Day 16 - At Sea

Well my friends, I’m excited. In exactly 90 minutes, the Semester at Sea mismatch dance kicks off. I’ll be wearing my Flava Flav clock necklace and sunglasses, and wowing the chicas con mis “bailar move-os.” But about last night’s festivities and my day today.



Last night my “Sea” (cabin area) had a social with the faculty in the forbidden faculty lounge. Now, in the faculty lounge, Guinness is on tap and there are multiple choices of upscale liquors. I was excited to mingle with the faculty, no doubt, but I also was excited for some draft Guinness. So after arriving and doing some schmoozing, I went up to the bar, put down my drink card, and said “I’d love a Guinness.” To my dismay, they refused to serve it to me. Students could only get a 12 oz can of either Miller or Bud Light for $3.50, while 16 oz draft Guinness if $4.00 for faculty and lifelong learners only. So I went up to Bob, my Liberty and Law Professor, and said “yo Bob! You gotta listen to how my liberty is being infringed upon.” After I explained the situation, Bob described it simply as “rude.” He then, stood up, turned to his wife, and said “I’m going to extend him some liberty.” He promptly returned with a Guinness. Though his wife would not let him give it to me because it is against the rules and she didn’t want either us to get into trouble, it’s clear that the ol’ Bobster is true, firm believer in liberty.



After a shorter sleep than I would have liked, I got out of bed facing a long day. As you know, B days are my busy days. It started bright and early with another great lecture from Bob. As usual, he covered too much to post here, but I wish you, too, could sit on these lectures, dear readers. During the lecture, though, he shared a story about another gesture, albeit smaller than the Guinness offer, to prove his dedication to liberty. In 1964, Bob was arrested with Dr. Martin Luther King as part of the Civil Rights Movement. A city in Florida (I can’t remember exactly which one) banned blacks and whites from sitting together at restaurants. The Movement challenged the racist legislation by having masses of blacks and whites sit together at restaurants, thus causing the prisons to overcrowd and force change. But this particular protest started on the first day with only five people: Dr. King, another black man, a black woman, a white woman and Bob. Bob served a week in prison, spent the entire time (“foolishly” – his words) on a hunger strike, and was nearly murdered by a racist white cellmate. When Bob gave me permission to post this in my blog he made me promise to make an “effort to keep a balance about how [I] portray [him] and what [he] experienced.” So I gave you just the footnotes. It’s hard not to glorify his actions, but I hope I maintained the balance Bob requested. Either way, I’m stoked to be taking class with a man who has an incredible first-hand account of American history.



After the class with Boberino, Nick and I filled out our customs forms. Tedious tedious tedious. Afterward I was pretty tired, so I squeezed in a quick nap before lunch.



Next was Digital Storytelling, and the ship photographer came in and gave advice on taking photos. It was pretty interesting, but not as interactive as I’d hoped. But it seems that the class will soon become exclusively about SeaTV, and I’m so very excited to start writing and acting for that.



In Drawing we did more charcoal work, which I absolutely hate. It is messy and I can’t stop inadvertently rubbing out what I’ve drawn. Charcoal is crazy frustrating, I really hope we go back to pencils soon.



In Gamelan we began to learn a new piece, and I got on a cooler instrument. It is sort of like a two-piece metallic drum kit with two tones. I play it with two sticks very similar to American drum sticks. I’m glad to be learning a new instrument, Gamelan had been getting somewhat tedious.



After Gamelan there was an intramural sports meeting. Now I had dropped the ball and missed the announcement to sign up, so I had to sign up for co-ed volleyball and co-ed basketball as a free agent, meaning I got assigned to teams with other free agents. Neither of my basketball teammates showed up, and unfortunately my volleyball team seems to be filled with unathletic girls. So that’s a bit of a bummer. I suppose my intramural view will have to be that the score is always fun to fun.



After the meeting, Nick and I watched the “Freaks and Geeks” finale. Goddamn was that a good show. So bummed it was cancelled after only a single season. Everyone, go do yourself a favor and watch it. It’s awesome.



And that was my day. I have since only grabbed dinner and done emails. I’ll tell you all about the dance tomorrow. Toodaloo.