The Scholar Ship- Voyage Begins!

After packing and enjoying Hong Kong, on January 2^nd we took a cab to Ocean Terminal for me to embark on The Scholar Ship. We found it easily once at the docks and we boarded The Scholar Ship (formerly the Mona Lisa) to check it out. As it turns out Dad and Carol got a tour of the ship but I had to deal with immigration and things were pretty hectic so I said goodbye to them and began my adventure! Man was I nervous! I met tons of people while we waited (for about 5 hours) to have our documents filled out and visas/passports checked etc. There are 153 students (not nearly the turnout they hoped but a great number for us). Many of my already close friends are from Australia, Mexico, Canada, Ghana, Morocco, Finland, and the United States. I have lots of Mexican/Spanish friends to practice Spanish with so I am very excited! Altogether there are students from 30 countries and staff and crew from over 50. There is still an American majority of about 45% but there are so many great people from around the world that I am constantly learning.

Already I can tell this is going to be such a great experience. So far we have had 2 days of orientation to learn all about the ship itself, our port programs and onboard life. The voyage is supposed to be a combination of 3 aspects of life: onboard (ship) life, academic classes, and port programs (actually experiencing life in the countries). We will be at 6 countries (China, Thailand, India, South Africa, Spain, Turkey) for 7 days each and 4 countries for a limited amount of time (Seychelles, Cape Verde, Portugal, and the Netherlands) but we spend almost half our journey on land and the other half at sea. The ship is great by the way. We eat breakfast outside every day (on the Lido deck) and I cannot explain the beauty of eating breakfast with the sun in my face and the wind in my hair while talking to new friends from Iceland and Brazil. The multicultural experience is truly amazing and this is a pioneer program. There is no other program like it on earth. I haven’t been sea sick but do get light headed and headaches at times, but many are really suffering. It will probably take a few more days before everyone has their sea legs.

I have one of the smallest rooms but it is more than adequate as I really like my floor (intercultural community) and my roommate, Brooke from Canada. The food is great and I am already trying to eat balanced and healthy meals, but there are great desserts (only one option though so that’s good). They have dishes typical of the region at most lunch and dinner meals so lately there has been lots of rice and Chinese dishes, today was fajitas though and everyday there is salad, breads, and fresh fruit (all wonderful). Also, I have already worked out at the cardio deck outside where there are lots of bikes and elliptical machines (I did 6 miles yesterday!! And I am planning on going at least every day so hopefully I won’t gain 30 pounds!) Nothing is more motivating to exercise than looking at the sea and listening to my Ipod. O there are also 3 pools, 2 hot tubs, 2 bars, 2 gyms, several dance floors, a library, a theatre, a gift shop and a media center. I don’t know though I might get bored? Ha.

For our night activities we have had an introduction/welcome night, student/staff mixer, and last night was open mic night. One of the most amazing aspects of The Scholar Ship is that you can have breakfast, lunch, dinner or a drink with all of your resident counselors and more interestingly, your professors. Professors live and eat with all the students so there are constant opportunities to meet and know them. I started classes today, Global Issues and Intercultural Communications and both seem fascinating and with a great group of people. Both of today’s classes had 20 people but I think my elective classes tomorrow will have only about 10 each (A big change for me from BYU of typical classes averaging about 150). It is Saturday here but I only know that from looking at the calendar as we have no weekends or weeks really. We have four days of classes (alternating blue and green) and then we have a break day. We also have a pre port day and a post port day to prepare and then discuss our experiences from each country. So this week I have classes on Saturday and Sunday oddly enough. Yesterday we also signed up for clubs and sports that we are interested in. I signed up for yoga, dance, the interfaith dialogue, student voice (government) and social events (my personal favorite). Soon other activities will start like foreign film showings and other cultural activities. I am excited to see how things really go and how much free time I really have once classes get into swing and we see about travel etc.

If things go as planned I will be leaving Shanghai to go Beijing with a group from TSS (The Scholar Ship) so I will be able to see the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and other famous sites there, unfortunately it involves two overnight sleeper cars and freezing weather but it sounds like an amazing experience. I would leave for Beijing on the night of the 10^th. There will be lots of independent travel involved in every country we travel to but there are lots of travel savvy people and groups to go with. I am both anxious and excited to try that out.

Well I had no idea I had so much to say but I guess I figured there would be lots of questions since I didn’t have a big idea of what this experience would be like. I will be checking email every other day, but probably only responding once a week. Feel free to ask more questions about the program/ship and I will try to oblige. Please email me updates of what is going in all of your respective locations and feel free to send this blog link to any who asks. I miss all ya’ll but I am excited for what lies ahead as I love it here already! Thanks to all my friends and family for their love and support. :)