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Pre-Voyage Journal! Bon Voyage Everyone!!In two days I will be leaving for Semester At Sea, heading down to the Bahamas on January 19 for our training before the students arrive. We officially start pulling out of port in the Bahamas on January 23 and will visit 12 countries:Puerto Rico, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Hawaii, Costa Rica and will end in Miami on May 9, 2008!!
I just wanted to touch base with everyone to see how you are doing and to let you know that things are going very well for me.I had a successful move back to NJ on December 20 and did the entire 14-hour drive in one day across route 80.All of my belongings from the moving company arrived safely and all in place, which is a great plus.
Time home with the family has been pretty fun, interesting and relaxing in some way.For the past month, I really tried to keep my mind focused that my visit is still "vacation" and visiting the family.I have really had the chance to really catch up on a lot of family issues, events, and becoming back involved with the family, which I have not done in almost 10 years.
Our new addition to the family, my brother's baby, is just about ready to be born.They will be heading to the hospital right after I get dropped off at the airport to start the planned labor for them.Everyone is excited about the new baby boy.. Lets see if it actually is a boy.. stay tuned for more information about the updates on the baby!It was fun to be with the family to rebuild the crib, shop for the new baby and still try to keep the older child not feeling jealous.
Time home has been a lot of fun.I had a chance to get back into New York City a few times and we also saw another Broadway show, The Little Mermaid! (With original Broadway cast, not something that happens to often).It was an amazing show and Disney always does great with their Broadway productions.New Years was a lot of fun!A few friends and I got together and spent 4 days in Washington, DC, ringing in the New Year.It was a great way to start off 2008, TRAVELING and being with FRIENDS, bringing back all of the great memories, making new memories and realizing how grateful we all are to have each other in our lives.
The rest of my time home has been pretty eventful… visiting a lot of friends and family that I have not had the chance to see on my regular visits to NJ.I have concentrated on my job search and applied to many jobs and organized my job search materials to have on my voyage with me.I bought a laptop for myself after the New Year and am very excited to have a new computer, with up to date operating systems and now OFFICE 2007.I am even more excited to have it with my on the voyage so I have more access to email, journaling and storing my pictures from this experience.
But yet the biggest and most stressful part of my time home, has just occurred and continues on to this journal, PACKING and preparing for the rip.I have packed about four or five times right now, I am losing track, on getting everything I would think I would need for 110 days away at sea.You will be surprised on how fast the suite cases get full.From the clothes, to the toiletries items you need to the random odd and off things you cannot live without for 110 days and will not be able to find in third world countries.I am sure by the night before everything will be packed tightly and ready to go for the trip to the airport.My last two chances to get anything that I need will be in the Bahamas or Puerto Rico, then after that… it is true sailing away.
As far as my role on the voyage, I am going to be the Resident Director for Administration and Communication!
This RD is responsible for assisting the Director of Student Life as well as the Student Life staff with various aspects of student life administration and communication procedures including, but not limited to:ØTogether with the Photographer (who serves as technical and artistic advisor), serve as student organization advisor to the yearbook committeeØTogether with the IT Coordinator, serve as a student organization advisor to the web page committeeØServe as student organization advisor to SEA TVØCoordinate the scheduling of reservations for public areas and classrooms during non-class hoursØUnder director of DSL, coordinate the student life tasks at embarkation and debarkation at each portØCoordinate the master Student Life programming calendarØServe as office manager for the Student Life office ØInventory and maintain supplies ØCoordinate the scheduling of Student Life duty hoursØCoordinate the scheduling and job flow of student life work study studentsØCoordinate the coding of airmail with appropriate cabin numbers so crew can deliverØProvide administrative assistance to the Assistant Director of Student Life for student conduct matters (as assigned by the DSL)ØOther duties as assigned by the Director of Student Life
Well I hope to hear from all of you soon about how you are doing and updates about your lives, events and new and exciting things that may be happening.As I know I will not be able to have access to a phone for the next 4 months, beginning on Saturday at 4:00 a.m., I still would like to find ways to communicate and keep friendships alive, healthy and mobile.My biggest fear is coming back after 4 months and trying to play catch up with everyone, which is not what I would like to do.With all of our technology and strong friends and binds I am sure we can continue to stay in contact like normal!Send me pictures of events, jokes on email and any updates that you can, as I know I will do the same to all of you.
If you would like to communicate with me on the ship via phone, it can happen, but for a nice cost of $3.95 a minute, which I really do not expect anyone to do.. it is just way too much money.
If you go to www.semesteratsea.com, you will be able to go the Spring 2008 voyage page and get a list of our itinerary, find out the dates and local time that I will be at, read the position reports and voyage announcements, find mailing dates to communicate via mail to voyagers and other useful information about the voyage.
My plan for the voyage is to send some up to date journaling/update my blogging site about my experiences at sea, in the countries, try to attach some pictures and keep you updated on my new life changing experience.I will try my best to keep face book and my blogging site updated with pictures as well!
I know I may not have "everyone" on this distribution email that may be interested in hearing about my experience so I am giving you all permission to share these upcoming journals or blogging site with whoever may ask you about what I have been up to.
Take care, keep in touch and have a GREAT YEAR!!I look forward to hearing your updates and also look forward to the experiences I can share with everyone on my voyage around the world and upon my arrival home in May.
Well for now… Bon Voyage and stay tuned for more updates!!
Miss you all and wish you all were on the voyage with me!!J
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