questions & answers

:)
hi everyone-- its been a busy day & i am certainly beginning to lose all sense of time. we lose another hour tonight, so my 0800 will be a challenge. did some reading up by the pool but it is definitely getting cooler, we are heading north to spain, so it is predictable. enjoyed an open mic night last night and a lecture tonight-- they definitely fill the evenings. i'm headed to bed now, but hope all is well! for this entry, i decided to mix it up a little. here are some of the common questions that i have received from you all about my trip. i know i've responded to some, but i figured many of you had similar questions. so here they are:


1. any cute boys on the ship?

well the answer to this one is a yes. the odds are not in my favor, however, so i'm waiting it out. i've made some guy friends and seem to meet new ones everyday. not looking for mr. right, i'll settle for some friends. we'll see what happens.


2. how are classes going?

well. global studies will be better once we begin discussing ports. we have covered several strange topics and hopefully the spain lectures are interesting. we had a special "explorer seminar" on spain's foods tonight from the preport lecturer. he was so funny, has a passion for good food and spain. tomorrow through spain he will be lecturing in global studies, so we are all excited to see him speak. the drawback to classes: reading. there are so many readings and with all the sunshine, its hard to prioritize. there is also a lot going on in the evenings, so its hard to do homework then.

3. how's the food?

pretty good, though slowly getting worse. clearly, there is no way to maintain super-fresh veggies and foods for 1,000 people over the course of 9 days. the lettuce is beginning to look sad and the carbs are frustrating. pb& j is the way to go for both breakfast and dinner. lunch is whatever veggies or meats that look edible. snack time, 10p is the best time. little sandwhiches and snacks that seem much better to the ones served at meals. i am most definitely missing the dining hall at unh, but i'll live. i am more excited for the food in spain, which the lecture tonight got me very excited about. i'll be dreaming of paella and red wine tonight. :)

4. how many bars on the ship?

two. there is one outside on the 7th deck and one next to the "formal" dining hall on the 5th deck. the drinking age is 18 as we are in international waters. there is a strict limit as to 2 drinks at dinner and a maximum of 4 on pub nights. pub nights are every night at sea except for nights before port. All students who intend to drink must pick up a drink voucher and keep it safe. if you lose it, you have to pay the full price of the card, $63. each drink is $3.50 and so i am not partaking. i would much rather save that money for something else. many people here simply want to try and get drunk, which is the attitude of most kids under 21. i can’t rationalize spending $20+ a night to drink wine on a night before class. i’ll save it for the ports and the good wine. i can’t say that i will never have some, but i don’t see the point in trying to get drunk.

5. does the ship have a casino?

no, they take our money in so many ways that i don’t need to lose money in a casino. there are, however, signs that direct you to where a casino could be. i guess the ship came with the signs and they just have not been changed. most of the rooms have been adapted to suit semester at sea’s classroom needs. there are partitions that can be put up to block off class space and there seem to be whiteboards stuck everywhere.

6. does the ship rock you to sleep?

absolutely. sleeping is easy, naps are wonderful and staying awake in class is a struggle. especially in the afternoon.

7. how is the school store?

very nice. i bought two sweatshirts because i could not choose. i got grey with blue letters and bright pink with big polka-dot letters. both are super cute :) the store also sells cups, mugs, water bottles, toiletries and school supplies. i think i have enough but at least i know where i can get things if need be.

8. did i see the inauguration?

yes! it was the quietest hour on the ship. we took a break from our scheduled orientation to watch the broadcast all over the ship. it was truly an amazing moment in history and i am so glad i got to see it in such a unique way: the middle of the atlantic!

9. have i been "icky seasick"?

luckily, no. i had a seasickness patch on for the first three days so i was able to avoid feeling icky. there is no way to avoid the funny feeling in your tummy when the ship rocks. we were going much faster at the beginning (20-22 knots) but have slowed down, which makes the cruising smoother. i am very fortunate to have a room on the 2nd deck, i swear its much less rough down here. the student union, on the 6th deck and to the front is the bumpiest place to be, i think. i have been sleepy, which is also a symptom, but i deal with that in the form of naps :)


10. am i meeting lots of people?

yes! there are approximately 1,000 people on board and everyday i see & meet more people i didn't know!

11. what are lifelong learners?

lifelong learners are adults who are along for the journey. we have 14 on this trip. they range in age from mid-twenties to late 60's. anyone can apply to be a lifelong learner. (aunt nancy! :) ) they sit in on classes, attend the programs, eat in the dining halls and spend time with the students and faculty. so many of the lifelong learners are well traveled and interesting people and i look forward to getting to know them better.

