Annndddd...we're off! (Warning: kinda long post!)

Hello land-dwellers! It’s official. I’m on a boat. But really…boat doesn’t even begin to describe this place! It’s HUGE!

I shared a cab over to the pier bright and early yesterday morning…and I got to board in the first group! For once, my last name starting with an A is actually paying off! As I child, I used to loathe my last name because it always meant that when no one volunteered in class (which they NEVER did), then I got to do my presentation first or recite my poem first or do whatever other crappy thing FIRST…which SUCKED. After many years of therapy to deal with the emotional scarring that my last name has brought me, I have finally come to terms with it. And today, this last name of mine actually did something good for me! Thank you, Arabs, for deciding that “Al” was a necessary part of a good last name.

Anyhow, when I got to the pier, we had to go through security. I made it through with only my dinky pair of kids scissors taken away from me. I was informed that they were a safety hazard…but was reassured they were available at the on-ship bookstore…interesting, huh?

I got onto the ship about half an hour later, went through a few intake things, and then headed down to my room, room 4114, which is located port-side, aft (which I have recently learned means on the left, towards the back of the ship). I unpacked and explored the ship a bit with Chrissy, one of the girls I stayed with in Halifax, who’s super nice. We got our emails all set up (p.s. my new one is esalnimri@semesteratsea.net ) and got lunch.  The food is…okay. I mean, the salad is good. They always have freshly cut cucumbers, which is a plus in my book since that’s my favorite veggie. And the rolls are good. There’s usually fish and meat options along with a couple pastas.  I’ve found at least one entrée at every meal that I’ve liked, so, so far, so good.

We had a nice long lifeboat drill yesterday, too.  Imagine 1000+ people all crammed on one deck of the ship, each donning their puffy neon orange lifejackets and silent…for 45 minutes. Sounds like fun, right?
We had a little orientation type thing last night where we were introduced to our the captain (an intimidating British man whose motto seems to be “The most important thing on this ship is the execution of safety…but I’ll resort to execution if need be.”…which I think was supposed to be a joke, but his accent makes everything sound scarier.) We also heard from our Deans and other random people. 

AND GUESS WHAT! Apparently, the whole taking classes thing was just a joke they tell our parents to get them to fork over an obscene amount of money for an extended vacation!! Isn’t that great!?...Okay, not really…Mom, please recover from the minor heart attack you just had. I was hoping that that’s what they’d tell us when we go on board, but no such luck. There are real classes. With real professors. And real papers and tests. Boo.
We also had a short “Sea” meeting last night.  Basically, all the hallways are designated as different seas,
and we have regular meetings just like we do in our dorms at school.  Sometime in the middle of the voyage, we’ll have Sea Olympics and each sea will compete in various events in order to win the ability to be let off the ship first when we disembark in Virginia at the end of the voyage. My room is part of the Red Sea. Haven’t quite figured out where that is since I can’t look it up online. Apparently, my geography skills have deteriorated immensely since my success in the seventh grade geography bee...however, I think that that’s the one that Moses did his thing with…the whole 'let my people go'/parting of the sea shindig.it was kind of a big deal.

Anyways, I met my roommate too! She’s from Colorado and seems pretty nice. I don’t think we’re going to be bffs or anything because she came here with a bunch of her friends from school, but I think she’ll be easy to live with, which is good! We have super different sleep schedules though. She’s much more of an early riser and early to bed, whereas I’m more stay up super late, and sleep-in till right before I need to be somewhere.

All day today, we’ve had unbearably boring orientation meetings. We all met in the Union (which is basically just a big lecture hall…but cooler since it was originally intended to serve as a cruise ship’s entertainment facility). We got extended lectures about rules and regulations from the captain, the deans, the medical staff, and the list goes on. I fell asleep in the one this morning. It’s not easy to stay awake when you’ve got sea sickness meds in your system (which cause drowsiness) and a rocking ship (which sways just the perfect amount to make you doze off). While I was awake though, I learned what to do if someone goes overboad (you yell ‘man overboard’…SHOCKER! did we need to spend 20 minutes discussing that!?!), I learned not to put my hands in the door frames (because apparently, losing fingers and toes when the door slams shut is just another part of the unique SAS experience!), and we learned that we’re not allowed to fraternize with the ship’s crew when they’re off duty…aka no sex with Erwin, the nice man who cleans my room  (oh yeah, our rooms get cleaned daily! It’s like having an invisible mom at college who picks up after you leave your crap everywhere!)

Walking around the ship has been quite interesting, too. It basically feels (and looks) like we’re all tipsy, but without the judgment impairment, so we all know how ridiculous we look. We were informed that it’ll take a few days for us to get our ‘sea legs.’ The ship is big, but much smaller than most cruise ships, so we feel the waves a lot more than those do. 

As far as the people go, so far everyone seems pretty cool. I met a couple guys who go to UT-Knoxville (University of TN, for my non-Tennessean pals) earlier today, and we spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out if we knew anyone in common. We didn’t…but it was nice to make the connection, anyways! There are people from everywhere on the ship…24 countries and 49 states accounted for…I wonder what state didn’t make the cut? Fun Fact about our voyage: 75% female. 25% male. Greatttttt.

On another note, who the hell came up with military time? I mean, I guess the military did…but was it really necessary!? It’s a simply concept, but I’m constantly getting confused by it!

Anyways, enough for now! I should get to bed since we moved clocks forward another hour (p.s. 23 hour days SUCK), and we start classes tomorrow! I’ll let you all know how that goes! Adios from the Atlantic!