after leaving colorado on wednesday, january 14, 2009, i arrived in miami, florida then took a bus to take a train to take a shuttle to get to the ft. lauderdale airport where i then took another shuttle to get to the hotel. upon arriving at the hotel, i met four other folks who i would be working with while at semester at sea. (ben, nicole, kate and andrea)
on january 15, 2009 we made our way to the port by way of yet another shuttle. after our luggage was checked through security we walked out to the port to find the mv explorer. as we boarded the ship we took in its size-it is 591 feet in length, 83 feet in breadth and weighs 25,000 tons!
once on board, our luggage was taken from us only to magical appear at our cabins later. we checked in receiving our cabin keys and giving up our passports (am still a little worried about this) and went to our cabins to settle in until our first meeting.
our first meeting began at 4:00 with a welcome and introduction to the ship. after a few hours we had a social gathering in the faculty/staff lounge. i took this opportunity to get off the ship in order to do pick up a script in miami-this was initially a good idea until it became dark and i had a five mile walk back to the ship for an 8:00pm meeting that was about to start in fifteen minutes. i was able to catch a taxi and made it just in time.
in order to avoid port fees we shoved off from the miami port on wednesday night and spent some time wading in the ocean until we left for the bahamas on saturday night. during this time we spent our days and nights training from 8am until 11pm.
on sunday morning we arrived in the bahamas and after a few hours of training we were able to get off the ship and tour the bahamas. they have a starbucks! (believe it or not i did not get a venti soy no water no foam extra hot chai)
the bahamas is a very commercialized place right next to the port-it resembled a large outlet mall where we were able to purchase gucchi and coach handbags and eat at mcdonalds or burger king. upon passing senor frogs i believe lots of our students/participants for the spring 2009 semester at sea voyage were there :)
as i continued to tour the town i stumbled upon the pompey museum of slavery and emancipation but it was closed since it was sunday. after buying a few more items we rushed back to the ship to meet and greet the parents.
the parents were curious, skeptical and worried. they were taken aback but the beauty and size of the ship. after touring the ship, mingling and eating hors d oeuvers, the parents went to the union where they learned more about the semester at sea program.
after the parents left the ship we had dinner on board and then some folks chose to watch the football game in the bahamas while some of us chose to stay on the ship to work on bulletin board, welcome letters and such since the students would begin to arrive the next day at 7:30am
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.