"Row, row, row your ship..."

Well hello friends, family and colleagues. I have been aching to write you all and have found that until right this moment, I have had very little free time. I'm so glad to be blogging right now as I have a lot to share! The idea that all of the RD's had about having a lot of free time to read/sit in on classes etc. has proved to be inaccurate. =) I still hope that this will come in time, but it doesn't look hopeful for awhile! I have my first "free" afternoon and evening today and I'm really looking forward to it!

We'll start with the basics... I had very little trouble adjusting to the ship and have definitely found my "sea legs." The first night of sailing I was a little worried, but managed okay. Now, I don't even really notice the movement until we get a large swell. The last few days have been cloudy and a storm seems likely, but we only had a bit of drizzle 3 nights ago - so nothing major yet! When I finally get to go to bed, I am out! It is a great gentle rocking that is taking us all back to our infancy days. I think I'll miss sleeping on the ship when this is over!

As I mentioned in the last post, the decks are one of my favorite things on this ship. I love being outside and feeling the breeze, seeing the sun rises and sets and looking at the stars (when the lights get turned off). I have been getting up early and working out at about 0630 each morning. Afterwards I go stretch on the deck and enjoy the early morning quiet. It is a very surreal feeling to look out in all directions and see nothing but the Pacific Ocean. Yesterday at our "noon report from the bridge" we heard that we were more than 600 miles from any land in any direction. It matched the feelings of insignificance that I felt standing on the mountains in Switzerland. We did see a bird this morning so we must be getting close to land!

The job has had its challenges, but all in all it's been a good experience thus far. There are already a number of folks that I have become close to in the week that we've been on board. We were just talking today and it feels as though we've known each other much longer than one week. I can only imagine what it will be like in December. One of the most exciting things is that three of the people I'm really getting close to, Kate, Brian and Gail, all happen to live in Portland! I'm thrilled that I'm going to have some additional folks to hang out with when I move to Oregon in late Dec. The exec. dean, his wife and family also live there and they are amazing as well!!! I've made a lot of Oregon connections through this "voyage of discovery" and I'm super excited that I'll be heading out there when I return. Isn't it funny how things sometimes really seem to align?

We have started making some travel plans and it looks as though I'll be seeing Japan with Brian, Kate and Nam (one of the other fabulous RD's). Vietnam with Nam and Joy (another RD), China with Gail, and who knows after that. Nam is Vietnamese, has been there a number of times and speaks the language - I'm looking forward to that trip - I think we're going to REALLY see Vietnam.

This past week consisted of 3 days of training and then it was similar to opening week at a residence hall on a land campus (getting to know each other, testing rules/boundaries, figuring out schedules and where to go etc.). I've been conducting one on ones with each of my residents (thank you CU - none of the other RD's have ever really done that with their residents and are following suite). I'm so glad I'm doing it, although it takes away from any hope of free time that I would have on the ship. It is well worth it. Some of the students absolutely amaze me! One of my future blogs will illustrate a humorous "roommate agreement" form I received from a cynical resident. He cracked up when I told him I wanted to blog about it!

Ok... I'm off to Global Studies now. More later. Miss you all - love you!