January 12, 2011 (Nassau, Bahamas)

Officially, today marks day one of Semester at Sea. I am currently aboard the MV Explorer sitting in room 3302, which is conveniently located as far from possible from any staircase or elevator, and sits right up next to the boiler room (loud).  Since Maggi (roomy) and I are in “economy” we have THE tiniest room ever, which sizes around 1/3 of my freshman dorm’s size. Plus side: we have our own bathroom along with all the other rooms, but it’s still pretty nice to have our own.
        Checked in around 10:30 am, about 30 mins before Maggi, because I somehow managed to find a way to cut half the line without realizing. Anyway, check-in went pretty smoothly, so no issues there. Since then I have met a bunch of people around the boat. We don’t have many neighbors down here, but I officially plan to spend minimal amounts of time down in this cave. We just had our greeting message from the VP of Students, followed by a painfully long lifejacket and lifeboat drill.  I’ll try to post videos from the day at the next possible WiFi opportunity.

Hoping everyone back in the US is doing well, and good luck to everyone starting second semester!

Keira