Semester at Sea | Day 14: Life on a Ship

Ciao!

What a whirlwind for the last ten days! Thanks to my mom for keeping everyone somewhat in the loop while I recovered from the worst nausea I have ever experienced, started classes, and explored the beautiful country of Italy for the last couple of days!

I know everyone is probably wondering what life is like on the ship, so I think I will start there and blog about the many adventures we have experienced in Italy when we get to our next Italian port: Naples.

Life on the ship is surreal. The World Odyssey is a luxury cruise ship. The entire thing is so immaculate and beautiful. There are stunning pieces of art, ornate lighting, and old furniture everywhere you go. We were all pleasantly surprised to walk into our rooms and find that we have a window! I wake up to the sun and sea every morning and we often watch the sun set from the very top deck of the ship. I don’t think it has hit me yet that we are living on a ship. A group of us went up to the deck last night and watched a few big cruise ships leave the port and admired the city all lit up. I can’t tell you how many times one of us said “This is real life. We’re in ITALY!” It’s unbelievable. And so hard to put into words.

90% of the crew on our ship is the same from the last ship. They loved Semester at Sea so much that they decided to come over to the World Odyssey when it was declared the new ship! They do an amazing job of keeping everything in tip-top shape and are the friendliest people you will ever meet. They greet us before every meal, clear the tables for us, pour our drinks, and clean our cabins – it’s pretty nice. 😉

The Student Union is a giant ballroom with red velvet couches and baroque-style armchairs + a balcony that wraps around the entire room. It’s a little tight when all 698 of us are in there, but we manage! Everyone got real friendly, real fast. Many of our classrooms are restaurants, lounges, and corners of big rooms on the ship and sometimes it’s a challenge to write without a desk because you’re sitting in a lounge chair. Especially since I’m used to spreading everything out all across a table at my land campus. It’s been an adjustment, but worth it!

My favorite thing about life on the ship is the unique relationships we form with our professors. We get to sit with them at every meal, hangout with them on the pool deck, and meet their families. They also lead our field labs and field programs in every country so we are able to spend a lot of time getting to converse and reflect with them outside of the classroom.

I can’t wait to post about my first field lab, day in Rome, and very interesting night in the port town of Civitavecchia. We are headed to Naples early tomorrow morning so expect another post coming today about this leg of our Italy trip before we get into the next! I promise to include more details and photos in my next post. I have pages and pages of notes, but I wanted to make sure I got something  up while I have a Wi-Fi connection. It is a rare occurrence after all!

We are off to find a spot on the beach to relax and get some gelato! (I may have had gelato every day in Italy. And possibly for breakfast – I cannot confirm nor deny). Don’t worry – we brought our textbooks! This is an academic voyage after all! 😉