We're going to Hawaii, yay!

After a week at sea, the ship is finally about to arrive at our first port, Hilo, Hawaii. Most of us have finally gained our sea legs and learned how to orient our selves on the ship. Its been a rough week for everyone, though, because the ship has been constantly bombarded by huge swells that developed due to the storms hitting the west coast. The captain steered the ship about 300 miles off course in order to avoid the worst of the storm, but we've been hit nonetheless. At every meal we have to guard our dishes because things have been flying across the tables; I'm sure a lot of plates are broken as a result. One professor that I spoke with said that in all six previous voyages that she attended, she never once had a cup slide across the table. On this voyage, its occurred at every meal.

But we haven't been letting the lack of sleep or inability to walk straight get to us! I've been having an amazing time getting to know the people on this ship and I know it will be a great semester. Last night we had a spiritual dance party in the Union (the main classroom) and everyone let loose and then formed a massage circle before settling down for the night's cultural pre-port. Jenny, the spiritual coordinator is an amazing woman from Colorado Springs who organizes yoga, chi gong, dance etc for the group. She's also leading a "knitting with purpose" group where we knit scarves to donate to children at the orphanages we visit on our journey. Knitting has pretty much taken over the ship! I'm currently working a scarf that looks a lot like Big Bird, big, fluffy and yellow!

My teachers are awesome and all my classes are really small (except Global Studies, which everyone is required to take) which is great because we'll have a much more personal relationship with one another. My Science and History of the Nuclear Age class has only 6 people! And we're all going to Hiroshima together, which I'm sure will be a very profound and moving excursion. I'm also taking Waste Around the World and Sustainable Communities (an architecture course) and both classes seem promising. There's a lot of time for discussion, which the teachers and I both appreciate.

The Global Studies professor, Don Cogniatt is amazing as well! He's hilarious and engaging so I look forward to waking up and listening to him each morning. I had lunch with him and a few other professors the other day and told them my story and they all seemed pretty impressed. Don has nicknamed me both "Einstein" (for my tattoo) and "The coolest kid on the ship", so I feel pretty special :)  I guess there aren't many science or engineering students on the boat (oops, I mean ship. Apparently ships carry boats but boat don't carry ships), especially not female scientists with bones held together with titanium. So I've got a pretty unique story to tell.

We're doing this awesome project for Global Studies where you design a lecture plan for high school seniors on some topic relating to global sustainability. The top 10 projects will be chosen as actual lesson plans that will be used all over Virginia and possibly in other states as well. I already got a group together and we're going to focus on electronic waste (aka where your old cell phone or computer goes if you recycle it or throw it away). It turns out that around 80% of electronics that are "recycled" actually get sent to one of several electronics markets around the world including one in Accra, Ghana that my group will visit. These aren't really markets though, more like dumps that people rummage through to find any salvageable metals and burn whatever is left. It should be a great project, especially since this a seldom addressed topic and an every growing problem in global sustainability. I'll without a doubt be posting more information about this as my group does its research and investigates the problem.

I've met a lot of awesome people so far, but also a fair number of... well... not so awesome people. There was a group of almost 40 people pounding tequila shots and hypnotic in front of the administration right before getting on the boat; I almost couldn't believe it. It seems like a lot of people view this as a booze cruise around the world, which is really unfortunate since this program has so much to offer its students! To each their own though, I suppose, but I'll be avoiding such antics.

I've been bouncing around a lot, talking to different groups and trying desperately to remember people's names, but its nearly impossible. I started a Geology/Outdoor Club and we had our first meeting last night. There are only two other geology majors on the ship, but a fair number of people came who're interested in organizing hikes and other outdoors activities. My friend Zach (who's dad is also my professor for Waste Around the World) brought a slackline with him and we're going to set it up in every country and take pictures of us slacklining around the world. For those who don't know, a slackline is almost like a tightrope that's only a couple feet off the ground. Some people are really good at it and can do all kinds of crazy flips and tricks. Personally, I have a hard enough time just walking on it, but its still a lot of fun! Hopefully we'll find a good beach to set it up at in Hawaii.

The group is also going to do a hike up Diamond Head on Oahu. Its a crater left over from an extinct volcano that last erupted about 150,000 yrs ago and the view from the top is supposed to be spectacular! We're planning to do some kind of hike in each port.

Some friends of mine also started a film club and we're going to make silly movies around the world. Unfortunately, my camera can't compete at all with the ones they have, but I'll just act and be silly in their films instead.

The crew on the ship is amazing!!! This one man, Misreal, is one of my favorites! My friend, Ben (Toby/Toben/Toblerone etc) is planning to do a documentary on him. He's from Jamaica and he's always singing! I love it! Most of the crew is from the Philippines and they spoil us! I'm not used to be so catered to, but its pretty nice not needing to bus your own tables and I like crawling into a made bed every night.  I'm learning some filipino (kinda) so that I can greet and thank them in their native language. Salamat means "thank you", by the way.

In Hawaii I'll be visiting the Geothermal Energy plant as well as Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. On Oahu I'll be visiting a Waste to Energy plant and participating in a field program about the Laws and Politics of the Oceans (we're going to the Honolulu Aquarium).

As as I want to keep writing... the sunshine is calling my name! I'll post again after Hawaii

Cheers
Alicia