12. are lifelong learners like dorm parents?

no, the lifelong learners do whatever they want. we do have living & learning coordinators, who are essentially resident directors. this means many have sailed on previous voyages and hold a master's degree. there is one LLC per floor and they facilitate floor meetings and are around to help.

13. how's the boat?

it's a ship! and i have definitely gotten the hang of the nautical terms. the front of the ship is the fore, the rear is the aft. the left (when facing the fore) is port and the right is starboard. each level is a deck. time is all military. and i think thats all my ship terminology.

14. do i use up online time to type my blog?

no! here on the ship we are lucky to have free email accounts. this means that i can sit and type emails for hours on end and it will not cost me anything. i chose blogspot because there is a nifty feature for me to simply email my blog to post! so i dont even have to sign onto internet to post. i have however, used the internet a couple of times to check that my posts are up ( i actually uploaded one 4 times and had to delete some) when my computer loses connection or i think i've lost the post. we only get two hours of internet for the entire trip. 108 days. thats like a minute a day. as a result, i have forgotten what facebook, perez hilton and msnbc look like.

15. do we have classes everyday?

while cruising, yes. this means i had class today, and will tomorrow. there is no such thing as a weekend. but that just means we will not have classes in port. we do have to cram a whole semester inbetween ports, working out to about 40 class days total. we have an alternating schedule of A and B days. A days i am in class 0800-1200 and B days 0920-1035 & 1455-1610. we will occasionally have a day off from class, and those days will be neptune day & sea olympics.




*as i get more questions, as i assume i will, i'll save them up until i have enough for another q & a :)

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...

how to send me mail!

here is the list of ports & port agents. i know some of you were wondering how to send me mail (which i'd love!), so here's how. the dates listed in the 3rd column are the suggested dates to mail letters. packages are not recommended, something about customs, you know. hah. so as of today, write to me in namibia! i'll be safari-ing there, and i'll love some mail to come back to!

 

Cadiz, Spain Phone: 34 956 276 112 Fax: 34 956 276 766	PEREZ Y CIA S.L. C/ Ecuador, 2 11007 Cadiz, SPAIN	January 14
Casablanca, MOROCCO Phone: 212 61 29 8894 Fax: 212 22 48 4793	LASRY MAROC S.A. 30 Avenue des Far 20000 Casablanca, MAROC	January 18
Walvis Bay, NAMIBIA Phone: 264 64 201 2200	OCEAN LINER SERVICES The Maritime Building 2 Third Steet / PO Box 4 Walvis Bay, REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA	January 31
Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA Phone: 27 21 419 8660 Fax: 27 21 413 0290	JOHN T. RENNIE & SONS 19th FLOOR No.1 Thibault Square 8001 Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA	February 4
Port Louis, MAURITIUS Phone: 230 202 70 40 Fax: 230 208 58 14z	IRELAND BLYTH LIMITED Shipping Operations Department No 6 Dr Ferriere Street Port Louis, MAURITIUS	February 13
Chennai, INDIA Phone: 91 44 252 12032 Fax: 91 44 252 43813	J.M. BAXI & CO 3rd Floor, Clive Battery Complex 4 & 4A, Rajaji Salai Chennai 600 001, INDIA	February 19
Bangkok, THAILAND Phone: 66 2 285 6880 Fax: 66 2 285 6686	OIA GLOBAL LOGISTICS (THAILAND) Ltd 1168 / 20 - 4th Floor Lumpini Tower Rama 4 Road Thungmahamek, Sathorn Bangkok 10120, THAILAND	February 27
Ho Chi Minh City, VIET NAM Phone: 84 8 825 7996 Fax: 84 8 824 2996	GENERAL FORWADING AGENCY 5th Floor Osic Building 8 Nguyen Hue Ave. D. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, VIET NAM	March 6
HONG KONG Phone: 852 2786 1155 Fax: 852 2744 3240	INCHAPE SHIPPING SERVICES (HK) Ltd. Units 1802-1805, 18th Floor Nº 3 Lockhart Road Wanchai, Hong Kong - CHINA	March 13
Shanghai, CHINA Phone: 86 21 6323 1350 Fax: 86 21 6329 1519	PENAVICO SHANGHAI 3/F 13 Zhong Shan Road (E 1) Shanghai 200002, P.R. CHINA	March 19
Kobe, JAPAN Phone: 81 78 391 3046 Fax: 81 78 391 3105	INCHAPE SHIPPING SERVICES (Japan) Ltd. Kenryu Bldg, Room 502 6 Kaigan-dori, Chuo-ku Kobe-shi, Hyog-ken 650-0024, JAPAN	March 23
Yokohama, JAPAN Phone: 81 45 201 6991 Fax: 81 45 212 1614	INCHAPE SHIPPING SERVICES 2F Asahi Seimei Yokohama Honcho Bldg 36, 4-Chome Honcho, Naka-ku Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa-ken 231-005, JAPAN	March 26
Honolulu, HAWAII Phone: 1 808 599 8604 Fax: 1 808 599 1950	INCHAPE SHIPPING SERVICES 521 Ala Moana Blvd Suite 256 Honolulu, HI 96813	April 3
Puerto Quetzal, GUATELMALA Phone: 502 7881 2325 Fax: 502 7881 1319	Transoceanicas S.A. Modulo #208 Nuevo Edificio de Servicios Auxiliares II Puerto Quetzal, Escuintla, GUATEMALA, C.A.	April 14

