Hi everyone! I am finally on the ship but it still feels very surreal. My roommate and I are getting along well and I think we will be good friends. She is from the LA area and might be transferring to San Diego State in the fall, which is quite the coincidence. Unfortunately, our first experience together was through seasickness. We were both surprised at how quickly it came on but they say it should go away in a day or two. It was sad to sail away today but so very exciting at the same time. Classes start on Wednesday and we arrive in Spain on January 28th. It is crazy to think that we won't see land for so long. The Executive Dean (who has been affiliated with Semester at Sea for 25 years) spoke earlier about the amazing journey ahead and how truly life-changing it will be for everyone. The Academic Dean also talked about what Thomas Jefferson's vision was when he started the University of Virginia (which is the school that Semester at Sea is hosted by). He wanted to have a school where the professors and students lived together and learn from each other, which is what we have on a pretty small scale. As for ship life, the room is nice and cozy and the first meal was pretty good (until it came back up). We are going to get to watch the inauguration tomorrow, which was very exciting news! We are also going to have a celebration tomorrow night, which everyone is really excited about. The rest of the day is just going to be more orientations and meetings. Well I'm going to sign off now and hope that it's not too hard to sleep with the ship rocking. My e-mail address is now naheller@semesteratsea.net so PLEASE e-mail me at that address because I won't be checking my Yahoo very much since it uses up my internet time. Hope everything is well on land!
Nicole
