Travelogue Chapter 4

January 27 2009

We are now less than 200 miles from the coast of Spain as we approach Cadiz. After steaming for 8 days we will be arriving in Cadiz tomorrow morning around 6 am. The immigration people have to do what they do and we will be allowed to go ashore.

After eight days at sea during which time classes happened each day without a break and we lost an hour a day on six of the eight nights everybody is feeling tired and ready to do some land time. One of the professors described it as “Death by a thousand hours”… For both students and staff, it has been hard as it was the first leg of the trip and people had not yet settled into their normal routine. By now, classes happen smoothly although the courses I attend have regularly had a number of students who do not appear. Roll call happens in most classes so attendance is being monitored. But even those students who show up for classes often spend the hour either sleeping or doing email. As the ship is wired for wireless and many students bring their laptops to class, one can see what anyone of them is doing with their computers when one sits in the back of class as I do.

I have attended several classes to find out which subjects were interesting and which Profs were good. We can audit classes as long as there is space and the professor agrees. This means we can attend the classes but we do not need to sit for exams. I have decided to go with 3 classes, languages of the world, Chinese literature and medieval travelers.

In addition, at 0920 each morning there is a course called Global Studies which everybody is required to attend. It is a very diversified course looking at the countries we are visiting, and a range of subjects of general interest. Only one of my courses is at 0800 which means rising before the sun is up. One course at that hour is enough. Some of the classrooms are very full, while others a not well attended. I went to a class in Chinese poetry and found that there were only 2 students in the class. It really was not a very interesting course and I could see why it had so few classes. I will not being going back to that one.

Yesterday we had a tour of the ship’s bridge. It is a large area stretching all across the ship. It is manned only by the officer of the watch and a lookout while the ship is at sea. Given the high level of technology on ships today, the number of crew needed has dropped dramatically. There is no longer a helmsman as the ship is on automatic pilot, no radio operator as the ships communications are monitored by computer all the time. In fact, we have been on the same course since we left the Bahamas some 4000 miles ago. There is now a system which automatically sends out a signal to all other ships in the area which names the ship and its vital information including final destination. This is similar to what Air Traffic control does for planes but for the ships it is automated. In fact, it is really useful only in heavy traffic areas. Since we left the Bahamas, we have only sighted 3 or 4 ships. It is an indication of the size of the oceans I expect that during the night traffic will increase as we approach Cadiz and the straight of Gibraltar which handles all traffic in and out of the Mediterranean.

For the last 3 days, Global studies have been delivered by a Professor Gies of UVA. He teaches Spanish at UVA and has a deep knowledge and deeper love of Spain. In his lectures, he has convinced the students how great Spain is He has lectured on Spanish cities, paining, food and history. This is the beauty of Semester at Sea that prepares the students for the countries we visit so that they get the most out of the days in port. When we arrive in most ports we stay 4 to 5 days which gives students and adults time to travel within the country and to see many of the sites discussed in the preparatory lectures.

We are off tomorrow in a car I had already rented. Our plan is to leave Cadiz as soon as the ship is cleared by immigration, get the car and head south to Gibraltar. Emmett wants to see the big rock. We will then head north to Granada to over night there. I have not made hotel reservations as I am not sure we will get to Granada and may stop somewhere before. This should not be a problem as January is not high tourist season and hotels should be available.

For Granada, I have booked our tickets for the Alhambra which is wonderful palace built by the Arabs during their 700 year reign of Spain. We will overnight in Granada as the visit to the Alhambra takes several hours to really appreciate it. On Friday, we will head out to Sevilla and depending on how we feel we may overnight there or in Jerez de la Frontera or continue on to Cadiz after seeing Sevilla. .

Weather is expected to be cool with showers which are normal at this time of year. So we will dress warmly or at least make sure we have enough in case it does get cold. This trip we have decided to travel on land only with knapsacks which brought on board rather than with trunks. As most of visits are only for 2 to 3 days, one can live from such a bag. Or at least, that is the theory. More on that when we get back. I do not expect to be writing much while on land as we will use Internet cafes and memory sticks rather than carry around our laptops. I will also be carrying my new telephone system called Magic Jack which will allow me phone wherever I get a high speed internet connection. It is a little contraption the size of a small box of matches which plugs into the computer and allows phoning anywhere in the world. Given the high cost of Internet on the ship
(US$ 0.25) it is not worth using on the ship. Internet cafes are not expensive so we will do our bill paying and other chores like loading up pictures (of which I have few so far) while on land.

So much for now.