 

i have no idea how this will be formatted, so it is unclear, please email.

a quick hello--

hi all! today has been a relaxing day so far, and hopefully it stays that way. we lost another hour of sleep last night, so getting up for class is becoming increasingly hard. i started my morning with breakfast outside on the 6th deck, where is was quite humid. global studies was next, and i am trying hard to like it. essentially we have our gandalf-like teacher and then all the other professors give presentations too. my language professor gave a brief talk about pidgin and creole languages, which went over most people's heads. i could follow, but its not the easiest subject to understand off the bat. i sat in the union today, which most definitely helped keep me awake. i think the coffee helped too. :)

i have been planning my trip around spain all day with a girl named cassie and a few other girls. we are looking to make the most out of our stay, and will attempt to see cadiz (the port), sevilla, cordoba and granada in 6 days/ 5 nights. we were lucky to meet the interport lecturer from uva, who is obsessed with spain. he recommended several websites, places to see and restaurants. he even helped us with our spanish. i must say, that though i took spanish from 7th grade through freshman year of college, i am certainly rusty. more on the trip plans later :)

had a decent lunch, salad (lettuce, cucs and carrots) as usual and a few french fries. i am definitely missing our dining hall at unh. we are also starting to plan our trips for the following countries, and trying to figure out a way to the great wall in china. cassie emailed her mom to look up flights for us, so hopefully they are in our price range: cheap!

i am now heading up to the 7th deck to read for my next class at 1455, because i just found out that there will be a quiz! yikes. hope its basic!

xo

this is the life.

i've only been on the ship for a little over 48 hours, and somehow that feels like an eternity. i dont quite know why that is, possibly because there is no real concept of time or because there has been so much packed in.

to briefly recap last night, i ate dinner with mckendree and a couple from south africa. gus and sue lived in south africa but are now in virginia, where gus is a chemistry professor. sue is "on vacation," as gus likes to point out. they are avid travelers and know a great deal about africa. it was wonderful to chat with them and learn about their lives. they have a daughter who moved to fairfield, ct to work in the city but fell in love and now teaches are in bridgeport. so silly.

we also had an inaugural celebration, complete with decorations, "champagne" and cake! the deans made a few remarks and we listened to some fun dancing music. it was great to celebrate such an important occasion, and according to the news, we were not alone in our celebrations :)

today marked the first day of classes on the ship, and boy is that a new experience. i had class 0800-0915, 0920-1035 and 1045-1200. it is certainly a challenge to take notes, listen & not be rocked to sleep. i had the chance to sit in several different rooms, and i can't say that being in the front or aft of the ship makes classes any easier. our school store also opened today, and you would have thought that people had never seen a store before. i bought a sweatshirt and a lanyard.(for my id, even though i have a ton at home that i forgot to bring.) i am debating going and getting another one, as the rumors say once they are out of stock, they are all gone. there is a really cute sweatshirt that says SAS in polka dots, and i may just have to get one of those too. after saving for so long and not shopping (or, not shopping too often), its odd to just spend money.

english as a global language was my first course, and there is a lone male in the class (aside from the professor) which is a change from most of my comm-dis classes at home. prof thomas has several trips planned and the one i find most interesting is the one in chennai, india. we will be visiting a company that answers phone calls, like the insurance company or something. it will be interesting to see where all the outsourcing of american jobs has gone to and the english training that the indian workers must go through to be successful.

