Faces and Names

Here is a picture with some faces attached to names you've heard -- and with whom you'll be traveling in the Fall.
From left to right:

ADAM SEID (on board, our Registrar/Assistant Academic Dean)
MICHELLE HURST (ISE)
ROSALYN BERNE (ISE)
GUESS WHO!
JANNA GIES (on board)
John Mayhood (former traveler)
Mary Johnston (head of the amazing Semester at Sea librarians)
Liz Gushee (Summer '08 librarian)
Kathy Soule (Fall '07 librarian)
CHRIS RUOTOLO (on board; our librarian)
GRIFFIN BRENNER(on board, in his mom Chris's arms)
Rebecca Papert (Summer '10 librarian)
Cathy Palombi (Fall '08 librarian)
LANCE BRENNER(on board, father of Griffin)

The countdown begins...... TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY we sail away from Halifax!

Really cool banner

Rocky Rowedder created this really cool Flag Banner for our voyage. Thanks, Rocky!

What does Archbishop Tutu do on the MV Explorer?

Rocky Rohwedder, a serial Semester at Sea faculty member (and one of our Fall 2010 colleagues, I'm very pleased to report) has sent this link, which you will enjoy. It's a Cultural Preport -- a performance of an invented song in which the "Arch" (as Rocky calls him) sings and dances (well, sings and jumps around). Check this out!

(cut and paste):

http://web.mac.com/matthandley/iWeb/Handleys%20go%20Global/Podcasts/E3C7BF63-6C7E-452C-9872-73341522E50D.html

What to Take?

The handbook gives you good guidance as to what to bring with you, but there are a few things that our experiences have suggested might be useful. But don't pack too much! Remember: storage space is limited, and dress on the ship is aggressively casual. There is a small store aboard, and there are always opportunitites to pick up things in ports. Herein, our personal and limited list of things that you might want to bring with you:

ziplock baggies
Off!
Pepto Bismal
sunscreen
pens
Sharpie
scratch paper
French press coffee maker
travel coffee carrier/mug
coffee
work-out clothes
corkscrew
magnets (no tape allowed on walls)
masking or box tape
fold-up umbrella
gifts for children in countries: stickers, balloons, crayons, etc.
European two-round-prong plug (your cabin has normal outlets; the rest of the ship is European)
extra passport photos (for Cambodia visa, for example)
scissors
thank-you notes/notecards
stuff for the auction
3 1/2-months' of meds (your doctor will authorize it)

Don't bring a ton of clothes; you can have stuff washed for $7 per bag (ironing is slightly extra; no dry cleaning). Ship life is casual. It's COLD in the Union, so bring a sweater or sweatshirt (or buy one of the Semester at Sea products on board). There are two dress-up events (business casual: Captain's Dinner and Alumni Ball).

And now, wise tips from previous voyagers:

Itty Bitty Book Light
Travel alarm clock
Small binoculars
Plug-in night light
$50-$100 in local currencies (avoid long lines of students at ATMs)
suction hooks for back of bathroom door
empty light-weight duffel bags for trip home
hand sanitizer
small toilet paper for in-country use
small first aid kit
Woolite
external hard drive to back up (if your computer crashes, you lose everything!)
zip drive

Clothing note: on the fall 2009 voyage, China was COLD (very cold).

Visas

Now's the time to get cracking on the visas. The information you need is posted on line at:

www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/fall-2010/fall-2010-visas-inoculation-travel-documents-and-ship-locations.php

Country Readings

You have sent in some terrific suggestions for readings about the countries we will visit. This is a short, non-comprehensive, and completely arbitrary list of possibilities, but they might be useful to those of you who would like to have some fun things to read.

SPAIN: John Hooper, The New Spaniards
Penelope Casas, Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Reader
Mark Williams, The Story of Spain
George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia
Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life

MOROCCO: Elizabeth Fernea, A Street in Marrakech

GHANA: Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana: The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah
Ama Ata Aidoo, Changes: A Love Story
Bruce Chatwin, The Viceroy of Ouida

SOUTH AFRICA: Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country
J.M. Coetzee, The Life and Times of Michael K
Breyten Breyenbach, The True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
Desmond Tutu, No Future Without Forgiveness
Rian Malan, My Traitor's Heart

MAURITIUS: J.M.G. Le Clezio, The Prospector

INDIA: Julia Gregson, East of the Sun
Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace
Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies
E. M. Forster, A Passage to India
Mahatma Gandhi, Autobiography
Chetan Bhagat, One Night @ the Call Center
Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

SINGAPORE: Catherine Lim, Little Ironies: Stories of Singapore
Catherine Lim, Following the Wrong God Home

VIETNAM: Robert Stone, The Dog Soldiers
Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carrie
Frances Fitzgerald, Fire in the Lake

CAMBODIA: Loung Ung, First They Killed My Father
Chinrathy Him, When Broken Glass Floats

CHINA: Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China
Li Cunxin, Mao's Last Dancer
James Clavell, Tai Pan
James Clavell, Noble House
Dai Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
John Hersey, A Single Pebble

JAPAN: James Clavell, Shogun
Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha
Ruth Benedict, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword

HAWAII: James Michener, Hawaii

General: Paul Theroux, Ghost Train to the Eastern Star
Pico Iyer, Falling off the Map: Some Lonely Places of the World
Pico Iyer, Sun After Dark: Flights into the Foreign

Department of Wise Advice

Teaching on a ship is a challenge, but once you are acclimated and have integrated yourself into the wonderful shipboard community, the rewards are great. Here are a few tips to think about, culled from many travelers and many nautical miles:

1. Be rigorous, but reasonable. Students will work hard, but they can't have the same focus they do on a land-based campus (the ship rocks, they're reading on computer screens, flying fish zoom by at intervals.....). And remember: 20% of the grade is fieldwork.

2. Integrate your classwork with field experiences; think ahead and recap when appropriate.

3. Mix it up. Enjoy your meals with a mixture of faculty and staff colleagues, student, and lifelong learners.

4. Sin on the side of generosity.

5. "Assume positive intent."

6. Don't gossip or fan the rumor mill.

7. Stay open to change, opportunity, challenge. The WORD is ... "flexibility."

8. Reflect often on your experiences.

9. Remember: everyone is nervous, afraid, wondering what will happen. Be warm and welcoming to all.

10. Enjoy every second of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!