I've been avoiding writing this post. If I write it, it means that my time on the ship is really over and that there isn't another port waiting to be explored just around the corner. I'm writing this, sitting on my couch, watching netflix with regular internet, so clearly I know I'm not still on the ship but to be honest with you all a piece of me still is and will always be.
I knew that the experience I was going to have this summer would be incredible and life changing but I don't think I really anticipated the extent to which my life would be impacted or how challenging it would be. Just living on a ship for three months is a challenge in itself. You don't have a lot of space and you really can't ever escape (unless you are in port of course). If you don't plan out your laundry, you will either be stuck without clothes or you will be hand-washing things you really don't want to hand-wash. Walking on the ship can be a total disaster depending on how the sea or ocean decides to act that day. You get sick of pasta and potatoes at every meal. The internet is so slow that it can sometimes be hard to communicate with people back home, or even people on the ship with you. You don't have "your person" with you or a way to easily contact them when you are sad, upset, angry, or frustrated and just need a friend to talk to or hug. Sleep is never regular and you can walk around exhausted for days. But then you stop and have to think, I'm in the middle of the Mediterranean on a ship full of students who are here to study. With faculty who are so passionate about their subject areas that they go above and beyond just teaching in the classroom. I'm with staff who are so dedicated to their jobs that they miss out on time with their family on the ship and in port or who go literally days without sleep because they've been up talking to a student or looking after them when they were in a bad situation. I'm on this ship with people who care so much about making this a community, a home, and a family. And even though the internet is terrible, we have internet on a ship in the middle of the sea.
There is no community quite like the one on the MV Explorer. I'm never going to be in a setting again that brings together so many people from different walks of life. In higher education we talk about the need to bridge academic affairs and student affairs and a lot of time we struggle to do this on our home campuses. On the MV Explorer we walk over the bridge on a daily basis. This academical village creates ways for faculty and staff to interact that help to enhance the student experience. Faculty get to understand what it is like for student affairs staff to plan programs, handle emergencies, and live with our students. Staff get see the passion that faculty have and how what students learn in the classroom really matters when we start to teach about life outside the classroom. Students are pushed out of their comfort zones both on and off the ship and get to experience things and go places that many of their peers will never get the chance to. It is a community where faculty, staff, students, and even the crew become your best friends and your family and it is so hard to be home and not have them right there with you. Our voyage was quick and very intense so I can't imagine the amazing communities that are built on longer voyages where students have more time to get to know one another and don't just have to focus on their academics.
I spent a lot of time on the voyage learning about myself. This was not an easy summer for me at all. I was faced with really tough situations, some of which almost brought me to the point of packing up my stuff and coming home. If you know me though, you know that I am stubborn and don't give up easily. I might threaten to give up, but it isn't in my nature to throw in the towel. In those tough moments, I had to realize that sometimes you can't take care of yourself alone and you need others to support you and help you. I'm so glad that I had my student life family and other amazing faculty/staff members there for me when things go rough emotionally, mentally, and physically. I also struggled with my own identity this summer. For the first time in my life I was on a staff where both my race and my sexuality were in the minority. This was such an interesting experience for me because all of my life I've lived with my identity as being Scottish and have ignored my white identity. This summer my white identity stood out so much and it was something I had to deal with and better understand what it meant when interacting with others. This was also something that was not easy, but important and necessary to tackle. The other major thing I worked on this summer was trying to figure out my professional life and address some of the areas that I still need to grow in. I was very blessed to have a life coach in one of my coworkers who was willing to take the time to process with me and give me advice on how to be a better professional and how to handle certain situations when they come my way. WWJD now has a new meaning in my life and I'm happy to say that even after being back at work for only three days my coworkers here have already seen a new me and they are happy with what I've learned on the ship.
I feel so blessed after this summer. Despite the challenges and despite the many, many tears that I shed throughout the voyage, I had an amazing experience. I was able to travel to places I've never seen before and that so many other people will probably never get to in their lifetime. I was able to build a community in 66 days and make connections with students that I hope has made their lives a little better and has taught them something. I creatively found ways to communicate with people on the ship and used probably a million and one post it notes as ways to talk and leave messages. I pulled off large community events like sea olympics (with my partner in crime Tiffany) in about five days with hardly any resources. I am still amazed by the things we were able to accomplish on our tiny little ship.
