Spring 2015 - Day 2
Orientation day. The worst day. Okay, not nessesarily the worst day, just the most tedious day. Especially because I already knew most of the information. The only new information was about all of the IT information. They changed how we do email and printing.
The good news was that instead of having us all sit in the Union and just rotate speakers they had us move around the ship in seas to different sessions. The first one my sea went to was about Academics. They just discussed the honor code and the trial process if you get caught cheating. The librarians also talked to us. One of them is an adoreable man who is probably about 80 years old. He grew up in India and seems really interesting. They also discussed our class field labs and the expectations surrounding them. There are the same rules as last time, dress appropriately, be respectful, remember you are representing your countries, and we have to be back on the ship by midnight the night before a lab.
Our second session was on the field programs. We played a trivia game about all of the places we are going that also related to the various programs we can do. I didn't know any of the answers. They were questions like who is the current prime minister of Japan and what is the holy city in India. Hopefully by the end of the voyage I will know it all!
Our third session was about health and safety. It was lead by the ships staff captain. He is Russian so he talks very formally but also has a sense of humor, which is an interesting mix. He had a pair of flip flops with him because he hates them, they are not a safe shoe to wear. He held them up and said that if we were unsafe we would end up on the bottom of the ocean with the rest of his enemies. He also told us that we have two hands for a reason, one of us and the other for ship. Basically, hold the railings when you walk up and down the stairs.
After our third session was lunch and then my sea had our IT session. I helped everybody in my vicinity because the poor guy leading it was trying to give instructions but everyone was talking. They changed how we use our email. Before we had to use a third party email platform like Outlook or iMail. Now it is on its own application that we get to through the browser. You go through the new home page called Homeport. They created a central place where we can get all of our information. From Homeport we get the Dean's Memo, information about field programs, and moodle, the blackboard-esque system we use for classes. From what I can tell you can only access it through the intranet so we can't get any of this information while we are in port. That might be frusturating.
We also have to pay for printing now. They are definitely trying to control how much paper we waste. We get 70 sheets for free, which I think its plenty. I do have a 10 page paper for my World Mythologies class, if we have to print drafts of that it will add up quick.
Our fifth session was an an ice breaker/get to know you session with our RD. We basically just talked to different people in our sea and she gave us different hand shakes to do when we changed people. The last handshake was to come up with your own handshake and then we would vote on one to become to official handshake of the Red Sea. I met a guy named Juan from Argentina and we talked about the things we were nervous for on the voyage and he told me that I shouldn't worry about it not being as wonderful as my first voyage because they are so completely different they arn't even comparable. He's right.
The handshake that we came up with is to be used when you are passing someone in the hallway. You grasp each others opposite hand where your thumbs are interlocked on top. Jessi and I can't figure what you would call that so I hope my description makes sense. Then you let go of your right hands and turn to the side and do the wave starting with one person and going to the other. Then you walk past each other and double high five. Makes complete sense, right?
Well, everyone loved it because our handshake won and is now the official handshake of the red sea. And I made my first friend in the process!
Our final session was called community standards. They did it in game show format. They recruited 5 random SASers from the audience and made them give solutions to various senarios. They ranged from trying to sneak alcohol on the ship to taking a picture with one of the life rings on deck 7. (You shouldn't do either of those things)
Our recruited students were too good, they knew the correct solution to everything. I guess that's a good thing, we are a group of people with good common sense.
After the final session they had student/teacher conferences where you could meet with your professors and ask them any questions. I went to meet my art professor, her name is Grace Kim. I wanted to get her opinion on the amount of supplies I was able to get and the fact that I had accidentally left behind my portfolio. She said that she wished she had put a disclaimer at the bottom of the list saying that it was not critical to get everything and to specify what was crucial.
So apparently what I have is fine. I hope that is true. My first class is tomorrow so I guess I will find out.
In the evening I made some more friends. Jessi's roommate Annie (her real name is Anstice!) has some friends on the ship from her school. They're names are Andi and Jennifer. We ate dinner together and talked for a while. Jennifer is in my sorority! It was good to laugh and connect with people.
We went as a group to the activity fair. They had everyone present their activities in the Union and then spread the sign up sheets out across the ship. We got to the presentation late because we didn't understand that that was what they were doing. But we got some good activities: cardio kickboxing, vinyasa yoga, the alumni association, and acro yoga. So all fitness things, hopefully we will follow through on them. Jessi and I signed up for the gym tomorrow so we are starting out strong.
Jessi and I finished out the day playing Skip-Bo. It was Molly and my's favorite game last voyage so she sent it to us for Christmas. Jessi kicked my ass.
I went to sleep a lot happier than I did last night. I have been emailing people from home that I miss, so I feel connected to them and I made some friends. I feel more comfortable and less homesick. Laughing helps. Day two down. Only 5 more days until Hawaii and 16 more days until Japan!
