Off the Coast of Panama

We spent the night anchored a few miles off the coast of Panama, surrounded by cargo ships doing the same as they wait their turn to pass through the Panama Canal. We left the port yesterday night at 9 pm, but because our next port in Costa Rica is so close, we will probably spend most of the day anchored and set sail this evening.

As I’m sitting out on the deck writing this, there is rain off in the distance over the water and a distinct line across the surface between the water disturbed by the rain and the water rustled by the wind. It’s quite an interesting contrast, but it also means I will have to move inside shortly as the rain moves closer.

Panama was a whirlwind, perhaps even more so than Trinidad, but here’s a little bit of what I got to see.

Day 1: Historic Panama City & Canal Orientation

I got a great overview of Panama City, Panama Viejo, y Casco Viejo in a day. We started our morning headed to the city about an hour from Colón, our port-of-call. We saw a visitor center, an artisan market, ruins from Casco Viejo, buildings being restored in Panama Viejo, y the outstanding Panama City skyline today (the skyscrapers of New York seem few in comparison).

The best part of the day, by far, was seeing the Panama Canal. We went to the Miraflores Locks, one of three sets of locks on the Canal that ships must pass through in their 8 hour or longer journey through the Canal at an average cost of over $200,000. We watched 4 different sets of ships and boats go through, from huge tankers to a set of sailboats. The process of draining the water and opening the locks was long but fascinating. The ships are pulled by a minimum of 4 small locomotives, 2 in the front and 2 in the back on opposite sides. I was surprised that although ships pay in advance for their crossing, it is still a first-come, first-serve process with the exception of cruise ships that pay a preferential fee to pass through at a designated time. That explained the loads of ships that have to wait in line to pass through.

The Canal is undergoing an expansion so that they can accommodate bigger ships (with triple the cargo capacity at 12000 containers), utilize tug boats instead of locomotives, and install water-saving basins to cut down on the millions of gallons of freshwater that are dumped into the ocean for each ship that passes through (over 14000 ships pass through annually).

We did not get to spend as long as I would’ve liked at the Canal, but realistically I probably would’ve enjoyed spending an entire day there just watching the ships. We came back to our ship in the afternoon and I spent some time around the cruise ship terminal and shops area until dinner. Colón enforces a 9 pm curfew for minors (18 and under), but we were told that if we even looked under 18 there was a good chance we would be arrested, no questions asked. Doubled with the fact that Colón is one of the most dangerous countries in Central America, I spent the rest of the evening on board with several other students who had field trips early in the morning.

Day 2: Parque Nacional Soberanía

This was my first full free day in a port (I did not have an organized trip) so I took advantage of the opportunity and planned my own trip to a nearby national park. I recruited people to join me and ended up travelling with 5 other students. We spent over 40 minutes trying to negotiate a lower cab fare with the swarm of drivers that approached us outside the terminal and finally agreed to pay $100 for the 6 of us. What we didn’t realize is that one of us was going to have to sit in the trunk of the hatchback plus we had to squeeze four people in the back. The drive was a little under an hour to the park and when we got there it was exactly what I was hoping for. We were finally out of a city and in the rainforest. We stopped at the first trail to look at a trail map and decided to go to the next one since the one we were at was approximated to be a 14-hour trip. Just at that first stop, we ended up finding and taking pictures of frogs and an amazing spider (I will definitely add the picture here once I can!). We moved on to the next trail, passing the Summit Gardens on our way which actually turned out to be a Zoo. We decided not to stop in hopes of returning after the hike. The trail we found was rated easy and estimated to be 20 minutes (it ended up taking us close to 2 hours with our continuous stops to admire everything around us). Just as soon as we started the trail, we stopped to take pictures. The rainforest was beautiful -- trees with roots as thick as the trunk and others almost as tall as we were, hardworking leaf cutter ants with highways across the forest floor, and nothing but the sounds of birds in the canopy above and the rustling of water in the creeks. When we finally finished the hike, our taxi driver took us to a restaurant just outside of Colón to try some of the local dishes. I ordered ceviche de corvino, raw fish soaked in lemon with onions and cilantro, arroz con coco, rice cooked in coconut water, and Panamá, one of the local beers. The food was delicious and we all left very satisfied. On our way back through Colón, we asked our driver to give us a tour to see if it really was as bad as they told us. He showed us areas of low to no income housing, the bus station, and cross streets that he said he (and most Panama natives) wouldn’t even walk on unless they wanted to get robbed at knife/gun point. After our brief tour behind the safety of car doors, we were dropped at the cruise terminal and spent the last part of the day around the shops until on-ship time.

