Saturday, August 28, 2010

Semester at Sea_Canada


Canada...
Starting at 4 am. Ouch but it was worth it Got to the airport early enough to meet up
with Heidi and to get through security without any problems. Our plane was delayed by a bit but I ended up meeting people from all around the Boston area that were also going on the voyage. Amongst them were Tom and Linda who are on the parents committee for SAS. After the short 1 hour flight to Halifax Canada we arrived yay and the skies were blue ( a nice change from rainy Boston) Then we got our luggage and attempted to figure out the shuttle But Tom and Lynda came searching for Heidi and I and offered us a ride into Halifax, which saved us some money and was awesome.
Finally we got to the hostel and because we couldn't check in till 2 we went out for some lunch that was recommended by the hostel. It was great and after we went exploring around the port. Our ship hadn't come in yet but there were are few cruise ships that were in the port for the day. Once checked in we went out again to explore and met up with a bunch of others from SAS and did some grocery shopping. Long story short EVERYONE ended up going out that night to a place near the port called the argyle. It was awesome to meet everyone but terrible at the same time because 10 seconds after you met someone you couldn't remember their name at all...not good. Where are the name tags when you need them?? Since I was exhausted I walked home pretty early with some other people that were staying in the hostel, especially since first thing the next morning we had to board the ship at ten.
The next day was crazy we woke up super early and about six girls in my hostel room were going to board early for work-study. Since there are only 70 work-study students the boarding process was so much easier and we got on to the ship in about 45 minutes. All of our stuff was scanned and searched and then the most amazing thing happened. DESMOND TUTU walked right behind me in the line for security, and hugged me. AMAZING. I was freaking out!!!! I even told the security guard "omg that is Desmond Tutu" :) It was awesome. Then right after that I got to go to my room. soooo tiny but It was great moving in first because I got to pick the bed I wanted and all the drawers and so on first. After moving in all the work-study students met up for a few meetings and then the rest of the day we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. A group of us went out to Alexander Keith's Brewery and then to university bar in Halifax. It was pretty cool and while we were out we ran into a bunch more SASers.
Waking up the following day was terrible. All work study students had to be up and ready by 7...ughhh so tired already. But it was insane. 600 students were going to be doing security and check-in opposed to the 70 that had done it the previous day.
I worked outside the entire day giving out luggage tags and having everyone sign some health forms. After working all day...Orientation began and we had to go to 3 meetings
THEN the best part came. Going to the sixth deck and waving goodbye to Halifax!! We were going to set sail. The feelings that came over me were unreal when the crew was untying us from land and everyone started cheering!! I had the chills and my legs went weak! I couldn’t even believe it. 2 years of anticipation and 7 months of planning were worth it. I was leaving Halifax, Canada to go see the world...12 countries...16 ports...110 days…LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN!!!

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