IRELAND

WE ARE FINALLY ON LAND!!!!!!!  This morning at around 0600 we anchored in the Galway Harbor--yay!  We woke up at about 0500 to get our first glimpse of land we were SO excited.  Then we had to wait for awhile before heading to breakfast and getting our maps from the pursers desk.  We went to the Union to wait for our passports to be ready (an immigration official came on board to check all of our passports before they gave them back to us) and we had to wait around for awhile......we were quite impatient.  To put it in perspective we have been on the ship for just over seven days and we had one of the rockiest voyages any of the alumni could remember :(  So we were a little tired of being on the ship, and of being slightly sea-sick.  Needless to say we were very excited that we could see land and cheered when our passports were ready.  We got on the second tender (aka we got shuttled to land by one of the life boats) and after four crew members hoisted in one of the students who uses a wheelchair we were off!
We stepped out onto Irish soil at approximately 0900 and wandered a bit until we found our hostel where we checked in and ditched our backpacks in the locker.  Then we wandered around the city for awhile and ate at a pub that Meg's friend had suggested--the King's Head.  At 1300 we got on a bus to the Cliffs of Moher and took lots of pictures of the Irish country side on the way and stopped at a burial ground stone (maybe?).  The cliffs were breathtaking and had a cave in the middle that reminded us of Pirates of the Caribbean (see picture).  After that we headed back to the hostel and went to get dinner.  Now Danielle and I are chillin' in the hostel because we weren't too big on the pub crawl--maybe we will visit a pub tomorrow. Anyway I miss you all and am very glad to be on land for awhile :)  Send me e-mails or post on the blog if you have questions or want to hear more!

   My roommates and I on the MV Explorer

   Meg, Sarah, Me, and Danielle in Ireland

    Cliffs of Moher   (note Pirates-type cave)

Tower on the Cliffs of Moher

Hope you enjoy the pics!

~Colleen

P.S.  I just looked at the blog for the first time and I apologize for the weird formatting on some of the posts--I do not know how to fix it but I will try

B3 Astronauts and such 08/30/12

Hey all, hope everything is going well, I know that many of you are
starting school soon so good luck! Not too much is going on today but
we get to Galway tomorrow!!! I am very very excited! Ireland is going
to be fun but busy--for those of you who don't know the Notre Dame v.
Navy game is being held in Dublin so there will be thousands of people
there to watch.

Last night we had the seminar with the Astronaut Kathy Thornton which
was so amazing that I cannot put it into words. She has been to space
on four separate occasions and has worked on the Hubble telescope and
the International Space Station (ISS). She told us stories about how we
got to where we are in terms of exploring space, told us about her
missions, and just talked about space in general and what it is like to
be up there. She also shared many pictures that she, or her colleges,
took in space: of the Hubble or ISS, of earth, of each other, etc. It
was fascinating to hear about all of her experiences and I am super
jealous! When the astronauts are up in the shuttle they work on
multiple experiments, some involving looking at how space manipulates
our bodies, but also have some time to goof off :) She also told us
that they have had multiple arguments about which way is north when they
were up there talking about their descent--lol. She also said that her
team was called the Maggots and that on one of their missions they tried
to gain weight in space (most of the time people lose weight). Before
the missions they picked out their meals and each person had a different
colored dot, so your meal bags would have a blue dot, the pilots would
have a red dot, etc. Well, the maggots would all bring different
colored dots up with them and if they found someone else had food that
they liked they would put their color dot over the one on the bag so
that they could have it! Anyway she also played us a slide-show of
pictures with some popular songs where the lyrics had been changed to
fit their missions. Some included: Beach Boys--Gotta put the Shuttle
Away (Surfing USA), My world (My Girl), and then of course What a
Wonderful World to end it. She said that they used to play these songs
before launch to "wake up" the astronauts but it got banned because the
press started to cover the songs more than the actual launch!

