A Whole New World

There is really no other way to describe the shipboard community created on SAS. It is the type of place where it's totally normal to sit with "strangers" at every meal or call your professors by their first name as you play cards with their children. At the same time, it is a "typical" college where there are people in sweatpants and a t-shirt but also others clothed in jeans and a cute top. I'd like to say I'm somewhere in between the two, but my will to "try" each morning is slowly dwindling as the early morning group gym sessions and ports of call are eating my energy as fast as sleep and food boost me up.

Our food on the ship is the same every day, but also slightly different if that paradox makes any sense at all. There are two dining halls open for every meal, as well as a fancy dining option which costs extra money and is charged to your shipboard account. The regular dining halls -Lido and Berlin - serve the same food at the same time. Breakfast is generally some type of eggs, potatoes, fruit, and either french toast or pancakes. Lunch and dinner are always a type of pasta, a type of rice dish, garden vegetables, and two types of protein -usually two types of fish. Once in a while, the dining staff will change up and serve tacos or chicken nuggets. There is always toast with peanut butter and jelly as well as a soup, salad bar, dessert, and bread rolls. Despite the repetition, the food is pretty good considering there are 600+ hungry people on a confined ship.

Our classes are held basically anywhere a large group can fit - the restaurants, the library, the Kaisersaal Union, it goes on. The nice thing is that some professors are open to going outside for class if it is warm out. For example some classes - mostly the marine life focused classes- start each class with 5 minutes to watch the ocean out on the deck. Global Studies is the strangest class I've been to - maybe because I'm a small school girl through and through. Either way, the class, which is required for everyone on the ship (including professors) has over 250 people in it on each day. This is where we learn about the ocean, our next port, and globalization. Each class meets every other day.

Our days are marked by A days and B days rather than weekdays and months. Ship life becomes a cycle of A1, B1, A2, B2, and so on. There are also 3 "study days" or "community programming" days built into the schedule. These are for Sea Olympics, Neptune day, and an actual study day. Essentially these days act as mental health days and breathers after jam-packed in-country experiences and hours upon hours of reading.

Overall the shipboard community is a blast and I could not be happier with the people and environment I've found myself in. :)