Day 3
As of this morning I hadn't gone outside since we set sail at Southampton. I don't really know why, maybe it was that I have been on a cruise before and the concept of being completely surrounded by water doesn't thrill me. Or maybe it was that we are headed farther north and so I had the assumption that it was going to be very cold out.
I was wrong about the latter when I finally went outside. Around 7:30 we passed under a very famous bridge, The Great Belt Bridge, that stretches between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. It has the world's third longest main span, the longest outside of Asia. It was unnaturally windy outside, so although it wasn’t cold at all, the wind make it very uncomfortable. But it was beautiful to see and very cool to pass under it. When we did the ship sounded its horn and everyone cheered. The sun was setting and it made for a very beautiful moment.
We had been passing very close to Denmark all day, right before lunch we were able to see wind turbines in the distance that looked like they were coming out of the water. There were hundreds of them, seemingly with no land under them. I wonder what they were powering. They also announced at one point that there was a German submarine off the port side. I didn't see it myself but how cool is that!
I have only had one class today but I already love all of my professors. My marine biology professor spoke to us briefly about the Baltic sea and the water underneath us. I also overheard him saying that he talked to the kids on the ship about jelly fish for a half an hour. He seems really awesome and like his class will be really enjoyable. I really feel like I am going to learn a lot from his class, similarly to the astronomy class I took back at school.
My international business teacher then spoke to us about culture and the ten major things that differences can be observed in. Apparently I will be learning all of these things in depth in her class. She was a very good speaker, and held my interest entirely. She used football as a metaphor and used the name Susie Cream Cheese for a persons name as an example. I am on board with all of this.
Both off these talks occurred at the first Union Seminar, which will occur about 20 times throughout the semester. The main point of this one was discussing the difference between traveling as a tourist and as an anthropologist. The anthropology professor spoke to us about just being in a place and observing. As she put it, "embracing being bored." I love this notion, to just sit in a place and be there. Take in the culture around you and see what people are doing, how they are behaving.
The seminar made me very excited to travel to these countries and see how different they are from the things I know. Bring on St. Petersburg.
Side note: I finally got to go to the store and bought all the things. Except sweatpants, the thing that I wanted to most. They were all out of my size be the time I got there. I also couldn't decide on a sweatshirt, I am very indecisive. I did get a long sleeve t-shirt that lists all the places we are traveling to and their flags. I got some magnets and pins and cards to send home. I got a map of the world to hang on the wall of our room and a notebook to use for my travel writing journal. Shopping is fun. But I still want sweatpants.
