Bridge Tour & Extended Family

::: Bridge Tour

This morning I had a tour of the Bridge. This is where the captain and all the controls that run the ship are at. It was interesting to see how many different tools they have. The 'cadet' who gave us the tour is just in college and still learning. The program in Britain is that they go to school for 8 months, then at sea for 6 months, then school for a certain amount of time (I forget), and then sea for 6 months again, then classes for 3 weeks, and an exam with a person who has very high experience. He once again assured us that we would be hitting really rough seas two days before Cape Town, and leaving Cape Town. He also told us that the Pacific is much worse than the Atlantic. So, basically we have some seasickness to look forward to in the future. 

Here are some photos from the tour:

Between the two captain chairs

This picture has something to do with flooding on the ship. He said that two of the areas on the ship can be flooded and the ship will still float. Each section has air tight doors that will shut off the sections. They can pump water from one area into another. 

An area where they store their flags they fly to mean different things going into port, etc. 

::: Extended Family

Tonight was the first "Extended Family" dinner which I signed up for the first week of being on the ship. The idea of this program is to pair you with an adult on the ship that is not one of your professors. The reason being is that they can be your "family" on the ship and that you can go to them with anything you may need. My leader was Janette Wallis. At first I attempted to write out a small bio about her from what she told us tonight, but I failed to remember all the specific details. I looked her up on SAS's webpage and here is the bio they give about her (most of which she told us about tonight).

Janette Wallis is an online lecturer in the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Environment program at the University of Oklahoma. Her Ph.D. is from an interdisciplinary program from OU that combined zoology, anthropology, and psychology. She is a primatologist whose main areas of study are primate conservation and behavioral biology. Her preferred study subjects are chimpanzees and baboons, but she also includes several other African species in her work. She has a long list of publications in a variety of primate studies and has served as editor on numerous books and newsletters. Janette is the Executive Director of the Kasokwa Forest Project in Uganda and previously worked in several other African countries; she was a founding faculty member of the American University of Nigeria (Yola, Nigeria), Coordinator of Chimpanzee Research at Gombe Stream Research Centre (in Tanzania), taught field courses in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, conducted research in Gabon, and consulted for an environmental impact assessment in Sierra Leone. Janette is the Vice President for Conservation of the International Primatological Society and a member of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission's Primate Specialist Group. As a primatologist and photographer, Janette is eager to visit the countries on this Semester at Sea voyage, seven of which are primate habitat countries. She especially looks forward to working with the Lifelong Learners; she views this as a perfect opportunity to teach others - and to learn from them. 

She actually applied to teach Biology on the ship, but the position had already been filled so she was hired as the director of the Lifelong Learner Academic Coordinator. There were six other girls and myself assigned to Janette. There was a girl from Stubenville, Ohio, which was neat for me that someone actually knew where I lived. I liked going to the dinner because some of the girls are people that I probably would never have been friends with. So many people have made their friends and have a group of people that they mainly hang out with, so it is nice to be able to meet some new people through this. I really liked Janette because she has a lot of energy and really seems to care about being there for us throughout our voyage. 

Two more days until Ghana. This time cannot come soon enough. I need a break from classes!!!