Bom Tarde! (Good afternoon) I can’t believe that our first port has come and gone so quickly! I wish that I could say that I got to see tons in Lisbon but, alas, the job did not permit me to get off the ship much. So unfortunately I don’t have much reflection to share on Portugal. I did do a 2 hour city tour to get familiar with the city, however I was so utterly exhausted that it was difficult to focus or retain anything. I got out of the city twice – once to visit Tomar and Batalha – two places with big monasteries. One built in honor of the defeat of the Spanish and one where the Knights Templar were based (some believe that all of their treasures and the Holy Grail might still be hidden there). The second time I got out of the city was to visit Sintra – a quaint, small town about 40 minutes outside of Lisbon. Along the way we stopped at the spot that is the western most point in Europe. That’s kind of cool to say I’ve been there. Sorry I don’t have more thoughts or impressions to share. Hopefully I’ll have more time in future ports.
We are now headed across the Atlantic. It was a little rocky the first day out but it has since smoothed out and the weather is beautiful today. Hopefully everyone will stay healthy and the weather will stay nice so that we have an uneventful crossing. We are slated to go through the Panama Canal on October 1st so I will write again after our stay in Panama.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A Stressful First Leg
The first leg on my SAS voyage were some of the longest, stressful days I’ve ever experienced. Unfortunately I have to say the same goes for my first leg on this TSS voyage – but for completely different reasons. Have no fear – no dramatic, perilous bouts of weather to report. This time around the stress and long days can be attributed to sheer frustration and lack of resources.
When I realized that I would be going on the INAUGURAL voyage of this program I did have some reservations but in the end the timing of this opportunity won out over any hesitations. Now that I am in the thick of it I’m realizing that being one of the pioneers of this huge endeavor is far less exciting and daring but definitely more trying, stressful and frustrating.
If I had hours I would try and share some of these frustrations but I think it’s much too much to get into here. Plus, I’d really like to block out the nightmare and not think about it anymore. Yes, it has been that bad.
There is some hope though – the Port Programs team that meets us in each port is trying to tackle and address some of the big issues and challenges our team had this first time out. Also, some of the challenges simply related to a total time crunch - not enough time to create systems and procedures AND communicate them AND make them all happen in an effective manner. This next leg to Panama is longer and we have already done a lot of the scrambling to create things so hopefully it won’t be paralyzingly crazy.
I’m trying to stay optimistic that things will get better and maybe be a bit easier (15+ hour days for 2 and half weeks straight are killing me). Our leg across the Atlantic will still be hectic and crazy but hopefully some things will be sorted out and things will start to gel.
Enough about my stress and drama. Let me tell you about some of the good things. The Port Programs team that I work with on the ship are fabulous. All three of us are driven, we are totally on the same page about things and our skills, talents and skills compliment each other amazingly well – better than any other team I’ve worked with before. If it wasn’t for Kim and Arthur I probably would have wanted to grab my passport and come running home as soon as we arrived in Portugal.
The students are also great – they have been more understanding and flexible than any group should ever be asked to be. Having so much diversity on the ship has been fun as well. One of the only bright spots all week was when one of the students from the UK taught salsa lessons the night before we arrived in Portugal. It was great fun to watch over 50 students and staff trying to learn to salsa. Unfortunately I was too exhausted and beat down to participate.
For those of you who are looking for some good drama – we did have a little excitement during our jaunt across the Mediterranean. On our 3rd day out we had a student with internal bleeding who’s condition worsened enough that we diverted to Sardinia for a medical evacuation. The ambulance boat came out to pick him up and then we continued on. THEN about 2 or 3 days later during the middle of the day we seemed to quickly change course, speed up and head straight through some pretty choppy waters (boy did that bring back bad memories). It was weird because as we continued it felt like the ship was leaning heavily towards one side.
Turns out we had a student with appendicitis and we were diverting to southern Spain for another medical evacuation. Apparently in old ships like ours they use water in the ballists to keep us stable and balanced. They had to make the course change so quickly that they didn’t have time to shift the water in the ballists ahead of time so we were slightly tilted until we reached the coast of Spain and the ambulance boat came out for the student. Then we were able to restabilize the ship. Both students are fine and one is even back on the ship with us already. Hopefully we’ve had our share of medical emergencies and our trip across the Atlantic will be uneventful.
Ok, well this entry feels dreadfully long so I will sign off for now. Thanks for listening! I'll have my Portugal post up in a couple of days.
