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January 23, 2008
Well.. we are officially off to SEA!!You have no idea what is going through my mind right now.Today was a busy day, with check-in, orientation, floor meetings (or what we call SEA Meetings) and a bunch of activities for our residents.
First, we got 750 residents, their luggage and parents onto the ship in 4 hours… crazy!Just image, trying to get through a port security, then ship security, then trying to have cabin stewards get the students luggage up to their rooms.But overall, it went so well!!Working with port security, customs, and residents from around the world today was such an amazing experience.
Throughout the early morning and afternoon, I met my 75 residents by going to their rooms and meeting all of them.The energy, the excitement, their characters, their history and experiences all added to the awesome dynamic experience today.By doing this, my memories of working first hand with residents came back with how much I missed doing this work.These students are so special and are about to embark on a once in a lifetime experience and I get to be with them!
Before we left Nassau today, we had to go through our mandatory life boat drill, which are held once a month.My role was to work with the ships staff and crew and do role call with them, ensuring all of the residents reported to the stations and reviewed their life boat instructions.I could not believe, me out of all people, doing role call for such an important task on this ship.It was amazing watching the students learn how to respond to the drill, the alarms and the procedures.Here for our life boat drills, all passengers must wear long sleeves, long pants, closed shoes, hats and their life jackets.Wearing the extra closing helps out just in case we are lost at sea in one of the boats for a few days!
Then the big time came!!1700 hours.. time to pull out of the Nassau port! The ship blew its three horns, the coast guard and port pilot came on board and the tug boats pulled us out of port, right on time.It was such a surreal moment, we are leaving to go around the world!!How many students can say that they are doing this, how many residence life folks can say that they are staff on this experience.As we pulled out of port, many parents and families waiting on the port to wave us goodbye as the ship sailed away.The cheers, the waves, the tears, the excitement, the anticipation about what is going to occur, the anxiety of seeing life at its fullest in person, with college students and peers is about to begin for all of us…. The one thing that we have in common, we are doing this together and are one big family on this ship of 1000 people!
Watching the sunset from the faculty/staff lounge (where we met for drinks before dinner) reminded me about how fast life goes for all of us.We really need to think about our friends, family, the people we are with and make time for them.The sun rises and sets each day, and we have no idea what is in stored for us until the day ends.Weather good or bad days, we know we made it, we had fun and we lived through it.
As the night is coming down to an end, I met some students in the piano bar as they all just met playing the piano and many guitars.Look at these students, they did not know each other about 5 hours ago, and now they are hanging out chillen together.
My first sea meeting was pretty cool and interesting.The residents really had some good questions and wanted to get involved with activities.The oddest thing was actually conducting my meeting outside, on the 7th deck, in the basketball court with a ship rocking backing and forth.
Today, was more than yet a memorable day.Today a few life lessons came alive… working with flexibility.Think about it… here are all of these staff members here for the first time working for semester at sea, with amazing skills and experience who are the best of the best at their positions and we get along so well and do such great work together.
Go check out the pictures on the blog… you can see us pull out of Nassau, the town, the check in process and beautiful sunsets as we are leaving port, heading our way to San Juan in two days.
Well, keep in touch and send me emails, facebooks or write on my blog.I miss talking to everyone on the phone and hearing your voices… at least writing I could hear them in my mind.
Overall, I am doing great.. and I cannot believe it is officially here, as we pulled out to port today.The realization that the voyage is here to begin is here and the memorable moments are about to begin.
As of right now, I would encourage ANY one to have this experience I am getting.You have no idea what is going on here and it is so difficult to explain in writing and my thoughts via blogs and email.In only a few short days, I feel different and so much more comfortable and experienced in my student affairs role.
Talk to you soon…. Keep your eyes ready for San Juan.
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