Drifting

We had an announcement yesterday that the we had gotten ahead of schedule (I'm guessing the calm seas), and cannot get to our berth ahead of time in India, so we stopped during the night to drift.  The engines were cut off, and the Captain was able to save a lot of money on fuel.  We are all about sustainability. We stopped about 4am and started up again at 7:30 am this morning.  It was kind of strange to be just drifting in the ocean with nothing else in sight and no power.  It made me feel really insignificant.

There were a few things happening on the ship.  The art classes were displaying some of their student works.

The public display screens throughout the ship were also showing the "Essence" photos from the ports we have visited.  Don Gogniat, who teaches global studies, has challenged us to all take a photo that we think captures the essence of a country.  Then these are uploaded by any of us to a public folder on the ship, and a group of people chooses the photos that they think best capture the essence.  These photos were so good and so moving that lat night, I watched the sequence three times.  

I happened by this photo op yesterday where two girls were zipping up another girl in a suitcase.  Don't worry, she was fine.  The students are working on episodes of  "sea tv" where they create a short film. Most of these are really clever productions and allow fellow students to work on their acting, production and directing skills.  These get shown on the ship channel.

Last evening was also the reception for the work-study students on the ship.  Students make a lot of the ship operate.  They work in the library and allow us to be open for 14 hours every day.  They also work in other areas like the computer lab and audiovisual services.  The AV folks are also scheduled long hours and help the faculty with classroom AV services and all  the movie showings and all the productions in the Union.  The reception was nice because the academic programs could really not operate at such a high standard without them. They really enjoyed the salsa and chips and especially the fritos.

And my friends at home have probably wondered how I have gone so long without a limerick, so here it is:

There once was a semester at sea
where a librarian had wanted to be
so the librarian set sail
hoping to not have to bail
and was as rewarded as he could be