Two Days in Trinidad

Former Location: Port of Spain, Trinidad

With only two days in Trinidad and organized trips with SAS planned for both, my time was limited! Here’s how my time in Trinidad panned out:

Day 1: Energy Development in Trinidad & Tobago

This trip was led by Professor Gerry Johnson (of Colorado State!) for his class on Engineering for the Developing World. I signed up to tag along because it’s closely related to my Energy Resources class. We started at one of the 8 campuses for the University of Trinidad & Tobago. At Pt. Lisas Campus, we heard from petroleum & utilities engineering professors about the history of energy in Trinidad and the future. Trinidad is a net exporter of oil & natural gas and it’s the biggest source of income for the country. We visited the Industrial Estate right near the campus where various refineries and industrial plants were located. This was quite a sight! Huge metal structures, pipes, and storage units rose out of the ground in every direction you turned. We spent an hour just driving around the estate getting a general overview of all the companies that participate in the industrial collaboration.

After our overview, we had meetings at Methanex, a methanol production company, and PG Nitrogen, basically a fertilizer producer. Unfortunately we did not get actual tours of the plants with only 1 hour meetings allotted for each (a tour takes 2-3 hours minimum). For our meetings, we met with HR personnel and chief engineers for each company who gave us an overview of the corporation and the kind of processes that take place at each plant. This was pretty heavy material and I definitely did not understand all of it, but it was interesting to learn, nonetheless. Perhaps the most interesting thing was how essential natural gas was to the processes at both plants on top of their electricity needs.

After a long day of lecture and meetings, we drove the hour back to the ship docked at Port of Spain. On my way back to the gangway, I ran into a group of 3 guys that I knew who were headed to find Bake & Shark for dinner and asked if I wanted to join. I jumped on the opportunity to go out in search of local cuisine and we started to wander to find the main street with street vendors and shops. Being clearly outsiders, we got lots of stares, but as we passed one group of younger Trinidadians (aka Trini’s), one guy from the group started asking us questions so we stopped to chat. He introduced himself as Mike and told him we were on a search for Shark & Bake. To our disappointment, he told us we would only be able to find that at the beach (an hour taxi ride away). Mike recommended other foods and started walking with us on our search. He directed us to one street vendor to get coconut water – the man picked up a coconut from his truck bed filled with them, took three swings of a machete and handed over the coconut filled with water ready to drink. We hung around and chatted with Mike more about food options and decided on Roti. We walked across the street and got Roti from another vendor with pots and a tarp over the back of his truck. The Rastafarian vendor made up a couple vegetarian Roti for our group (I learned Rastafarians are vegetarian) and we each paid 15TT, the equivalent of about$2.50 for more food than I could finish! At this point we had been hanging out with Mike for at least a half hour and he had left a group of his friends to join us. We headed back with Mike to join his friends hanging out on the plaza area that sat in the middle of the street. After we all introduced ourselves, we just hung out for and ended up asking about the culture and lifestyle in Trinidad and answering questions about why we were in Trinidad and what we were studying. Since none of us had phones, a bunch of Mike’s friends asked for our names so they could friend us on Facebook (and by the next day they already had). The group was hanging out until “Pirates of the Caribbean” was showing at 8:30 and invited us to join, so we ended up going. The movie theater was huge, but it only had one theater. Normally two movies are shown back to back, but because it was Movie Tuesday, there was a special and only “Pirates” was showing. It was such a different atmosphere in the theater too, compared to the US. If you saw something you liked (particularly in the previews), we were told to make as much noise as we could, but every time I couldn’t help but laugh. After the movie was over it was about 11:30. Some of the Trinidadians headed home, but several of them walked with us back to the ship to make sure we got there safely. It was such a blast and my best day in Trinidad by far.