I've also left the ship leaving some amazing people and I think that has been the hardest and will be what takes me the longest to recover from and stop getting randomly sad about. My students were incredible. I didn't lose any of them on the voyage and a lot of other seas can't say that. They cared about the experiences that they got, befriended each other right away, and made me feel like I did an amazing job as their RD. The Baltic Sea was incredible and I feel so lucky to have been able to help build the community amongst the students this summer.
This summer I got to work with the most amazing student life team and with 6 RDs who fought for me, challenged me, drove me crazy sometimes (I drove them crazy right back), laughed with me, cried with me, and made me a better person by the time I left the ship. We had two amazing leaders in Christy and Stacey who kept us grounded, made us laugh more than any supervisors have made me laugh before, and who kept us focused on the vision of building our community. These two women worked so hard and supported us in so many ways that it will be impossible to thank them. This team was incredible. As was the entire group of staff members on the ship. Dean John did an amazing job hiring everyone.
The crew were also an amazing group of people who I am going to miss so much as well. They work harder than anyone else on the ship and a lot of them have long contracts that keep them on the ship instead of with their families. They take the time to get to know us individually and get excited when they see us back on the ship after spending days in port. They want to hear about what we did and how we are doing. And occasionally, they give us a hard time when we are cursed by duty and cause them to have long nights alongside us. They are incredible people I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to get to know them and spend time with them. I know I'm going to miss some of them a lot.
So now is my final farewell. The end of this journey marks a new beginning for me because I am not the same as when I left. I have seen too much, experienced too much, and cared too much to be the same person. I only sailed around part of the world, but it reminded me of how big the world is and how much of an impact we can have on it. We may be different, but we are all humans and should care for each other and love one another. Thank you to all the people who made this summer possible, for the amazing people who made this summer unforgettable, and to all of you who followed me on this incredible journey. This is not goodbye to the MV Explorer, to Semester at Sea, or to the people who have left an imprint on me, its a big see you soon :)
I knew that the experience I was going to have this summer would be incredible and life changing but I don't think I really anticipated the extent to which my life would be impacted or how challenging it would be. Just living on a ship for three months is a challenge in itself. You don't have a lot of space and you really can't ever escape (unless you are in port of course). If you don't plan out your laundry, you will either be stuck without clothes or you will be hand-washing things you really don't want to hand-wash. Walking on the ship can be a total disaster depending on how the sea or ocean decides to act that day. You get sick of pasta and potatoes at every meal. The internet is so slow that it can sometimes be hard to communicate with people back home, or even people on the ship with you. You don't have "your person" with you or a way to easily contact them when you are sad, upset, angry, or frustrated and just need a friend to talk to or hug. Sleep is never regular and you can walk around exhausted for days. But then you stop and have to think, I'm in the middle of the Mediterranean on a ship full of students who are here to study. With faculty who are so passionate about their subject areas that they go above and beyond just teaching in the classroom. I'm with staff who are so dedicated to their jobs that they miss out on time with their family on the ship and in port or who go literally days without sleep because they've been up talking to a student or looking after them when they were in a bad situation. I'm on this ship with people who care so much about making this a community, a home, and a family. And even though the internet is terrible, we have internet on a ship in the middle of the sea.
There is no community quite like the one on the MV Explorer. I'm never going to be in a setting again that brings together so many people from different walks of life. In higher education we talk about the need to bridge academic affairs and student affairs and a lot of time we struggle to do this on our home campuses. On the MV Explorer we walk over the bridge on a daily basis. This academical village creates ways for faculty and staff to interact that help to enhance the student experience. Faculty get to understand what it is like for student affairs staff to plan programs, handle emergencies, and live with our students. Staff get see the passion that faculty have and how what students learn in the classroom really matters when we start to teach about life outside the classroom. Students are pushed out of their comfort zones both on and off the ship and get to experience things and go places that many of their peers will never get the chance to. It is a community where faculty, staff, students, and even the crew become your best friends and your family and it is so hard to be home and not have them right there with you. Our voyage was quick and very intense so I can't imagine the amazing communities that are built on longer voyages where students have more time to get to know one another and don't just have to focus on their academics.