When I realized that I would be going on the INAUGURAL voyage of this program I did have some reservations but in the end the timing of this opportunity won out over any hesitations. Now that I am in the thick of it I’m realizing that being one of the pioneers of this huge endeavor is far less exciting and daring but definitely more trying, stressful and frustrating.
If I had hours I would try and share some of these frustrations but I think it’s much too much to get into here. Plus, I’d really like to block out the nightmare and not think about it anymore. Yes, it has been that bad.
There is some hope though – the Port Programs team that meets us in each port is trying to tackle and address some of the big issues and challenges our team had this first time out. Also, some of the challenges simply related to a total time crunch - not enough time to create systems and procedures AND communicate them AND make them all happen in an effective manner. This next leg to Panama is longer and we have already done a lot of the scrambling to create things so hopefully it won’t be paralyzingly crazy.
I’m trying to stay optimistic that things will get better and maybe be a bit easier (15+ hour days for 2 and half weeks straight are killing me). Our leg across the Atlantic will still be hectic and crazy but hopefully some things will be sorted out and things will start to gel.
Enough about my stress and drama. Let me tell you about some of the good things. The Port Programs team that I work with on the ship are fabulous. All three of us are driven, we are totally on the same page about things and our skills, talents and skills compliment each other amazingly well – better than any other team I’ve worked with before. If it wasn’t for Kim and Arthur I probably would have wanted to grab my passport and come running home as soon as we arrived in Portugal.
The students are also great – they have been more understanding and flexible than any group should ever be asked to be. Having so much diversity on the ship has been fun as well. One of the only bright spots all week was when one of the students from the UK taught salsa lessons the night before we arrived in Portugal. It was great fun to watch over 50 students and staff trying to learn to salsa. Unfortunately I was too exhausted and beat down to participate.
For those of you who are looking for some good drama – we did have a little excitement during our jaunt across the Mediterranean. On our 3rd day out we had a student with internal bleeding who’s condition worsened enough that we diverted to Sardinia for a medical evacuation. The ambulance boat came out to pick him up and then we continued on. THEN about 2 or 3 days later during the middle of the day we seemed to quickly change course, speed up and head straight through some pretty choppy waters (boy did that bring back bad memories). It was weird because as we continued it felt like the ship was leaning heavily towards one side.
Turns out we had a student with appendicitis and we were diverting to southern Spain for another medical evacuation. Apparently in old ships like ours they use water in the ballists to keep us stable and balanced. They had to make the course change so quickly that they didn’t have time to shift the water in the ballists ahead of time so we were slightly tilted until we reached the coast of Spain and the ambulance boat came out for the student. Then we were able to restabilize the ship. Both students are fine and one is even back on the ship with us already. Hopefully we’ve had our share of medical emergencies and our trip across the Atlantic will be uneventful.
Ok, well this entry feels dreadfully long so I will sign off for now. Thanks for listening! I'll have my Portugal post up in a couple of days.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Greece Insanity
I’m here! I arrived in Piraeus around 3pm on Tuesday and dove right into training - didn’t even have time to change my clothes after traveling all night. Since then we’ve been training 13-16 hours a day. Normally that kind of schedule would be wiping me out but so far my energy level has been surprisingly good.
Let me share my first impressions:
The ship is fairly old – built in 1966. As the hotel manager said, “She is a very old lady”. The fact that she is old is actually kind of good news because she was designed to specifically to cross big oceans. She was built at a time when people still used ships to travel across the Atlantic or Pacific – unlike cruise ships that are built today to zip around the Mediterranean or Caribbean. This ship has a very deep V hull and can hold fuel for 30 days! So all of you that were worried about my last adventure at sea can all breathe easy because this ship is more than ready for our big ocean crossings.
As for looks – I have to admit I was a bit of a snob when I first boarded the ship. The ship felt shabby, dark and a little dated to me. It’s not really fair of me to compare this ship to the one I was on during SAS – that ship was only built in 2002 so of course it is brighter, newer and less dated (but of course we all know how she handled the oceans).
Every day I’m on the ship I’m appreciating her more and more. There is lots of natural wood all over the ship (not allowed on new ships), and my cabin is twice the size of my last one – 5 small closets, 2 twin beds, 2 bunks that pull out of the wall, 2 chairs and a desk/vanity area. The bathroom is equal to a regular bathroom at home and get this – I have a bathtub!! It’ll be great for doing laundry (yes, I’m hand washing a bit) and no bonking my head in the shower constantly like last time. The best part is all of the public space – it’s amazing! We have three gigantic group spaces, loads of lounging spaces, and decent space for classrooms. They are still transforming the ship as we speak – the gift shop, library, academic resource center, counseling center, gym and classrooms are being put together right now around us. I’ll be excited to see it all when it’s done.
