Over break the University announced that it had been chosen to be the home port for the world-renowned Institute for Shipward Education's "Semester at Sea" program, to begin this summer. How one would get to a large ship in Charlottesville is beyond me, but sorry ISE, no takebacks. Maybe they'll fill Mad Bowl with water and dock a boat in there.
Anyway, in The Cavalier Daily's never-ending pursuit of a fresh story, it has obtained a diary from the maiden voyage of the program. And a time machine, I guess. We present it in its unedited format:
Day One
Dear Journal,
I'm ecstatic about starting the Semester At Sea program. We get to travel the world, earn credits and meet all sorts of new people within a protected learning environment. I'm making all sorts of new friends. Well, off to my first class ... at sea!
Day Two
Dear Journal,
I threw up in class today. I guess I don't have my sea legs just yet! I am meeting a lot of fun people though. My roommate's a really fun guy.
Day Four
Dear Journal,
My roommate John is really cool. He knows everything there is to know about life on the ocean. Way more than the professors, really.
Day Six
Dear Journal,
John and I went on our own to study our ship's navigational charts. He says they're likely to be on the final exam.
Day Eight
Dear Journal,
I'm having the greatest time here. Boating is awesome, I think I'm going to become a sailor as a career. I could see me doing this for the rest of my life.
Day Ten
Dear Journal,
Someone fell overboard yesterday and was not seen since. I think I'm going to have to scrap the sailor idea and go to my backup career plan: entry into the Magician's Alliance.
Day Fourteen
Dear Journal,
I need to find something else to do in my leisure time. If I have to play Battleship one more time, I'm going to have a cow.
Day Fourteen, still
Dear Journal,
Clearly we have plenty of 15-year-old episodes of the Simpsons.
Day Sixteen
Dear Journal,
Sometimes I don't think Patti Mayonnaise even notices me.
Day Twenty
Yeah, John definitely turned out to be a pirate. He and a dozen other students tied up the crew and have taken over the ship. I don't know how I didn't see it coming. The peg leg should have been a giveaway. And the eye patch. And what I thought was John's Furby was actually an extremely vulgar parrot.
Day Thirty-Five
Why does an ocean liner have a prison deck?
Day Forty-Eight
Captain John has decided to spend the remainder of the semester attacking merchant vessels. He's calling it the "Academical Pillage Program."
Day Fifty-Four
The Captain's navigation is drunken at best. We are at frequent risk of capsizing and I don't know how to swim. I suppose in light of that, a semester at sea was a poor choice. Hindsight's 20/20.
Day Sixty-Three
The Captain's decided to release us. Apparently he'd grown tired of my joke about the pirate movie being rated "Arrr." It's a sensitive issue. In any case, this has been quite a learning experience, but I'm glad to be back at U.Va., where piracy is reserved to file-sharing.
Eric's column runs each Wednesday. He can be reached at cunningham@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
It’s okay not to be okay
By Mai Hukuoka | 3 days agoWhether talking to a friend, a loved one or a professional, it is so necessary, and human, to need more than you can provide for yourself.
Taking a break at Tangerines Kitchen
By Charley Thomas | 5 days agoWhat the restaurant somewhat lacks in ambiance, it compensates for in tasty dishes and prompt service.
Virginia Policy Lab — a hub for student-led policy action
By Katherine Haden | December 9, 2024Students propose their own projects and collaborate with other members to research their issues of interest, brainstorm solutions and write policy proposals.
