Finally Some Normalcy?

Today really wasn’t that eventful, although it started out badly. I swear I set my alarm last night. I had it all planned out: I got a shower yesterday night so that I could sleep in at least a little bit before going to class again at 8 a.m. today. Well that didn’t work out so well when I finally woke up and it was 8:30. AGH! 8:30! Luckily though, unlike Penn State where everything is basically a 10- to 15-minute walk, this is just a climb up three flights of stairs. Thankfully, because this was our first B day, I didn’t miss much – our professor was just going over the syllabus, talking about sociology, etc. I still feel terrible about it – I’m not usually one to miss class, even though am I occasionally a little late :oP. After that the day improved. Nothing really noteworthy – I’m finalizing the trips I want to go on, since the paper is due tomorrow. I tried to do a little research about Spain. I was reading about Cadiz, our port city, and about Barcelona, since I think that might be where I’d like to go. I kind of was interested in seeing the Rock of Gibraltar, until I realized that the area around it is actually considered British land even though it’s on the tip of Spain. Other than that, I’m pretty much up for anything in Spain.

Did I mention that there’s one girl I met that has the exact same schedule as me? Her name is Blair and she goes to the University of Miami for…guess what? Journalism! She seems pretty easy to get along with, so I think I’m going to try and plan some things in Spain with her. Blair and I both signed up today to see a Flamenco performance with out English professor, one of the class-specific trips, or FDPs – field directed practica.

I also talked to a couple a few times, Jordan and Shannon, and I might try and see what their planning to do in port because they seemed pretty well traveled. They are from Connecticut and Jordan has couch surfed in Europe – which is where you find people on the internet who will let you sleep on their couch for a night or two while you’re traveling. They seem pretty open-minded, so maybe I can tag along with whatever group they’re getting together.

About that class, “Our Nomadic Urge to Travel in Peace.” The professor seems like the interesting English-professor type that won’t just lecture us into the ground, but he also was a little crazy spouting off obscure theories of teaching and quoting some random mystical stuff about ways of thinking. We’re going to be working on a “mulit-writing” project, which I understand to be more like a collage or a assemblage of writings as well as things we pick up in the countries all centered around a theme of some kind. It was a little overwhelming for the first day, but that’s how classes like his usually are.

Today’s Global Studies, which was before English, was far more interesting than the first class. We talked about the Caribbean and the three professors that spoke did a good job of covering the background of the island group briefly – talking about the discovery by Columbus, the sugar industry there, which eventually gave way to the slave trade. The class even discussed pirates (who, actually, did drink a lot of rum but didn’t bury treasure or make people walk planks). So it was interesting and informative (and infinitely more exciting than yesterday’s class). I did get a better seat right next to a monitor, so I could take notes more easily today.

It’s odd that our rooms are on the inside of the ship, so then it’s always pitch black without the lights, which is part of the reason I’m having trouble waking up in the morning. Our cabin, the little Hobbit Hole it is, doesn’t make for much of a comfortable place, but I wish I could come back to it for a little more of a haven. It also doesn’t help that my roommate, Liz, is never here because she’s usually with her boyfriend. I guess I just need to adjust and get more acquainted with people and everything will turn out well.