The two main sources of anxiety on board have been delays in some passengers’ receiving their needed visas for Brazil, which resulted in a return to the dock in Nassau five hours after the Explorer first left it, and uncertainty about students’ obligation to complete “faculty-directed practica,” which are, in a couple of different ways, essential to the academic program. The first matter now seems happily resolved: at the mandatory Logistical Pre-Port Briefing, which will occur on the night before we arrive in each port, and which drew, as it should, a capacity crowd to the Union, one of the students whose visa had been delayed received an award for helping to inspire community onboard, and the resulting applause seemed the capper on that matter.
The second matter will be resolved more gradually, as students come to me individually with their concerns so that we can work out appropriate solutions. Students can’t get out of the requirement, but it seems that we can make it match their other obligations. The problem has resulted in part from Semester at Sea’s necessarily being a product of its long history: students have heard a lot about the program from past students, and others, who are familiar with earlier times when such requirements weren’t enforced, and communication about the new requirement, as it came into being during the past year, has been difficult to manage. Students generally appear at my office irritated or upset and leave reassured, and it does mean that I’m going to get to know quite a few of them, and their academic interests, quite well. They are on the whole a very impressive and appealing group.
Aside from these concerns, the first two days of classes went very well: I’m hearing enthusiastic reports from students about faculty and from faculty about students and from the voyage administration about all. We do have an amazing array of courses: I encourage you to glance at http://www.semesteratsea.org/current-voyage/overview/ and click on “Courses” to get some sense of them, and to click on “Faculty and Staff” to see who’s teaching them.
Many of us were outside on deck yesterday watching as we arrived in magnificent Dominica, a spectacular, pristine, heavily forested island. The ship’s preparation for arrival here points to some of its remarkable strengths: everyone has attended the relevant lecture for the required Global Studies course, where Alex Nalbach, the instructor, did a marvelous job answering (historically, politically, and culturally) the question, “Why is Dominica so pristine?” Then two nights before we arrived, many passengers—the Union was packed then too—came to the Cultural Pre-Port Briefing (which we’ll have two nights before arrival in each port): here Lewis Hinchman, a political scientist on the faculty, interestingly fleshed out further information on Dominica’s political and cultural history and answered students’ questions about what to do on the island. This was followed by a panel called “Documenting Your Voyage,” on which the voyage’s videographer, photographer, communications direction, writing center director, and travel writing teacher all offered quick advice: aside from a brief competitive flurry between the photographer and the writing center, competing as to who could offer the best prizes for their student competitions (I’m saying the writing center director won that round, but I’m biased), that went splendidly too.
The island’s astonishing, with soaring cliffs and abundant natural beauty. Passengers fanned out yesterday for all kinds of various field experiences: my family went on the whale watch (and observed many spotted dolphins and about seven sperm whales, amazing) and then hiked to the top of Roseau’s botanic gardens for views of the port; I’m hearing similarly enthusiastic responses from those who went snorkeling or who took the aerial tram ride through the rain forest, and there are many other such activities, some organized by Semester at Sea (whose field office has been doing amazing work), some undertaken by students independently.
We leave for Brazil tomorrow.
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