On the ship! - May 19

We had our first faculty/staff/family meeting at the hotel this morning.  Basically, it was an introduction to Semester at Sea and to each other.  With so many people being introduced it lasted quite a while and I was very impressed that the young kids were so well behaved during the entire time.  It must have been incredibly boring to them and when you add to the fact they were about to head off to the ship.  

When the meeting was over, we all walked/ran/raced backed to our rooms to grab our luggage and then we lined up at the entrance for our turn to pile onto the buses lined up in the parking lot.  We had a Costa Rican tour guide, Leonardo, on the bus with us and he regaled us with facts and stories about Costa Rica.  Poor Leonardo talked for almost the entire length of the bus ride to the coast where the ship was docked.  I’m surprised he still had his voice at the end.

We finally arrived at Puntarenas and soon had our first glimpse of the ship.  Everyone on the bus broke out in applause.  Do ya think everyone was excited?  We were soon driving out on the pier to be dropped off right at the bow of the ship.  We collected our luggage and then lined up to have the ship personnel to search each piece for contraband (basically, anything that can cause fire on the ship or whatever TSA would confiscate).  It took a while to process everyone since the ship’s crew was VERY thorough.  After we were cleared, Anne and I handed off our worldly belongings to be loaded onto the ship for us and then made our way up the gangway.  After another line to drop off our passports and collect our cabin keys, we were free to check out our new digs.  Anne and are on the same deck and on the same corridor although my junior suite was further down the passage.  We did nothing more than drop our carry-on bags onto the bed, briefly admire our rooms before bolting to the dining room for a belated lunch.  We ate outside and almost melted from the heat and humidity.  Just a taste of things to come.

After lunch, we met in the Union for our first of many orientation sessions for the next three days.

By the time that session was done, it was time for dinner.  Are you sensing a theme yet?  Meet, eat, meet, eat, repeat as many times as necessary.  However, we did end the evening on a good note when everyone gathered in the faculty lounge at 8:30 for social hour with wine and aperitifs.  Very civilized, don’t you know.

The bed felt very, very good when I finally crawled in later that night.  It’s nice to be back though.