We've been at sea for five days now, and during the trek from Casablanca
to Antalya we have been quite busy. I know I've said it before, but the
amount of work that we do as a student life team in the small amount of
time that we do it in is just ridiculous. Most of my students had a
great time in Morocco and are looking forward to Turkey, but there were
a couple who did not have as a good of a time and have spent the last
five days getting support and talking through the bad experiences that
they did have. I'm hoping our students are more aware and look out for
each other more in Turkey. My biggest fear is that as we hit ports that
are more like home that our students will start taking things for
granted and will end up in a lot of trouble. All we can do on our side
is be proactive in talking to students about being safe and then be
there as support if they get back on the ship after making a bad
decision or having something happen to them in country.
So what have I been doing the past few days while we have been sailing?
Most of my time was spent planning and then executing Sea Olympics which
was held on Sunday. Sea Olympics is a Semester at Sea tradition where
each of the seas (the decks where the students live are divided into
seven seas on my voyage) compete against one another and then two other
teams made up of the shipkids on one team and the faculty/staff/lifelong
learners on another team. Myself and one of the other RDs, Tiffany, were
in charge of coming up with the entire days worth of events. Sea
Olympics day is pretty much the only day while we are at sea that
students don't have classes, so they all really enjoyed being able to
let loose, have fun, and turn the pool into what looked like spring
break in Cancun at one point. Luckily for Tiffany and I the spring RDs
did a great job keeping all the electronic files for the events so we
were able to look at those and then start planning Sea Olympics for our
voyage. We did not have a lot of time to put the event together and I am
still amazed that we were able to do it and that it was successful.
For our Sea Olympics day we had events ranging from dodgeball (where one
faculty member was playing so intensely that he tore his Achilles heel)
to ping pong tournaments to synchronized swimming to a shipwide relay.
It was an amazing day and each of the seas did a great job representing
themselves. I won't lie, I was very worried about my sea because they
didn't seem very enthusiastic and it took a lot for me to get some of
them to participate and plan events. I was really disappointed that we
ended up not having a synchronized swimming team (even though three
people told me they would take care of it) and I even made a last minute
offer to one of my students that I would get in the pool in my clothes
and just come up with something. They didn't take me up on the offer,
and I'm kind of glad of that because I had white shorts on. The students
from my sea who did participate showed so much spirit and made me really
proud. They also came in first place for the shipwide relay, which in my
opinion was the hardest event of the day because it took so many
participants and because there were 14 mini events throughout the relay.
We ended up placing 6th, but that's ok because we didn't come in last
place :) The shipkids actually did really well, placing 3rd which might
be the best they have ever done. They were so serious about the events
(even holding tryouts!!!) and all of the students were blown away by
every shipkid who competed throughout the day. They even won the cheer
and synchronized swimming events!
The best part of the day for me though was when it was done because it
was just so much to plan. We also talked the hotel director into having
taco night for dinner after the Sea Olympics and oh my gosh it was
soooooo good! I had heard about taco night on the ship, but ugh it was
so much better than what I had expected and I wish we had taco night
once a week. I also got to celebrate Sea Olympics being over with some
friends on the ship (and I made some new friends as well!) so I don't
think I went to bed until like 3am that day. The next day I was very
sick (a combination of celebrating the end of Sea Olympics and a stomach
bug that I had since we got back on the ship in Casablanca) so I took
the day off to rest, relax, and get better. Last night we had our pre
port appetizers in the lounge and it was a great way to relax and get to
taste a little bit of Turkey before we get there. The RDs also got to
play detective with Vladdy (my favorite crew member) last night which
was a great bonding experience and a really funny, albeit serious,
moment in the evening. I also had my last beverage service duty for at
least two weeks so you will not be hearing me complain about it on
facebook for a while which should probably make some of you happy!
I've also being dealing a lot with seeing the privilege of the ship this
past week. I knew that a lot of students were going to be privileged
just based on the history of the program and the cost of Semester at Sea
but I really hadn't seen it much (with the exception of some lovely
residents who boarded the ship looking like they had just walked out of
Pretty in Pink and were best friends with the character Blaine) until
this week. A lot of the privilege I've seen has been in the way that
some students treat the crew or even speak to us as staff. I'm trying to
process everything but it isn't easy. I want to have educational moments
with students about what they are doing, but there are times when you
just can't or that you know isn't a battle for you to pick at that
moment. Overall though, the students are amazing and I feel very lucky
to be working with this community.
