Pre script: I wrote this blog posting a couple days ago but had trouble posting due to connectivity issues (alas, life on a ship), so here it is a few days late.
Today's Saturday April 27, and the students left the MV Explorer two days ago when we reached Barcelona, Spain. We're still in adjustment: I miss the students, professors, and faculty, and it's a different atmosphere on the ship. Some things are quite different: fancier food, sit-down meal options, and a new room for the Ramseys on the third deck portside rather than fourth deck starboard.
Ellen, Jasper, and I both have been processing the mourning period of the friends we've made leaving the ship. I waved to a few students as they left and repressed some tears. I got to say goodbye to quite a few and hope to see folks when we travel or when they happen to swing through Virginia. We've got plans to visit some of the fellow families when we go to Williamsburg, students in California (where Ellen's sister will be moving at the end of 2013 to the University of California–Davis), and a trip to Charleston, South Carolina if we head further south this next year for spring break.
So, right before the students departed, we had our last day of class on April 23. I would have taken my Women Writers Around the Globe exam that day, but the professor and I agreed that I wouldn't take the test since I'm not getting college credit by auditing and she was pressed for time to read through everyone's essays in the last day and a half of the voyage. We also attended the Alumni Ball that day; everyone was graduated and officially an alum of Semester at Sea. Jasper, Ellen, and I look dashing with our lapel pins. We also got to see our adoptee student Amy get her college commencement ceremony, Zak got named to the Dean's list, and the commencement was touching.
And then we packed. For us, it was a bit different than the students having to pack because their luggage was on planes home, stored away in hotels in Barcelona, or even shipped home (at a hefty cost around $7+ per pound; yikes). We basically had to throw our things into our bags and label them with our new room number as we got off in Barcelona around 11am. Students were already gone by that point, and the ship was shockingly quiet, lonely. I was quite a bit melancholy.
Barcelona was pretty and I got a little time to see the city that we had visited in July 2002. We went out to have lunch and gelato before Ellen had to get back aboard to prepare for the Enrichment Voyage (more detail on that later). I saw a few students as we ventured into Barcelona off La Rambla, and oddly I felt elated. I think it hit me: this is the first place I've flown internationally that I've returned to visit. It was beautiful to see what I had seen when Jasper was just a speck. We found out literally when we left for the airport that Ellen was pregnant, so Jasper technically made his second visit but never got to see Barcelona the first time.
With a fairly limited amount of time, we plunked down some Euro for one of those chintzy double-decker tourist buses, but it worked well for Sandy, Jasper, and I. We covered a lot of ground on the bus and stayed mostly on it after the skies got grey and rain fell. Good thing I had my raincoat and followed the fashion lead of the Europeans by overdressing since the temperature dropped. We all got cold at the end of the first day in our soaked state, so we headed in after getting some more tapas right before getting aboard the quiet ship.
On the next day, we hit Barcelona later than we should have, but it was nice to sleep in. We rolled out for breakfast at 9am, which is later than breakfast is served on the academic voyage. It was different, too: glass drinking glasses rather than plastic, lox and cream cheese on the buffet, and more waiters. Also, there were new faces in the 6th floor dining hall. Even the towels seemed different, softer. Hell, we even ate breakfast in Classroom 1 where the Unreasonable at Sea entrepreneurs were stationed and I rarely ventured.
That second day in Barcelona, we were expecting rain but it didn't arrive. Our game plan was to hit Parc Guell first before any rain, and we got there with Jasper expecting to see it as I described it: sort of like Dr. Seuss designed the park. We also saw a few more SAS students up on the hill, and it made me happy again to know that our friends are out in the world, enjoying life, having fun, seeing new things with eager enthusiasm. It's hard to describe in text what we saw, so I'll let the pictures speak.
At this time, we're traveling slowly through the waters after leaving Barcelona and headed to Monte Carlo, Monaco. I hear it's glorious, fabulously wealthy, and tiny. We're planning to take an SAS trip into nearby France to Eze rather than hitting up the casino and hobnobbing with royalty and the fabulously wealthy. Everyone is aboard the Explorer for the Enrichment Voyage, which hits ports at a faster rate for shorter visits compared to the academic voyage. There are by my count three of the Spring Semester students aboard, and the demographic is much older. One of the families has stayed aboard so Jasper knows the three Kembel boys, and there are perhaps about 20 new kids on the ship for Jasper to meet and play with. It's a little easier, too, with relaxed schooling, sort of like summer camp with a bit of journal writing and science stuff.
I've missed my classes, so today I signed up for a formal ornithology course with Charles Clarkson. He's my next-door neighbor on floor three, and small world: he used to live in Cville when he got his doctorate at UVa, and we raced each other. It's cool to have one of my cycling peers aboard so I can talk bikes and riding with him. He told me there's not too much math in the ornithology course, so I'm all in.
New room, new passengers, a new feel for the new part of our next portion of this big voyage around the planet.
Ciao.
Ellen, Jasper, and I both have been processing the mourning period of the friends we've made leaving the ship. I waved to a few students as they left and repressed some tears. I got to say goodbye to quite a few and hope to see folks when we travel or when they happen to swing through Virginia. We've got plans to visit some of the fellow families when we go to Williamsburg, students in California (where Ellen's sister will be moving at the end of 2013 to the University of California–Davis), and a trip to Charleston, South Carolina if we head further south this next year for spring break.
