11/27/09 – 12/3/09
We’ve had a 10 day stretch between Japan and Hawaii. I’ve been so busy these past ten days too. I’ve had seminars, class, studying for the Global Studies final, SAS Auction, SAS play, a celebration for attending a seminar in each category, etc. The seminars I attended dealt with; what to do with your major and an information session on grad school. They were really helpful and definitely put things into perspective for me. It has helped me narrow down my choices for after graduation. Ah, I cannot believe I just sad that word. It’s going to be too weird going back to Scranton for my final semester. Anyway, Class has been good, for the most part. I’m really happy that two of them are finished and sad that the other two ended. International Law and Global Studies are my least favorite courses probably of all my college education. It’s funny how who teaches a course changes your perspective on the subject so quickly. My Deviance and Social Control professor who is my Marriage and Family professor also is awesome. I really enjoyed those two classes and I didn’t feel overwhelmed. I think I learned more from him that I had from the other two combined. I’ve been busy finishing up lots of papers for my classes and then I’ve spent the rest of my time preparing for the impossible Global Studies Exam. I wrote everything on note cards and attended a review session last night. It was helpful and definitely highlighted some key ideas to remember. The Living and Learning Coordinator for Academic Support port together a study guide for us and it came out to 19 pages. So, that kind of gives you an idea of how much information we had to understand and remember for our 50 question multiple choice exam. I took it this afternoon and believe I did relatively well. In the past 10 days we’ve also had an SAS Auction both Silent and Live. Silent Auction started at 10am and lasted until about 10pm. There were items put on tables and you would bid on them. If you had the highest bid at the end of the night or maxed the price written down, you won the prize. There wasn’t anything that I particularly wanted so I didn’t win anything. Some of the items from the Silent Auction were; the deans serve you breakfast in bed, candy baskets, massage, bubble bath, maps, etc. All of which were donated by the members of the community. The proceeds go directly to the SAS Annual Fund which helps future voyagers, research from professors, field programs, etc. The Live Auction was pretty cool too. Some of the items up for bid were to blast the ships horn as pulling into San Diego, steer the ship for 10 minutes, tickets to SNL, Kentucky Derby tickets, and even home stays with members of the community such as Formal Dinner with the Orris’ in Colorado, 9 days in France, 10 days in a Pent house in NYC for Christmas, House in Lake Tahoe, Rental in Outer Banks, NC, etc. Some of these prizes went for outrageous amounts of money. After the night concluded we had made $21,000 or so from the live auction. The SAS play was called Dog Sees God, it’s about the characters from Peanuts all grown up. It was different, not sure if I liked it or not. It showed the struggles with growing up and going through high school. The acting was great though and I congratulate the students on an awesome job. The celebration for attending seminars was part of a program called Passport Program. There are 8 categories and for each seminar you attend, you get a sticker that corresponds to that area. Once you have all 8 stickers then you hand in our passport and you get a special seal on your SAS certificate and you can attend the Pizza Party. Pizza, soda, and cookies for free? How could you not be motivated to do it! So of course I completed it and we had the party last week. The food was good and it was definitely nice to just relax and enjoy it. Sorry that I didn’t break this down by day, but everything has been getting so hectic lately. I’m having a hard time believing that it’s over, well almost. I don’t know what it’s going to be like coming home. I’m really excited to see all of you and be home for Christmas, but I just don’t want this experience to end. It’s not real that I’ll be in San Diego in 11 days seeing my mom and dad. It’s not real that I will be back in NJ in 13 days. I reach Hawaii tomorrow which is exciting because I’ve never been there before. I don’t have any real plans, but to relax. I’ll be seeing Lindsay tomorrow which is exciting to get a piece of home. Other than that I’ll probably just take it easy and relax. We get in at 6am and have a face-to-face inspection by Immigration in the morning which sucks because then I have to get up that early. Oh well, it’s the last time! I have 3 exams next week which I’ll start studying for after Hawaii. By the time that flies by I’ll be packing, at the Alumni Ball, finished Convocation and walking off the ship for the last time in San Diego. It’s coming too quickly and I feel like there is no time to take it all in. I have Logistical Pre-port tonight for the last time. I’m already getting sad just writing that, god only knows what I’ll be like in 10 days or even before that. I’m going to go relax as I haven’t been able to do that in the past week due to Global Studies. I miss you all and I’ll be home so soon!