I've also struggled over the past week with my own identity. What I mean
by this is that I am so aware that I am a white straight woman. I think
this is because the majority of the student life team are not white and
this is really the first time in my life in any situation- and
especially a work situation- where I have been in the minority group. We
are such an amazing team and I believe a very open and inclusive team,
but I'm more aware of my race than I've ever been. It has also been hard
because after the first port, I became pretty good friends with another
white female staff member on the ship who then brought me into her group
of friends who I adore and have so much fun with, but its a group of all
white people. I've never been so aware of this in my life and I'm
constantly worried now when I hang out with that group and not hanging
out with the RDs, that people are looking at me and saying things like,
oh, Lynsey's hanging out with the white kids. I feel like I'm stuck in
the middle of two groups and its hard to deal with some days because we
are such a small community and every sees what you are doing and who you
are hanging out with. I'm trying really hard to balance my time with
both groups and somehow try to bring them together, but I'm just not
sure its working and at some point I may have to chose, but I really
hope that doesn't happen. Even though I am really struggling with this
right now, I want you all to know that I am having an incredible time
and learning so much, so please don't worry about me.
We get to Antalya Turkey in about 8 hours. I'll be up around 6am to
watch us come into the port and then get breakfast with some of the RDs
before we have immigration and customs duty. I have two field programs
tomorrow, one in the morning that is just an orientation of the city
which will be helpful for when I have a free day to explore with some
folks on the 3rd day we are here and then a trip to Perge & Aspendos in
the afternoon. Tomorrow night a large group of us are hoping to get off
the ship and explore some of the nightlife in the town. We are getting
recommendations of good places to go from some of the crew since they
are really familiar with the port and like us so they wouldn't send us
anywhere shady. Don't worry mum and dad, I'll stay with the group and be
safe :)
Tomorrow I'll be coming to you live from Turkey :) And I'll write more
when our four days here are done.
PS Check out this great story and amazing pictures from Sea Olympics:
http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/07/02/summer-2013-sea-olympics/
to Antalya we have been quite busy. I know I've said it before, but the
amount of work that we do as a student life team in the small amount of
time that we do it in is just ridiculous. Most of my students had a
great time in Morocco and are looking forward to Turkey, but there were
a couple who did not have as a good of a time and have spent the last
five days getting support and talking through the bad experiences that
they did have. I'm hoping our students are more aware and look out for
each other more in Turkey. My biggest fear is that as we hit ports that
are more like home that our students will start taking things for
granted and will end up in a lot of trouble. All we can do on our side
is be proactive in talking to students about being safe and then be
there as support if they get back on the ship after making a bad
decision or having something happen to them in country.
So what have I been doing the past few days while we have been sailing?
Most of my time was spent planning and then executing Sea Olympics which
was held on Sunday. Sea Olympics is a Semester at Sea tradition where
each of the seas (the decks where the students live are divided into
seven seas on my voyage) compete against one another and then two other
teams made up of the shipkids on one team and the faculty/staff/lifelong
learners on another team. Myself and one of the other RDs, Tiffany, were
in charge of coming up with the entire days worth of events. Sea
Olympics day is pretty much the only day while we are at sea that
students don't have classes, so they all really enjoyed being able to
let loose, have fun, and turn the pool into what looked like spring
break in Cancun at one point. Luckily for Tiffany and I the spring RDs
did a great job keeping all the electronic files for the events so we
were able to look at those and then start planning Sea Olympics for our
voyage. We did not have a lot of time to put the event together and I am
still amazed that we were able to do it and that it was successful.
For our Sea Olympics day we had events ranging from dodgeball (where one
faculty member was playing so intensely that he tore his Achilles heel)
to ping pong tournaments to synchronized swimming to a shipwide relay.
It was an amazing day and each of the seas did a great job representing
themselves. I won't lie, I was very worried about my sea because they
didn't seem very enthusiastic and it took a lot for me to get some of
them to participate and plan events. I was really disappointed that we
ended up not having a synchronized swimming team (even though three
people told me they would take care of it) and I even made a last minute
offer to one of my students that I would get in the pool in my clothes
and just come up with something. They didn't take me up on the offer,
and I'm kind of glad of that because I had white shorts on. The students
from my sea who did participate showed so much spirit and made me really
proud. They also came in first place for the shipwide relay, which in my
opinion was the hardest event of the day because it took so many
participants and because there were 14 mini events throughout the relay.
