Days 1 and 2

Sunday, January 17, 2010

My dad and I flew into San Diego on Friday afternoon. The weather was gorgeous; palm trees in January never fail to make me smile. We explored the Gaslamp District and Old Town (first town ever established in California) both of which were interesting and full of good food/drink.

I woke up in San Diego this morning, had breakfast with my dad and then got on a 9am bus to the Ensenada, Mexico! The drive itself is only an hour and a half, but it took us at extra 45 minutes or so to clear customs. The entire drive was right down the coast and the houses were super colorful, which is a nice change from US architecture. At long last we rounded a corner and saw our ship. Well… we saw a ship… I think the ship most people noticed first was Carnival’s Elation cruise ship, which we’d seen docked in San Diego the day before. As it turned out, our ship, the MV Explorer is much smaller than that monstrosity… Of course, by “much smaller” I mean we only have a measly seven decks instead of three billion.

I got all checked in on the boat, which took around 20 minutes from the time that I actually stepped inside. Then I went to deck 3 to find my room and meet my new roommate. (Fun side note: the name of our deck is Dionysus!) I had low expectations for the room itself, which was perfect because when I discovered that I ended up with a decent sized double room I was thrilled. My roommate’s name is Heather. She’s from Concord, NH and she goes to New England College. (Fun fact: she’s a triplet!)

We weren’t set to leave port until 5pm, so we ate lunch (tacos), unpacked and explored the ship with Helen and a few other people we met along the way. There are actually around 15 UW-Madison students on this voyage. The total college student count is roughly 580 with a 66/34 girl to guy ratio. We all hung around on deck and chatted until dinner. By the time we finally threw off the ropes and set sail it was around 6:15pm. Everyone cheered and the outdoor decks were packed with people until everyone got chilly and went inside. At 8pm we had our first orientation meeting (many many many more to follow tomorrow) and met the captain/crew/teachers.

The sea is a little rough tonight because there’s a little bit of stormy weather on our tail, but I’ve heard that it usually isn’t quite this choppy. A few people have puked so far, but I haven’t gotten seasick and I actually find the rocking motion relaxing, though it has been a bit difficult to walk. After the meeting Heather and I went outside; it’s already pitch black. The ocean is huge and we’re barely away from port. We’ve been told to look for Orion’s Belt in every country, so I’m going to start tomorrow night.

Classes start on Tuesday and continue for 8 days (I think) before we dock in Hilo, Hawaii where I’m planning to go scuba diving with a group of people from the boat. Apparently this ship’s top speed in 29 knots, but we’re cruising at about 20mph right now, which I think is normal; I don’t know the conversion. The Internet is already a little bit sketchy, so I don’t know how often I’ll be able to post, but I’ll try to keep up to date. Anyway, I’m exhausted and we have to be up early again.


LoveLoveLove,
Molly