The Journey Begins!

Today has been a very exciting day. Why? I just spoke to my good friend Elan Ziff for over three hours about SAS. You will probably hear a lot about Elan during the course of this voyage (at least in the beginning) because he sailed with SAS during the Fall 2009 semester. Tonight Elan and I discussed everything about the voyage: what to bring, what not to bring, how many pairs of underwear I need to take, how not to sneak alcohol onto to the ship, when to not sleep, how to make friends on the ship, and most importantly how to make sure you are always having a blast. The best piece of advice he has given me already is to do things that you don’t want to do and do things you want to do but are too scared to do them on a normal day. For example, go bungee jumping off the tallest bridge in South Africa (using one of his examples…I wish I had that opportunity) or drive ATVs through the Moroccan desert (I definitely want to do this now…thanks a lot Elan). We discussed what to see in Spain and when to take siestas. We talked about currency, beer, shipboard food, hostels all over the world, and camels. It was absolutely amazing to have the opportunity to discuss these things with a past voyager. I have learned a lot and I know I will have many more questions for him in the future.

Since this is the first blog entry, I guess I should do a little background of what has happened so far… First, let me mention that I am currently so excited for this voyage that I am writing this at 12:34am when I should be sleeping and studying for final exams. If that does not express my excitement, I have been counting down the day, minutes, and seconds until we leave port in Halifax: 1 month, 24 days, 16 hours, 25 minutes and 44 seconds precisely. Well, I know that was a very important detail in all of our lives, but I can’t wait for this trip. Moving on, I registered for classes last Friday and I am taking Global Studies (everyone must take this), Art History and Intro to International Trade. I am very excited that all of the courses transfer back to CofC and count for something in my major or General Education requirements (except for Global Studies…stupid class). Well, I know that was boring for a second, but it is essential for the journal.

I am looking forward to tomorrow, as we have a meeting with the International Education department to discuss everything for the voyage on the CofC end of the spectrum. We also get to meet everyone that will be traveling with me on the Summer voyage, as well as those traveling on the Spring voyage. I am very excited! By the way, one of my good friends from CofC is going on the voyage with me. Her name is Danielle Ireton and I am sure you will hear a lot about our experiences over the next few months. She is a math major with me, but she “thinks” she wants to be a teacher. Well, it is getting late and I must go to sleep because after tonight talking to Elan, I can tell that I need to start sleeping now because I will not be sleeping much this summer. Signing off…