I spent a lot of time on the voyage learning about myself. This was not an easy summer for me at all. I was faced with really tough situations, some of which almost brought me to the point of packing up my stuff and coming home. If you know me though, you know that I am stubborn and don't give up easily. I might threaten to give up, but it isn't in my nature to throw in the towel. In those tough moments, I had to realize that sometimes you can't take care of yourself alone and you need others to support you and help you. I'm so glad that I had my student life family and other amazing faculty/staff members there for me when things go rough emotionally, mentally, and physically. I also struggled with my own identity this summer. For the first time in my life I was on a staff where both my race and my sexuality were in the minority. This was such an interesting experience for me because all of my life I've lived with my identity as being Scottish and have ignored my white identity. This summer my white identity stood out so much and it was something I had to deal with and better understand what it meant when interacting with others. This was also something that was not easy, but important and necessary to tackle. The other major thing I worked on this summer was trying to figure out my professional life and address some of the areas that I still need to grow in. I was very blessed to have a life coach in one of my coworkers who was willing to take the time to process with me and give me advice on how to be a better professional and how to handle certain situations when they come my way. WWJD now has a new meaning in my life and I'm happy to say that even after being back at work for only three days my coworkers here have already seen a new me and they are happy with what I've learned on the ship.
I feel so blessed after this summer. Despite the challenges and despite the many, many tears that I shed throughout the voyage, I had an amazing experience. I was able to travel to places I've never seen before and that so many other people will probably never get to in their lifetime. I was able to build a community in 66 days and make connections with students that I hope has made their lives a little better and has taught them something. I creatively found ways to communicate with people on the ship and used probably a million and one post it notes as ways to talk and leave messages. I pulled off large community events like sea olympics (with my partner in crime Tiffany) in about five days with hardly any resources. I am still amazed by the things we were able to accomplish on our tiny little ship.
I've also left the ship leaving some amazing people and I think that has been the hardest and will be what takes me the longest to recover from and stop getting randomly sad about. My students were incredible. I didn't lose any of them on the voyage and a lot of other seas can't say that. They cared about the experiences that they got, befriended each other right away, and made me feel like I did an amazing job as their RD. The Baltic Sea was incredible and I feel so lucky to have been able to help build the community amongst the students this summer.
This summer I got to work with the most amazing student life team and with 6 RDs who fought for me, challenged me, drove me crazy sometimes (I drove them crazy right back), laughed with me, cried with me, and made me a better person by the time I left the ship. We had two amazing leaders in Christy and Stacey who kept us grounded, made us laugh more than any supervisors have made me laugh before, and who kept us focused on the vision of building our community. These two women worked so hard and supported us in so many ways that it will be impossible to thank them. This team was incredible. As was the entire group of staff members on the ship. Dean John did an amazing job hiring everyone.
And then there were my group of friends on the ship. Now these weren't my only friends, but they were the core group that when I wasn't on duty or didn't need a day to myself, I wanted to spend time with. At first, I didn't think I would get to be part of their group but after an amazing field program in Morocco, I was welcomed and had an amazing time getting to know them and having many late nights talking, laughing, and playing hilarious games. Each person in this group brought so much to our voyage and are incredible people and professionals. If you only knew the amazing things that they do in their real lives you wouldn't believe they are my friends. I already miss them so much, but I feel so thankful that I got to spend three months getting to know them, having them support me, and laughing together.
The crew were also an amazing group of people who I am going to miss so much as well. They work harder than anyone else on the ship and a lot of them have long contracts that keep them on the ship instead of with their families. They take the time to get to know us individually and get excited when they see us back on the ship after spending days in port. They want to hear about what we did and how we are doing. And occasionally, they give us a hard time when we are cursed by duty and cause them to have long nights alongside us. They are incredible people I feel so lucky to have gotten the chance to get to know them and spend time with them. I know I'm going to miss some of them a lot.
So now is my final farewell. The end of this journey marks a new beginning for me because I am not the same as when I left. I have seen too much, experienced too much, and cared too much to be the same person. I only sailed around part of the world, but it reminded me of how big the world is and how much of an impact we can have on it. We may be different, but we are all humans and should care for each other and love one another. Thank you to all the people who made this summer possible, for the amazing people who made this summer unforgettable, and to all of you who followed me on this incredible journey. This is not goodbye to the MV Explorer, to Semester at Sea, or to the people who have left an imprint on me, its a big see you soon :)
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