September 1 2010 ? MV Explorer

I’m so glad that today was a B day and that I got to sleep until 1000, I can’t even imagine tomorrow—we’re time changing AGAIN by the end of this day!  Anyway, I went to World Poetry this morning, dressed today in my GIANTS tee-shirt and hoping to see some fellow fans.  We discussed three Elizabeth Bishop poems and took a reading quiz on it, which we’re going to have every class—I got a three out of five, but that’s because he didn’t say that we needed to research the poems online so that we understood them thoroughly.  No one got over a 4, so I guess that’s okay, especially now that I know what to expect.  We discussed the poems at length, and had a great discussion.  I feel like I’m going to be a pro by the end of the semester.  I was also happy to hear that he had changed some of the grading rules, and that we had three options—a 4 page critical paper or collection of poems (worth 20% of my grade) and a final exam (40%), a 10-12 page paper or collection of poems (60%) and NO exam (0%), OR a really long exam (60%) and no paper or poems.  AS YOU CAN SEE I AM BEYOND EXCITED.  I get really anxious over tests but doing lots of poems is something that I can feel really passionate about.  We have to pick a due date for ourselves, so I want to pick a date after Japan so I can focus on every country we’ve gone to in a poem.  I can’t procrastinate, obviously, otherwise I’ll be writing ten excellent poems the week before finals, which is clearly impossible, but one during/after every port sounds reasonable. 
Grabbed a quick lunch with Martha, Julie and Sarah before rushing off to Anthropology of Tourism.  We learned about the types of tourists—mom, you are a historical tourist at heart (the tourist that loves museums and old things… like dad. <3).  I think I like sociology so much because I love categories and putting people into categories, so this was really fun to do to see what kinds of tourism I’m going to be doing the most of (ethnic, cultural and environmental tourism).  I guess that’s tough though—I’m doing a little of everything.  :)
After class Ellie and I decided that it might be really cool to take a hour and a half bus to Seville while in Spain.  There are a couple of girls who are going a couple days before us and wanted us to come, but we both are doing the nature hike, so we’re not sure if we can go with them yet.  But we looked it up on wikitravel and it looks like the cultural and artistic hotspot of Spain, which is great because I really want to get a painting for mom and dad in Spain, which I feel like is more of their thing than any other places they’re going (any color theme recommendations, guys?).
There is a LOT of reading for Global Studies on Spain (30 pages) and Morocco (16) so I did my best to plow through.  Because there was so much of it I might have only gotten the basics down, but it was pretty interesting to have a country interview—was just long. 
Then we were in Contemporary Social Issues, where we got to choose our partners and assignments for our class presentation and report.  One particularly loud girl (she’s one of the politically loud types, I can tell) announced that she wants to do it on how the United States should enact a comprehensive parental leave policy.  Being as that I am TOTALLY for that (the United States has one of the worst maternity leave policy in the entire WORLD, even including developing countries), as having studied in during my Women’s Realities class earlier in the year, I jumped at the chance.  I’m really excited for it, though I’m not sure how to research for it, as we don’t really have internet access.  I’m sure we’ll figure it out, and Jeanette, my partner, seems to know it like the back of her hand.  It sounds like it’ll be really good.  :)  So that’s one group project off my mind. 
Also, I have never been in a college environment that was so incredibly ecstatic to learn in my entire life.  I don’t think I’ve acted like such a teacher’s pet since elementary school, when it was still fun to learn, and I definitely haven’t had as much fun learning in a long time.  I love all the teachers and their teaching styles (with the exception of Global Studies, where it’s just too big).  SAS creates and environment where everyone loves to learn.   Thanks mom and dad, again.  I’m sending my kids to this program—it’s a must-do experience.  I already feel as though  just by being on this ship I’ve socially changed so much—it’ll be crazy to see what happens in a new country. 
I came back downstairs to finish my Morocco reading.  Apparently women are supposed to be very private and unseen there, and that they “are subject to ridicule and harassment” on the street.  This puts me in a difficult place, because I am a woman, and will be walking around with a head covering to be respectful, but I sure as hell am not going to take any shit from anyone if they start giving me a hard time.  However, I know that I’m supposed to be an observer of this culture so I’m not sure what the correct response would be in that situation.  I know that I would have a possibly aggressive reaction, but the main languages in the area are Arabic and French, so it’s not like I can put together a particularly concise verbal retort.  Advice? 
I went out to the deck to watch the ocean while writing my blog, but as soon as I sat down I heard someone call my name—it was Jeanette on the floor above me.  I went over and we started talking, but we quickly had to give up our chairs as they were putting them away.  Someone told us they were turning out all the lights so we could see the stars, so we went to the observation deck (it was packed) and sat down.  After a while they turned out the lights, and it was the most surreal, incredible moment looking up at all the stars.  I don’t know if I’ve ever seen more stars (though there were a couple clouds).  We couldn’t even see where the ocean ended and the sky began—it was we were floating through space.  It was the most incredible thing, almost a spiritual experience.
SWEARING BELOW! Needed to get it out so if this kinda thing offends you, you might want to stop reading.  This is a blog, so I’m not really going to censor my life.  I won’t do warnings like this very soon. 
Anyway, it was kind of ruined, though, by this guy who was being a total dick and flashing his camera, and when people were yelling and telling him to stop, decided to keep flashing it.  Because I was sitting with outspoken people (and was kind of getting pissed at how much of a dick he was being), he deliberately flashed it in my face.  I said, “Wow, die in a fire.”  And he said “Want to smile in the next one?”’
I was SO ANGRY.   I couldn’t even get over it, it was so condescending and dickish.  It’s like, are you serious, did you really just tell me that, like you’re better than me?  Fuck. You.  I only wish I didn’t say die in a fire, really, because sometimes I need to remember that I lose the moral high ground by acting like a dick in response to him being a dick.  I’m over it now, I went back to my room and meditated for a while, which felt nice to do—it feels like the monastery was such a long time ago.  I felt a lot better after that. 
First laundry day—Ellie and I are sharing a bag.  Hopefully it comes back before Spain—lots of tanktops in there that I’ll need.   I didn’t pack nearly enough tanktops--looks likes I'm gonna have to buy more clothes than I thought I would need to.  D:
Ellie sent me to a PDF for her Writing Around the World class about how to travel write effectively, so hopefully I’ll get better at bringing places to life in this journal.  This is the first entry I’m writing directly into the computer, just to see if I’m a little less disjointed, and then I’ll write it into my journal.  What do you think, better than I usually do?  I feel like it might be a little less “I did this, then this, then this” and focused on things that were a little more interesting.  Thoughts?
Oh, tally on comments on the Giants shirt: two Giants fans (one of them a staff waiter!), two Dodgers fans.