JRP at Sea

Arriving in Kyoto together, on time, was most likely the result of some guardian angels of traveling. I really don’t know how we walked on to our bullet train to Kyoto seconds before the train left. Meeting at large silver bell in the Central Passage of Tokyo Station was easy in theory, but my friends had my ticket, which I needed to enter the Central Passage, assuming I could find the Central Passage, which I couldn’t find. Without a way to communicate with each other we had to guess where to find each other. The bullet train to Kyoto would be a likely choice, but most of us didn’t know where to find the train, including me, even though a nice Japanese woman gave me a temporary ticket to enter the gates. Two minutes before departure time I was closer to our train but I was walking the wrong way and somehow my friends saw me, grabbed my arm, we quickly found the correct platform and the bullet train sped off seconds after we walked on, mostly because the nice Japanese man kept pushi

After leaving San Diego on January 6 th , we spent 17 of 19 days at sea. During our route to Japan we were alone at sea. No ships, no land, only a few seabirds, and weeks of ocean water. Waking up on January 26 th to finally see other ships and to finally see land, was surreal and I struggled to comprehend that we had crossed the massive Pacific Ocean. The last few days brought rough seas. Students fell out of chairs, dishes slid and broke, my shower water poured out of the shower and onto the bathroom floor, people were slightly grumpy, and I often felt nauseous during the last two days. A week earlier we went hundreds of miles off course to avoid a major storm that would have brought 50 foot swells. Fortunately we only had 18-20 foot swells. Before arriving in Japan, the ocean apparently wanted to remind us that crossing the Pacific is not easily accomplished. After weeks at sea without visiting any countries outside of the United States, and having experienced a Semester at Sea

Had we not stopped in Hilo, Hawaii, we would have spent 17 consecutive days at sea on the way to Japan. Our one-day visit welcomingly offered a chance to step on land after 6 days at sea since Ensenada and before 10 days at sea until Yokohama, Japan. I woke up at 6am to watch us arrive in Hilo. After a week of no land in sight, the emergence of the volcanic Big Island of Hawaii was an impressive sight. In the dark before the sunrise, the lights of the island were the first signs of land, until they faded and the ridges of the mountains and the outlines of the shoreline emerged in the early dawn sky, followed by the appearance of the island’s colors once the sun rose and colored in the green trees, black and solidified lava, and glowing red windows reflecting the rising sun. Arriving by ship offers an expansive view that slowly changes and narrows, offering more details as we move closer to the port. The world suddenly comes to life. Whales emerged from the water all around the ship,

I was somewhat emotionally exhausted as the voyage began, which was not ideal, but I was grateful more than any other emotion. I traveled from Virginia to Connecticut to San Diego to the MV Explorer, as if I was on a tour of my life, allowing me to reflect upon all that has led me to this present moment, my second voyage around the world with Semester at Sea. The transition to the Spring 2015 voyage was especially full-circle, as I spent a few hours of the first night on the MV Explorer with some of my friends from the Fall 2012 voyage. In a way I was able to connect the two voyages. I was not leaving Fall 2012 behind, but I was carrying the experience with me as I join the Spring 2015 shipboard community. My Fall 2012 friends' excitement for me, and their jealousy, helped me move from reflection to a readiness for a new experience, one in which many people would trade places with me in a second. The Spring 2015 voyage will be the last Semester at Sea voyage on the MV Explorer,

In a few days I will embark on the Spring 2015 Semester at Sea voyage . Of course I am excited. Of course I am grateful. Of course I have been impatiently waiting for the voyage to begin. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that I’m not calm. I’m quite the opposite. I’m a mix of nerves, anticipation, joy, and anxiety, and I’m reflective and nostalgic about all that I’m leaving behind. You wouldn’t think I would be nervous. Since August of 2012 I have traveled to Canada, Ireland, England, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Canary Islands, Ghana, South Africa, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Dominica, Vietnam, Guatemala, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, and Northern Ireland. I’m familiar with the Semester at Sea program and I’ve thought about the transformative benefits of international education ever since the Fall 2012 voyage. Yet my emotions are heightened, I’m nervous, reflective, and even a bit sad. I somewhat understand the cycle of my emotions. I know in four months I will be i