Day 2: Mount St. Benedict Monastery

The morning started with a drive through the city, past the parliament building, the president’s house with a beautiful walk-through garden out front (and we did walk right through, nothing like the White House…) and then continued our drive until we arrived at the edge of a town at the base of a hillside. As our Maxi bus made its way around the sharp turns up the steep incline, we passed by beautiful buildings that were part of the monastery complex – the seminary school, the nun’s house, and finally the church and guest house. We were greeted at the guest house by the manager, an incredibly friendly and knowledgeable man that had studied natural history and was now running the monastery’s guest house (functionally like a hotel that anyone can stay at). He knew all about the various beautiful birds found around the monastery and was an avid turtle conservation supporter ever since he was a little boy. After we enjoyed tea on the patio overlooking the nearly untouched valley behind the guest house, we walked up to the church and learned more about the monastery’s history and current use. With only 10 monks left all over 70 years of age and the seminary school recently closed due to lack of interested students, I was concerned what the future of the monastery would be, but the support of the guest house visitors seems to be a great asset and I can certainly understand the draw. The sense of peace about the whole place was wonderful. If you ever get the chance to go to Trinidad, I would definitely recommend trying to stay at the Mount’s guest house instead of a hotel.

After the monastery, we drove back to the ship, grabbed lunch on board and only had about 3 hours until on-ship time. We wandered outside the terminal for a bit and looked at the waterfront. As other busses arrived with students back from excursions, one group had brought a bunch of fresh mangoes from the market. We got to try some and I can say that will probably be one of my top goals at all of the next ports – buy fresh mangoes.

After a short two days in Trinidad, I only got a small glimpse of what the country had to offer but it was a blast. The students I traveled with on the first night were great too and hopefully we will all get to travel together in the next ports as well.

Until Panama,

Allison

Life at Sea and at School

Current Location: In the Caribbean Sea, passing the last of the US Virgin Islands to the East

In approximately 8 hours we will be arriving at our first port, Port of Spain, Trinidad. I am absolutely loving living and learning at sea. The ship culture is a blast as well (it’s kind of like a residence hall on steroids). The crew members are amazingly kind and interesting people from around the world as well. The only drawback is all the class time and homework!

Class days (C-days) only happen while we are at sea. Since tomorrow is our first port day, that means no class! The last three C-days have been a whirlwind because this 26-day voyage is actually a 10-day semester with 1 reading day and 1 day for final exams. Because I’m completing 5-credits in 10 days, most of my C-days time is spent in class, working on HW and putting in my work study hours. To give you an idea, here is my typical C-day:

8:00 to 8:30 – Breakfast

8:45 to 9:50 – Shower, get dressed, and finish reviewing the Spanish HW

10:00 to 11:00 – Class: Intermediate Spanish

11:00 to 11:30 – Start Spanish HW or work on reading for my other class

11:30 to 12:00 – Lunch

12:00 to 13:00 – Work at the Activities Desk

13:00 to 13:30 – Read/take a breather before class

13:30 to 16:00– Class: Energy Resources

16:00 to 16:30 –HW or a break

16:30 to 17:45 – Class: Engineering a New Tomorrow Seminar

17:45 to 18:30 – Dinner

18:30 on – Time to work on HW, watch a film for the series, go to Explorer Seminars, etc. (Tonight we had a Pre-Port Meeting at 2000 that lasted for 2 hours)

So as you can see, the days are packed! After almost 6 hours of class and work, there isn’t much time for HW. I’m enjoying staying busy, but it takes pretty strict time management to fit it in. Also, being on a rocking ship, 8 hours of sleep has been a must for me so I can stay awake in class. That’s the biggest challenge of all!

Lesson learned: If you ever plan on completing a 15-week semester in 10 days, be prepared to function on turbo-mode!