I will have internet tomorrow in Galway and will be able to post some
pictures for you--YAY. So be on the lookout for those. Miss you all!
~Colleen

P.S. in the entire month of September we only have 7 days of class :)
Be jealous

Ways to tell you are living on a ship:

While many of us have done some sailing or boating around the great lakes of MN and WI and some have maybe even done a cruise or two there are some very unique aspects that accompany actually living on a ship.  Here are ten ways to tell that you are living on a ship, such as our beautiful MV Explorer:

1. You get yelled at for calling the ship a boat
2.  Most of the cabins have Murphy bed half-way up the wall that folds down to create "bunk-beds"
3.  There are barf bags conveniently located at the top of every staircase
4.  Everyone has bumped into every wall on deck 6.......at least three times
5.  It seems like your cabin is haunted because the drawers open and close, as if they were being manipulated by spirits*        
6.  Everyone does the SAS 2-step   in other words, whenever someone stands still for too long they get caught off guard by a wave and stumble for a step or two before regaining their balance
7.  The floor of the dining halls are usually covered in water, or iced tea, or juice, or whatever was on the drink cart that just got tipped over for the 7th time that day because we hit another wave
8.  You occasionally hear calls of "Whale off the port side" and "those birds are following us again today"
9.  Dean John announces an "Overheard in the______________ today......"**
10.  Students can always be found hanging out in the lounges, the dining halls, the Union, the computer lab, the snack bar, out on deck, by the pool, in the middle of the hallways, on/in the staircases, and occasionally the elevator.  No-one, however, can actually be found in their cabin. 


*note: this usually occurs while you are sleeping so you can count on getting woken up several times a night by loud banging
**For those of you who are unfamiliar there is a site that lists, for example, "Overheard at the UofM today" where students post stupid or ridiculous comments that they heard around their campus that day.  My favorite so far "Student One: Do we advance the clocks tongiht?  Student Two: Yes  Student One: Does that mean we set them forward or back?"

A2 The Storm 08/28/12

Hello all--sorry I have not posted as much in the past few days, things
have been busy here in the MV Explorer. All of my classes are going
well so far---Astronomy and Music Cultures are my favorites. I am
excited for when we get to the southern hemisphere because we may be
able to see the southern lights (which I honestly didn't even know
existed) and there are three or four meteor showers we should be able to
see. The most magnificent of which will occur just before we enter the
Amazon River and if the skies are clear we are "in for quite a treat!"
as my professor would say in his Scottish accent that I love listening
to. Music Cultures was great yesterday--we spent the entire period
classifying and playing percussion instruments much to my delight :)
Global has been good, no more Chinese men with bats though. We are
talking about this huge Grant Project that we will be completing during
the course of this semester.

Outside of class I am very excited because we get to watch Hunger Games
in the Union tonight!!! (for those who have been on a cruise ship
before--or have looked at the map online--the union is a large room with
a small stage in the middle and is a bit like going to a theater)
Yesterday, and most nights, we had game night in the Garden Lounge
during snack and played phase 10 while munching on various desserts
and some peanut butter toast--yum! Tomorrow night is special because we
have a guest on the ship who is an astronaut, and was a friend of Niel
Armstrong. We just found out about his death the other day and she said
a bit about him and read us a statement from his family that she thought
pertained to what we are doing this semester. He will be missed and we
are all going up to the observation deck in a salute to him and his
mission to the moon tomorrow. In addition, the astronaut on board will
talk about her four different ventures into space and what it was like
to work there.

Yesterday, as we started to cross the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the bridge
started to detect two storm systems forming ahead. They continued to
grow, as did the waves, and at 1700 the storms merged right around our
position. As a result we have had up to 17 foot waves and the ship has
been rocking like crazy. The wind speed also picked up and many of us
students were out on the back deck yesterday videoing the white caps
that were getting stirred up and documenting the tilting of the ship.
Walking around yesterday and early today was interesting as well and a
few people almost fell over we tipped so much! No worries though,
nothing major is going to occur and by the end of today the storm should
be past us and we will continue our voyage to Galway peacefully.

Well, I am headed off to dinner soon so I will let you go for
now--promise I will send more later :)
~Colleen
P.S. Thanks to all who have sent me an e-mail!

