When
my dad and cousins dropped me off and I walked onto the ship, it
finally hit me that this is going to be my life for the next 104 days.
My cabin is way nicer than I thought it was going to be, and we have a
lot of storage. My roommates are both from California and are
“hella rad”, as they like to say over and over. I keep telling myself
I’m not going to pick up their lingo, but when you live, eat, and school
together it’s quite challenging. No worries though, I promise they’ll
be saying “y’all” like no other by the time this voyage is over.Moving in and meeting everyone brought me right back to freshman year, except this time I wasn’t just a dumb freshman; I was an experienced senior. I’m meeting new people every single day. People are from all over the globe, but a good chunk of them hail from California and among them a whopping 60 kids are from the University of San Diego. I’ve found my group of friends who I do everything with and we definitely keep SAS weird. The second day we were here we played basketball on the top deck and were joined by the kids of some of the teachers and afterwards we got to was the sunset out on the horizon and it was amazing.
It’s
so relaxing here that sometimes I forget I’m even taking classes. But,
as far as those go, I’m taking all upper level marketing classes for my
minor and they are actually pretty interesting. 
My last/first day of school as an undergrad was Monday the 12th and it went great! The classes don’t seem too hard here,but hey seas do get degrees. Skipping classes isn’t really an option here because running into your teachers is inevitable, especially at dinner, and it just makes for an awkward conversation. (And no, I haven’t skipped…that’s just what someone told me).
Also some of you have asked me how life on the ship has been, so I’ll give you the the run down. First off, the ship used to be the set for the German TV show Das Traum Shiff so everything looks super extravagant and over the top.
Our cabins are really neat and we have an awesome view of the water! The ship itself has 9 decks- 2 of which are for dining. They only serve us 3 times a day and let’s just say I really, really miss Brough (best dining hall at the UofA). As far as the faculty and staff goes, everyone aims to make this the best voyage it can possibly be. They are really friendly, but since we are on a ship they strictly enforce the maritime culture, which I’m still getting used to. The other shipmates are super cool and aside from the fact that the doors are solid metal and I swear weigh about a ton and a half, everyone has an open door policy, so it’s just constantly meeting new people and making new connections.
Also, the tvs in our room have a channel that shows us exactly where we are in the world, and so far we have traveled 3202 nautical miles or roughly 3,685 miles. Even though the MV World Odyssey is a huge vessel, the motion of the ocean is very, very real. Several people, including teachers, have been puking up a storm. In the bathroom, in the stairwell, in the classroom, and yes even in their own mouths. They have puke bags every where you look and give out Dramamine like its candy. The water has been a bit choppy the last couple of days and we are all feeling the effects of it. And, the craziest thing of them all is that the captain said these are the smoothest the seas are going to be, so hopefully we will all get used to the swaying by then.
To pass by the time we have been playing ping pong or sitting on the deck at the back of the boat and just watching the waves and looking out for other ships or sea life. We even got visited by a helicopter..although we still don’t know why it was there.
Another
weird thing is that since we have no cell service, in order to
communicate with people we are leaving sticky notes on people’s doors or
in their mailbox . It’s also strange to be all together with everyone
and have plan our next rendez-vous point because we have no group chat
that we can just make. Also, there are a ton of other Beta’s here that
I’ve met, and guess where they are from? That’s right, THE UNIVERSITY OF
SAN DIEGO (but one does go Oklahoma State University).Lastly, at two o’clock in the morning on September 15, we passed through the Straight of Gibraltar where we could see both the coast of Spain and Morocco.
I know it’s kind of hard to see, but it was such an amazing view. Since the skies were clear, we could also see the constellations.
Well that’s about all I’ve got for now! We just docked in Greece, so hopefully I’ll be able to update once more before I leave, otherwise it’ll be when I arrive to Italy.
As always, for more pictures go check out my Facebook! And if you wanna contact me then email me at: andrew.santiago.fa16@semesteratsea.org
Destination—-> Athens, Greece.
--
Don't miss the boat!
Read more from Jordan at https://suitelifeofsanti.wordpress.com/
Find your own study abroad program to hone your professional skills and enhance your resume at: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search
If you need help getting started with study abroad, take a
look at this: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/getting-started/index.php
