Moving in and moving up!

I have been planning for this adventure for a while, picking places I want to visit, slowly accumulating things that I would be packing, paying bills ahead of time and finally getting myself out the door, but it wasn’t until I pulled up to SFO to pick up Melissa (good friend from my Fall 2000 voyage and full time employee with Semester at Sea) that it hit me. There stood Melissa in a t-shirt that said Semester at Sea in giant letters. I was leaving. It was time.

Melissa and I drove to Pier 70 in San Francisco to board the ship while it was in dry dock. Let’s just say Pier 70 isn’t your typical San Francisco pier. This was a very large ship-yard and lucky us, the MV Explorer was parked at the very end of the yard. I was able to board the ship early in San Francisco and planned to sail down to San Diego with a few of the ISE (Institute for Shipboard Education – the organization that runs Semester at Sea) staff so I decided to take my things on the Friday before we left SF. Melissa and I lugged all of my belongings from the street to the dry dock. This was comedy. First of all, I’ll just describe what we were wearing and you can probably picture the rest. I was in jeans and a sweater while Melissa more appropriately had on a t-shirt and WHITE pants. There we are two women pulling duffle bags and suitcases full of stuff during our 10 minute walk through the ship yard only to arrive to three, yes I said three, flights of stairs. Oh and these stairs were the straight up type. We laughed when we really felt like crying from the pain in our arms and finally made it to the ship. Whew…only to be asked to take a picture for my shipboard card, which I will use every day on the ship to get into my room, get off the ship and buy things on board. At first I was a little worried about how this might turn out given I was sweating like crazy and was trying to catch my breath. In the end, I’m glad it was taken that afternoon because now every time I use my card I will think how lucky I was to have Melissa with me that day.

Saturday brought two events aboard the MV Explorer, which was now docked at Pier 35 and much more centrally located. Nate and I boarded the ship prior to the first event and learned they would be conducting upgrades to the fresh water pipes in the room I had temporarily stored my belongings in. So move #2 began. I was, however, moving up in the world…temporarily. On the ship there are 12 luxury suites on Deck 7. I was assigned to 7003 and thus began my life in luxury for a few days. Nate and I moved my things to 7003 and by this point everything was in complete disarray. Because Melissa and I couldn’t lift some of the bags up the three flights of stairs as they were packed, I dumped the contents of two bags out in the room and redistributed the rest of the stuff left in the car for easier transporting. Nate spent the first 15 minutes on the ship trying to move my things up two decks. What a trouper. Finally we got everything settled and we both spend the day working the Open House and Alumni Event which lasted from noon to 9pm.


The events were a huge success and it was time to say good-bye. I had a moment of weakness and got a little sad but that was quickly remedied with a glass of wine in the Staff/Faculty Lounge and the most beautiful night one could ask for to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge. There was not a cloud in sight and the lights of the city could be seen long after we pulled away from Pier 35. A few of us stood huddled together on the top most deck as we sailed under the Bridge and quickly returned back inside as the wind was something fierce.

I returned to Cabin 7003 and woke up to a perfect day aboard our private yacht, as we called it all day Sunday. Besides the crew, there were only 8 of us on board and we had full run of the place. We napped, we played poker, we watched a movie on the big screen, we worked out in the gym and we ate. It was GREAT!

We arrived in San Diego on Monday morning and a few more staff boarded (the rest of the faculty and staff will board on Wednesday). After breakfast I learned that my summer cabin was ready for me so I packed up my things and moved back downstairs. The luxury was nice while it lasted but it was good to get into my cabin and actually unpack everything. So here I sit in Cabin 4133 with my clothes in the closet, my map on the wall and my pictures hung. In no time at all this place will be bustling with people and the quite private yacht will be a sailing university. I can’t wait!