I'm aboard!! And trying to save internet minutes!

EDIT: Sorry...I said time for bed at the bottom for a reason...I wrote this three times because I didn't save it in my email last night - and sent it to the wrong place. Because I was tired I wrote sjfederoff@semesteratsea.COM, but it should be .NET. So, SJFEDEROFF@SEMESTERATSEA.NET So Jamie, send that email to me again.
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Ahhhhh! This is so freaking awesome!! I'm on the ship!

I got up ate some breakfast at the hotel, caught a cab with two other SAS guys (even though it was only a few blocks our crap was heavy), then stood in line with them for around two hours. It went quick though, since we just chatted with each other and the other SASers in front and behind us. I had met both of them the night before at the hotel, and they both seemed like cool dudes. As we were waiting, some staff members with the Semester at Sea were coming by telling us to make sure we had our passports handy. And, as the three of us were looking for them, one of the guys, Brendan, says, "Oh no, I forgot my passport!" Luckily enough, because the line was so long, he had enough time to take a cab back to the hotel and find it -- in the night table drawer with his iPod (AGH! I'm glad he found that, too!) -- and get back in line with us. We were nice enough to scoot his bags up with ours while the line was moving.

Then, we finally got on the ship! First, we got name tags and luggage tags with our cabin numbers on them. Next, we headed through the security scanners so they could screen our bags. Then, we were given our SAS ID cards -- mine is kinda messed up since they used my not-so-good passport photo and it turned out stretched across the card and my ID number was written on a piece of tape covering where it says "Rank" instead of "ID #". Oh well, it's still pretty cool! Then we waited in line to get everything checked before we got on the ship. You have to swipe your ID card every time you get on and off the ship. And the crew screens you each time you get on the ship, so you don't carry any prohibited items on to the ship. Then, we went to the Union (it's more like a large auditorium -- but cruise-style with little swivel armchairs and big bench couches) where they had a bunch of stations set up where they handed us paperwork to make sure we finished paying our tuition and registered for any more trips and were given health insurance cards. Then I got to find my room! It was so exciting, except, because my room is a newly-refurbished crew cabin, so I couldn't get in using my ID card (which is what many of the regular cabins use), so I had to get a regular key with my room number on it from the Purser's Desk, which is pretty much like the bursar and they do administrative things. So, I ran back down to the cabin and started unpacking.

I actually first said hello to my roommate, Liz, when I was in the Union checking in. She was seated at one of the tables handing out papers and said, "Hey, you're my roommate!" But, because she is doing work study, I got to come back to the room and unpack by myself, which was nice because our room's pretty small. It's maybe half the size of a room in Pollock or East at Penn State. We don't have desks, like they do and our room has a bunk bed (Liz claimed the bottom bunk before I even had a chance, since the work study students had to get on the ship a day earlier than everyone else). We have a bathroom with all the usual amenities, a TV that gets six channels -- one showing the boat's position and announcements, two or three others showing movies and one or two that are turned off unless there's something on the closed-circuit TV that broadcasts from the Union to the satellite classrooms (I believe there are four of them) because the Union's not big enough to hold everyone. Anyway, there's also a fridge, one wardrobe with a door and section for each of us, three drawers under the bottom bunk, a set of four drawers next to the bed, above that there's a shelf and a bulletin board.

Then, just as I was about down unpacking, Liz came back to the cabin and said she was heading off to find her mom and brother who had come down to the Bahamas with her, so we both walked down and off the ship and chatted a little more. She went on to the hotel and I just wandered around for a bit. I left her right in front of the Straw Market, a weird flea-market type place under one huge tent. Each vendor had a tiny slice of each aisle, so all of their stall were about 10 feet tall. And they were selling tourist stuff, mostly. I believe I read somewhere it's called the Straw Market since many of them make and sell straw baskets, but they also sell much more expensive baskets -- knock-off designer purses. I just walked through and took a few photos, although many of the local Bahamian women were trying to get me to buy something. Then, I was walking around by the dock and asked a woman where I could get a newspaper and she gave me directions to a pharmacy about two blocks away. I find the Bahamas extremely interesting. I believe I read somewhere what percentage of the industry there is tourism; I can't remember the exact number, but it's at least half. And it's a weird atmosphere that made me a little cynical about the whole place. I mean, sure there's a Hard Rock Cafe there (I walked in and decided to buy a pin), but there's also buildings that are totally empty, shacks in the shadow of giant resorts and a general feeling of disconnect between the tourists and the locals.

