Hello friends!
We are in Virginia, [Norfolk to be exact (pronounced No-fuk)]....having some coffee and our last stateside breakfast before boarding the ship in just over an hour. How exciting!! We arrived at our hotel last night and walked down to look at our ship, the MV Explorer, with our friend, Angelica (Angie), who will also be working this fall with Bill. Angie worked with Bill at UCSC a few years ago and is now working on a PhD at the University of Texas. As luck would have it, she was hired by SAS too and it will be fun to share this adventure with her and so many others.
Anyway - all three of us were astounded by the size of the ship - it looks quite large and daunting from land and very exciting. It's hard to imagine that it will be our home for the next 3 and a half months. Wow. We board today and will set sail for the Bahamas tomorrow. The students will board on Friday morning and off we'll sail for Salvador, Brasil.
Best wishes and love to all of you. We'll be in touch as often as we can and will share pictures of our new home soon!
Much love,
heather ;)
From Bill:
Heather is right, the ship is huge. It's blue on the bottom and white on the top. The radar array reminded me of the evil Star-Destroyer space ships from the Star Wars films. George Lucas' touch of realism really made those movies grand, but I digress.
I'm honestly a bit nervous about sharing a (relatively) small space with 799-ish other people with the breaks so acutely defined by the ocean and the port visits. My experiences living in community have been vast, so I'm hopeful for a quick adjustment and that I can lead the students with whom I'll be working toward realistic expectations of themselves and each other while they are on the ship.
In making sense of this so far, I'm equating this trip to a really well supported backpacking trip, for those who appreciate metaphors. I'm excited by the wilds of the oceans, and yet, I'm concerned for the impact we'll make as a large ship and 800 travelers with a lot of energy. So I'll sign off this way in preparation for an expedition:
Preparing for the worst, Praying for the best, and Hoping to land somwhere in between,
Kindly,
Bill
3 comments:
Hi H & B!
I am *so* excited for you!
I remember the first time I saw the ship - I had the same feelings: "I'm going to be LIVING on this thing!"
Enjoy every minute.
It is an unreal experience.
Give Angie a giant hug for me, please!!
love ya!
*joy
hey you crazy kids! sad i didn't get to see you before you left. have the BEST time. i will read up on your adventures often. more soon - kiki
Bill and Heather,
Looks like an exciting adventure you two are going to be on!
I look forward to reading more as your journey continues~
Robin Brooke
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