Semester at Sea - Maymester voyage

So, I'm off on another Semester at Sea adventure!  Life is sweet, to say the least.  I'm incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to visit five new countries in the next month.  I fly to Costa Rica on Thursday and have yet to pack anything in my duffel.  Quelle horreur!  Actually, I should say "Que horror" (courtesy of Google Translate)  since I am going only to Spanish speaking countries.  The fact that I don't speak any Spanish might be a bit of a problem but I'm hoping the 6 years of French that I took in high school and college will at least help me recognize written words since the two languages are so closely related. Of course, I'm totally sunk with the spoken language but I assume that is what hand gestures and contorted facial expressions are for when trying to convey an unfamiliar language to the citizens of that country.  Well, that and providing them with much amusement.

Here's the itinerary for the trip

• May 17-21  Puntarenas, Costa Rica
• May 25-27  Callao, Peru
• May 30-June 2  Manta, Ecuador 
• June 5-6  Panama City, Panama
• June 7  Panama Canal
• June 8-9  Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
• June 12-13  Belize City, Belize
• June 15  Fort Lauderdale, FL

 It's an action-packed trip and we will only have 10 class days on the ship!   It's difficult to believe the students will have enough time to do their readings and assignments for their chosen class in that amount of time.  I'll be sailing on the voyage as the assistant librarian with my friend, Anne, who will be the lead librarian.  I'm so excited to be doing this with her.  It will be nice to share this experience with somebody I know already.

Two more days!!! Tan emocionate (I'm going to love Google Translate for this trip!).