a day on the mv explorer

i have been hearing from many of you, asking about life on the ship. so i'm going to try and give you all an idea of the daily schedule.

0700 - wake up time for me. its getting harder and harder to do so as we keep losing time as we near spain. sunrise is not until around 0720, so its quite dark in the cabin. luckily, the porthole makes life much easier, letting in some ambient light. i love to look out the window in the morning to see the ocean-- it looks so much different at night than during the day, it looks much scarier and choppy. showering is interesting on the rocking ship, i always feel like i'm going to fall over. the water is very hot, so i can't complain. its nicer than the dorm shower!

0730 - if i have my 0800 class, i head up to breakfast on the 5th or 6th deck. i am liking the 5th deck, its not as busy and its more formal. the 6th deck has an outside eating area, so i like lunch/dinner out there. as i leave my room i often see andrew, my cabin steward, hanging around the hallway, waiting for us to get up and out. he's very nice, but also very quiet. he cleans the bathroom and makes our beds. he always puts my wall-e blanket in different spots, its always a surprise. breakfast is good, i have been sticking to peanut butter on toast and some yogurt. there are also waiters in the dining hall who will bring you juice and clear your plate. its truly hard to get used to being waited on, but i know its their job. many are phillipino and work to support thier families.

0800 - on a days, i have class in a small room off the student union. everything happens in the union. my class, english as a global language, is starting to become interesting (i've only had 2 classes, haha). professor thomas is from england and he still has a wonderful accent. he is well studied in scandinavian languages and russian. he says fun words like "bits" for "things" and makes funny jokes. i like him. for the class we are taking a few field trips, one to an indian outsourcing company and another to the afrikaans museum in south africa.

0920-1035 - global studies. the whole ship shuts down for this class, every day. its interesting, we have a funny teacher, who i may have mentioned looks like gandalf. we have talked about energy, the caribbean and today was weather. past voyages complain about the class, so everyone is hesitant. lets hope its better this time around.

1045-1200 - languages of the world. another linguistics class, on a days, taught by professor thomas. this is a larger class and we have a few lifelong learners in the class who have great stories to tell.

1200 - lunchtime. lunch is offered 1130-1330, and there is usually pasta. all the carbs! its rediculous! the lettuce is starting to look a little sad, so i try to stick to the vegetarian options. at lunch we also have the noon-time announcements! all announcements are made by the assistant dean, luke. he is the "voice." each day we hear a little report about where we are, how far we've traveled since the bahamas (1800+ since 1200 today..), the temperature of the water and any special notes.

1200-1455 - free time. i've done several different things the past few days and am looking forward to getting into a routine. this is prime naptime for many, or time to sit outside. its nice to sit up on the 7th deck by the pool, but its near impossible to even try and read. if i need to read i head to the 6th deck, where there is an overhang & its not as windy. this is also prime computer lab time (to print & research, on the free sites, things to do.) or library time. i use this as my siesta, check emails and hang out.

1455-1610 - b days, i have nutrition around the world. this is taught by our academic dean, reg garrett, who is so freaking smart. he is an accomplished biologist, and he is trying to make the class a "sneaky way to teach bio and chem to non-science majors," as he said. we had a quiz yesterday, i think i did well. they are just to check that we've read.

1700 - occasionally we get an announcement about time changes. the past few nights we have lost an hour, but i just heard that tonight we are not!

1800 - dinner on the 5th deck with a big bunch of girls who i've been hanging out with often. its fun, we get lots of tables near eachother (and near the dean, les mccabe & his family) and stay there for a while. as long as i have my peanut butter for dessert, i'm all good.

1900-2400 - free time. there is a lot of that, i suppose. i'll get back to the free time activities later...