Classes / Ship Life
Since I am in the middle of an 11 day trip from Cape Town to Chennai I thought now would be a good time to let you know about my classes and about life on the ship.
I am taking 4 classes: Introduction to Anthropology, Asian Art, a Global Studies class on the rise of China, and Global Environmental Policy. Anthropology and Asian Art meet on designated A days from 2:20-3:35 and 3:45-5:00 respectively. The Global Studies class and Environmental Policy classes meet on B days from 9:20-10:35 and 10:45-12:00. When we are sailing the class days alternate, and occasionally we have a day off. Since we are in port a considerable amount of time during the trip, the workload is pretty heavy while we are at sea. There are occasional papers, but most of the work comes in the form of reading, which makes it easy to fall behind. Overall though, I don’t think the classes are too tough, but I’ll have a better idea after the midterms coming up over the next several days.
Anthropology is the class that I spend the most time on, primarily because we have 6 four page papers due throughout the semester, although there is also a lot of reading. Our professor, Tracey Ehlers, teaches at Denver University and is teaching two other classes on board. The class itself is enjoyable because we have a lot of participation and discussion, plus Henry and JR are in the class, but the subject matter is not as appealing. At first I was intimidated with the amount of work she gave us, but when she handed back our fist two papers she said that everyone got A’s and B’s, so hopefully that trend will continue. Asian Art is taught by Larry Butler from the University of Virginia. He always gets very excited and energetic about what he is teaching, which makes it interesting. The work load is less than Anthropology, but we still have several papers to write along with readings.
Leonard Schoppa (U of Virginia) teaches our Global Studies class, which is a required class (there were two sections of Global Studies with different subjects and you had to pick one of the two). About 350 kids are in the class (it meets in the union), and aside from readings we don’t have much written work. Schoppa, in my and many other students’ opinions, is not a very good speaker, so even though I like the subject matter the lectures are boring. Since the class is about the rise of China I find that he tends to over-emphasize their role in world relations (they are definitely important, but not a superpower, although they could likely be one in the near future). I think that my Global Environmental Studies class is so far the most interesting. The subject matter is relevant, and although my professor, Armin Rosencranz (Stanford), is not the best speaker either, I still enjoy it. Even though his class is an “upper division” class, as opposed to the other three which are lower division, the work load is not very high.
Aside from classes, I spend most of my time either in the cabins or on Deck 7. There are 7 floors on the ship, although most of the activity occurs on floors 3-7. Floor 2 has a few cabins and the health center. Most of the student’s cabins are on floors 3 and 4 (mine is on the third). Floor 5 has a large dining hall, some staff cabins, and an area with a front desk called Timitz Square. The 6th floor has a smaller dining hall, a piano lounge, most of the classrooms, a small store, a computer lab and library, and the union. The union is a large room with a stage which seats about 400 people comfortably; they use the union for Global Studies lectures, big events, and cultural pre-port meetings before we dock in a new country.
Floor 7 has a few faculty cabins, a faculty lounge, a large deck and a health club with cardio equipment, a sauna, massage rooms and a barber shop. Floors 5 and 6 also have decks, but they are much smaller. Deck 7 is partially covered and has a large snack bar, some workout equipment, a small pool, tables and chairs, and an area to play basketball, volleyball or soccer. The workout area has some free weights and about a dozen machines. The area designated for basketball is pretty small, only about half the width of a normal court. It is usually pretty windy when we are sailing, so we have to lower the hoop, and jump-shots are almost non-existent. I try and work out most days that we are sailing, since I don’t get much exercise when we are in-port.
Another big part of life on board the MV Explorer is the food. Some students complain about it a lot, but overall I think it is decent. The big thing most people, including me, don’t like about it is the repetitiveness. We always have a salad bar (with iceberg lettuce), pasta, potatoes a meat dish and some vegetables for every lunch and dinner. There are also rolls, soup, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If the lunch or dinner is particularly bad, then I always have the peanut butter and jelly to fall back on. Breakfast is served from 7-8:30, lunch from 11:30-1:30 and dinner from 5:30-7:30. A lot of people eat an early dinner, which is pretty funny since people our age usually eat late. I sometimes feel like we are in a retirement home since our day is structured around meals and we get excited about dinner at 5:30. I usually get hungry after dinnertime, so sometimes I buy food at the snack bar, which is really good. They have pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and grilled cheese, plus smoothies and other snacks.
Hopefully this gives you some idea about my classes, what the ship is like, and how I spend my time while at sea. It is a very unique campus, and is fun in some ways, but most of the time I can’t wait until we reach our next port and can explore (plus we don’t have any classes and don’t have to eat ship food three meals a day!).
