Iceland

My experience with Iceland started the night before we arrived in the country. The sun set at 12:15am and the skies were clear. I think the entire ship was outside watching it set. There was this wonderful energy and sense of excitement and awe amongst everyone and you can see why. Check out the pictures.


The sunset at 12:15am


a student watching the sunset


The student life staff just before the sunset. It was cold and windy outside, but we were all so happy!


I went to bed after that so that I could get up a few hours later at 2:55am to see the sunrise. When my alarm went off I peeked my head out the window and decided to go back to sleep since it was 3am after all and getting up after two hours of sleep seemed a little absurd to me. However, as I rolled over to go back to sleep I moved my pillow and it knocked a glass of water off the nightstand into my bed. I leaped up to get a towel and try to dry the mess. Of course at that point I was awake so I put on my jacket and shoes, grabbed my camera and headed outside. The minute I stepped outside I was so glad I spilled that water. I was awestruck. The sun was rising over Iceland and was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. The photos I took barely look real; they look like paintings. I was thinking I’d be the only one crazy enough to be awake at that hour but there were at least 30 students outside watching it and many that never even went to bed. They said it never got dark and had remained pink and orange all night long. Again, there was this intense energy amongst everyone that was awake – adrenaline, awe, inspiration. It was worth getting up for. I stayed outside for about 25 minutes then went back to bed and unfortunately didn’t hear my alarm a few hours later and was awoken when the Assistant Dean announced that we all had to meet with the US Embassy folks in 15 minutes. I took the fastest shower of my life and made it on time. During our briefing I learned that Iceland is the second safest country in the world (not sure which is #1) and much safer than the U.S. The entire country has about as many people as the Greater Madison area and the capitol Reykjavik has about 115,000 people.


The sunrise at 3am



The sunrise over Iceland

In the morning I wondered around Reykavik with two other resident directors. We visited Hallgrimskirkja, a 75m church that can be seen from anywhere in Reykavik and the National Museum. We went back to the boat for dinner since an average dinner in Iceland is about $40 without drinks. It is a very expensive country with a high standard of living and not the place to go shopping. Everything here is very clean and there is virtually no air pollution in the entire city. They use natural geothermal heat from steam that rises out of the ground and do not rely on coal or fossil fuels for their energy.


Hallgrimskirkja

My second day in Iceland was awesome! I joined an organized tour to travel east of Reyjkavik to see the largest glacier in Iceland called Jokalsárlón. A few years ago the tongue of the glacier traveled down about 2km to the ocean and has been breaking apart ever since. This Glacier Lagoon is where the glacier tongue was and now pieces of the glacier that are slowly breaking off and melting. Like most of the geology of Iceland it is a very active location. Iceland is such a young island (geologically speaking) that it is still forming and has many active volcanos, earthquakes, etc. Consequently, the landscape looks magical.


Our first stop on the tour



The south coast of Iceland



Glacier lagoon with the Jokalsárlón Glacier in the background

We had time to walk around for about 45 minutes. I wondered off and as I was coming back I was walking along the shore looking at the rocks and was apart from other people. Next thing I know I looked up and there was a seal who popped out of the water and was looking at me. I stopped and as I started taking pictures the seal flipped up his tail and was fluttering along as if to show off or flirt with me. It was so awesome! We were just starring at each other and then some other people walked up and he swam away. My friend Laura (who is the art history teacher) came running up and says “Oh my gosh Amy, that was so cool! That seal was checking you out!” It was a neat moment.


The curious seal

After wandering around for a bit we got to go out on a Duck boat. These are old boats from the Vietnam war that can drive on land and float on the water. Those of you in Wisconsin know exactly what I am talking about!


me on the Duck boat

On the long ride home we stopped at another beautiful water fall and a few of us walked behind it.


The beautiful waterfall from behind

On the way home Laura and I were talking about the amazing things we had seen and the energy we felt. I was commenting about the Icelandic artists she talked about in her class and how you can really understand their inspirations and why they paint the way they do after seeing the beautiful land. She agreed, but said that nature always trumps art. It’s true. Nothing can compare to seeing the real thing.

We finally got home after the 16 hour tour. It was so much fun I didn’t even feel tired. As soon as I got to my room I downloaded my photos because I was so excited. I didn’t even sit down. I just love the immediate satisfaction of digital! Later Laura and I compared photos and I finally forced myself to go to bed at 1am. I was so energized and it was still light out, but I knew I needed to sleep. I love Iceland and hope I get to come back soon and go backpacking for several days so I can really spend time in the wilderness here.

