And It Begins...

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View from the flight from New Jersey to Bridgetown, Barbados

It has now almost been a week since I left home in Chicago; I left on January 17 (Wednesday) to go to Boston and left on the 20th (Saturday) to Barbados. Before I continue with what has been happening now, I want to mention a couple of things about when I left. I didn't expect or think it would be "hard, hard"; I definitely took certain things for granted, but I guess that is how you grow. I know the goodbyes I said will be more "see you laters", but that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt; it's part of the adventure. I spent some days in Boston with my mom which was really nice since I had never been before, and then Saturday morning at 4 am I met a "stranger" (I had been talking to her online, not the same thing though) and we flew together from Boston to New Jersey where we got to see New York City (the Statue of Liberty which was probably my favorite) and then to Barbados; specifically Bridgetown. We have been here for almost 3 full days and we already met some of our classmates, we have been able to see part of the island, the beaches, talk and interact with the locals, we learned the conversion rate of Barbadians (ex: 10 Bds = 5 USD), tried the local fast food, swam in the rain, walked barefoot on the street because our sandals were killing our feet, saw a school of fish jump out of the water, got stressed out because we couldn't find WiFi and we were lost (the good thing is that the locals are very friendly and always help), and the best of all was being able to see the Alexander-von-Humboldt II for the first time anchored in Carlisle Bay. It has been quite the adventure; but it has been fun, chaotic, and enjoyable. We will definitely never forget this.

Mapparium in Boston, MA (The Mary Baker Eddy Library)

Tomorrow (Tuesday, January 23) semester two students get to board the ship in the afternoon, so that will be interesting. We will get to meet new people, get to know the ship, and get an overall idea of how the program works. Everyone else boards on the 25th, so there is a lot to look forward to. It is still surreal that this is gonna start, it's been a pretty long wait, but this voyage will definitely be quite the adventure.


Written on January 22, 2024

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