my freshman experience

I have arrived on the ship! And quite the afternoon it has already been.

Before we headed toward the ship, we were able to get some time relaxing in the sun at the Atlantis thanks to the beautiful weather to which we woke up! It was great. So, I lounged by the pool before getting ready for our relocation to the MV Explorer.

So, what’s the first big exciting thing to happen to me?! Well, I am officially the first patient of the hospital wing for the Fall 2005 voyage. As I was getting Melissa’s (the Assistant Director of Student Life and one of my Atlantis roomies) and my luggage up the gangway, I jammed my foot into the wheel of a suitcase. The nail broke, and I thought that was the biggest of my issues until I looked down a moment later to see it bleeding fairly heavily. The woman in charge of security whisked me next door to the hospital, where Dr. Franco, the ship’s physician, cleaned it, disinfected it and bandaged it like no other bloody finger or toe I’ve ever seen before. I almost felt it was a bit overboard (no pun intended), but who knows. If this is how I should routinely take care of the cuts I get, then I’ve been doing a pretty shabby job of healing myself. So, now I have this overly bandaged toe to begin my time on the ship.

Once the toe fiasco was over, I went up to the fifth deck to check in. First of all, because of all the chaos around getting the luggage past security at the ship dock and then getting my toe beaten up, I didn’t get a chance to really take in the outside of the ship. But the inside is amazing. Almost as posh as the cruise ship on which Kate and I sailed in April! Among some of the highlights is the faculty and staff lounge, which is located on the highest deck at the front of the ship. This is where we had our welcome reception, complete with all the wine you could drink! I can see myself spending a good amount of time up there curled up by a window, typing in my journal as I watch us approaching new continents or bodies of water.

My room is great! I have a window…bigger than a porthole. There’s plenty of space for all of my belongings. I haven’t quite finished unpacking, but only because I lost interest right at the end of the process. So, I have maybe 15 minutes of unpacking left to do, but we’ll see when that gets done. The only downfall to my room so far is that is has a slightly strange smell…almost like salt water and fish. It’s not putrid, but I definitely am in search of some Febreeze to neutralize it.

The RD staff so far is great. We are very much in that first-year experience phase, traveling around in groups and everyone getting along fabulously. I really hope we all continue to get along. I think we will…I haven’t seen any red flags yet. We’ve done a lot of laughing, which is one of my favorite things to do, so I’ve really enjoyed myself.

Meeting the deans and faculty and other staff members has really increased the excitement around the voyage. The people on the ship who have sailed before all say it has changed their lives. That’s a big statement. It’s also a little overwhelming to hear that I will change after this experience. Who will I be? Whoever I’ll be then, the person I am now is really excited. This is starting to hit me. I’m going to see the world. (And I don’t keep saying it over and over to make others jealous. I just need to say it again and again in hope of it actually sinking in.)