We ended up placing 6th, but that's ok because we didn't come in last
place :) The shipkids actually did really well, placing 3rd which might
be the best they have ever done. They were so serious about the events
(even holding tryouts!!!) and all of the students were blown away by
every shipkid who competed throughout the day. They even won the cheer
and synchronized swimming events!
The best part of the day for me though was when it was done because it
was just so much to plan. We also talked the hotel director into having
taco night for dinner after the Sea Olympics and oh my gosh it was
soooooo good! I had heard about taco night on the ship, but ugh it was
so much better than what I had expected and I wish we had taco night
once a week. I also got to celebrate Sea Olympics being over with some
friends on the ship (and I made some new friends as well!) so I don't
think I went to bed until like 3am that day. The next day I was very
sick (a combination of celebrating the end of Sea Olympics and a stomach
bug that I had since we got back on the ship in Casablanca) so I took
the day off to rest, relax, and get better. Last night we had our pre
port appetizers in the lounge and it was a great way to relax and get to
taste a little bit of Turkey before we get there. The RDs also got to
play detective with Vladdy (my favorite crew member) last night which
was a great bonding experience and a really funny, albeit serious,
moment in the evening. I also had my last beverage service duty for at
least two weeks so you will not be hearing me complain about it on
facebook for a while which should probably make some of you happy!
I've also being dealing a lot with seeing the privilege of the ship this
past week. I knew that a lot of students were going to be privileged
just based on the history of the program and the cost of Semester at Sea
but I really hadn't seen it much (with the exception of some lovely
residents who boarded the ship looking like they had just walked out of
Pretty in Pink and were best friends with the character Blaine) until
this week. A lot of the privilege I've seen has been in the way that
some students treat the crew or even speak to us as staff. I'm trying to
process everything but it isn't easy. I want to have educational moments
with students about what they are doing, but there are times when you
just can't or that you know isn't a battle for you to pick at that
moment. Overall though, the students are amazing and I feel very lucky
to be working with this community.
I've also struggled over the past week with my own identity. What I mean
by this is that I am so aware that I am a white straight woman. I think
this is because the majority of the student life team are not white and
this is really the first time in my life in any situation- and
especially a work situation- where I have been in the minority group. We
are such an amazing team and I believe a very open and inclusive team,
but I'm more aware of my race than I've ever been. It has also been hard
because after the first port, I became pretty good friends with another
white female staff member on the ship who then brought me into her group
of friends who I adore and have so much fun with, but its a group of all
white people. I've never been so aware of this in my life and I'm
constantly worried now when I hang out with that group and not hanging
out with the RDs, that people are looking at me and saying things like,
oh, Lynsey's hanging out with the white kids. I feel like I'm stuck in
the middle of two groups and its hard to deal with some days because we
are such a small community and every sees what you are doing and who you
are hanging out with. I'm trying really hard to balance my time with
both groups and somehow try to bring them together, but I'm just not
sure its working and at some point I may have to chose, but I really
hope that doesn't happen. Even though I am really struggling with this
right now, I want you all to know that I am having an incredible time
and learning so much, so please don't worry about me.
We get to Antalya Turkey in about 8 hours. I'll be up around 6am to
watch us come into the port and then get breakfast with some of the RDs
before we have immigration and customs duty. I have two field programs
tomorrow, one in the morning that is just an orientation of the city
which will be helpful for when I have a free day to explore with some
folks on the 3rd day we are here and then a trip to Perge & Aspendos in
the afternoon. Tomorrow night a large group of us are hoping to get off
the ship and explore some of the nightlife in the town. We are getting
recommendations of good places to go from some of the crew since they
are really familiar with the port and like us so they wouldn't send us
anywhere shady. Don't worry mum and dad, I'll stay with the group and be
safe :)
Tomorrow I'll be coming to you live from Turkey :) And I'll write more
when our four days here are done.
PS Check out this great story and amazing pictures from Sea Olympics:
http://www.semesteratsea.org/2013/07/02/summer-2013-sea-olympics/
Lynsey, i am so proud of everything you are doing on the ship. you are taking the job seriously as well as enjoying all it offers. Love you, girl AND yes, stay safe!!!
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