Only on SAS

Hey everyone sorry I haven't wrote in a while! So it has been an epic
week here at sea on the MV Explorer. The boat has been pretty rocky, but
I have fortunately not gotten sea sick. I have been a little dizzy at
times, but I think that has come from being hungry. I haven't gotten
sick at all though so thank God for that! I have been eating pretty
regularly, usually small meals of pasta & bread. I have had a few PB & J
and have somehow survived over 11 days without grilled cheese or mac &
cheese. I have only given in twice and got pizza at the snack bar. I am
so glad though that I brought a bunch of snacks that held me over
between meals. I definitely recommend to anyone to bring snacks that can
substitute as meals for this trip! Okay on another note, I have met
quite a few people in this past week. People here are very friendly,
unlike any normal college or high school. So I have made some sort of
plans for when I reach Galway, Ireland tomorrow. I plan to travel
overland with a group of about 8 people. The highlights of the trip
include visiting the Cliffs of Moher (spelling?) and Aran Islands. The
Irish PHD student traveling on the ship with us says that Aran Islands
show the essence of everything Irish in one area. I am excited to view
all of their culture. This should take all of the first day for sure,
I'm not sure where or what we will do next as we have no hostel or hotel
booked yet, but I guess that will all be part of the adventure. We will
have to travel overland to Dublin to meet the ship.

For Global Studies class (mandatory for everyone) I will be doing a
group project with some other girls on the ship. We (Hannah, Meg, Brit,
Danielle, & Colleen) are planning to do our project on love throughout
different countries and how people feel about it around the Atlantic
Rim. At the end of the semester if our project or any team projects are
felt to be really good, they are chosen and put together into a
documentary and will be presented around the country. It would be a
great resume builder to say I participated in this. My other classes are
going wall also. My intro to comparative politics teacher is great! He
actually wrote the book that we are using for the class! (How many ppl
can say that?) So for that class I was paired up with another student
and we will do a presentation on Spain's politics in between Belgium &
Spain ports. The professor also allowed us to make changes to the
syllabus with a class vote so we voted to do journals instead of papers.
He seems very intelligent on the class & dedicated to the subject (well
he did write a whole textbook on it, its currently in its 10edition).
Marine Bio is a little boring at times (but i'm not a science person), I
know it will pick up though and the teacher seems nice and very well
informed on the topic. He has informed us on the wildlife some people
have been seeing in the ocean. I have only seen birds so far, but others
have seen whales a couple times. Even if I don't see any on the ship, I
will get to see them when the class goes whale watching in Spain on the
1st day. Leadership Development has been going well also. All of the
classes require quite a bit of reading, that i have been trying to keep
up with (already behind, but oh well I never read my 1st yr of college
and made it out of there with almost all A's, I should be fine reading
some, skimming, & studying for the tests).

On other notes I have decided to join the Community Service Club and Sea
Olympics clubs on the boat. They both sound interesting and like a great
way to get involved. I have attended the 3 cultural pre-ports they have
had to help prepare students for Ireland, UK(Not England, learned the
difference between the 2), and Belgium. Tonight will be a logistical
pre-port for Ireland.

Most IMPORTANT/AMAZING!
So Only on SAS do you one night meet and listen to an astronaut that has
been to space 5 times and was good friends with Louis Armstrong and the
next very day meet an SAS alumni that was the inventor of Crocs!!!!!!
New key phrase ONLY ON SAS!

Some of you may know of when groups or colleges do problems like UND
problems of other things like that so I have thought of some for SAS:
Drawers slamming open & closed in the middle of the night
Pasta and potatoes (Everyday)
Being unable to walk in a straight line (not like I could b4, but
its harder here lol)
Seasickness (not for me, but for others)
Crossing time zones (already lost 7 hrs of sleep total just from
crossing time zones)
Freezing cold ship (I literally sleep in thermal leggings, sweats,
socks, long sleeve shirt &
sweater everynight)
Freezing cold crossing the Atlantic to Ireland (It will get better
once we start going south & get closer to land)
But overall it has all been going pretty well i have solved most of
these problems by taping drawers and dressing warm and napping
(everyday). Everything & everyone else has been great. Well I better go
gotta read some then eat, logistical pre-port and pack up my back pack
for a 4 day excursion in Ireland! Then we get back on the ship for a day
& then are in the United Kingdom (UK) and then 1 more day on the ship
and then Belgium time!

Today's noon bridge report (Just a little info for you)...
NOON BRIDGE REPORT

Location of ship Lat.53-14N, Long. 014-01.0W
Miles traveled since from last port
1959 NM
Miles to next Port 233 NM (Galway, Ireland)
Avg. speed of ship (since Departure)
11.7 Kts
Speed of Ship 11.7 Kts
Miles traveled since Yesterday's NOON 268 NM
Avg. speed of ship for this leg 11.7 Kts
Temp. of Air 15 deg. C / 59 deg. F
Temp. of Water 15 deg. C / 59 deg. F
Wind Direction & Speed SW-16 Kts
SUNSET 1943 H SUNRISE 0644 H
Fresh Water Consumption 63 gallons/person

Amy