IPAD Day

Today was an IPAD day.  We all got an IPAD for no charge.  However, in this case IPAD is an acronym that stands for In Port Academic Day.  That means that we have docked in a port, but we don't get off the ship because we have a requirement for a certain number of class days to receive academic credit. This sometimes happens when ports are close together, and it give more continuity to classes.by not having long intervals between the last class meeting.

 When I walked out on the back deck for breakfast, I was met with the smell of coal for the first time since I was a kid.  They are loading a ship just across from us, using 3 cranes at once.  The smell of coal reminded me of my grandmother's basement where she had a big coal furnace and a coal chute. I'm looking forward to more ancient smells that will evoke memories.

We are docked in Gdansk, Poland on a river, and today was like being at sea except for the scenery which was much richer than normal scenery in the middle of the ocean.  From Nancy's perspective, this was a good day to be on the ship because she had come down with a dreadful cold and hardly slept last night from the accompanying headache.

Today was a hubbub of activity--people were turning in papers, doing library research, planning for trips and studying--all while being excited about getting off the ship tomorrow. Faculty were favoring us with requests for things they needed--a class presentation, a need for an article to be scanned, changes in their video schedule, etc.  I hardly got a thing done from having to do so much stuff, but this is exactly what it would be like at the beginning of the semester back home.  EXCEPT for things like the scenery above. AND this was taco lunch day in the dining hall which is always a big hit.

Tomorrow will be an in port day. We had our logistical pre-port tonight where we learned about requirements for countries, ie. carry your passport in Germany but not in Poland. This is one of a few ports where you can travel inland to the next port. For example, you  can disembark tomorrow  (Friday) at 0600 and basically go anywhere you want in Poland and Germany.  You just have to be on the ship next Tuesday at 2000. The ship itself will leave Gdansk on Sunday at noon, and some of us will make the trip to Rostock, Germany on the ship which will dock there at 0800 on Monday.

Some students will get to the next port via SAS trips that start in Poland and end in Germany.  Some have well-planned out trips with tickets purchased and reservations made.  Some have general ideas of where they want to go but on a flexible plan where there are no pre-set arrangements.  We learned tonight that 426 people (students/faculty/staff) will travel overland, and I have great faith that they will all be on the ship when it leave Germany.  It's sort of like watching the beginning of "hide and seek" where the boundaries are two countries and all the players take off to hide.  I'm glad there is no "seek" part to this game.

In each port, we fly the flag of the host country--Poland on the left.  I have no clue what the flag on the right is, and curiosity is killing me.