their vast collection of mummies. If you are ever in London, you need to check out this museum. 

The last part of yesterday was going to see another West End show, Matilda. I was so excited to see it because it is a show I haven't seen yet and because after the Broadway version performed on the Tony's I instantly feel in love with the music. The show was incredible. It was overall such a great combination of the total package, the music, the choreography, the design elements. It was so beautiful and left me an emotional mess. If you are anywhere near London or New York, you need to go see this show. It is just so smart and so well done. I'm really glad I took the time to see shows while I was over here because I have been missing that so much now that I live in Florida. 

I did make another friend yesterday/today her name is Georgia and she is from Australia. Australians are the nicest people ever, especially when they travel. I seem to gravitate towards Canadians and Australians when I make friends abroad. We spent some time this morning hanging out together and chatting about life as well as her plans for the next couple weeks. She is over here visiting because she is hoping to be able to move over here permanently and work after she finishes school. The people that you meet when you travel are always wonderful and add to the experience that you have abroad. I'm hoping that I can make at least one "friend" in each port that I can tell you all about because it will help me have a better experience and reach my goal of being less introverted. So far in London I think I've done a great job balancing talking to strangers and having "me time." I also met a nice lady at Matilda and helped her navigate her way around after the show was done and then this morning at breakfast I was the only person in the cafe for a while so the owners came out and talked to me. People have been so lovely the past few days and I hope it stays that way the rest of the trip.

Well, it is time for me to go and start lugging all of my stuff down the street to Kings Cross so that I make it to my bus on time. The next time you hear from me I will be in Southampton and will have met all of my SAS co-workers. To leave you today, here is a picture of the GIANT breakfast I had today. I seriously won't need to eat for the rest of the day after this (and I didn't manage to finish everything)

There's No Place Like London

I think the last time I blogged about London I used the same title, but I love musicals and any time I can throw in a reference from one I will :) My plan wasn't to blog about London until tomorrow morning when I'm getting ready to check out of my hostel, but my body had other plans for me today seeing as though I woke up at 6:15. The good news though is that I got more than 6 hours of sleep which was more than I got the night before on the AWFUL plane ride.

Speaking on my plane ride, if you all have been following this blog for a while now, you know that one of my major goals for this summer is to be less introverted and more willing to talk to strangers so that I can really have the experience of a lifetime. Well, go ahead and be proud of me because in the past 24 hours I've met and had conversations with 3 strangers. The first was a business man at the Atlanta airport who I sat next to at a restaurant bar while waiting for my flight (there's another funny story with this person, but if you follow me on facebook you know what happened there). Then the second stranger was the man who I sat next to on the plane. He was an older gentleman, probably in his 80s and he had visible tumors all over his face. He spent parts of the plane ride telling me his life story about his family moving from Germany and him working on a farm in Indiana his whole life. He travels a lot now that he is older and made sure that once we got off the plane that I found my luggage and knew where I was going. I wondered how many people in this world ignore him or don't talk to him because of the tumors all over his face. I hope that I made his day getting to know him and talking to him. Then my third stranger was this wonderful mum in London who when I was completely lost trying to find my hostel, stopped, helped me get back on track and spent time trying to get to know who I was. I've been amazed by the kindness I've already experienced this trip.

So now, London. First we will take a photo break because I've already written a lot. So here's a picture of Big Ben and of Westminster Abbey.

After I got checked into my hostel, which is an okay hostel, but there are only two plugs per room and I'm in a room with 10 people so that stinks, I decided I needed to go ahead and go explore to keep myself awake. I headed into the center of the city with my goal of getting to Westminster Abbey before it closed. With the number of times I've been in London, I'm amazed that I haven't done all the touristy sites yet. Westminster Abbey is absolutely gorgeous. It is outrageously expensive to get into though which I didn't appreciate seeing as though you really don't spend too much time there and you can't take pictures inside. This is my LEAST favorite rule when traveling. I think you should be allowed to take pictures of everything. The people who are buried there or have some connection with walking in the Abbey amazes me and of course when I got to the altar where William and Kate got married I got just a little bit excited. The highlight of my Abbey experience though was the tomb of Mary Queen of Scots. A lot of you won't know this, but I love history mostly because of my dad and his encouragement when I was younger. One of my favorite periods in history was the time of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and of course Mary. As a Scot, and as someone with the last name Stuart, there is a special place in my heart for Mary and her tragic tale. Her tomb is beautiful and I really think it is a lot nicer than Elizabeths'. I'm glad her son felt she deserved to be remembered in such a way that thousands of people a day come to visit her.