The job is going well – I really like everyone so far and my team is frantically busy trying to create and piece together what our daily work will look like. My colleague has described what we are attempting to do as trying to build the plane and fly it at the same time – I’ve never heard a metaphor that is more true. We are trying to create every policy, procedure, process, form and system from complete scratch at the same time as we are learning our onboard booking system and preparing for students to board in just two days. It’s feeling exciting yet crazy at the same time.
Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to see a whole lot of Greece. During training the other day we got to spend the afternoon in Athens doing a scavenger hunt game so I got to see a little bit of Athens but not much. I have gotten off the ship a couple times in Piraeus – walked the streets, shopped in a corner store, ate a meal, saw a procession for a wedding go down the street and simply tried to soak in as much as I could.
Today our whole team is going to Athens for the student dinner and to reconcile all the trips in Athens before we leave Greece. We are hoping to go a little bit early so that we can explore Athens a bit more before we shove off.
Students arrive on the 5th and we set sail that evening. We now have internet in our office so email and blog posting should be ok as long as our ship systems stay up and running. It may be spotty at times though once students arrive because the system gets slllloooowwweeeerrr and slllloooowwwweeeeerrr the more people than are on it. Also I doubt I will have much time to communicate until after Portugal. We only have 8 days to design, create and implement EVERYTHING related to students and staff going ashore and going on trips (Gulp!).
Hope everyone who works in the academic world has had a smooth start to your school year. Take care and I’ll type atcha soon.
Let me share my first impressions:
The ship is fairly old – built in 1966. As the hotel manager said, “She is a very old lady”. The fact that she is old is actually kind of good news because she was designed to specifically to cross big oceans. She was built at a time when people still used ships to travel across the Atlantic or Pacific – unlike cruise ships that are built today to zip around the Mediterranean or Caribbean. This ship has a very deep V hull and can hold fuel for 30 days! So all of you that were worried about my last adventure at sea can all breathe easy because this ship is more than ready for our big ocean crossings.
As for looks – I have to admit I was a bit of a snob when I first boarded the ship. The ship felt shabby, dark and a little dated to me. It’s not really fair of me to compare this ship to the one I was on during SAS – that ship was only built in 2002 so of course it is brighter, newer and less dated (but of course we all know how she handled the oceans).
Every day I’m on the ship I’m appreciating her more and more. There is lots of natural wood all over the ship (not allowed on new ships), and my cabin is twice the size of my last one – 5 small closets, 2 twin beds, 2 bunks that pull out of the wall, 2 chairs and a desk/vanity area. The bathroom is equal to a regular bathroom at home and get this – I have a bathtub!! It’ll be great for doing laundry (yes, I’m hand washing a bit) and no bonking my head in the shower constantly like last time. The best part is all of the public space – it’s amazing! We have three gigantic group spaces, loads of lounging spaces, and decent space for classrooms. They are still transforming the ship as we speak – the gift shop, library, academic resource center, counseling center, gym and classrooms are being put together right now around us. I’ll be excited to see it all when it’s done.
The job is going well – I really like everyone so far and my team is frantically busy trying to create and piece together what our daily work will look like. My colleague has described what we are attempting to do as trying to build the plane and fly it at the same time – I’ve never heard a metaphor that is more true. We are trying to create every policy, procedure, process, form and system from complete scratch at the same time as we are learning our onboard booking system and preparing for students to board in just two days. It’s feeling exciting yet crazy at the same time.
Unfortunately I haven’t gotten to see a whole lot of Greece. During training the other day we got to spend the afternoon in Athens doing a scavenger hunt game so I got to see a little bit of Athens but not much. I have gotten off the ship a couple times in Piraeus – walked the streets, shopped in a corner store, ate a meal, saw a procession for a wedding go down the street and simply tried to soak in as much as I could.
Today our whole team is going to Athens for the student dinner and to reconcile all the trips in Athens before we leave Greece. We are hoping to go a little bit early so that we can explore Athens a bit more before we shove off.
Students arrive on the 5th and we set sail that evening. We now have internet in our office so email and blog posting should be ok as long as our ship systems stay up and running. It may be spotty at times though once students arrive because the system gets slllloooowwweeeerrr and slllloooowwwweeeeerrr the more people than are on it. Also I doubt I will have much time to communicate until after Portugal. We only have 8 days to design, create and implement EVERYTHING related to students and staff going ashore and going on trips (Gulp!).
Hope everyone who works in the academic world has had a smooth start to your school year. Take care and I’ll type atcha soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)