And We're Off

We left Tuesday night for Spain and are somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic. I couldn’t update yesterday because the seas are really rough, they said they haven’t had a voyage start off this rough in a while. Even crew members are getting seasick. Everyone is pretty much miserable, our stomachs are doing flips. We have had orientation all day yesterday and we have tried to sit out on the outside decks as much as possible to relieve the nausea.  I have met a lot of nice people though, I met Elissa (ironic) at the Bon Voyage and we have been hanging out ever since. I also hang out with my roommate Marilyn and some other girls that we have found. The voyage started out make two complete circles in the Halifax port in order to make sure the compass was working… it would have been nice if we had known that because we were very confused the whole time. We just got basic information last night and they have been telling us about the in port trips, security, health etc. Last night we had an opportunity to see the ways to get involved on the ship via clubs, activities and sports.

Classes start today, I just got out of Global studies which is a required class for everyone. I have international business and business ethics at 12pm and 1:30pm. We are now 2 hours ahead of EST . A lot of students are from California so everyone is thrown off by the timing. The weather looks to be clearing though so hopefully today will be a better day. We think we hit a storm Tuesday night which caused all the bad weather.

I am heading to the Campus Store to buy a voyage tshirt and other fun stuff. I have been told that Campus Leaders (RAS etc.) get a discount so that would be awesome.

We are set to arrive in Spain on June 24^th so until then the Blog will probably be boring. I did sign up for the rest of my trips last night so hopefully I will find out in a few days which ones I got. The sign up was for Greece, Turkey, Morocco and Egypt, I am really excited for these trips, I signed up with Elissa for a lot of them. She is really funny and reminds me of a girl Kat I went to Israel with, really bubbly and such.

Welcome to Halifax, Nova Scotia

We have just arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is cloudy and chilly here- 9 degrees celsius.. and everything is in Kilometers- so confusing. Oh well. We are going to explore and maybe go see the Bay of Fundy- the largest tidal change in the world. I board the boat on Monday June 15th for RA training.

Almost Ready

I am starting to think of things to pack... any ideas? I have researched what women should wear in the various countries, we will see how that goes. It is going to be very hot in the countries and it seems as if I have to wear skirts and long sleeved shirts in Morocco and Egypt at least.

PreSale Trips

I just found out the organized trips that I will be taking. I will be doing the following trips as well as a few independent trips...

Spain:
Churches of Cadiz,
Adalucian Flamenco Night
Overnight Trip: Sevilla & Cordoba

Civitavecchia, Italy:
Overnight Trip: Rome, Pompeii, Sorrento, Capri & Naples

Naples, Italy:
Wine Production and Strategic Management

Croatia:
City Orientation #3-Synagogue, Museum, & Aquarium
Mostar
Montenegro

Varna, Bulgaria:
Highlights of Varna
Nessebur

Morocco:
Marrakech/Ourika Valley

How to Reach Me

When sending mail please mark "MV Explorer - Summer 2009 Voyage" on the first line and "Attn: Participant's Name" on the second line. The Port Agent's Address (from the list below) should be written on the subsequent lines.

PORT ADDRESS OF PORT AGENT SUGGESTED AIRMAIL DATE
Cadiz, Spain
Phone: 34 956 276 112
Fax: 34 956 276 766

PEREZ Y CIA S.L. C/ Ecuador, 211007 Cadiz, SPAIN June 10

Civitavecchia, Italy
Phone: 39 0766 508 811 a
Fax: 39 0766 913 116

CAMBIASO & RISSO SRLLargo Cavour N° 6, Int 400053 Civitavecchia, ITALY June 17

Naples, Italy
Phone: 39 081 551 2211 a
Fax: 39 081 551 2947

LINGENBERL SRLPiazzale Stazione MarittimaInteno Porto Napoli80133 NAPLES, ITALY June 19

Dubrovnik, CROATIA

Phone: 385 20 313 355
Fax: 385 20 419 040

ATLANTAGENTObala Stjepana Radica 26 PO Box 40 HR - 20000 DUBROVNIK, CROATIA
June 23

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

Phone: 30 210 4146 600
Fax: 30 210 4224 910

ISS CRUISE SERVICES 55 Polydefkous Street PIRAEUS 18545, GREECE
June 29

Istanbul, Turkey

Phone: 90 212 275 1870
Fax: 90 212 275 1865

I.T.S.Büyükdere cad. Kaya Aldogan sok. 12/1INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL SERVICES80300 Zincirlikuyu, ISTANBUL, TURKEY
July 3

Varna, Bulgaria
Phone: 359 52 633 433
Fax: 359 52 603 290

INFLOT-1 LTD 20, Tzar Ivan Shishman Str. PO Box 181 VARNA 9000, BULGARIA
July 10

Alexandria, Egypt
Phone: 203 486 5572
Fax: 203 487 6361

Worms Alexandria Cargo Services47 Sultan Hussein StreetKhartoum Square, Azarita Alexandria, EGYPT
July 16

Casablanca, MOROCCO
Phone: 212 61 29 8894
Fax: 212 22 484793
LASRY MAROC S.A.30 Avenue des Far 20000 Casablanca, MAROC
July 27



Time Aboard Ship
Based on Eastern Standard Time - the time on the ship is ahead EDT by the number of hours listed below:
Spain (+6 hours)
Italy (+6 hours)
Croatia (+6 hours)
Greece (+7 hours)
Turkey (+7 hours)
Bulgaria (+7 hours)
Egypt (+7 hours)
Morocco (+4 hours)

Guest Lecturers

Just Announced:

The Guest Lecturers for the Summer 2009 Trip:
Zornitsa Stoyanova-Yerburgh of the Carnegie Council,
New York Times correspondent Randy Archibold,
and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez

For more informatio on the speakers go to
http://www.semesteratsea.org/what-s-new-at-sas-/press-releases/semester-at-sea-announces-summer-2009-guest-lecturers.php

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello all,

I am staring this blog for my adventures at Semester at Sea. I want to keep everyone updated and post my pictures here so you can follow me. The itinerary is as follows:


Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cadiz, Spain
Civitavecchia, Italy
Naples, Italy
Dubrovnik, Croatia
Piraeus (Athens), Greece
Istanbul, Turkey
Varna, Bulgaria
Alexandria (Cairo), Egypt
Casablanca, Morocco
Norfolk, VA, USA

I have received a work study on the ship for Residence Life staff so I will be arriving on the MV Explorer on June 15th. The ship disembarks on June 16th from Nova Scotia and we will arrive in Norfolk, VA on August 22.

If you wish to send me mail here are the port addresses and instructions: http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/summer-2009/summer-2009-staying-in-touch.php

I will also be posting pictures on Flickr so be sure and check those out!
http://flickr.com/photos/asrswims/


Check out SemesteratSea.org if you would like any more information!