So, right before the students departed, we had our last day of class on April 23. I would have taken my Women Writers Around the Globe exam that day, but the professor and I agreed that I wouldn't take the test since I'm not getting college credit by auditing and she was pressed for time to read through everyone's essays in the last day and a half of the voyage. We also attended the Alumni Ball that day; everyone was graduated and officially an alum of Semester at Sea. Jasper, Ellen, and I look dashing with our lapel pins. We also got to see our adoptee student Amy get her college commencement ceremony, Zak got named to the Dean's list, and the commencement was touching.
And then we packed. For us, it was a bit different than the students having to pack because their luggage was on planes home, stored away in hotels in Barcelona, or even shipped home (at a hefty cost around $7+ per pound; yikes). We basically had to throw our things into our bags and label them with our new room number as we got off in Barcelona around 11am. Students were already gone by that point, and the ship was shockingly quiet, lonely. I was quite a bit melancholy.
Barcelona was pretty and I got a little time to see the city that we had visited in July 2002. We went out to have lunch and gelato before Ellen had to get back aboard to prepare for the Enrichment Voyage (more detail on that later). I saw a few students as we ventured into Barcelona off La Rambla, and oddly I felt elated. I think it hit me: this is the first place I've flown internationally that I've returned to visit. It was beautiful to see what I had seen when Jasper was just a speck. We found out literally when we left for the airport that Ellen was pregnant, so Jasper technically made his second visit but never got to see Barcelona the first time.
With a fairly limited amount of time, we plunked down some Euro for one of those chintzy double-decker tourist buses, but it worked well for Sandy, Jasper, and I. We covered a lot of ground on the bus and stayed mostly on it after the skies got grey and rain fell. Good thing I had my raincoat and followed the fashion lead of the Europeans by overdressing since the temperature dropped. We all got cold at the end of the first day in our soaked state, so we headed in after getting some more tapas right before getting aboard the quiet ship.
On the next day, we hit Barcelona later than we should have, but it was nice to sleep in. We rolled out for breakfast at 9am, which is later than breakfast is served on the academic voyage. It was different, too: glass drinking glasses rather than plastic, lox and cream cheese on the buffet, and more waiters. Also, there were new faces in the 6th floor dining hall. Even the towels seemed different, softer. Hell, we even ate breakfast in Classroom 1 where the Unreasonable at Sea entrepreneurs were stationed and I rarely ventured.
That second day in Barcelona, we were expecting rain but it didn't arrive. Our game plan was to hit Parc Guell first before any rain, and we got there with Jasper expecting to see it as I described it: sort of like Dr. Seuss designed the park. We also saw a few more SAS students up on the hill, and it made me happy again to know that our friends are out in the world, enjoying life, having fun, seeing new things with eager enthusiasm. It's hard to describe in text what we saw, so I'll let the pictures speak.
At this time, we're traveling slowly through the waters after leaving Barcelona and headed to Monte Carlo, Monaco. I hear it's glorious, fabulously wealthy, and tiny. We're planning to take an SAS trip into nearby France to Eze rather than hitting up the casino and hobnobbing with royalty and the fabulously wealthy. Everyone is aboard the Explorer for the Enrichment Voyage, which hits ports at a faster rate for shorter visits compared to the academic voyage. There are by my count three of the Spring Semester students aboard, and the demographic is much older. One of the families has stayed aboard so Jasper knows the three Kembel boys, and there are perhaps about 20 new kids on the ship for Jasper to meet and play with. It's a little easier, too, with relaxed schooling, sort of like summer camp with a bit of journal writing and science stuff.
I've missed my classes, so today I signed up for a formal ornithology course with Charles Clarkson. He's my next-door neighbor on floor three, and small world: he used to live in Cville when he got his doctorate at UVa, and we raced each other. It's cool to have one of my cycling peers aboard so I can talk bikes and riding with him. He told me there's not too much math in the ornithology course, so I'm all in.
New room, new passengers, a new feel for the new part of our next portion of this big voyage around the planet.
Ciao.
I thought BURN energy drink went extinct a few years ago even though the BURN 24-Hour Race still lives on in in Wilkesboro, NC.
Bird fight! Action at Parc Guell where some of these birds (Perhaps I can learn what they are in ornithology) were squawking up a storm.
Classical side of Sagrada Familia.
Contemporary side of Sagrada Familia.
Even the tugboat in Barcelona was artistic.
Ellen and Vaughn in their Alumni Ball formal wear. Vaughn is one of our favorite students and hung out quite a bit in the library.
Gaudi architecture abounds.
Beer selection in Barcelona. I had heard there was actually a Duff Beer that looks like what Homer drinks in the Simpsons. Me, personally, I'm a Fudd man.
Tile artwork on the benches at Parc Guell.
Nice ship in the Maritime Museum.
Whoo! Rally, rally, rally!
Parc Guell is like Disneyland for adults.
I didn't remember much about the rockwork at Parc Guell, so I got a refresher seeing these sights.
Spire in the Parc Guell. The MV Explorer is barely visible in the port in front of the much, much larger cruise ship.
Here's the hotel where we stayed in our 2002 trip. I remembered it once we rode past it, so I captured it in a photo.
Me and the Catzes at the Alumni Ball.
Lady with blue hair and her guy on the Turistica bus.
Love the pictures of Barcelona and Morocco. Sharon and I are missing you in Charlottesville. We're here with Jamie, Jean and the Alliance Editorial and Publishing teams. Enjoy your new room and have fun in Europe!
ReplyDeleteRALLY RALLY RALLY!
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