Welcome to the MV Exlporer

MV Explorer is the official named of the ship (not boat**, I was told early on) that 724 of us students are traveling on towards Europe. First things first, the ship is incredible. It’s beautiful, very new and is great for the students. The classrooms are interesting and some can be used for hanging out as well as a classroom setting. The professors I have met so far seem like truly amazing people. Most of them have traveled or lived all over the world and have done previous semesters on the ship. Also, it’s called a VOYAGE not a cruise. I was corrected on the terminology early on as well. The crew is friendly and come from all over the world, and I’m sure the students will get to know better in time. A lot of my prejudgments of people on the ship were not what I expected. All of people’s general biases of different areas of the country do not seem to apply to the students and adults who travel with semester at sea. But, I am sure they will be more people to met and discover that this wonderful place is not a utopia. My room is small…but to be completely honest it is probably only a little smaller than my dorm room at Boulder freshman year. There are PLENTY of nooks and crannies for clothes, hats, snacks, and other stuff to fit. I was really surprised. The bathroom is simple and the closet space is much larger than I expected.
        My roommate is incredible. I am not just saying that because she will probably read this later on when the voyage is over.  She is from Minnesota and is VERY proud of it. Then again, I am very proud to be from Arizona and Colorado. She is a junior and attends the University of Minnesota at Duluth. We have gotten along great since we realized we were roommates while waiting in line to board the ship. Semester at Sea seemed to put together roommates in just alphabetical order, since Kristina’s last name is Zack. The other students abroad the voyage seem friendly and easy going. They have come on this ship from all over the country (and the world), and I am one of 80 students from CU-Boulder. Yeah, it’s a little weird to be apart of such a big group, but it’ll be a lot of fun when I return to school with 80 new friends who shared this amazing experience with me. The food on the ship is much better than I expected, there are also vegetarian and gluten-free options too. Today and tomorrow we have had orientation on the ship talking all about safety, classes, how the ship is run and operates while we go about classes and sunbathing. They also broke down the rules while on aboard, room information, using technology on the ship, and other basic things we needed to know.
        It’s interesting to talk to the students about the places they’ve been in the world. Some students have never been outside of the United States, some have been to Europe once or perhaps another place as well.  Out of the most of the kids I have met so far, I am pretty sure I have hit up the most continents. I didn’t realize it either when I was talking about how many truly amazing places I have been able to see in this world. It makes me feel very lucky to have such an adventurous Mamacita.  Thanks again, mom for sending me on this. You need to go!! Actually, everyone needs to go but I am sure you will like it more when I actually GET to a country already. The endless water isn’t bothering me too much so far. We have to change our clocks forward an hour for the next few nights to catch up with Spain time. So I will not be getting as much sleep as I had hoped. We were talking about it at the table at lunch and everyone realized that I was the only one not used to daylight savings time. It was a pretty funny conversation until they realized I go to Boulder and change clocks in Colorado.
        Oh, you’re probably wondering if anyone has gotten sick sea. The answer is of course not!…just kidding. There have been a few kids, but my roommate and I have yet to experience.  The ship definitely does sway, it’s a little hard to keep balance when walking around the ship, for example, the treadmill for my roommate this morning sure was interesting to watch in attempting to stay on the machine. I’m sure tomorrow will be easier.
        I can’t think of anything else to bore you with about ship because you probably want to read all about the ports and places I go, rather than a place I walk up and down and all around…all day long. Classes start the day after tomorrow, which will be nice to have some regularity and schedule. I’m really excited for classes too. Okay, I’m off to dinner with the roomie and our acquired group of friends who all attend Chapman University in California (there’s about twenty of them on the ship). All of now, good luck reading!
Oh, my shipboard account is klzucker@semesteratsea.net, but all my Colorado e-mails will be forwarded to it. I’m going to e-mail out everyone with the address to subscribe to my blog so you receive an e-mail when I update if you so wish we read it.
:-) Bon Voyage!