On the way to Brazil...

9/2/08

Hi all,
Well as you all know by now I’m having some trouble with my website... the problem is that I only have 125 minutes of internet time and it takes a long time to load the website onto the internet so I haven’t been able to load it without wasting a lot of minutes. So my plan is to find a place in Brazil where I can use internet for free or cheap so I can finally get all this good stuff loaded! So in the meantime I figured I should type some more updates so that when everyone can see this again, you’ll all have something to read! I’ve also been regularly putting my photos up here so you can see that too once my website gets back up and running!
So....we are currently on our way to Salvador, Brazil! I’m excited to get there. It should be really fun! We get there on Sunday the 7th and will be there until Thursday the 11th.
On Sunday we made a surprise stop to Puerto Rico. The ship was getting fuel, I think, so we were not allowed to get off the ship since PR wasn’t exactly a planned stop. But it was pretty form outside my window and the decks. I took a few pictures of what we could see of Puerto Rico, I don’t even know which part we were in but Jesse (my cousin, who lives in PR and flies helicopters) said he may have seen the ship as he flew over, haha. Too bad we weren’t able to get off the ship, otherwise it would have been fun to visit him! We were unable to meet up in the Bahamas, we just didn’t quite get our schedules organized and coordinated in time. We might see about Costa Rica, at the end of my trip, but we’re not sure yet.
Sunday was also my first day of class. We have class every day that we are at sea, so that includes weekends which I’ll have to get used to, but while we are in ports there is no class so that’s nice! Our classes are divided up between A day classes and B day classes, but all of my classes ended up being on A days so I’ve got every other day off which is cool!! So I’ve been to all my classes twice so far, and they seem like they’re going to be good! My globalization and development professor named Tracy Ehlers is from Boulder, wooo!!! So she gets bonus points for that :-) It seems like all of my classes are going to be group-discussion intensive but every interesting. I also have a TON of reading to do already but most of the readings are interesting at least!
Yesterday (Tuesday) I started my job working in the library as a work-study student. It’s a pretty great job so far and the librarians are very nice people! There are about 4 other work-study students who also work in the library at various times so most of the time I’ll be working with someone else which is nice so we don’t get bored and it’s also a great job because usually I think I’ll have some time to do homework too. So I work about 3-4 hours every day that we are at sea. My job follows the class schedule so when we are in port I don’t work, which is great!
Other than class and work I’ve just been exploring the ship, which I think I mostly know my way around now, and meeting new people. I’ve got a group of girls I’ve been spending most of my time with and they’re all great people. Krista, who lives across the hall from me, is from Estonia and she’s been telling me all about her home and showing me beautiful pictures. She’s a sweet girl, as is her roommate Bethany. My roommate, Estes, is from New Mexico and goes to UNM. She’s really nice and we get along great! We also hang out with a girl named Kristen who is from France. So it’s been really fun meeting people from other countries and even other parts of this country, I’m learning a lot! It’s funny though, there are a total of 42 of us onboard who are from CU Boulder, and even more people from Colorado! So I am constantly meeting more people who are from Colorado or even who go to my school. Speaking of CU....my mom emailed me that CU beat CSU yesterday, YAY! I’m always glad to get news from home.
I’ve been getting a little sick whenever the water gets rough but mostly I haven’t had too much of a problem with seasickness which is nice! I’ve had a couple spells of homesickness but that’s why it’s always so great to get emails from home, so everyone please keep those emails coming! I want to hear what you’re all up to this semester too! But for the most part, yeah, I’m just loving life on Semester at Sea!!
I’m off to work right now...more later!
Peace