global studies is a strange course, and i'm not sure how i like it. since everyone is required to attend, all other activities are closed down during class time. we heard about some current events from our prof who reminds me of gandalf from lord of the rings. he has john lennon style glasses, long bleached hair and skater shoes. and he's probably nearing 60. very peculiar but has a sense of humor which helps. i watched the class from a satellite room, but i think i'll need to find a seat in the union so as to better pay attention.

languages of the world may be my favorite thus far. we have a rather large class (30), and some lifelong learners are sitting in with us as well. we all went around and told what languages we know and what we have been exposed to. so many of the students in the class are very well traveled, and it highlights the two extreme types of kids on the ship. those with money and not a care in the world and those who worked very hard to get here and to finally begin seeing the world. this class has a great field trip planned for south africa that includes a trip to the afrikaans language museum and a subsequent wine tour.

all in all classes went smoothly and i had a chance to lay outside and enjoy the gorgeous sun. its hard to believe that this is my life for the next 4 months. its still such a dream.

after a nice leisurely afternoon, had some dinner with a lovely group of girls and then went to the activity fair. i think just about everyone signed up for the "ship family," where students are placed with other students,  lifelong learners, professors & staff to meet with and get to know. i hope they have enough people to make the program happen, as it has had great reviews.

we stayed in the union after that and ended up talking to the executive dean, les mccabe. he is a really neat down to earth man who is passionate about semester at sea. he began hearing about sas in the 80's, when his two friends went on the trip and wrote him letters of all the things they'd been doing. he was determined to get himself on a voyage but didn't have the money. so after he graduated he asked semester at sea what he could do and they told him that he could be a resident director, as long as he got a masters degree. so he did just that and went on his first voyage. he was also responsible for the road rules challenge that took place on the ship in the late 90's. it was great chatting with him about his experiences, the storm story episode and his family. he has a 16 year old daughter and 14 year old son on board with him (and his wife) and this is their 5th semester journey. boy am i jealous of that. he also talked about his friendship with desmond tutu, and how he is trying to get him on ship when we are in south africa.

i am now in my room, i've turned back my clock (again) and i am watching to kill a mockingbird on the closed channel tv. i am feeling very tired today, which is also a symptom of seasickness, apparently. so we are now 2 hours ahead of the east coast. we learned today though, that the time changes are arbitrary, because we dont always cross the lines overnight. i guess the captain can just instate time changes whenever he pleases.

we have a trip lottery coming up, so i need to make some decisions soon. i have been trying to get an idea of what people are doing in spain, as i dont have much of a game plan yet. (barcelona/madrid are out of the question, as they are just too far). talks have begun to figure out getting ourselves to granada, which seems to be the only thing people have agreed upon. off to bed now, class in the morning and then my nutrition class, which will be taught by the academic dean, reg garrett. hope its good!


thank you all for your comments! i really love reading them. i have tried to get service with my phone, but being 800 miles away from land makes it impossible. i'm going to try and post on here as often as possible, maybe by typing outside in the sun :) please keep me updated on your lives, i think of all of you often!

xo

in the middle of the atlantic--

 

hi all!

 

this email is coming to you from the atlantic ocean! we are about 300 miles off the coast of the bahamas, which we left at around 5 last night. we still have around 3000 miles left to get to spain, which will be the 28th, i believe.

 

anyways, here is a little update on ship life thus far, seeing as we are just getting the hang of the internet.

 

sunday night was the last night in the bahamas and it was great fun. we had dinner at a local restaurant called the twin brothers upon recommendation from all the locals we'd met. fish fry restaurants are popular, along with rum, so we figured we'd venture out of town a little to see what the less touristy areas had to offer. we took the local #10 bus to a strip of probably 20 restaurants. we had heard all day about conch, the local favorite that is found inside those big shells. i'm not exactly sure what a conch looks like, but i ate some! we ordered the conch salad, which was basically a citrusy salsa with chunks of conch (pronounced "konk"). i didnt like it, the texture was wayyyy too chewy/rubbery for my taste. and then came a "miami vice" drink, which was rum + pina colada & strawberry daquiri mix. i think it would have been better without the alcohol, it was like sherbert. for dinner, the girls and i ordered steamed snapper, which our waitress warned us was still whole. and yessss it was. eyes and tails and bones. it was a little fishy for my taste, but good nonetheless. it also came with a side of plantains which taste like banana chips. after making some interesting friends who talked to us about their rasta lifestyles, we made a quick exit and walked back to town. after a drink at the hotel from a 'uncle phil' (a crazy old guy who had a tab for all the semester at sea kids who would be on the ship with his nephew) we headed out to crazy senor frogs. it had been essentially taken over by SAS, which was nice because we met so many people. it was also so much fun to dance :)