One thing that is amazing about this voyage is that 91 students out of 300 are engineering majors, compared to Semester at Sea’s average of 5-10 per voyage. A lot of the students I’m getting to know are engineering students and it’s a really fun and interesting bunch. Hopefully soon, I will have time to tell you more about some of the awesome people I’ve met.

A hardworking engineer at sea,

Allison

All Aboard the MV Explorer

Current Location: Somewhere between the Bahamas and Trinidad in the Atlantic Ocean

We’ve been sailing for almost 5 hours now and I still have yet to share anything since when I boarded the ship yesterday at 2:30 pm. Everything’s going by so fast with a million things to do that it’s hard to find time to sit down and write about it. I wish I could share every moment and every picture with you (Unfortunately, all pictures will have to wait until I find an internet café due to bandwidth restrictions on our internet onboard).

A quick explanation on the delays in posting: on board our vessel, the MV Explorer, we have access to 2 hours worth of internet for the whole trip (or 50 MB worth of data exchange – which runs out much faster than 2 hours). By the time I post these last few blogs, they will probably be quite late, but I hope to conserve internet time so I can still be posting at the last port. Knowing me, I’m sharing too much now, and there will be so many interesting things from all the excursions at each port!

Can I just tell you how incredibly exciting seeing our vessel made me? Well, that was nothing compared to when I finally got inside. The ship is beautiful, more than I expected. It’s funny to hear different perspectives because for those who have traveled on cruises before, this ship is 1/3 the size. When I got here, somehow I was upgraded to an outside room with a window. It’s amazing to be able to look outside right from the room and see the water or the port. The room’s are bigger than I thought they’d be with so much drawer space. I only ended up bringing 1 duffel bag and a backpack, and I don’t even fill the space provided. The rooms (at least for Deck 3) have more amenities than I need including a mini-fridge, light switches so you don’t even have to get out of bed, and individual bathrooms with showers that in my opinion are spacious for a ship. Of course, this is all perspective. The only other ship I’ve lived on (for a week) was a military vessel, and they don’t exactly build those for luxury.

Besides the room, I got to meet wonderful work study students on my first day on board. We all had the privilege of boarding a day earlier than the other 300-some students so a boarding line was non-existent and the whole process was really stress-free. The big surprise for me was that I’m not an RA! This short-term voyage does not have RAs (Living Learning Coordinators are acting in the RA role) so I am working with Student Life and the Activities Desk on board. I’ll write more about that later because my first shift is tomorrow, but I did get to put my RA skills to work helping make the bulletin board for Deck 4 on the first night.

To summarize today, it was long. As work study students, we helped with the check-in process for all the students and at times it meant sitting and doing nothing or working outside in the sun coordinating the line of students coming through the security process. I enjoyed it all though. I am still incredibly grateful to be here at all and experience every detail of this voyage.

In the afternoon, the whole study body had orientation which was a lot of lecturing and explanations about safety, expectations, and the important people we need to know. The highlight was definitely the life boat drills. There was a dress code – long sleeves, pants, closed-toed shoes and a hat, and we had to wear our bright orange life jackets from our cabins. We evacuated the ship and lined up next to our assigned life boats. Now, forget what you see in the Titanic because these life boats are legit. They are motor powered enclosed vessels that hold 100 passengers. I’m feeling pretty safe.

We started to sail around 5:30 just as dinner was starting. Tugboats pulled us away from the dock and before long the captain was testing the thrusters and the engines were picking up speed and taking us faster and faster away from the Bahamas. As far as my sea legs, I’m still adjusting. Sitting in the Union for the last bit of orientation was rough. I started to feel nauseous and my stomach was uneasy after a big dinner. However, I’m also working of a few hours of sleep because our day started at 7 am, so I am sure after a good night’s rest tonight I will be much improved.

Classes start tomorrow! (And I have homework/reading assignments for each already)

If you’re interested in keeping in touch, send an email my way at alkotewicz@semesteratsea.net. That email won’t dock my internet time and is only valid during the voyage, but it’s the best way to reach me.