I am taking 4 classes: Introduction to Anthropology, Asian Art, a Global Studies class on the rise of China, and Global Environmental Policy. Anthropology and Asian Art meet on designated A days from 2:20-3:35 and 3:45-5:00 respectively. The Global Studies class and Environmental Policy classes meet on B days from 9:20-10:35 and 10:45-12:00. When we are sailing the class days alternate, and occasionally we have a day off. Since we are in port a considerable amount of time during the trip, the workload is pretty heavy while we are at sea. There are occasional papers, but most of the work comes in the form of reading, which makes it easy to fall behind. Overall though, I don’t think the classes are too tough, but I’ll have a better idea after the midterms coming up over the next several days.
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| The MV Explorer, our floating classroom |
Anthropology is the class that I spend the most time on, primarily because we have 6 four page papers due throughout the semester, although there is also a lot of reading. Our professor, Tracey Ehlers, teaches at Denver University and is teaching two other classes on board. The class itself is enjoyable because we have a lot of participation and discussion, plus Henry and JR are in the class, but the subject matter is not as appealing. At first I was intimidated with the amount of work she gave us, but when she handed back our fist two papers she said that everyone got A’s and B’s, so hopefully that trend will continue. Asian Art is taught by Larry Butler from the University of Virginia. He always gets very excited and energetic about what he is teaching, which makes it interesting. The work load is less than Anthropology, but we still have several papers to write along with readings.
Leonard Schoppa (U of Virginia) teaches our Global Studies class, which is a required class (there were two sections of Global Studies with different subjects and you had to pick one of the two). About 350 kids are in the class (it meets in the union), and aside from readings we don’t have much written work. Schoppa, in my and many other students’ opinions, is not a very good speaker, so even though I like the subject matter the lectures are boring. Since the class is about the rise of China I find that he tends to over-emphasize their role in world relations (they are definitely important, but not a superpower, although they could likely be one in the near future). I think that my Global Environmental Studies class is so far the most interesting. The subject matter is relevant, and although my professor, Armin Rosencranz (Stanford), is not the best speaker either, I still enjoy it. Even though his class is an “upper division” class, as opposed to the other three which are lower division, the work load is not very high.
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| A class in the student union |
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| One of the smaller classrooms on ship |
Aside from classes, I spend most of my time either in the cabins or on Deck 7. There are 7 floors on the ship, although most of the activity occurs on floors 3-7. Floor 2 has a few cabins and the health center. Most of the student’s cabins are on floors 3 and 4 (mine is on the third). Floor 5 has a large dining hall, some staff cabins, and an area with a front desk called Timitz Square. The 6th floor has a smaller dining hall, a piano lounge, most of the classrooms, a small store, a computer lab and library, and the union. The union is a large room with a stage which seats about 400 people comfortably; they use the union for Global Studies lectures, big events, and cultural pre-port meetings before we dock in a new country.
Floor 7 has a few faculty cabins, a faculty lounge, a large deck and a health club with cardio equipment, a sauna, massage rooms and a barber shop. Floors 5 and 6 also have decks, but they are much smaller. Deck 7 is partially covered and has a large snack bar, some workout equipment, a small pool, tables and chairs, and an area to play basketball, volleyball or soccer. The workout area has some free weights and about a dozen machines. The area designated for basketball is pretty small, only about half the width of a normal court. It is usually pretty windy when we are sailing, so we have to lower the hoop, and jump-shots are almost non-existent. I try and work out most days that we are sailing, since I don’t get much exercise when we are in-port.
 |
| The pool on Deck 7 (the bar is on the back wall) |
Another big part of life on board the MV Explorer is the food. Some students complain about it a lot, but overall I think it is decent. The big thing most people, including me, don’t like about it is the repetitiveness. We always have a salad bar (with iceberg lettuce), pasta, potatoes a meat dish and some vegetables for every lunch and dinner. There are also rolls, soup, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. If the lunch or dinner is particularly bad, then I always have the peanut butter and jelly to fall back on. Breakfast is served from 7-8:30, lunch from 11:30-1:30 and dinner from 5:30-7:30. A lot of people eat an early dinner, which is pretty funny since people our age usually eat late. I sometimes feel like we are in a retirement home since our day is structured around meals and we get excited about dinner at 5:30. I usually get hungry after dinnertime, so sometimes I buy food at the snack bar, which is really good. They have pizzas, hamburgers, hot dogs, veggie burgers and grilled cheese, plus smoothies and other snacks.
Hopefully this gives you some idea about my classes, what the ship is like, and how I spend my time while at sea. It is a very unique campus, and is fun in some ways, but most of the time I can’t wait until we reach our next port and can explore (plus we don’t have any classes and don’t have to eat ship food three meals a day!).
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