Last night we gained another hour over night. I am so glad that we are going around the world in this direction. If we were going around the world the opposite direction, we would be losing an hour of sleep nearly every other night. That would be so difficult to try and go through the day attending classes and without taking naps. Next week, I believe, we go past the International Dateline! As I understand it, we will pretty much lose an entire day.
Even though I do not have any terribly early classes (like an 8am class) I have been trying to get up and make it to breakfast. I think it will create a good routine. Not to mention, I need to have something in my stomach to take my medicines. At breakfast, I met a Study Abroad adviser and her husband (he was from France) who were just on the ship until we get to Hawaii. She is learning about how Semester at Sea is run, the opportunity it provies and the academic and social roles it plays in everyday life. When she returns home, she is supposed to report back to her home school and tell them about life on the ship. I'm guessing the husband is along for a free vacation!
After breakfast, I went downstairs to drop off my medicine. From what we were told, the clinic/hospital wanted to keep all of our medicines that were not over-the-counter, except for one month's supply. When I got to the clinic, the nurse ended up not keeping any of my medicine. It turns out that she only wanted the medicine that was highly addictive. Go figure!
I attempted to read again and do some homework Trying to read on this constantly rockin' ship is a challenge in itself. I attended class and then went to lunch. This time at lunch, seated at my table were two guys from New York, a girl from Vanderbilt, and a girl who attends an university in China. Learning about the students on the ship that attend school all over the world is so cool to me. Everyone has such a diverse background!
I attempted to take another stab at my readings for my Diverse Cultures class later in the day. Thinking my odds of staying awake were increased if I wasn't in my room, I decided to hit the Piano Lounge. While there my Diverse Cultures teacher showed up. (I see extra credit in my future! My book is in my lap and teacher shows up! ha ha!) She has a set of 3 1/2 year old twins on the ship. It is so interesting to me to learn about what other groups of people do to fill their day on the ship. Her husband is also on board and his sole role is to take care of their children. He doesn't have another job on the ship. For children who are under five, the ship does not provide any sort of schooling. There are about nine children who are under the age of five. She said that they are trying to get activities together to provide them with something to do for a few hours a day. I think it would be very difficult for a child let alone as a parent trying to occupy them on the ship. Many children are used to having a DVR at home easily accessible. They can watch whatever they want, whenever they want at home. On the ship, they don't have that option. My teacher needed something for them to do so she went to the library and asked them to run Toy Story 3 on the ship. How cool! this means it would run on all of the televisions on the ship. I think that was her saving grace!
After dinner, I was planning on attending the next Explorer's Seminar. This one was about Hawaii's History and Culture. I thought it would be very interesting and worth attending since we will be immersed into the Hawaiian culture for approximately the next 48 hours. I realized that I needed to write my paper for my Digital Media course. I scrapped going to the Union to listen to the Explorer's Seminar. Instead, I sat in Lauren and Shelley's room and wrote my paper while they did their readings.
Also traveling with us is an organization known as the Unreasonable Institute. I am still a little fuzzy on exactly their purpose and goal as a company while on board. They had a seminar for individuals on the ship to attend. I thought it was worth attending to try to learn more about the program. They have 11 entrepreneur teams who, as I understand it, are working to improve the world and their business. The founder talked to the audience in the Union about his organization. He talked about one of his favorite quotes: "A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be." I think it is a great quote to describe how an entrepreneur must operate in society. It is also a good quote to describe his company. He then interviewed TIME magazine's Hero of the Plant, Hunter Lovins', live, in front of us. We could hear about her life story, how she got to be the way she is, and why she does what she does. One of Hunter Lovins' big points that struck home for me was living in the moment. She talked about how you never know when your last day on Earth will be. Do what you can do to live in the moment, enjoy every day and moment you have with the people you love. I thought that was a really neat point to make, especially in our day and age and in the context of what I'm currently doing. I think it is easy to forget something as simple as not taking people and the simple things for granted.
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