Day 31: RIP Professor Wade Lancaster

Location: Leaving Hong Kong

While we were in China the shipboard community received tragic news. On the first day in China Professor Wade Lancaster passed away from natural causes. He was 70 years old. 

In all of the chaos while I was waiting for the ship and the Chinese government to clear my dad to come on board in Shanghai I knew that something was up. I was waiting at the Purser's desk for some paperwork and there were too many deans and professors walking around talking. When I was standing outside with my dad, some people walked up to Bob to ask him directions to the hospital. I had assumed that a student had gotten into some trouble.

Professor Wade Lancaster's wife, Jeanette Lancaster, was also teaching on the ship. Questions began swirling about who would teach their classes, if Jeanette Lancaster would return, and how he died.

He was actually on a field lab with his Service Marketing class and they were on the bus returning back to the ship when he had a heart attack. Jeanette, as expected, flew home with him from Shanghai. A professor that was already on board the ship took over her Health Promotions class. Dr. Gary Oliphant is teaching Wade's Service Marketing course. By the time we arrived back on the ship in Hong Kong, we were told that Jeanette was planning to return to the ship in Singapore with her brother to continue the voyage. Strangely enough, there was very little said about the tragic news we all received once we arrived back on the ship.

It is hard to believe that I have been on board this ship for one month. It's hard to comprehend that I have traveled across the Pacific Ocean, through that terrible storm, explored two countries that were completely unknown to me, and enjoyed one of the countries with Dad. My classes are a quarter complete for the semester, I've had a round of midterms, enjoyed my first taco day on board the ship, and made many new life-long friends. It is a bitter sweet feeling to know it's flying by so quickly. I'm excited to see what the future will hold on this journey. Only the Lord knows what's in store and I pray that I can absorb the culture in each country and get my arms around the fact that the world is really small. 

There is not much to talk about in the days right after we leave a port. For the most part, besides going to class, eating, and a little bit of homework a lot of my time is spent catching up on sleep. I try to make the most of my time while in port because I always think that I can sleep on the ship. While that is true, it is so hard to get back into a routine when we are on the ship.

After dinner we watched Taken 2 in Alexa and Sawyer's room. Great movie! Everyone that had seen Taken was skeptical about watching Taken 2. Totally worth watching! At the same time, I'm not sure why on earth we watched that movie as we are traveling around the world visiting all kinds of strange places.