I really cannot believe that it’s October already. Our one month anniversary aboard the Sorlandet has come and gone and time continues to fly by. In my blog posts so far I have described our adventures in port but I haven’t even begun to tell you about our time at sea. Although I must stay true to the rule of “what happens in international waters stays in international waters”, I will let you in on some of the ship's day-to-day news. However, firstly let me share what daily life aboard entails.
Every second day we wake up for P.E. class at 06:30 (on non-gym class days we get to sleep in until 07:15!) and head up to the boat deck for our daily physical activity. We do punching sequences, yoga and mini-dance parties during our allotted P.E. time. The best part is doing core workouts because if you time it with the waves, you can do a sit-up without expending any energy at all! On the other hand, the tree pose in yoga is quite entertaining especially considering that standing on both feet is challenging at the best of times.
After these intense workout sessions we head down for a 07:00 breakfast. Cold breakfast is served everyday with cereal, milk, apples, oranges and yogurt. It is survival of the fittest and our portions are closely monitored. If you happen to be last in line, none of the good stuff is left. Within seconds the peanut butter jar is empty ... we learn to be quick!
At 08:00 it’s time for colours. Colours is our morning assembly. The crew, faculty and students all muster on deck for ringing of the bell, daily notices and raising the flags. If you are late for colours, you are given two hours of early bird watch the next morning from 06:00-08:00. Ouch!
During colours, our sleeping quarters are inspected. Every morning we have to dismantle our bunks as well as fold and put away all the bedding. If you're the last one to reach the bedding lockers, it takes some skill and patience to shove everything in. The bosun (foreman of a ship's crew) was not happy when we broke the door. Failing inspection (that is, if the area surrounding your bunk zone is left untidy) is the worst! If you fail twice in one sail, you receive port suspension and you are left behind onboard while everyone else gets to spend a couple of hours exploring a new city
After colours we have cleaning stations until 09:00. That’s right, we clean the entire ship from top to bottom EVERY DAY. We are assigned to stations such as cleaning the heads (toilets and showers), scrubbing the decks or doing the ship’s laundry. There is always work to be done aboard a tall ship. From 09:00 to 18:00 we have classes, day watch and free time. On average, we have four classes a day, two hours of watch and a couple of hours of free time (including a lunch break). In addition to P.E., I am taking Sociology of Community, Seamanship, English, Math and Political Science. I have never before been in a moving classroom where the white board is swinging, the teacher is sick and lying on the ground and students are occasionally running out of the room to throw-up. However strange this might sound, it has become normal to us floaties. Day watch is basically just working up on deck. We furl sails, clean, hold physical watch positions or… clean. Free time is not that free. We sleep, eat or do homework.
Dinner is at 18:30 until 19:00. Carlos our cook and Jill the cook’s mate are AMAZING! Despite rationing and limited fresh supplies the food is always absolutely delicious. After dinner, we have club meetings, social time (barely!) and more studying to do. Lights out is at 23:00 and night watch begins at 20:00. The secrets of night watch will be released later. After a long and busy day, we head to bed. Zzzz….