After the Abbey, I decided to walk instead of taking the tube to my next destination which was supposed to be Harp's Pub because I had heard such great things about it. I walked up Parliament Street passing Downing Street, a changing of the guards at a museum, and Trafalgar Square. When I got to Harp's it was super busy and people were outside so I thought there was a line. After a night of observations of the English at pubs, I've come to realize that a lot of people take their drinks and stand outside the pub to drink. I don't really understand this, especially with how awful and dreary the London weather has been. Instead, I ended up at a pub down the road called the Marquis (fitting for me eh Broadway/New York friends??).  I stood out like a sore thumb in London yesterday, and especially the pub, because I was in a pastel maxi dress. Yesterday was not a day for a dress and then everyone in London was wearing black or dark clothing, not pastel. But I got to sit, have a cider and bowl of chips, and watch the world walk by. For the record, there is nothing better than British chips. We need to make them the same way in America so someone work on that while I'm gone. 

Ok, photo break #2. Here's some more from Westminster.

After the pub it was time for my first West End show, Once. I've seen Once three times in New York, but it is one of my favorite shows and Declan (who my sister adores and hates me for seeing) is the lead in the show. When I got to the theatre my ticket had been upgraded a level so that was an awesome start. The show was in the Phoenix Theatre which was the perfect setting for it because it just felt so intimate. Despite my almost falling asleep about 100 times during the show because of how tired I was from practically no sleep the night before, the show was great and Declan was amazing.

So as you can tell, yesterday was a pretty jam packed day. Today will be another long one (especially with me waking up at 6am) as I am headed to the Harry Potter Studio Tour, hopefully getting to check out another couple touristy places, and then going to another West End show tonight, Matilda. I'm going to have about a million pictures from Harry Potter so get ready for those :)

Final Countdown

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have officially begun the final countdown. My
bags are packed and I only have a couple things left to do before
leaving Pensacola. By the time I finish writing this post, I will have
less than 48 hours before my first flight leaves Pensacola, heads to
Atlanta, and this crazy journey begins. I've known that I was going to
be part of this voyage since November, but I think it honestly just hit
me last night. I'm leaving for two and a half months. 72 days. And even
though I've somewhat gotten to know the student life team, I'm doing
this all by myself spending the summer turning strangers into family.

There are several people that I have to thank before I leave for the
journey, and who I'll probably continue to thank for the rest of my life
for helping me through this experience. First I have to thank my
parents. They have supported my sister and I so much throughout our
lives. They've encouraged us to follow our dreams and become strong,
independent women. They've sacrificed so much so that Lauren and I can
see more of the world and have more opportunities than they ever did. So
if you see my parents, let them know how amazing they are and give them
a hug from me :) The next two people I have to thank are Christy and
Stacey. For those of you who don't know, Christy and Stacey will be my
supervisors this summer and have already done an amazing job putting our
team together, answering all our crazy questions, and getting us ready
for this voyage. After just one phone interview, Christy and Stacey saw
something in me that they wanted to have as a part of their team and
without them, I wouldn't be going on this amazing adventure. I'm looking
forward to working with both of them throughout the voyage and
learning/growing as a professional because of them. My biggest thank you
has to go to Brad and Dr. Ruth who are my supervisors here at UWF. I
have to thank Brad for being such a supportive and encouraging
supervisor, who when I wasn't going to do the phone interview for
Semester at Sea because I had just taken the job at UWF, knew how much
this experience would mean to me and told me I had to do the interview.
If he hadn't done that, I wouldn't have been offered a position. When I
got the job, Dr. Ruth and Brad kept me on the edge of my seat for a
little bit while they discussed and made a decision as to whether or not
I would be able to take time off to go on the voyage. I have been so
blessed to work in a great department that is so supportive and sees
this as a professional development opportunity that will help me in my
position here at UWF. I can't wait to come back to UWF and share
everything I've learned with my co-workers (who also deserve a huge
thank you and hug for picking up some extra work this summer while I'm
out). My last thank you is for one of my best friends, Nicole. Nicole
just got back from the spring voyage and has been full of so much help
and advice. I had originally applied for that voyage as well, but pulled
out because I didn't want to leave in the middle of an academic year if
I had gotten it. I've loved hearing all of Nicole's stories and because
of her I'm more confident and prepared for this voyage. On a crazy side
not, I'm actually staying in the exact same cabin that Nicole did when
she was on the ship!

So one of the big things people have been asking me is how they can get
in touch with me this summer, so I figured I should let you all know!
Internet is very limited on the ship, so I'll try to update facebook as
much as possible, but that really won't be the best way to get in touch
with me. My cell phone will be deactivated, so no texting but I will be
using it for wifi in port and have set up Skype. Email on the ship is
unlimited, so you can email me as much as you want! And email will
probably be how I update my blog and twitter (this post is actually a
practice post as I'm doing it through my email right now). So here is
what you need to know:

Email: lynsey.stuart.su13@semesteratsea.org

Skype Username: lstuart722

Skype Phone Number (you can leave me voicemails and I'll get them when I
am off the ship in wifi): 865 223 5356

If you happen to want to send me a card or letter (no packages please),
here is the link to the SAS page with all of the port addresses. Just
know you should send stuff about 2 weeks before I'm planned to arrive in
port to make sure I get it! Scroll down to the bottom of the page to get
the addresses :)

http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/summer-2013/calendar/

So my bags are all packed, ready to go and we have officially hit the
under 48 hour mark. Next post will be from Europe!