Pictures

Here are some good pictures that I found on line (from facebook of course). It gives a nice idea of what to expect on the ship.

The MV Explorer - My home from August 24-December 14th

I'll be boarding with the rest of the staff 4 days before the students. I can't wait to board for the first time.

My room is on the bottom deck of the ship so I'll have a port hole window. This picture is taken from the inside wall looking out. You can see the door, the closet on the right, the bathroom is on the left. A small TV is mounted into the shelf with a small fridge in the unit below. A desk with mirror will be perfect for my computer. It will be nice to have the room to myself so I can spread out a bit, as I tend to do where ever I go.

The ship has a salon (and spa) all services are added to your shipboard account and you 'cash out' at the end of the journey. This also applies for all the drinks, so please remind me to check my account from time to time.

There is a small fitness room with a few treadmills and other machines. I've been told its ALWAYS packed.

Obviously there is some great outdoor spaces. You can see the pool in this picture.

The students are on the ship to learn and its my job to remind them of that. Hopefully students will use the library from time to time.

I think the ship has 6 regular class rooms but I have seen many pictures of what looks like class taking place on the outside decks as well.

I can't put into words how excited I am to go on this journey. Hopefully I'll find the words along the way so I can tell you all about it.

OUCH! The pain of vaccinations

MMR booster

DPT

Polio

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis B

Rabies

Typhoid

Malaria

Yellow Fever

Taking care of the long list of vaccinations has been a struggle to say the least and a bit painful at times. I started the process on April 28^th and am still working on a few of them. I played back and forth with my doctor’s office and a pharmacy multiple times trying to get it worked out but I think I am finally squared away. My doctor put in a request to my insurance to have most of the shots covered as it is for work and it covered two more but it also added a few weeks to the process. I keep telling myself that I have more time then money at this point so I need to be patient.

My doctor told me to go to an urgent care center for polio, yellow fever and my MMR booster. So, having heard great things about the Playa Vista urgent care center from the EMTs at LMU I stopped by. They specialize in travel vaccinations, who knew!? They guy at the desk said that they had just submitted paper work to received the yellow fever vaccine but the guy told me that they expect to have it very soon. Jump to last Saturday when I went to the Playa Vista Farmers Market (its small but nice, check it out all you LMU people) and the urgent care center had a booth so I stopped by to inquire once again about the yellow fever vaccination and it was as if I had told the lady she had won the lottery. First – I would compare her to Kristin Wigg on SNL as the Target Lady. If you don’t know what I am talking about check it out on YouTube. Anyway, her face lit up! “Oh, our FIRST yellow fever patient!” Causing me to look around as if to tell people – I don’t HAVE yellow fever, I need to get the vaccine, thanks a lot lady! “ We just ordered it. Our nurse Karen just stepped away (She was getting some green beans, not that it matters) she’ll know when it should be in. Here she comes” Yelling across the entrance of the farmers market, “KAREN! HE IS ASKING ABOUT YELLOW FEVER!” said the Target-like lady. (I really appreciated her doctor patient confidentiality) Karen approached with her green beans and a smile and told me they submitted the paper work a few weeks ago and it would be in by the middle of this week. I said “Thanks, I’ll stop by next week then, have a great day” and began to walk away when Target-like lady said, “Hey, did you get a first aid kit?” She was very pleased with herself.

So, that is a brief version of the vaccinations. Should anything else fun happen when I actually complete the process at the Playa Vista Urgent Care Center I’ll be sure you know all about it.

The Ship and Itinerary

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Semester At Sea program let me provide you with a brief overview.  The Semester At Sea program began in 1963 and is described as a “state-of-the-art floating campus…that provides a unique opportunity to create new perspectives and to tap into every individual’s passion for learning and understanding” You can learn more about the program and its history at www.semesteratsea.org.  In a very simple sense, SAS it is a college on a cruise ship. The program and academics are through The University of Virginia and Fall/Spring voyages require a minimum of 12 credits. Students are in class while at sea and have opportunities for field study excursions while in each port.

I sail August 24 to December 14, 113 days and 11 countries!

My itinerary is as follows:

Norfolk, Virginia. USA – August 24^: The staff board and reposition the ship to Canada to meet our students

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – August 28: The students board and the journey officially begins

Cadiz, Spain

Casablanca, Morocco

Accra, Ghana

Cape Town, South Africa

Port Louis, Mauritius

Chennai, India

Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

Hong Kong / Shanghai, China

Yokohama / Kobe, Japan

Honolulu / Hilo, Hawaii, USA

San Diego, California, USA

The journey that I will be on is the 100^th voyage so it makes the opportunity that much sweeter.  I am incredibly fortunate to be apart of this experience and hope to share with you as much as I can.  I imagine that points of the journey will be challenging and others rewarding and meaningful beyond words but I hope to do my best in writing about my experience.

The ship (not a boat) is named the MV Explorer, was built in 2002 and is “one of the safest ships afloat” being in the U.S. and international health and safety ratings 99^th percentile. Thankfully, with all this pirate activity, the MV Explorer is also one of the fastest passenger ships of its kind in the world! You can tour the ship here http://www.semesteratsea.org/our-ship/overview/aboard-the-mv-explorer.php

The ship can serve as home to 836 people and travels at a max speed of 28 knots or nearly 30 miles an hour. With 30,000 sq. ft. of outside deck space, 6 passenger decks, 7,500 sq. ft. pool area, three dining decks, plus a faculty and staff lounge (with happy hour every night) I’ll have plenty to explore before the students board. 

The Journey Begins

Welcome to my first entry! Lets begin, last September I submitted my application for Semester At Sea and patiently waited with high hopes. SAS had been a dream job for the past three years after learning about it shortly after I arrived at LMU. After not hearing anything for months and finally getting an e-mail in mid March telling me that they had closed their process I was disappointed and trying to figure out what else I was going to do.  Obviously things worked out, a position reopened and I received an e-mail asking if I was still interested and available for the fall journey. Now, I got this e-mail on March 31st and on April 1^st I sent set up an interview for the next day.  To be honest I thought that maybe someone was playing a very cruel April fools trick on me, but I was going to be ready for my 5pm phone interview.

Cut to Thursday, 5:00…5:01... I told myself ‘Patrick, don’t freak out’ 5:05…I checked my e-mail to make sure I had the correct day.  5:08 I my heart started to race, ‘You have got to be kidding me’ I thought.  5:11 the phone rang! Ok here we go!   As I told everyone weeks earlier that I didn’t even get an interview much less the job I felt that had nothing to loose.  I was calm and ready to give it my best shot. It is such a great interview. Dr. B and I had a fun conversation and I felt very comfortable talking with him. Half way through I told him that I thought this whole thing may have been a joke and that his calling late almost sent me in to hysterics. He apologized and laughed at me some more. As the conversation continued he told me that he wanted to move the process along quickly and I told him that he should offer me the position that evening, I would immediately accept and the process would be complete. He appreciated the idea but with a laugh said that he couldn’t move that quickly.  He did mention that if necessary he would be contacting my references when in mid sentence he cut himself off and said, “Patrick, I don’t know why I am trying to be coy with you, tell your supervisor I’m calling her in the morning” With that he said his plan was to be in touch by the following Wednesday.  I only told a few people, as to not set myself up for another disappointment but come Monday night Dr. B gave me a call and offered me a position as one of the eight Living Learning Coordinators on the Fall 2009 journey!

While I don’t set sail until August 24^th, there is a lot to do before hand. Visas, inoculations and flight arrangements not to mention figuring out where to live for the summer, as I have to be out of my current apartment June 15^th.   But first the fun stuff… the journey and the ship!