Day 4. Yes, you ordered a pair of ?Sea Legs???

I think- emphasis on think- that my sea-legs have arrived. MAYBE. But for the first time since I’ve boarded the Explorer, I haven’t felt as much rocking as I have, and the seas weren’t any easier today. Just goes to show you what your body can achieve with a little adaptation here and there.

SAS’s classroom programs are amazing. Too amazing- they’re a lot of work! Who wants to read 4 chapters of an evolution text when you’re on a ship crossing the Atlantic. The professors are all very down to earth, though, and know that there are tons of distractions, as you can imagine. One of the interesting things, that differs from a land-based campus is the interactions with professors. In the US, I have no problem getting *some* work done before heading off to route 1 with some friends. Here, when you decide to head to ‘Pub-Night’ on the 7th deck to enjoy some drinks with friends, you have just as much chance as running into the professor who’s paper you’re supposed to be working on. It’s a cool thing though. Today I sat down and chatted with the Exec. Dean Les McCabe, who is also the CEO of SAS over a nice Bud Light- this type of conversation just doesn’t exist as much as it should at home.

Another great example; the showing of the movie ‘Haze,’ in the ship’s union at 1900. The documentary follows a 19-year old boy killed during a binge-drinking hazing incident at the University of Colorado in Boulder. We had a great candid discussion about the culture that I live in, the millennia kids who have exploded when it comes to alcohol in the United States. Being a member of a fraternity, I was vocal about saying that not all greek organizations put up with this nonsense, and that we too look down at our greek counterparts when they have accidents like this. As someone said, though, it’s nice to be able to have this conversation. It should happen more often; the less taboo, the safer.

I took a tour of The Bridge, the ship’s ‘cockpit’ today. It was AMAZING to see the bow of the ship in action, jumping the waves, and the millions of buttons, dials and crew-members who make her work. While we are flying across the Atlantic, at nearly 20 knots, I found out that the Explorer is only making use out of 2 of the 4 engines she has. At ‘Full-Speed Ahead,” the ship rounds 35 knots. This is unheard of for a vessel this size. The only time we’ll do this is when we go through the straits of Mallaca near Malaysia and Thailand, in order to avoid the piracy that flourishes in the area.

Planning is still going strong for Spain which is now only 5 full days away! We lose another hour of sleep tonight- killer- to keep prepping for our arrival. Tomorrow morning will be EST+ 3 hours.

I almost forgot, Grandpop emailed me about my cabin. I live on the 3rd deck (of 7) in cabin 3081. I have an outside double with a window about 3 ft by 4 ft. I’m very close to the water, and I spend at least a few minutes every night before I go to bed watching the waves fly by. The upside is that this low, I don’t have much tilting when we go over waves like you do up on deck 7. Don’t get me wrong though, I forgot, and left my shampoo in the shower rack and was awoken by a nice BANG in the middle of the night the other night when the ship crested a big one. The room is small, but cozy, and I recently purchased and hung a huge world map over my bed… since then I’ve felt a lot better about my small room J.

Talk tomorrow.

Greg.