Atlantic Crossing - Take 2

Before my Semester at Sea voyage began, I remember looking at the voyage calendar/map and thinking if I can make it through the 12-day Atlantic Crossing (from Cape Town to Buenos Aires), I could make it through anything. Apparently, I didn’t look closely at the end of the voyage, as the crossing between Salvador, Brazil and Havana, Cuba was 11 days “at sea” as well! We did a second Atlantic Crossing…only this time it was from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere. 

During this 11-day stretch at sea, a lot happened…here’s the quick rundown:

My SAS family celebrated Thanksgiving together with Fine Dining (though I did grab some stuffing and pumpkin pie from the main dining hall as well)!

I “watched” a nail-biting Ohio State 42-41 victory over Michigan in the Glazer Lounge (Faculty/Staff Lounge) with Jess, a fervent Blue fan.

Had dinner with the student life staff (plus Ashley) in a Deck 7 cabin with one of the VIP lifelong learners, Dean/Kevin.

I led a Harry Potter Trivia night with over 100 people in attendance. Two RDs participated (Nathan & Sarah)…they did me proud as they won the competition!

Enjoyed a delicious (and ridiculous) brunch, put together by RD Patrick!

After a few mimosas, I even helped with a mediation for Megan between Frannie the Frog and Bernie the Baboon. Things turned out well in the end!

Took part in a Day of Remembrance. This was a ceremony devoted to members of the shipboard community who had lost family/friends while on the fall voyage. In addition, the group recognized Casey Schulman, a University of Virginia student who died on the Fall 2012 voyage. The Day of Remembrance took place on the one-year anniversary of Casey’s death and two friends of Casey’s who were on the voyage spoke during the ceremony. It was a very moving ceremony, and one that was very beneficial to the SAS community.

The men and women’s Intramural Basketball Tournaments finished, which meant on December 4th, I was done with the sporting events for the voyage! I had a lot of fun running the tournaments, and was helped by 5 amazing women (Jules, Kelsey, Christina, Lauren, & Caitlin) who volunteered to be referees, scorekeepers, and timekeepers throughout the voyage. As a thank you, we all got fine dining together!

Although I only woke up early to do CrossFit on the ship one time, when Jess (UM fan) organized a ShipFit Competition, I decided to join and see how I could do. This was a 4-day competition with 6 different CrossFit events. There was a good mix of strength, speed, and endurance in the events, which were pretty tough. I ended up finishing in 9th out of 13 (my best finish in an event was 4th) for the guys who participated. Honestly, I was just happy to finish some of the events because of how tough they were. Jess and I decided our favorite part of the competition was how the men/women would motivate each other during the events. They would cheer each other on, yell at each other to go faster or push harder…it was awesome. Even though it was a competition, everyone wanted everyone to do their absolute best. Not surprisingly, in the end the two winners were Alfredo, who runs the 5:45pm CrossFit class (Jess runs the 5:15pm one) and Sarah, a DI Athlete. That being said, everyone did great and both the men/women’s competitions came down right to the end of the last event.

Final Event

Ruben After the Exhausting Final Event

Last Group: Top 5 Guys

Last Group

Winners: Alfredo & Sarah

But the whole group rocked the competition!

Watched the Crew Talent Show. This is exactly what it sounds like…the cooks, cabin stewards, purser desk staff, and more showed off their talents in a packed Union. The fan favorites, Darwin & Perry (two dining hall crew members) showed off their singing and dancing moves.

Line waiting to get in for the Crew Talent Show

Crew Singing (Darwin & Perry are the two in the middle)

Had another night of Fine Dining with the Student Life Staff…such delicious food!

Had dinner and took pictures with the 14 other CSU Rams on the ship (13 students and 1 faculty member). Everyone introduced themselves, explained where they lived, as well as their favorite places in town. It was great to hear them talk about things in Fort Collins and brought back a lot of good memories (Chippers Lanes, Elliot’s Martini Bar, and more).

Fight, Fight, Fight...Go Rams!

Watched and participated in the Alumni Auction. The emcee was Ashley, the Alumni Coordinator, who has a perfect personality for this. The entire auction (silent and live) raised over $23,000!!

My only bid came on the NASA Patches donated by Kathy & Pinky. The winning bids (there were 3 patches auctioned separately) were between $450-$700...needless to say, I didn't win any of them.

Finished my End of the Semester Transition Report for the RD role and the Recreational Sports Coordinator position. There weren’t any pictures for this, but it was fantastic to cross it off my “to do” list.

Eagerly awaited the World Cup Drawing, which turned out horribly for the #14 United States (ending up in a pool with #2 Germany, #5 Portugal, and #24 Ghana…the rankings are from FIFA). The US definitely ended up in the “Group of Death” as the total FIFA Rankings of the 4 teams is 45. Here are the totals of the 7 other groups: A-97, B-84, C-81, D-57 (a 2nd Group of Death), E-91, F-105, H-113. Regardless of the bad luck…I’m so excited for June 12, 2014!

Ate dinner with Captain Jeremy and other high ranking officers on the ship.

Hotel Director, Stefan; Master Jeremy; Chief Engineer, Rumen; & Staff Captain, Korney

Caipirinhas All Around!

Watched the Student Film Festival. Some videos were hilarious, others were extremely creative, and a few were exceptionally filmed. I was lucky to pull a lot of the films off the public folder before leaving the ship. I never heard/found out which film won, though I think there were lots of different categories.

 My Favorite - The Art of Falling

 Most Creative - Funky Feet

Many others were really entertaining, including Sammy Lam Dancing around the World!

I was inducted into the Society of Neptune (a secret society) on the ship, recognizing individuals who have contributed to the community in a positive manner. I believe about 45 people were inducted on this voyage, so I felt very appreciative of the recognition. However, being an includer, I don’t really care for secret societies and feel as though everyone (obviously) contributed to the amazing SAS community on the Fall 2013 voyage. 

I “watched” Ohio State’s heartbreaking loss to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game on December 7th. OSU fell for the first time in 24 games 34-24, though it was closer than the score indicates. At least I’ll be home for the entire College Football Bowl Series, including the Orange Bowl with OSU facing off against Clemson. I hope OSU can find out where they misplaced their pass defense, because it’s been missing all season long.

Next up: Cuba!

"Nothing burns in your heart like the emptiness of losing something, someone, before you truly have learned of its value."