Crusinnnnn the Caribbean

It is now the 2^nd day of classes (Sunday) and I am going to try to do a brief overview of the past few days to bring everyone up to speed with my life. Pardon me if I am zipping over things too quickly… so little time so much to do!

 

I am officially on the ship! Per usual the Klein’s were running late… I was supposed to board the ship at 11:20 AM, but instead strolled in around 11:45ish. Not to worry, I got on with no problem, but managed to slyly have 2 girls get on in front of me, thus giving myself the distinct title of THE LAST STUDENT ON THE SHIP (aside from students who had issues with their Brazilian visas which I will explain a bit later on).

 

Saying goodbye was difficult. As many of you know, I don’t do goodbyes (way too emotional for me). It was comforting to know that I was not alone in crying as I said goodbye--- lucky for me, I was surrounded by other emotional girls that weren’t ready to say goodbye either! Whef!

 

Once I was away from mom and dad, things got better--- it’s always that anticipated final goodbye that is the hardest. They had us come on the ship and took as through a series of stations to check all of our medical forms, take our passports/ yellow fever cards (thank goodness! I don’t have to be responsible for them!!!), give us our keys, and any other relevant information. Lucky for all of us, they delivered our luggage to our room, so by the time I made it through the various stations, my luggage was sitting right by my door--- how is that for service?

 

For those of you who were gone the week before I left, I decided to pick my roommate. Hopefully you will all be able to follow this game of mutual friends… (Megan and Amanda enjoy your shout outs!)

 

CK --> Megan Berman (best friend from home goes to Delaware)

Jenna --> Amanda (best friends from home and Amanda goes to Delaware)

 

Amanda and Megan played a game of match-maker and created CK and Jenna as Semester at Sea Roommates… as one of the match-make-eeees I must say they did an excellent job! Jenna and I are a lot a like and both want a very similar experience of our time abroad. Additionally, Jenna laughs at my jokes and at least right now I think it is because she thinks I am legit funny--- not just to make me feel cool. How great is that!? ;) hahah

 

Jenna and I like to describe our room as having a Nook… unlike all other rooms, we have this really cool window seat that is perfect for holding textbooks and other odds and ends. As many of you know, I like to stay neat and organized, but at some points my junk can go all over the place. The Nook solves this problem entirely! I can easily shove my stuff behind the curtain--- yes the Nook comes complete with a curtain ;) and I don’t have to look at it even if it is a mess!

 

We had orientation on Friday---which was of course informative, but by the end I think we were all just about done listening to them talking at us. Semester at Sea is takes their rules seriously so just a heads up that I am sure throughout the semester I will probably complaining about some of the rules. I am always trying to remind myself that they have to be strict in order to keep the program having a good reputation.

 

Now for the story you all have been waiting for… the reason behind why we had to leave the Bahamas 8:00 PM on Friday instead of 5:00 PM on Thursday (the scheduled departure time/ date). 27 students on the program couldn’t get their visas to be able to go to Brazil… they had all turned everything in by the deadlines, but for some reason or other they didn’t get them back. Obviously there is a lot more details to the story, but for all intensive purposes, this is all you need to know ;) As a result, Semester at Sea decided to wait an extra day, while working with the Brazilian Embassy to expedite their passports… some of the students were actually told to start considering other options for the semester! For any of my UGA fans, Leah Gerstley was one of the 27 students!

 

To make a long story short, we ended up leaving twice from the Bahamas… the first time was at 12:00 PM and then we came back to the port to pick up the remaining 10 students who has visa issues… so yes this story does have a happy ending ;)

 

As we were beginning to pull out of the port (for the first time), I casually walked over to send my goodbyes to the Bahamas, when all of the sudden I realized my mom was waving me off with a bunch of other parents!!!! Now, let’s rewind a moment and make it clear that I had no idea that my mom knew to be there. Alright, it probably doesn’t seem that cool to all of you, but it was actually amazing because I saw my mom frantically searching the ship to for me… and then all of the sudden she began jumping up and down because at last she found me! Honestly, I don’t know who was more excited by the spotting… there is one thing I do know… I will be forever grateful for mom’s Blue Nike Hat, it was perfect for spotting her.

 

For those of you who read to the bottom of this entry, I commend you. I will hopefully be more concise in my future entries, but with me there are no promises in my writing! Time for bed and a fun filled 2 days in Dominica.

 

I’ll leave you with a trivia question that I learned in my global studies class today. This is a required course for everyone on the ship in which we get our quick crash course culture update/ history lesson on our next port and also will focus on how all the countries that we are traveling to in someway shape or form connect to one another.

 

Now for the question… drum roll please: Why was Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic and PLEASE don’t incorrectly pronounce it… say it with me: Dom-in-neek-a) named Dominica?

 

Send your answers to me/ comment below this post. Person that wins I’ll buy you a present from Dominica ;) Perhaps this is a way to help keep my followers involved?!

 

xoxo CK