 

yesterday, monday, was a long and crazy day.

i was up early and out of the hotel, dragging my 100 lb luggage through the streets of nassau to the ships dock. it was quite the pilgramage. i was all checked in and on the ship around 9 to find out that i was living with mckendree (who i jsut so happened to stay with in nassau) and that i have a porthole! we are on the lowest level (for students to live on) in the ship, so there are about 70 of us. we have a circle porthole, which apparently distinguishes us from the more expensive square portholes just one floor above us. after getting settled we walked around nassau for one last time getting some souveniers, lunch and one last starbucks before boarding the ship for good. we had a mandatory life boat drill; had to put on sneakers/pants/longsleeves and stand in the dining hall for instructions. i guess it went smoothly, or so they have told us. at 5p we left nassau. it was so crazy- everyone was out on the deck waving off the side to families on the dock. it was the strangest emotion, standing on my home for the next four months and having it be so surreal. we all keep saying that; its so corny, but its true. so many kids i've talked to have been planning this trip for so long, that for it to finally be here is so hard to believe. dinner followed and we ate outside, watching the sun set. it was breathtaking and i can't wait for more. afterwards we had a meeting in the union (which is too small for everyone, so they broadcast it to the classrooms as well), where we met the deans of the voyage and their families. there are quite a few kids on the ship, ranging from 10 months to 16; some of whom are on their 5th voyages as family members. a quick aegean sea meeting followed and we headed off to bed. (the aegean sea is our floor, which will compete against the other seas in the sea olympics later on in the semester). i used a half of my sea-sickness patch and i think its helping a little. there is definitely a motion in the ocean, and it feels really choppy. i am not feeling sick but it is definitely unsettling, especially on the higher decks. i slept well and got up bright and early again to get moving.

 

today has been interesting. i used the shower, which is a challenge when you are rocking back and forth the whole time, hitting the wall, etc. we had a quick breakfast and then into more meetings. we met all the professors, learned about global studies, how to use the internet/library/resources on board, the UVA honor code, health and safety, how to learn in this environment and tonight we'll hear about the field programs. even more important than all that is that we got to watch a live feed of the inaugaration. everyone had to cooperate to make it work: no using the internet so that the whole feed could go to the video stream. it was so amazing to watch president obama, listen to his speech and to know that i can tell my kids/grandkids that i was sailing on my voyage, in the atlantic, when our historic 44th president came into office. everyone was clapping & cheering the whole time, and there were definitely some tears. we are going to have an inaugaration party tonight (with champagne?!) to celebrate, which should be fun. i'm looking forward to it.

 

tomorrow marks our first day of classes! yikes! i have them 8-12 & then i'll be done for the day. the bookstore also opens tomorrow, so i would love to get in there early and grab a sweatshirt before they are all gone, as the rumor is that once they are sold out, thats it. we also begin losing time tonight, as we will for the next 5 days or so, to be on-time for spain. yikesssss.

 

 

i just also wanted to take some space here to let you all know that i am thinking of you, wishing you all could be here to experience this with me, and to let you know how thankful i am for your support.

 

 

 

xo

getting ready to drag my bags down to the port! wish me luck!

no more snow---

time for some sun & sand!

here i am on the beach! we spent the day at paradise island, had a beer on the beach & now we're back in the room re-grouping and showering before dinner. we got some wine/beer to drink in the room so we don't have to pay a ton of money for drinks at the bars, which are wayyyy overpriced for college girls on a budget. we are going to try and find a fish fry restaurant we heard about for some dinner. i'm feeling very relaxed today and its actually really nice to not keep checking the time, to wander around without a schedule and to just take it all in. the girls i'm rooming with, caitlin & mckendree are super nice. we had a really relaxing morning, with a simple continental breakfast in the lobby and then just meandering around nassau.


here is our very first glimpse of the mv explorer, our home for the next four months. it was so surreal to see the ship in person, i got goosebumps. to think off all the work it took to get here and now i just get to enjoy it.


here is a better picture of the ship, taken from our lovely island shuttle. its bigger then i expected, but it still looks tiny next to the carnival ships!




heading out! xo
*if you click the pictures, they will open & you can see them nice & big :)