June 16- We're All In the Same Boat Now

I made it to the ship!! How exciting!

Got up this morning at six and packed all of my stuff in a hurry. I rushed to the lobby where I was supposed to meet with the people for my work study so I could start helping them load up the buses. Turns out I was actually half an hour early, so I was able to grab some breakfast. When I was finished eating, I went back to the lobby and there was a lot more kids there. I met some of the other work study students and got put to work.

All I did for four hours was check kids onto the bus. I just had to take their last name and mark them off of a list. Not a bad job. I didn't exactly get to meet people, but it was fun just to see everyone. Once we were all checked in, the final group of kids and I got on the last bus headed to the Southampton Harbor. The ride took about an hour and a half, but we watched the movie Ted so the time went by quickly.

As soon as I stepped off the bus, I was in total amazement. The ship was gigantic! I mean, I obviously knew it was going to be big, but I didn't realize how truly enormous it was. We briefly went through security, and then we were taken up to the gangway. There were students everywhere in the hallways, and I don't think any of us knew what to do. I went to grab lunch with another campus store work study student and we got some lunch together. I didn't know what to expect, but the food was surprisingly good! We were served buffet style. It was just your typical salad bar/pasta/meat, but I thought it was nice and there were many vegetarian choices (thankfully).

After eating, I met up again with Yiting and we explored the ship together. The location of everything is all very confusing, and I still don't think I have it down yet. We went to my room so I could move my stuff in, and then we went to her room and met her roommate. Let me tell you what, she is one of the nicest girls I've ever met! Her name is Arshia, and she's from New Dehli, India. We wandered around the ship some more, and then we went to our own rooms.

I didn't really know what to do from there. I'm not exactly the most outgoing person, and big groups are really intimidating to me. It felt like everyone around me already had their group of friends formed, and I didn't know how to talk to anyone. Basically, it was like freshman orientation at Carroll all over again.

At 5:00, we had our first safety drill. We got the whole lecture on what to do in the unlikely even that an emergency occurred on the ship. It was scary to think about. I hope nothing like that ever happens because it will truly just be pure chaos on the ship. I bet most people would die. Lovely thought.

I met my roommate after that. Her name is Courtney, and she's from Kansas. We had talked before on Facebook, but it was really strange to finally meet her in real life. She's a very nice and super friendly. Just based on first impressions, I like her a lot! I think we're going to get along really well. I was nervous about finding a roommate because I got so lucky with the first roommate I had in college (shout out to my girl Katie Goins!). I figured my luck wouldn't hold two times in a row, but it looks like it did!

Courtney and I went to dinner together and met a whole bunch of kids that I don't even remember now. After we ate, we had another orientation meeting about a bunch of stuff that I don't remember now either. Then we had a short break so everyone could go out on the deck and watch as we pushed off into the sea. It was so unreal! We were able to watch the ship leave the dock and head out into open water. I think that was the moment where it really sunk in. I'm actually here. I'm actually doing this.

Going.

Going.

Gone.

We then again had another orientation meeting about academics and faculty and staff. We were quickly introduced to the professors, and they all seemed very friendly and personable and fun. They were loud and rowdy and cute all throughout the introductions.

I also learned some interesting statistics about the people on this voyage. There is a total of 465 students representing 21 different countries. The most common nationalities are American (411 students, 88.39%), Chinese (18, 3.87%), and Canadian (8, 1.72%). A total of 215 schools are being represented, the top most being the University of Virginia (43, 9.25%), the University of Oregon (17, 3.66%), and the University of Colorado Boulder (13, 2.8%). The top represented states are California (88, 18.92%), Virginia (47, 10.11%), and Colorado (28, 6.02%). The most common majors among SAS students are Business Administration (38, 8.17%), Psychology (35, 7.53%), and Engineering (28, 6.02%). There are even 6 other nursing majors! I haven't met any of them yet though. Oh and this is interesting, 70.97% of students are female and only 29.03% are male. Girl Power! There are 41 faculty members, 58 family members, 7 interport lecturers (I'm not sure what that means), 46 lifelong learners, 18 partial voyagers, 27 staff members, and- as I mentioned before- 465 students. That brings us to a total of 670 voyagers.

Now I'm in my cabin and ready for bed. Tomorrow will be more orientation and then classes start the next day. Until then...