A1 The first day of classes

First off, it should have felt really weird to start classes on a
Saturday but honestly I don't think anyone here is keeping track of what
day it is. We did have some bigger waves and more rolling during the
day which caused me to feel a bit out of sorts. Apparently seasickness
also causes lots of fatigue and headaches but I got some medicine and am
perfectly fine now :) Back to classes--first we had Global Studies
(which is mandatory for everyone) which was....interesting. We
basically went over a few basics and outlined the course for the rest of
the semester but our professor is eccentric and made
things..interesting. He started the lesson by saying, "So everyone
think of a 1--it looks like a baseball bat, 2--is something I forgot,
3--a stool, 4--car, 5--high five, 6--sharp shooter, 7--slot machine,
8--skate, 9--something else I can't remember, and 10--like bowling a
strike." Keep in mind that he is acting out all of these seemingly
random things. Then he says something like, "Now I want you to picture
a Chinese man doing something with a baseball bat---the stranger or more
sexual it is the better!" and proceeded all the way up to ten. Needless
to say it was interesting. Anyway the point of the list and the crazy
(and disturbing) images was designed to help us remember the worlds 10
most populous countries in order--I think it did the trick. For you
skeptics who want proof they are: China, India, USA, Indonesia, Brazil,
Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Russia and Japan. My next class was
sociology, specifically Race, Class, and Gender which was your standard
first day in class: go over the syllabus, talk about exams and
assignments, ask questions, do a mini get-to-know-you activity. Nothing
too special yet. Lastly was music cultures which I am super excited
about. Our professor is a percussionist (yay) and we are going to be
spending a lot of time doing hands-on activities involving all of the
different styles of music that we will be encountering. In particular
our field lab is going to be a drumming and dancing workshop in Ghana
(that's right---be jealous!). What makes this amazing opportunity even
more special is that the man running the workshop is a master craftsman
and is making drums specifically for us so that we can use them during
the workshop and then can buy them and bring them home--I am so
stoked!!! Today we just did some introductory stuff and our professor
(who is Greek) played some Greek music that was created by men in the
Ghettos of Greece and did a traditional dance for us which was very cool
to see and to further understand.
Outside of classes the school store opened today so Danielle and I
went there right away in the morning (we did not have class until 0920)
and I got an SAS sweatshirt that I am excited to wear. We also wandered
around a bit more and are starting to become more familiar with the
ship, which is good. Sadly we did not see any dolphins today but I am
sure that we will have many more opportunities. Well I am tired and we
are loosing an hour again tonight so ta-ta for now.
~Colleen
P.S. SEND ME E-MAILS--I MISS YOU ALL!

Meetings, meetings, meetings--08/24/12

If you hadn't guessed by the title today was all about meetings. We all
gathered in the student union at 0900 and heard about Global Studies
(our mandatory class), Field Programs, IT and Computers, and more.
Thankfully we ended a bit early and had some time to hang out before and
after lunch. I played cards in the Garden Lounge (one of the food
service areas) with Danielle, Sarah, John, and a few other people and
just hung out for awhile and of course we took some time to go out on
the deck and enjoy the fresh air. After lunch we gathered once again in
the student union to hear about health and safety, field excursions, and
something else that I have already forgotten. In addition we watched
the video of the man who dances all over the world (I forgot his
name--is it Matt??) and talked about how that embodies our program and
values. Then we had a chance to meet all of our professors just to
introduce ourselves or to ask questions about our classes. I am taking
Global Studies, Astronomy, Music Cultures, and Race-Class-Gender and all
of them sound interesting and I am excited to see what we will have the
opportunities to do, see and learn throughout the semester. Our first
day of classes is tomorrow--day A1. Our classes are on a two day
schedule A day and B day and we take them every day we are on the ship
(no weekends for us) but when we get into port we have nothing and are
free to travel and explore. We played some more cards on the deck and
were just laying on the observation deck when we heard someone cry
"DOLPHINS!" Everyone ran to the railing and watched in amazement as a
large pod of dolphins swam right under our noses as we leaned over the
edge of the railings--it was amazing and another reminder of how unique
our floating campus can be. How often can you say that on the way to
dinner you say a pod of dolphins swimming past? Our final event of the
evening was an involvement symposium which consisted of the staff
setting up tables across the 6th deck and being mobbed with students who
were interested in their various activities--talk about a mad house. I
personally signed up to work with the children that we have on board,
adopt a life-long learner, and be a representative for my sea on the Sea
Olympics board. Now I am sitting in line at the computer lab trying to
figure out why I cannot open the syllabi for my classes--I am so
terrible at technology. Hopefully they can fix it fast and I can get to
the lounge for snack at 2100! They say we are headed for some
potentially rough weather so we might be rocking tonight!
~Colleen

