Pacific Ocean Happenstances

While sailing somewhere in between Ensenada and Hawaii, two important things have happened:

1) I fell over in the bookstore. Literally. One moment I was looking at sweatshirts, the next I was falling on them.

2) I talked to Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Before anyone freaks out, it was nothing major. Emily and I were in the bookstore the same time that Desmond Tutu was, and he was going around the store saying "Hello? Hello?" in his totally cute old man voice. Nobody was in the store, but I found a note on the desk saying that all purchases can be made next door. I tried to explain it to him, but I got a bit tongue tied, so I ended up just holding out the sign for him to read. He ended up just laughing and saying "Thank you" (again in his cute old man voice), and walked out. Emily and I just stared at each other for a couple seconds before bursting out laughing.

It's crazy! We're in the middle of the ocean, we're in a bookstore in the middle of the ocean, and Desmond Tutu was there! He was wearing black knee high socks and black shorts, and I don't know if "cute" is the politically correct word to be using in terms of Desmond Tutu, but that seems to fit the best.

I also met someone who went to PLU for a year before transferring and she said she knew who Aaron Steelquist was! CRAZY! So if anyone else is reading this that is talking to Aaron, let him know that I met somebody else named Kaitlynn (spelling unknown, so I will use my own) that apparently knows him.

In school related news, I have officially had each of my classes once. Water for the World seems like it'll be a great class, but also a lot of work (hello team project and individual paper/presentation in front of 90 people). Globalization and Social Responsibility seems great as well, but also a lot of work. In lieu of the 12 page research paper, we can go on two Semester at Sea field programs (which are service visits that I'm already signed up for), but we still have to do the presentation. I'm not sure if this is a good deal or not. I mean I still have to do the research and the presentation, so I don't know if actually writing out the paper would be that much more work.

Social Psychology seems like it will be the most relaxing class so far, if psychology can ever be relaxing. The professor is going to tailor our class schedule and reading around ports. He didn't exactly come out and say this, but he's basically putting ports first and class second, which I appreciate. He was a student on SAS awhile back, so I think he's approaching this class with both a student perspective and professor perspective. He's part of the Von Hippel clan. Both him and his brother are professors on board, and they each brought their families. Even the grandma is here. So basically half the ship has the last name Von Hippel.

Women Writers Around the Globe seems like it'll be kind of challenging, but great. I really like the professor so far, she seems really approachable and easy going. We have a couple papers, but no prompts, which is going to be difficult. She talked a lot about Jane Austen the first class, so I think I'll enjoy it.

In way more exciting news, Hawaii in two days! I will kiss the land. I may even refuse to get back on the ship. Not really. But it's a nice thought. We've all been on the ship for a couple days now, and everybody is getting really restless. The 10 day stretch in between Hawaii and Japan is going to be a fun one, especially since we're supposed to hit storm after storm after storm. Roller Coasters won't seem so daunting after this. Cage diving with sharks in South Africa may not even seem as scary anymore.

Well, time to do more reading. Emily and I are going to go over our planned trips over lunch and see if we both have a free day where we can sign up for a day trip or service visits or something. A lot of people we've talked to don't have anything planned for Japan, so a lot of people are talking independent travel. Dong independent travel first seems a bit daunting, but it's really the only place I can do it. However, a lot of people don't plan on being back on the ship and are doing overland travel in-between Yokohama and Kobe, and I want to be on the ship. We'll see what happens.

STILL in the middle of the ocean, but not for long!