I can see Estonia

Today is a B day (see previous posts about what that means), and there is a different dynamic on board.  One reason is that we have a time change, and many of us are struggling with the lost hour of sleep.  Another reason is that we will dock in St. Petersburg, Russia tomorrow morning and be there for three days, so there is not the rush to get ready for the next day's class--sort of like the UVa Library on a Friday afternoon.  But students are all over the library today, mostly planning for the trip or pre-planning for the next port in Gdansk, Poland combined with Germany. The ship library is prepared with a large collection of travel guides, so we are very popular right now. There is no photocopier available, but they just take pictures of the maps with their phones.

The outside temperature has dropped, and the people who are eating on the outside deck are wearing jackets.  Our weather outlook for St. Petersburg is highs in the low 60s and overnight lows around 48 with partly cloudy days and 10 mph winds. There is only a 10 percent chance of rain.

 

One of my goals for this voyage is to learn the names of at least 100 students.  I'm piling these names on top of the 35 faculty and a bunch  of staff and a few life long learners whose names I've already learned.  The way Nancy and are meeting the kids is by joining them at meals.  I also introduce myself when they check out materials.  I have to say that the guys are easier to remember than the hundreds of females with long blond ponytails.  But one a day should meet my goal.  I'm ahead today with Greyson, Jennifer, Mai, Kala, Paige and Kumba. There were more that I have met, but now I can't remember their names. The picture directory, posted on a bulletin board, is a great place to put a name with a face, and you will catch a lot of people looking at doing what the students call photo stalking.

 Nancy is great at getting the students to talk about themselves. Jennifer, the student that we met at lunch told us all about riding horses at her grandfather's ranch in Mexico.  She's taking an acting class (even though she is terrified) because she wants to get out of her comfort zone.  That is one of the great things that Semester at Sea does for everyone who participates.

Tonight was a "Global Cafe" on photography and travel writing.  Todd Forsgren, a photographer and faculty member gave us some great ideas, and Ruth Setton, a novelist and teacher of creative writing talked about journaling.  I'm certainly glad I took the time to attend.

 At 8pm, we had a long-anticipated Logistical Pre-port where we got information on everything to do with the port from immigration, trips, travellers's diahrea, picture taking rules, and what to do in an emergency.  Each person was given the "green sheet" that has contact information, directions and even an address written in cyrillic to that you can get a cab driver to bring you back to the ship.  It is a well-orchestrated, information-packed meeting with lots of excited folks listening.

And finally, here is a stowaway from the Kiel Canal--identified as a fly catcher by a faculty ornithologist.  We hope he gets off in Russia, but it could be a cold winter.