The good news was that instead of having us all sit in the Union and just rotate speakers they had us move around the ship in seas to different sessions. The first one my sea went to was about Academics. They just discussed the honor code and the trial process if you get caught cheating. The librarians also talked to us. One of them is an adoreable man who is probably about 80 years old. He grew up in India and seems really interesting. They also discussed our class field labs and the expectations surrounding them. There are the same rules as last time, dress appropriately, be respectful, remember you are representing your countries, and we have to be back on the ship by midnight the night before a lab.
Our second session was on the field programs. We played a trivia game about all of the places we are going that also related to the various programs we can do. I didn't know any of the answers. They were questions like who is the current prime minister of Japan and what is the holy city in India. Hopefully by the end of the voyage I will know it all!
Our third session was about health and safety. It was lead by the ships staff captain. He is Russian so he talks very formally but also has a sense of humor, which is an interesting mix. He had a pair of flip flops with him because he hates them, they are not a safe shoe to wear. He held them up and said that if we were unsafe we would end up on the bottom of the ocean with the rest of his enemies. He also told us that we have two hands for a reason, one of us and the other for ship. Basically, hold the railings when you walk up and down the stairs.
After our third session was lunch and then my sea had our IT session. I helped everybody in my vicinity because the poor guy leading it was trying to give instructions but everyone was talking. They changed how we use our email. Before we had to use a third party email platform like Outlook or iMail. Now it is on its own application that we get to through the browser. You go through the new home page called Homeport. They created a central place where we can get all of our information. From Homeport we get the Dean's Memo, information about field programs, and moodle, the blackboard-esque system we use for classes. From what I can tell you can only access it through the intranet so we can't get any of this information while we are in port. That might be frusturating.
We also have to pay for printing now. They are definitely trying to control how much paper we waste. We get 70 sheets for free, which I think its plenty. I do have a 10 page paper for my World Mythologies class, if we have to print drafts of that it will add up quick.
Our fifth session was an an ice breaker/get to know you session with our RD. We basically just talked to different people in our sea and she gave us different hand shakes to do when we changed people. The last handshake was to come up with your own handshake and then we would vote on one to become to official handshake of the Red Sea. I met a guy named Juan from Argentina and we talked about the things we were nervous for on the voyage and he told me that I shouldn't worry about it not being as wonderful as my first voyage because they are so completely different they arn't even comparable. He's right.
The handshake that we came up with is to be used when you are passing someone in the hallway. You grasp each others opposite hand where your thumbs are interlocked on top. Jessi and I can't figure what you would call that so I hope my description makes sense. Then you let go of your right hands and turn to the side and do the wave starting with one person and going to the other. Then you walk past each other and double high five. Makes complete sense, right?
Well, everyone loved it because our handshake won and is now the official handshake of the red sea. And I made my first friend in the process!
Our final session was called community standards. They did it in game show format. They recruited 5 random SASers from the audience and made them give solutions to various senarios. They ranged from trying to sneak alcohol on the ship to taking a picture with one of the life rings on deck 7. (You shouldn't do either of those things)
Our recruited students were too good, they knew the correct solution to everything. I guess that's a good thing, we are a group of people with good common sense.
After the final session they had student/teacher conferences where you could meet with your professors and ask them any questions. I went to meet my art professor, her name is Grace Kim. I wanted to get her opinion on the amount of supplies I was able to get and the fact that I had accidentally left behind my portfolio. She said that she wished she had put a disclaimer at the bottom of the list saying that it was not critical to get everything and to specify what was crucial.
So apparently what I have is fine. I hope that is true. My first class is tomorrow so I guess I will find out.
In the evening I made some more friends. Jessi's roommate Annie (her real name is Anstice!) has some friends on the ship from her school. They're names are Andi and Jennifer. We ate dinner together and talked for a while. Jennifer is in my sorority! It was good to laugh and connect with people.
We went as a group to the activity fair. They had everyone present their activities in the Union and then spread the sign up sheets out across the ship. We got to the presentation late because we didn't understand that that was what they were doing. But we got some good activities: cardio kickboxing, vinyasa yoga, the alumni association, and acro yoga. So all fitness things, hopefully we will follow through on them. Jessi and I signed up for the gym tomorrow so we are starting out strong.
Jessi and I finished out the day playing Skip-Bo. It was Molly and my's favorite game last voyage so she sent it to us for Christmas. Jessi kicked my ass.
I went to sleep a lot happier than I did last night. I have been emailing people from home that I miss, so I feel connected to them and I made some friends. I feel more comfortable and less homesick. Laughing helps. Day two down. Only 5 more days until Hawaii and 16 more days until Japan!
