My mother’s wet eyes and the town of Kimball get smaller as I leave for another adventure. I am embarking on a summer at sea; going to school and living on a cruise ship travelling the Pacific Ocean and stopping in eight ports over a three-month period. But first, I must get there. I chose to take an Amtrak train to Vancouver a few days early to see what the city had to offer. I boarded in St. Cloud and arrived in Vancouver 38 hours later. I watched the plains and ghost towns of North Dakota turn to the rolling hills, mountains and waterfalls of Montana before the ocean coast of Washington came into view. Vancouver proved to be a welcoming and beautiful city with a strong Asian influence. I spent three days biking and hiking through the city and outer areas, making it 4,300 feet to the top of Grouse Mountain for an amazing view of one of Canada’s largest cities. I took advantage of the various sushi shops around nearly every corner and found bubble tea to be the “it” drink (tea and milk on ice with tapioca pearls drank through extra wide straws), which is yet to hit the Midwest. My time in Vancouver passed all too fast and before I knew it, I was on my way to Balantyne Pier to start my sea adventure. I boarded the S.S. Universe Explorer with 350 other students ranging from 19-89 years old. There are 150 faculty and staff, and over 250 crew members. The ship is equipped with lodging cabins, classrooms, a student union, two dining rooms, a coffee shop, a school store, a library, swimming pool and gym, and a theater. I met my two roommates with whom I share a cozy cabin with a small porthole to view the passing ocean and incredible seascapes. We spent only two days getting acquainted to the ship life before we made our first port of call: Sitka, Alaska www.sitka. org. We spent two days exploring the small fishing town which is only accessible by water, with its 8,000 citizens and even higher population of bald eagles. Many students spent their time salmon fishing, hiking, biking, kayaking, or taking various wildlife tours where they saw everything from whales breaching to puffins and otters on the shore. Sitka revels in its highly prevalent Russian heritage through its arts and tourist attractions which include an archangel dance performance twice a day. There are also remnants of the areas aboriginal people, with totem poles scattered throughout the town and the various hiking trails in the Tongass National Rainforest. From here we sailed across the Gulf of Alaska to the rocky shores of Kodiak www.kodiak.org. Alaska is home to six major aboriginal groups and languages, with Kodiak as the main concentration of Alutiiq people (mainly classified as Eskimo people). While in Kodiak, Semester at Sea students enjoyed the beautiful surroundings of the city on foot and by bike, halibut fished with guides, took helicopter rides to view brown bears in their natural habitat, and visited the many museums in town. In Kodiak we celebrated the Summer Solstice with 23 hours of daylight. Time in port moves fast and before we knew it we were back on board the S.S. Universe Explorer and ready to start classes and partake in the many extra-curricular activities available. We maintain a normal “college-life on-campus” as the Pacific rushes by our windows and we prepare for our next port of call: Petropavlovsk, Russia. Samara Mackereth, a senior at the University of Minnesota Duluth, is participating in the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea for the summer 2003 session. The voyage travels from Vancouver, Canada to Alaska, Russia, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and returns to Seattle Washington. She will write a weekly column throughout her journey.
