First Stop: Spain

Greetings from the MV Explorer!!

Hello Family,
It has been about two weeks since I departed from Halifax, Canada and I can honestly say that the last two weeks have been some of the most exciting times of my life (and we've only been to one port so far out of twelve!).  I have met so many amazing people and am continuing to make new friends everyday.  We boarded the ship and immediately each and every one of us were placed outside of our comfort zones, which led to many new acquaintances and a positive aura of anxiety, enthusiasm, and pure delight.  As eager students and ambassadors we were keen to get the ship sailing - so to speak - and begin our journey.

The food on the ship is actually pretty good, I would say a small step up from the frat food that I'm used to.  We get three meals a day and a snack of sorts from 10-10:30.  I like to sit outside and eat near the stern where the wind gently hits your face, every once in a while you'll be greeted with a salty splash of mist from the Atlantic.  I usually sit with a group of friends where we put 3-4 tables together and eat like the small family we are, and an open family at that.

Class on the ship has not been too demanding, yet we have only had a little over a week of class as somewhat of an introductory stage.  My teachers, as you can imagine, all have impressive resumes in their respective fields and when I do make it class.. (just kidding mom and dad-I make it to class everyday) their education and history of teaching becomes apparent.  As different as one subject can be from another, a similarity of globalization, cultural awareness, and a raw sense of togetherness is a common theme that is palpable on the ship.

Our first port was in Cadiz, Spain, where we landed five days ago (in port, any immediate school work is put on hold yet brainstorming and thinking about various cultural aspects is encouraged as we will have to present and write papers about these things to be prepared for later dates).  I traveled to Sevilla with a guy named Sam and two girls named Becca and Mckenzie (all parts of the "family") where there we met some more people there and traveled as a large group the rest of the way.  When we arrived in Cadiz, we bought train tickets to Sevilla where we stayed 2 nights in a rather cozy hostel located really close to a Spanish Catedral (cathedral) that was just beautiful. With this being our first stop, naturally we celebrated and drank sangria (among other drinks), took "Siestas" (naps) as the Spanish do from around 4-5, ate a small meal after the siesta and had dinner at around 10 or 11.  From Sevilla we took a bullet train to Madrid- the capital of Spain- where we stayed another 2 nights in a hostel.  Well, it was really just one night.  Because the second night we had to catch a train at 6 am the next morning and we just decided to stay up all night and spend most of our time in a bar/club with about 70 other travelers and locals : )

We just got back on the ship today from Espana, and as much as I will miss it (I love europe), we will be arriving in Casablanca, Morocco tomorrow evening.  Safe to say I'm not too heartbroken about leaving Spain : )  A childhood friend of mine who happens to be here as well, Brian Tolken, had plans in Morocco to be shown around by a local -for safety reasons and for the experience- and invited me to join him as he will show us around Marakesh, hike the Atlas Mountains, and experience a local village.  These are just some of the things that I have the pleasure to look forward to in my very near future and share with a boat load of intelligent, yet wild and crazy, co-ambassadors : )

I hope that everyone at home is staying wonderful and that your lives are as rich as mine is right now.  I love you all so much and you will be hearing from me again in another week or so.  As Desmond Tutu said on our first day on the ship, you are all "aaaawesoooomme!"