Middle of the Atlantic

Hey everyone! I’m pretty close to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Latitude: 41˚ 43.42N, Longitude: 41˚ 43.42N, Longitude: 031˚ 54.29W. I’d post a map on here to show exactly where that is, but we can’t post pictures. It takes up too much bandwidth.

I’ve had all my classes now. I really, really love them! This is going to be an amazing semester. I’ll go through them briefly . . .

Global Studies: The first of this class was pretty horrid and tedious, but today’s was really good! There are about 250 kids in this class, and we listen to guest speakers present various topics. Today it was about the oceans and the horrible stuff we’re doing to them: overfishing, pollution, changing pH, etc. All very interesting stuff. This should be a good class.

Terrorism & Insurgency: This class is going to be INTENSE. The professor gave a huge speech at the beginning of all the people that shouldn’t be in the class: weak people, morally based people, close minded people, people uncomfortable pushing boundaries, etc. I think I made a pretty good impression on him, though, because 1) I happened to have scissors in my bag, which everyone needed to open their iClicker packages, 2) My last name is “Carpenter,” which was the perfect example when he was talking about the origins of names, and 3) I went up after class to tell him how excited I am about this course. Apparently this is the hardest course on the ship (or at least one of them), so it’ll definitely be an adventure . . .

Public Speaking: This class will be a lot of FUN. My teacher is absolutely hilarious, and there is a lot of variety among us students. Our first assignment is to give a brief presentation about ourselves based on either our ancestry, an item that we have with us, or an article published on the day we were born that is interesting to us. I think I’m going to talk about my TOMS shoes . . . but I’m not quite sure yet. I’m really excited!

History of Diaspora: This class is going to be great too! My teacher makes me laugh. He has this Southern accent that I always find amusing, but he really knows what he’s talking about. Everything we’re learning is stuff that I really feel like I should know, so I think I’m in the right place. Also, I feel like coming from Berkeley I kind of have a head start, not because of the “prestige” or whatever, but because Berkeley puts a LOT of emphasis on how race and ethnicity are man-made inventions and aren’t set in stone. He’s presenting this concept like it’s new and unknown, and that’s how most the other students are receiving it. Luckily for me, though, I’ve had a year to learn about and internalize it, so I feel like that’s really helped me already.

So those are my classes. I’m really excited about them. There’s a LOT of reading though.

In other news . . .

The people here are really great. Everyone is in a let’s-meet-everyone-else kind of mood. I hope that lasts for the entirety of the trip, but I doubt it will. So I guess I better make the most of it while I can. There’s like 40 people from the University of San Diego. When people ask where I’m from, I say “California, but not San Diego.” I think that’s an important distinction. =-)

Umm . . . what else can I tell you?

The boat is a lot more cruise-y than I care to admit. There’s a spa with massages, waxing, and other expensive non-essentials. The crew clears our dishes and makes our beds . . . personally, I would rather do that stuff myself, but I guess I might as well try to enjoy it.

It’s crazy having just ocean in every direction. I haven’t been seasick at all, just wobbly. You know how at fun houses they sometimes have the floor that moves? It’s like that. It’s nice at night, though. It’s like I’m being rocked to sleep. Problem is, though, that the same “rocking to sleep” movement happens during class. Ha. I guess that’s something I’ll just have to get used to.

Good News: I’m really excited for Spain! Me and two other girls are going to Seville. Woohoo!
Bad News: My roommate has been sick, and I think I might be coming down with something. Luckily I have Airborne and all that good stuff. I should load up on it now.

I’m trying to figure out what extracurriculars I want to get involved in. There are a LOT of options . . . so that’s hard. Plus everything is really competitive. There's something called "Student Ambassadors" which is the MOST competitive, so I'm applying. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but we'll see where that goes.

I didn’t sign up for a field program I was supposed to, so we’ll see how that goes.

Umm, I think that’s all I can think of. Love you all!!!!!