And We're Off Part Deux - Sailing to Norway, June 15 to June 24

Sunday
On Sunday, June 15 we began preparations to leave Halifax and sail to Norway. On Saturday my daughter (Rebecca) boarded and we went out to dinner with two students she met on the plane and Kyle Mihalcoe (rising 4th year at UVA, former Orientation leader and a student I know quite well). We found a nice pizza place and I bought Rebecca her first legal drink... at least in Canada where the drinking age is 18.

On Sunday all the students boarded between 8 AM and 12 PM, parents came on board from 1 to 2:30 to tour the ship and say farewell and the life jacket drill began at 4:00 PM (see picture below). Cute outfit, eh? (Hard not to pick up that Canadian "a" at the end of a sentence because it's just so natural).

We were originally scheduled to leave port at 5 PM but close to 30 students were stranded in various airports (Chicago, Boston and New York) due to cancelled flights so they were not on board. Due to some miraculous work by many people all 583 students made it. Unfortunately for about 31 students their luggage did not. Together, those 31 students are missing 46 pieces of luggage so they have only the clothes on their back and whatever was in their carry-on bag. Students are lending clothes to them to wear until we get to Norway where they will hopefully find their belongings.

So, after a two-hour delay, we pulled out of port at 7 PM with the ISE crew standing on the side waving, the parents a bit further down waving and the bagpipes playing. We also all lined up to wave and take pictures.


We had to go in a circle around Devil's Island to set the compass (not sure why this needs to be done in this technological age but it does). In fact, the captain told the parents not to be alarmed when they saw him go in a circle twice (once to set the compass and once to get out of the harbor) as he really does know what he is doing.

There were lots of opportunites for photos. Laurie Casteen and Iain Campbell were celebrating their birthdays. And Rebecca and I posed for a shot as we left land.


Sailing out was nice and pretty smooth. It was odd to know we were seeing the last piece of land that we would see for 9 days.


To date I am free of sea sickness though I don't know how long that will last. I am wearing my sea bands and am a firm believer in their power (even if it is only psychological).

Monday
Today was our first full day at sea since New York. Since 3 AM we have been almost completely encased in fog which means the foghorn sounds every 4 minutes or so (making it hard to sleep). There were some moments of clarity but for the most part all you see is between 0 to 10 feet on either side of the ship.

The sea is relatively calm though we have hit some rockier water but I'm still (as of 9 PM Monday) doing okay. We heading pretty far north now so it's stay light longer and longer. Sunset tonight is listed as 9:45 PM. We lose an hour every other night so tomorrow sunset will be at almost 11 PM. I love all the light; unfortunately it's also about 45 degrees outside and the ship is also always chilly.

The day was filled with orientation meetings -- mostly for students. We had a "course fair" where students could come by and speak with us and I must say they seem like a good group so far. Everyone is friendly, outgoing and anxious to meet one another. As the Director of Student Life told them -- "this is like your freshman year all over again." The clothing of choice seems to be "school gear" and it's fun to walk around and see students with varied teeshirts and sweatshirts from their home institutions (e.g., Pitt, UCSD, UCSB, Colorado, Colorado State, U of Buffalo, JMU (my daughter), Virginia Tech (one student), etc.).

Also on board are 42 "life-long learners". I haven't interacted with them very much but the few people I have met are quite nice and happy to be here. So as of today, I can say that ship life is pretty good. It's some kind of odd combination between a residence hall, camping, a really nice hotel and a spa. Very strange. Classes begin tomorrow so we have all been scrambling to fine tune our course syllabi and get materials to our online folders where students can find them. No access to Toolkit or Collab here but there are these online folders where we post materials.

Tuesday
I taught my first two classes at sea. Some interesting "firsts" and challenges. For example, I have never taught a class where I:
1. held onto the podium for dear life
2. told students to run out as needed without any explanation
3. left bags by the door for them to grab on the way out
4. had a 360 degree view of water and the occasional bird
5. wrote on a dry erase board as illegibly as I did today

But I made it!

My ANTH 101 class (Introduction to Anthropology) has 37 students; 36 "regular" students and one life-long learner. We're a little crowded but hopefully it will work, My other class, ANTH 386 (Egalitarian to Empire) is at about 21 which is a good size for discussions, etc. I teach in the same classroom both times which is nice. It's a bid of an odd set up (small round tables with 5 chairs/table) but I'll get used to it.

Another first today, unrelated to teaching, was that I attended a wedding on a ship! Or, should I say a renewal of vows. LaVahn and M.F. Hoh celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary in the middle of the North Atlantic by renewing their wedding vows. The Captain (Captain Jeremy Kingston) performed the wedding ceremony which was quite lovely. The ceremony was held in the Faculty lounge and most of the Faculty attended. It was followed by a lovely reception.

Tonight (Tuesday) we lose another hour and I think everyone is already feeling tired so tomorrow will be interesting. I suppose losing an hour every other night is preferable to losing 7 hours all at once. And, I suppose when we come home time will almost stand still as we gain an hour every other night.

Wednesday
Day two of classes and the sun came out! We can finally see beyond the rails of the ship and the foghorn hasn't gone off in almost 15 hours. What a delight. It's still quite cool though the sun feels good. I am sitting in the "living area" of my cabin with the door to my balcony open and I am enjoying the fresh air. Perhaps more importantly, I also discovered that the snack bar sells frozen yogurt.

I am about to hold office hours and have three students scheduled to come see me. Classes went well; everyone attended and only person got sick (an accomplishment). The seas are pretty smooth today but you are always rocking and sometimes more than others. I seem to be able to sleep pretty well though I am occasionally awakened by more severe rocking. I am still wearing my sea bands and happy to report that I have not (yet) been sick. I can read, write, type, etc. and I am not taking off these bands.

The rest of the week brings my first community college talk. These are talks, there are typically three each day, held every evening we are at sea from 8-9 on a range of topics. Two tend to be more academic/professional and one tends to be more "hobby" based (at least that's the general plan). Attendance is optional. My talk tomorrow is called "What is Culture?" Friday brings our first Faculty meeting (no escaping those, even at sea) at 5:00 PM. It's interesting to live temporarily in this world that is free of the 8-5/Monday through Friday constraints. Where else would you attend a Faculty meeting at 5:00 PM on a Friday? And, while there is a break from classes on Saturday, we will be teaching bright and early on Sunday morning. On the other hand, none of us know what day it is anyway so that's been interesting.

A final note for this portion of the blog: the seas have become pretty rough and many of us, myself include, are a bit queasy now. No one can walk in a straight line and we all look quite drunk (some of the students might, in fact, be drunk). However, with the ship rocking like this the last thing any of us want is a glass of wine. Hopefully, we'll all get through the night okay. More soon. Miss you all.