Slow internet

The students and senior passengers arrived on the 18th and we had a day of meetings and orientation for them before classes began. Even though I have been getting eight hours of sleep each night I still feel very tired. I’ve been sleeping well each night so I am not sure why I feel so tired. Three times between Halifax and Iceland we will lose an hour of time each day as we adjust our clocks back. That certainly is not going to help. Finally, last night I slept in a bit and feel better. Caffeine of course always helps!

Yesterday some people spotted whales and dolphins and I was so disappointed I didn't get to see them. I told everyone to call me in my cabin any time of the day so I could see them. The captain said we would see more as we get closer to Iceland. Today we are fairly close to Greenland, althougth too far to see land. Since yesterday there have been some gulls flying alongside the ship. We've also seen a few other ships either freighters or fishing boats.

We've been going a little slower than usual in the last few days in order to avoid a storm and thankfully it has worked so far. This morning there was a man-overboard drill for the crew and we are still stopped for that drill.

The internet connection on the ship is extremely slow. The connection is basically the equivalent of a DSL connection at a home, but with many, many people using it at the same time. So posting on my blog is very slow and will be less frequent than I had hoped. I’ll post again after I get to Iceland!

Halifax, Nova Scotia

written 06-17-05:

Thursday we hung out in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was cold, dreary and lightly raining all day and I didn’t even mind. I was glad to be able to walk around on solid ground. Nova Scotia is a cute town and I managed to get some groceries, do my laundry, and get my photos from scuba diving developed. We also visited Pier 21, which is Canada’s equivalent to Ellis Island. It opened after Ellis Island closed from 1928-1971. We went on a tour and saw a great video.


The view of Halifax and the Citadel from the waterfront.


Me - enjoying a little rain in Halifax

We had a delicious dinner and another Resident Director (RD) and her partner ordered lobster .


Erin and Gina and their lobster

Rough Seas

written 06-15-05:

Today was a little nuts on board the ship. The ocean was getting pretty choppy and wavy and by 2:30pm I was feeling pretty bad. I found some relief by laying flat on my back. My theory is that while laying on my back my stomach doesn’t have anywhere to go to do flip-flops. I finally decided to take some seasickness drugs, Meclazine. They have a bin of it on the ship, free for the taking. It takes about an hour to kick-in so I had a rough time for a bit there. A couple of times I was afraid I was going to have to run for the toilet, but I was lucky, luckier than some. Before today I was feeling rather proud of my lack of seasickness, but the weather today humbled me quickly. In addition to the seasickness drugs, going outside helped tremendously. I went out to the aft deck (that’s the back – just think ass) and watched the waves. Here are two pictures I took from the same spot as the ship went up and down.





I am feeling much better now and the waves are already calming. Tomorrow we will be in Halifax and I will be glad to get on some solid ground for a bit and walk around. As well as do some laundry and get a few small things I forgot. Then, on Friday the students arrive and we begin our voyage to Iceland. I am hoping to go hiking while in Iceland. Getting exercise aboard the ship is a challenge. I ran on the treadmill once and after about 25 minutes I was very pleased at my distance until I realized the machine was in kilometers not miles – ugh! There are so many little things to decipher when traveling abroad that you would never think about. Of course, in rough seas running on a treadmill isn’t an option.

Here I am – day two of the Semester at Sea voyage. It’s fabulous! The mv Explorer is a gorgeous ship! Everything is new and clean and well designed. I am so happy to be here. I think this all really hit me when I walked in my room for the first time and saw how wonderful it was. I was expecting something small and dark and cluttered feeling and it is the complete opposite. There is a big window, beautiful furnishings, clean carpet and a well-designed layout. See the pictures below.


My room


My room from the other angle


My bathroom

The ship is huge. There are seven decks and it is the fastest oceanliner in the world. Semester at Sea bought the ship from a Greek cruise company called Royal Olympic Cruises when they went bankrupt and their ship was arrested a couple years ago. They contracted a German company to build this ship and the sister ship the Voyager about 5 years ago and bankrolled everything into the ships figuring that since they were so fast it would be an excellent draw for new customers. Well, shortly after the ships were built the World Trade Centers were attacked and international travel really decreased. Originally there were casinos and other aspects that screamed “cruise ship” so Semester at Sea has been converting it to a college campus during the past two years. They acquired the ship 12 days before the initial voyage and worked very hard doing some initial conversions. This is the fourth voyage and they are still making small changes. Since the end of the Spring semester the ship was dry docked in The Bahamas undergoing repairs. The Bahamas has the largest repair shipyard in the world and do many large ships. It’s hard to imagine this ship being dry-docked on land. There is still a crew of people with an Italian company working on the ship from The Bahamas to Halifax making more changes. However, it looks so great you would never know anything needed to be done.