MV Explorer--08/23/12

I am very excited to say that I am sending this message from aboard the
MV Explorer!!!!! I still cannot believe that I am actually here right
not--if it weren't for the constant rocking of the boat I would probably
be convinced that this is just another dream. This morning (at 08:45)
Danielle and I boarded the ship for the first time!!!! We had to go
through security and numerous checkpoints to make sure that we had all
our forms in and that we were all registered for classes and everything
and I was shocked at how fast it all went. I was expecting to be
standing in line forever and being shuffled through and hour and a half
long process be we were done in no time and my bags were waiting for me
at my cabin when I finished! Our cabin is fairly decent in size and I
have two roommates Allison and Melanie. We somehow managed to get all
of our stuff unpacked and put away in what little storage space we have.
The cabin has two beds on the ground and one Murphy-bed that creates a
bunk bed (I will send pictures when we get to port and have wireless), a
small T/V, a refrigerator, a desk, a small table, closet, and the
bathroom which is actually larger than I expected it to be so that was a
nice surprise. Danielle and Sarah (who I mentioned in an earlier post)
are one deck above me at the aft (they are literally the last cabin at
the back of the boat) so we are close. If you want to see a map or take
a virtual tour of the ship you can go to the website at
www.semesteratsea.org I have also heard that they have a link where you
can track the ship but I am not entirely sure where that is
located--sorry. We spent most of the day unpacking and exploring the
ship to try to get ourselves acquainted and had a life-boat drill at
1600 which gave us an opportunity to wear those ever fashionable bright
neon orange life jackets that everyone loves so much. Thankfully the
drill was quick and we all ran back to ditch our jackets and grab our
cameras so that we could get back to the decks to watch as we pulled out
of the harbor at 1700. There was a platform full of parents waving us
off (mom included) and we passed a very large in comparison Carnival
cruise ship which engaged us in a battle of who could blow their horn
the loudest--haha. Then we had dinner and made our way to the student
union (a large room full of chairs and benches with a little circle
stage at one end) for our welcome aboard meeting. They introduced us to
the faculty and staff and talked a bit about our voyage and what to
expect, all that jazz. After that we had our first Sea meeting. On the
ship each deck has a name--for example I am on the Dionysus deck--and
each area of the deck is a sea, which is like a wing in a typical
college dorm. I am the Baltic Sea--WOO GO BALTIC! Our RD is awesome
and everyone is super excited and protective of their sea, almost like
frats and sororities. Later in the voyage all of the seas will compete
in the Sea Olympics :) Anywho, after the meeting we all basically went
back to our cabins and crashed because we were so tired. I must say
that getting rocked to sleep by the ship is absolutely fantastic :) I
love and miss you all!
~Colleen

Seeing the ship for the first time!!!!!!!

Hanging in Halifax

Halifax

Drove to Halifax yesterday and am now in the hotel with Danielle and Sarah (the girls we are sharing a hotel room with) and we are about to go meet some other kids and go see the ship for the first time!!!!  The drive yesterday was longer than I expected and the bridge to get from Prince Edward Island to the mainland was looooooong.  When we got to the hotel in Halifax you could immediately tell which kids were there for SAS because they were all (myself included) surrounded by large duffle bags--it was funny.  We hung around the hotel for awhile and then checked out the harbor and got some food before meeting up with Sarah and John and then we walked all along the water talking about the trip and other random things.  Today we went to get some coffee :)  Now we are going to go check out the ship--which is a lot farther away than they lead us to believe so we are going to have lots of fun hauling all of our stuff over there---haha NOT.  oh well, it will be worth it.  More later--and sorry this is boring so far :)

Prince Edward Island

Hello all--it's Colleen Anne (that's Anne with an e) reporting to you from Prince Edward Island.  Everything here is absolutely beautiful and looks just like a movie--cheesy I know.  We are staying with my mom's cousin in the little house he rents and loving it.  Its an old house (built in 1853) with lots of older furnitre and housewares and mom is in hog heaven.  Last night we went to one of her cousins plays "Ring of Fire" about Johnny Cash and tonight we are going to see his daughter and her husband in their play "Our Town".  Monday we are back to her cousin who is playing Matthew in...you guessed it "Anne of Green Gabels" which I am very excited for, as is mom!  Well, we are off to tour the island.  I'll post more later if I can.

Testing my e-mail

This is a test to make sure that I can update my blog via e-mail.

SAS F 12 Itinerary

DEPART: Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 23
Galway, Ireland----August 31
Dublin, Ireland----September 2-3
Southampton (London), England----September 5-8
Antwerp, Belgium----September 10-15  
Lisbon, Portugal----September 19-21
Cadiz, Spain----September 23-26
Casablanca, Morocco----September 28-October 1
Tema (Accra), Ghana----October 8-11
Cape Town, South Africa----October 18-22
Buenos Aries, Argentina----November 2-5
Montevideo, Uruguay----November 6-8
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil----November 11-13
Manaus, Brazil----November 22-24
Roseau, Dominica----December 1-2
ARRIVE:  Fort Lauderdale, Florida December 7