Allison

Oh the Places You’ll Go, Oh the People You’ll Meet

So you know those TV commercials for amazing resorts that most of us have gotten to the point of ignoring because we just assume we’ll never lay down the cash to go there or they’re somewhere far, far away that just seems out of reach? If you need a refresher, check out this one: http://www.atlantis.com/thingstodo/waterpark.aspx

Well, here’s the story of how I ended up spending the best day of the summer with a stranger I met the day before at the last place I thought I would ever be.

The story starts on the plane from Atlanta to Nassau. For the first time for as long as I can remember, I was sitting in a middle seat (rather than the usual window seat). A young man sat next to me, who I probably would have best described as a college age individual. His name was Zak, and I don’t remember what first got us talking or what it was even about, but by the end of the plane ride, anyone else would have thought Zak and I were close friends traveling together to the Bahamas.

To give some context, Zak is a recent Georgia Tech grad in Industrial Design (as a MechE, I definitely appreciated that). Zak and I talked lots about engineering & design and bonded over our mutual experiences living with and around engineers (if you’ve lived with engineers, you know how “unique” that experience can be). Zak had recently gotten a job working with a start-up and as a graduation celebration was heading to the Bahamas for a short vacation, staying with his friend who is currently working as a doctor there. As part of his friend’s contract working as a doctor, he was housed in a hotel on Paradise Island in the Bahamas and given a free month’s pass to the Atlantis Resort’s facilities.

At the end of the flight, Zak and I exchanged emails. We were a little lost without cell phones in the Bahamas so email seemed like the only option to get in touch. Zak didn’t know what he was going to do on Thursday while his friend had to work and I didn’t really have any plans whatsoever before my boarding time between 1 and 3 pm the next day (at that point having not been to the hotel, met my roommates, or figured out how the taxis worked). We went our separate ways at the terminal, both unsure if we would really catch up with one another on the island.

Here’s where the last blog entry I wrote fits in. That happened post airport and pre-“best summer ever” plans. Sorry for the confusion, but I suppose it’s just a testament to the spontaneity of the day.

Well, as I was writing that blog after I had met the Lifelong Learners, I emailed Zak and wasn’t really sure if he would reply. Whatever happened, I would end up on the ship by 3 pm so I was feeling pretty good. When I checked later, I was stoked to see that Zak had replied and welcomed me to come over to check out the Atlantis with him while his friend had work and I had time to chill. At this point, I was in disbelief.

A) I actually had learned what the Atlantis was at that point and how outstanding this waterpark was supposed to be (and the ticket prices…)

B) We managed to get in touch without cell phones in a foreign country!

C) I was making plans with a stranger, something that in today’s world most people wouldn’t do and I never would have expected myself to do.

To be fair though, Zak and I got to know each other on our plane ride. When you get a chance to sit down and really talk with someone without interruption for 2 hours, that’s a rare opportunity. Also, in deciding to make plans with a stranger I really had two (social) options: go out to a bar with a bunch of SASers I had talked with for probably 20 minutes in a place I was not familiar or comfortable with, or go hang out with Zach and have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see the Atlantis and build on the brief and unexpected friendship that had started

Big surprise, I chose the second and I could not have had a better day. Zak and I spent the morning at Atlantis, trying every ride from the Abyss that drops you nearly straight down in a pitch-black tunnel to the Serpent Ride that winds around and passes through the shark tank at the end. We talked and laughed about how wrong we were in guessing one another’s age and grabbed lunch from a grocery store that consisted of pepperoni slices, trail mix, strawberries, and orange juice. The most random, unexpected day was by far my best.

Allison

(And Zak, if you’re reading this, thank you again! I hope you are having a blast in the Bahamas)

The Bahamas

Current Location: Nassau, Bahamas, the Sheraton Resort.

It's hard to believe that I've been here for less than 6 hours and I already feel like I have enough to write about.

My anxiety over making it from the airport to the hotel was much relieved when I met up with 3 fellow SASers (Semester at Sea-goers) at the Atlanta airport. A bunch of students had coordinated beforehand to wear yellow bandanas to find each other more easily and it worked! One other student was on the plane with me so we were able to catch a taxi together after our flight landed.

