The ship's store is almost fully stocked--mostly happening overnight. Because of port regulations, they cannot sell merchandise while the ship is in port, so many of us are chomping at the bit to get our "Semester at Sea" sweatshirts and nametag lanyard.
Mark White, Prof of Commerce at UVa is the Academic Dean for this voyage and has assembled what he referred to as the "dream team" for the faculty. His wife, Susie, and two kids are accompanying him as part of an incredible experience. Mark led this morning's "academic overview of teaching ast Sea". Teaching will require a huge effort by the faculty for several reasons. Many are teaching a heavier load than usual. The courses will incorporate the sustainability theme. The students are from several hundred institutions, so they will be quite diverse. The academic rhythm of teaching on a ship, broken up by port visits, will be a new experience. It was great to see how enthusiastic this dream team is.
Don Gogniat will the Global Studies professor. Everyone on board the ship is required to take global studies. There will be one session in the morning, and it will we repeated in the afternoon, so that all the students can have a live classroom experience. Don brought his hand puppet friend to help explain how this would work instead of using a Powerpoint. All of the faculty will be involved in global studies at some point, so it will be a truly integrated experience.
During the afternoon session, I got to do a presentation on the library and how we will be a part of the shipboard experience. I gave them greetings from Mary Johnston and started out by explaining that the library is about 9,000 volumes--almost twice the size of the library at Va Tech. That got the laugh I wanted including one from my new friend Mike Ellerbrock who teaches econ at Tech.
I had loaded all the student readings onto the ship's intranet late last night, so I got to assure the faculty that they were ready. One woman, who had made some late scanning requests, was so elated that her readings were available that she asked if she could give me a hug. I received it on behalf of the great team of folks in the library at UVa who have helped prepare for this voyage.
So, while the teaching faculty were learning how to use the classroom technology, the registrar was learning how to register, the IT guys were setting up individual computers, Theresa and I headed to the library to finally get a little free time to make progress in setting things up. We processed the reserve books that were already on the ship, re-arranged the travel guides, filed all the new DVDs, and oriented ourselves to where everything is. I even got to answer a couple of reference questions.
Then we dis-embarked the ship and went into Ensenada for a walk.This was my first trip into Mexico, and it was interesting to see everything. Since this is a port city, there was a pharmacy on every block--primarily with discounted Cialis and Viagra. There were food vendors everywhere, and people selling hand-crafted jewelry. I bought a little woven bracelet for a few bucks, and then the woman kept trying to get me to buy more of them by lowering the price. It was a learning moment for me. I could have gotten it for much less, but I felt the price was fair. Then we stumbled onto a bakery on a side street. We bought two big pieces of pastry for only $1. Thank goodness I was with Nancy and Theresa, because I was turned around and lost. They guided me back to the ship where we met more folks venturing out.
Early tomorrow morning, we will pull away from the dock to make room for a cruise ship during the day. There's still lots to do. On a sustainability note, I noticed that the lights in our cabin are mostly LED bulbs. They are plenty bright and require less electricity.
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