Day 1 - Departure

August 28th

Lots of Lines
Today was absolutely exhausting, but thrilling at each step. Mom and I started the day at 7:30 with muffins and juice as we admired the M.V. Explorer, which was stationed across the marina, from our hotel window. As soon as the elevator door opened to the lobby, throngs of SAS students stuck out like soar thumbs. Everyone had way too much luggage for a stay at the Atlantis. The night before I played an enjoyable game of “SAS or not?” with other students who settled in the lobby. After a quick ride to the pier with some SAS bound students, I finally got to see “big blue” up close. (The mayor got a tour at the parent’s reception the night before, leaving me to mingle and get jerk chicken pizza and kilka with some kids. Sorry, mom, if you are just realizing that the “kilka” on the bill was traditional Bahamian beer. I just had to do something authentic.) Within an hour of struggling with my bags in the sweltering Bahamian heat, I finally made it to… yet another line. Sense an ominous theme? I had to say bye to mom temporarily (she came back later for a better tour by me) and drag my stuff a few more yards to be scanned and loaded on trucks that would hopefully deliver them right to my room. At least the time was spent well commiserating with other students. We then passed through some doors to find another line to hand in passports and get our student swipe cards (access cards/charge card kinda-thing). We then moved to the fourth and final line–or so we hoped—to walk the gangplank onto the ship. Upon boarding, we swiped out cards, had our bags searched and passed through a door to a sudden and very direct flash of light. Apparently, the photographer wanted to catch some very spontaneous reactions from students? If that shows up on the SAS website, I’m sorry to say my face might look something like down syndrome. I was not ready for it. After dropping my carry-on in my room, I went in search of students willing to explorer the Explorer with me. Not a hard task. With seconds I had a crew commandeering the ship from afro (front) to aft (back). Dig my nautical lingo? I did feel like a freshman momentarily since everyone asks the same 3 get-to-know-you questions (name, hometown, college) and travels in packs.

M.V.Explorer
The ship is fabulously economical. It’s really amazing how much they have fit on this boat. There are 9 classrooms, a library, computer lab, faculty lounge, auditorium and campus store. There are multiple snack bars, decks everywhere, a netted basketball court, small gym and “wellness center” (ie. a spa for well-kept girls). You have to sign up for gym time in 30 min slots, but apparently after the first 2 weeks kids just don’t care about it anymore and you can go whenever. The wellness spa has features that include every type of waxing, dying, tinting and massaging imaginable. I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than our library and computer lab put together. The pool is about 10 ft deep and the size of a king size bed, but it’s still nice to cool off between sunbathing sessions. There is a crew of 200, 645 students and about 100 faculty and staff. The girl-boy ratio is 74% to 26%. From the grins and howls coming from most of the boys, I can tell they are settling in for a very enjoyable semester. There are also about 15 lifelong learners, who are clearly well over the age of 50, except for one girl who I befriended that is a graduate student and is taking online courses from her home university. Students came from 245 American universities and 20 from international universities. I’m pretty sure I am the only Vandy kid, but I did meet someone who lives in Scarsdale and went to New Ro high school. There is also a “hospital” with a doctor, two nurses and two psychologists. It’s right next to the gangplank (exit) where they copiously hand out free condoms upon dock at each port. Rumor has it, spring 2008’s condom count reached just below 10,000.

Meeting my roomie
The rest of the day was spent chatting with new faces, tasting “taco day” (which is apparently the best meal they serve all semester), unpacking and meeting my roomie Julie. Within seconds of me walking into the room before lunch, she says “Oo no! I thought you would be taller! I left you all the higher drawers.” She is a senior, math-major at Univ of Pittsburg and is adorable. We are both 5’1’’ and she is impeccable neat and prepared! She makes me feel rugged on this beautiful and fully equipped ship. (FYI: please do not refer to the ship as a boat, apparently this is the ultimate diss?) I was kinda freaked when I saw her hang up an enormous cross above her bed. I decided to avoid all jokes about abortions and such. Later at dinner I found out it was her still-alive great-grandmother’s who wanted it to go around the world with her. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Otherwise, out room is quant and roomier than expected. We are fully equipped with a bathroom, desk, tv, phone and mini-fridge. We even have more storage space than we know what to do with. (Thanks, Jenny, for making me purge four items! Other students scoffed at my green duffle!) Currently, the tv has 8 channels, 7 of which are black. Channel one is the ship’s and has our current location, speed, direction, time and visual map. The walls in our rooms are magnetic, so you can hang things up without tape. Everyone sleeps below a well color-coordinated world map, which becomes a “yearbook” at the end when other students sign it. I would have know that if I had found the SAS Facebook group earlier than today, but dolefully I just brought the map in geekie excitement. The toilets sound like vacuums when you flush. You stumble around when you shower, or at least I did. I haven’t found my sea legs yet. Everyone makes the analogy that you feel perpetually drunk. Our cabin is on the 4th desk in the starboard aft (right back), so we don’t experience the “motion of the ocean” too much. The front of the ship, where the auditorium is, feels like a kiddie coaster at times. Norovirus runs rampant on cruise ships, so we have all been instructed to develop the habit of washing our hands every time we go to our cabins. They even have printed instructions in every room for idiots who don’t know how to “step one: turn on the faucet.” Just a warning: I may come back with some unusual OCD tendencies. Ironically, I’m terrified of getting diarrhea from someone else’s germs, but totally excited about eating weird things, like chicken gizzard.

Highs and Lows (ie, Sparknotes to my Blog)
My “high” of the day was just hanging out with other kids and meeting some crazy, wild and mild people. My “low” was finding out how much SAS loves organization by lines.