September 29 2010 / MV Explorer

Instead of writing some long entry about class, I think I’m going to try to do little bulletpoints with what I find the highs and lows my day to be.  It will probably be more time efficient for both of us, and it will keep me from getting burned out when I want to write really good entries, like for South Africa or other port cities.  Just tell me if it doesn't work, and I'll change it~

•       Not too much thrilling adventures in class today.  Poetry was awesome, as it always is.  Anthropology was cool because instead of just listening to a lecture the entire time, we were given brochures to different tourist sites and analyzed what demographic they would be catering to and trying to draw in.  It was actually really fun—I wish I could get some brochures on the place I’m going in Singapore so I can get a head start on my paper for that class.  We talked a lot about race in CSI—we went over how race is a socially constructed identity and things of that nature, which was cool because I knew it and was able to participate in the discussions instead of sitting there awkwardly.  

•       Jared, Julie, Lorelei and I commandeered a after dinner and Jared asked us questions in pop quiz fashion (Awesomeness 101).  In all I got a C+ on his test questions, but I disagree with some of his grading methods—I do not at all think that a stegosaurus is a cliché favorite dinosaur. 

•       After classroom hijinks, we went to watch a panel on South Africa between Louis Patler and Desmond Tutu, and they were talking about apartheid the majority of the time. This panel solidified my belief that Desmond Tutu is the most adorable man alive.  He was constantly giggling and laughing and high-fiving at whatever Patler or Dean David was saying, most times laughing far longer than anyone else was.  I hope I have just as much happiness in my life.  :)  It was really freaking intense though, because Patler talked about how twice in the 1970s he was on a voyage where the South African government did not let 11 black students get off the ship until a good 98% of the people on the ship refused to get off as well.  A few years later, a car full of SAS students, three white and one black, was run off the road on Table Mountain—the black student died while the white students were so injured that they had to be evacuated home.  It was definitely a kind of horrifying reality.  I didn’t even realize what apartheid was, really, until I got on this ship and started learning more about it.  Desmond Tutu also talked about his experience living in a country under apartheid.  It was very moving, but also uplifting—I feel as though many students left feeling inspired to learn from the hatred and senselessness that was going on during that time and live in love, if I can put it in a bit of a cliché. The entire panel was filmed and is on the public network, so I think I might download it to my computer for later.  It was pretty great.  

•       Watched The Lion King in Lorelei’s room with Jared, Julie, Alex, Lorelei and Steven.  I decided it was a pajama party and got Simba and everything.  I’ll admit, it wasn’t quite as special as watching it with my college or highschool buddies, but it was nice to see again—definitely a comforting movie to watch.  I have also discovered that Rafiki is strikingly similar to Desmond Tutu.  He laughs in exactly the same way and even moves similarly, almost dancing.  It was the most hilarious similarity.  :D