I was glad when it finally time to get on the ship again, although, I regret that I was and am currently surrounded by water, but didn't get to go into it, or even put my feet in, while I was in the Bahamas.

I unpacked, which was easy because I met my roommate while we were checking in -- she's doing work study -- so she wasn't around while I unpacked. Then, she came back to the room and we chatted for a bit while we got off the ship. We were allowed to do that as long as we were back by 2:30. Then we got back on the boat and did the lifeboat drill. Then we shoved off!! Or embarked, or whatever...anyway, it was awesome!! All the parents were on the dock waving and they just got smaller and smaller and smaller...until you couldn't see the Bahamas at all anymore. While we were watching the islands disappear, I met a few girls (one who's in 3 classes with me and a journalism major!) and we noticed they were serving dinner, so we went and ate together. Then, we had an orientation meeting where we were introduced to the dean, the captain, the senior crew and the clinic staff.

After that we met with out living-learning coordinator (like an RA) and our "sea,", which is basically our section of the ship down the hallway with even numbered cabins. We're the Mediterranean Sea, and the others are like the Agean, the Adriatic, the Yellow Sea, etc. Jason, our "LLC," did two exercises, one where we lined up according to our rooms and the other where we lined up by hometown in the shape of a map. I was sooooo tired, physically and mentally, so nothing else too exciting after that. I slept good, except Liz got up in the middle of the night and didn't close the door the whole way we she was done, so it was whapping back and forth and woke me up earlier than my alarm. The shower was nice, a good temperature and pressure, except, since our showers are only delineated from the bathroom by a 2-inch high piece of metal and a shower curtain I didn't realize that water would go everywhere. It's OK though, only my shirt for the day got all wet.

The rest of the entire day was almost all orientation, separated by meals and the INAUGURATION! I went to breakfast with Liz (and her boyfriend and his roommate) and to lunch with a girl I met at the broadcast of the inauguration, Grace and sat down randomly to dinner with two guys, Johnathan, who, it turns out, is a good piano player, and Isiah.

The inauguration was awesome!! It was so cool to be able to see such an historic moment, even though we're in the middle of the ocean. All the computers on the ship had to be turned off so we could receive the broadcast well enough. I loved seeing all those crazy people there in D.C. Later tonight, they threw an inauguration celebration with fruits and cake and deserts along with sparkling cider. Then I went out on the deck a little bit, because I had been feeling a little dizzy and not-so-right for a while, but I think that helped.

Now I need to get some sleep! We're turning the clocks ahead one hour, which I hadn't really thought about until someone brought it up yesterday, but I don't think I'll ever be able to get ahead! I have two classes tomorrow, the first one, English as a global language at 8 a.m. and the next one, Global Studies, at 9:20 a.m.

A note on why there aren't any pictures:
I'm allowed free e-mail, but you're not allowed to have them over 50 KB. Which, sadly means text but no pictures, so that's why you don't see them here. I'm trying the feature that can go directly from email to posting on your blog, so hopefully this works! Also, I'm getting my e-mail from PSU and G-mail forwarded to this account now which, I CAN NOW CONFIRM IT IS SJFEDEROFF@SEMESTERATSEA.NET. So send me lots of e-mails!!! I would also like to ask that you send me your email address if you expect to get emails from me -- I can't remember everyone's.  :-(

Time for bed. E-MAIL ME!