“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust

The last few days have been a whirlwind. Mom and I arrived in San Diego on Friday night and spent all day Saturday shopping and exploring. Early Sunday morning I boarded the shuttle from the hotel to the port of Ensenada, Mexico. Crossing the border and seeing Mexico was really cool. We arrived in Ensenada around noon on Sunday and I spent the majority of the day unpacking and learning my way around the ship. We left port around 6:00pm. My roommate McKenzie and I had dinner on the dining deck and watched the ship pull away from port. The outside decks are incredible. There is no way to explain how cool it is to sit outside and see nothing but ocean on every side. Monday we had orientation meetings all day long. I gave the Honor presentation and was so relieved when it was over. The academic dean Mark White didn’t tell me until afterwards that there were 583 people listening, pretty intimidating. Luckily, I haven’t been seasick yet. The rocking on the ship is much more substantial than I would have guessed. A lot of people have been really sick; they even have shots for people who can’t handle the rocking! Yesterday was the first day of class and I was so excited to finally get on some kind of real schedule. I am taking four classes – Global Studies, which is required for everyone, History of the British Empire, Contemporary Moral Issues, and Women and Power in India. They all seem like they are going to be really interesting. Last night was the first pub night. It was our first chance to really meet people informally. They allow all students to have 3 drinks every night at sea, except the night before port. I’m pretty sure every student on the ship was there – crammed onto the pool deck. Today I sat outside all morning and did some class reading. I have to remind myself constantly that I am actually going to school – not just laying out on a boat deck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It’s four days until we arrive in Hawaii and until then we are pretty much doing the same thing every day. I’m making myself occasionally get up and watch the sunrise. I’ve been making sure to see the sunset every night. We traveled around a big storm that hit Southern California yesterday and we have been feeling the resulting swells from that. I think that I’ve finally gotten my “sea legs” and I’m ready for the next few weeks.

The internet situation aboard the ship is a little bit complicated. We are only allotted about an hour and a half of free internet usage or 50MB of uploaded space. So I probably won’t be uploading pictures until I am in port and can go to an internet café. I do have free email all the time – and I am loving getting emails because they are my only real connection to the outside. So please email me at jlbolen@semesteratsea.net