The mv Explorer docked in The Bahamas - notice the person walking on the left for size comparison.


A view of the moon from the ship - taken shortly after we set sail at 10pm

Many of you asked about seasickness and I haven’t felt anything yet. We have enjoyed very calm seas that look like a lake. There is a gentle sway to the ship and I find myself walking down the hallways in a zigzag. I am walking straight but since the ship is moving side to side my path moves sideways too. However, I find myself unconsciously correcting this more and more as I get used to the ship. I hope when I get to land I don’t continue to correct myself and have it look like a zigzag! There are a few people that have felt some mild seasickness, but there is a bin of seasickness drugs for everyone to take and no one seems to be affected too much. I will be curious to see what happens as the weather changes over time.


The view from the back of the ship - the weather has been great!

I am enjoying meeting so many new people here. Everyone is friendly and interested in meeting everyone else and a community is already starting to develop. It’s neat. The crew, staff, and faculty are from all over the world – Greece, Sweden, The Philippines, Belgium, and many more. So far we have just had orientation meetings and learned about the ship, how things work, who does what, etc. We had a lifeboat drill today and will have several more throughout the trip. It’s a very organized process. Everyone is assigned a lifeboat as labeled in your room and on your lifejacket. When the alarm sounds you have to put on your lifejacket and long pants and a jacket and report outside to your muster station, the place in front of your lifeboat.

Tonight we are cleaning and organizing the Student Life office and hopefully I will get to bed early. I got nearly eight hours of sleep last night, but I feel tired. I hope you all are doing well!

The Bahamas

I arrived in Freeport, Bahamas yesterday at noon. Here is the view from the plane. It was gorgeous, although a bit stormy.


The weather was a bit stormy so I wasn't able to go scuba diving. Instead I met another Semester at Sea Resident Director and we hung out on the beach. It started raining so we went swimming in the pool. The beach was beautiful - clear water, soft sand, gentle waves.


The beautiful beach!


Parts of the beach were rocky with neat plant life.

This morning a group of us are hoping to go snorkeling, but it depends on the weather. There is blue sky now, but it is still early. We get on the ship this afternoon so this will be my last free internet connection. I am looking forward to unpacking and getting settled on the ship. I have so much stuff! One bag weighs 62 lbs. and the other is probably around 40lbs. I tried to pack light and took out a few things at the last minute. Although one of the women I am sharing a room with brought 14 pairs of underwear (and that was after she whittled it down) so I don't think I have that much.

Before I left Madison, WI my partner shaved my head. It's one-inch long and you really can't even tell. I wanted to bring clippers instead of trying to get a haircut in Poland or Russia. Who knows what it would look like when you can't communicate what you want. Although it could have been an interesting cultural experience I think I'd rather do other things. I don't have any photos at the minute, but I will soon.

I am off to eat breakfast, go snorkeling, and board the ship!

My 30th Birthday!

I was in Orlando for two days visiting my family and celebrated my 30th birthday with them. It was so great to see my family! Here are photos from the party...


My mom made this boat the center piece for my upcoming Semester at Sea trip.


My cake - my mom ordered this - isn't she great!



My mom (left) and cousins


My cousins

It was a great party and a reminder of how special family is.

Summer Travels

I am getting ready to embark on my summer travels with Semester at Sea. This summer I will be a Resident Director about the MV Explorer and traveling through Europe and Russia. I leave for Orlando, FL on Thursday to see my family and then on Saturday I fly to the Bahamas to board the shop on Sunday. I am so excited!! eeeekkk!! But also a bit nervous and even sad to be leaving for the summer. Madison, WI is such a great place to be over the summer and more than anything I will miss my partner until she joins me for the last three countries.

Here is my itinierary:

1. The Bahamas - June 12 (staff training begins)
2. Nova Scotia - June 17 (pick up the students)
3. Reykavik, Iceland - June 23 to June 26
4. Bergen, Norway - June 29 to July 2
5. St. Petersburg, Russia - July 6 to July 10
6. Gdansk, Poland - July 13 to July 16
7. Antwerp, Belgium - July 20 to July 23
8. London, England - July 25 to July 29 - (Sarah joins me!)
9. Dublin, Ireland - July 31 to August 3 - (meeting Mom & Art)
10. Bilbao, Spain - August 6 to August 10 - (Sarah departs)
11. Ft. Lauderale, Fl - August 21

I'll be 30 on Friday and get to celebrate with my family in Orlando - a rare treat. I am really looking forward to it. I am excited about being 30!

Throughout the summer I'll be posting photos and pictures from my journey. More to come soon!!