I'll skip through the boring process of check-in and finding the hotel room (confusing) and jump to my wandering about the hotel, mainly to check out the pool but also to begin the search for SASers. It didn't take too long for me to start finding more students. As our group began to grow, it became far easier to find each other as our hesitancies about asking random people if they were here for Semester at Sea wore off. Eventually a group of us hung out at the beach for a while and talked.

Most of the students were planning on heading to Senor Frogs, a local bar in town, but I was far more concerned about finding dinner, after making a bad decision not to grab food at the Atlanta airport. Not surprisingly, all the food at the resort was incredibly expensive. Eventually, I decided it was best I just stop at the cafe in the resort and try to grab a bite to eat before it got too late. I grabbed my laptop before I headed downstairs with the intention of starting this blog post and checking email as I ate. However, as soon as I sat down, two adults at the table next to me (who happened to have a pizza box I had been eying) asked if I was traveling with Semester at Sea. As it turned out, they were Lifelong Learners traveling as well (Lifelong Learners include non-traditional students and older passengers). I asked if I could join them and they said yes (and offered me their last piece of pizza, score!). Mike & Janelle introduced themselves, and we had a long conversation that jumped around from Mike's experience as a chemical engineer and the lectures he'd be giving on board to their daughter's time at CSU (a fellow Ram!) and plans for boarding the ship tomorrow. I really enjoyed our conversations and ended up arranging for fellow cab-mates for the trip to the pier.

-----UPDATE: I’ll cut off this blog post here because my plans to hang out at the resort/beach for the following day before my boarding time turned out dramatically different -----

One Day to Go

Tomorrow I begin an incredible journey. At 9:00 am, I board a plane, on my way to the Bahamas where I will embark on the MV Explorer with over 350 other students to take part in the inaugural Short Term Voyage. As you can see from the lovely picture below, this "Maymester Voyage" will take me to 7 different international ports-of-call over the course of 26 days as I take classes in sustainable development, energy resources, and Spanish.

From the start of the Voyage on Friday, May 20th, it will be my goal to post at least once for every port visit. I will share my experiences from the ship, classes, people, field excursions, adventures in port, and whatever else may come up.

However, for my first post, I will give a little background about my trip and how I got to this point, 30 hours away from departure --

I first learned about Semester at Sea's "Maymester Voyage" towards the end of my fall semester. This was the first-ever Short-Term Voyage and the theme was set to be "Engineering a New Tomorrow." That was my first clue that this was an experience I could not miss. Originally, when looking at colleges, I was dead set on taking time for a study abroad. Of course, after enrolling as a mechanical engineering major, I quickly realized that finishing my undergraduate studies in 4-years and doing a study abroad were just not compatible goals. A little disappointed, I told myself that at least I could do a summer study abroad and left it at that. When the Maymester Voyage came up, I had an option that exceeded my goals - not only would I be able to study abroad in the summer, but I could practice my Spanish-speaking skills, enhance my Spanish studies visiting five different Spanish-speaking countries, and I could take engineering classes at the same time. For people who know me well, my dream is to work in sustainable energy development. Taking a class on Energy Resources while studying and visiting the real-life examples in different countries could not be a better fit for me.

When Spring Break came around, I made a decision that I should have made months earlier and applied for Semester at Sea (I had been held up by the hopes of getting an engineering internship this summer). In a matter of about a week, I completed the application and was accepted for the Voyage. Within another week, I had applied for a work study position and was awarded a position as a Resident Assistant aboard the ship (I'm also a current RA at Colorado State University). I began to select my classes, apply for field development programs and excursions, and submit the final paperwork. In the process, I also applied for a generous scholarship from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS). Just over a week ago, I found out I was one of three recipients for the $3,475 award. I am incredibly thankful for the scholarship and the support of NSCS. The aid has taken an enormous burden off my shoulders and made me appreciate this opportunity all that much more.

So that's a pretty good summary of why I chose to study with Semester at Sea on their Short-Term Voyage and how I'm incredibly lucky to be paying very little for an amazing education and experience. I hope that you come back and check out my next posts to hear some interesting stories from an engineer at sea.

Allison