Week 1

I have no idea how I’m going to go back to real life after this. I thoroughly understand how fortunate I am to be having an experience such as Semester at Sea and that a small number of people get to go on this voyage. However, I already have an idea of how the next few months are going to make “real life” feel incredibly mundane. Yesterday, upon waking up, I opened my shades to dolphins, stumbled down a hallway lined with rooms filled with amazing and interesting people to find a man in pressed linen smile introduce himself and show me everything that was offered for breakfast. Although I’m constantly amazed at the enormity of the ship and can’t seem to get from Point A to Point B without getting lost, the sheer amount housed by this vessel is mind blowing. The spa is world-class with personal tours given by Swedish women that explain the various heavenly treatments offered. The seventh deck offers a pool, bar, and outside weight-lifting station, the combination of which sends a majority of college students into euphoria. Don’t like to do laundry, cook, vacuum, or make your bed? Before you’ve even put it on your to-do list, it’s done for you with a smile from a Jamaican man that will surely be one of your best friends by the end of this thing. On the interior walls of every cabin, there is a large framed picture, which is not used for decoration. Remove it and look at the back. Past SASers have given their advice, bragging about their accomplishments and advising what to stay away from. Apparently three doors down someone got AIDS in Vietnam from a prostitute. Noted.