... I boarded the SS Universe and began my 100 day journey around the world. I didn't know a soul-- it was the first time in my life I went somewhere completely on my own. I was 20 years old, a senior in college, leaving behind my parents, my on-again-off-again boyfriend of 4 years, and the best girlfriends I could hope for. I was only slightly terrified. It was the adventure of a lifetime and I still think about it just about everyday. Just the other night I was in the grocery store, chasing the big kids towards the toy section (we weren't buying anything that day, just "planning for the future"), the was baby asleep in my wrap, and I was feeling a wee bit crabby... and the song "Oh what a night" came on. Life is very different now, but that song will always take me back to long nights of dancing on the ship with fabulous new friends that I'm still in touch with...
So, in honor of this anniversary, and to break away from my documentation of life as a mama of three, I bring you documentation of my free-spirited gypsy days, starting with my journal entry from day one of my Semester at Sea:
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I wish to go to latitudes where my life must become quite different to make existence possible, where understanding necessitates a radical renewal of one’s means of comprehension, latitudes where I will be forced to forget that which up to now I knew and was... I want to let the climate of the tropics, the Indian mode of consciousness, the Chinese code of life and many other factors, which I cannot envisage in advance, work their spell upon me one after the other, and then watch what will become of me.
~ Count Keyserling
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
~ TS Eliot
9.14.93
I can’t believe it-- I’ve been saying that for days now. How can it really be here already? And how can I be a senior? I’m not sure the reality of the situation has sunk in yet. I keep talking about the trip, the destinations, the facts, but it feels like I’m talking about someone else, like it’s not really happening to me. Yet here I am: halfway moved into a room not even half the size of mine at home, sharing it with someone I didn’t know until today. T (my roommate) is great-- we’ve spent most of the day together. She says she’s kinda messy and kinda lazy, kinda shy, but also fun-- and she really likes to eat. We should get along great. I really want to start meeting people, I can’t wait until the ship feels like home. I haven’t gotten seasick yet, but can really feel the motion and it’s pretty noisy. The ship rattles and creaks, and we can hear everyone around us. I wonder how long it will take for me to get used to it, and how long it will take me to fall asleep tonight. How long will it be before people start dropping by the room, or I really get to know anybody? Who will be my best friends when it’s over?
I cried hugging Pop goodbye, still not realizing how big an adventure I’m undertaking. It’s all so unreal. The trip up was great-- we talked a lot, barely listened to any music, and read The Firm outloud to each other, just like when I was little (only then it was Black Beauty or The Secret Garden). He talks to me like an adult, always has, respects my opinion, and wants to hear it. He loves me very, very much. We waved and took pictures of each other waving and blew kisses and now ha has to drive home alone. I hope he finishes The Firm soon, I hope Ma is happy with the movies. I hope I love this trip. I hope everyone turns out to be as cool as they seem. I could tell from the beginning that wasn’t just snobby rich kids, but quality, laid-back people-- most a lot like me-- excited and nervous and curious as to what the next three and a half months will hold. I feel a million miles from home-- by morning we’ll be long past the last glimpse of land. Then come fourteen days of open sea...
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
~ Count Keyserling
We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring
will be to arrive where we started
and know the place for the first time.
~ TS Eliot
9.14.93
I can’t believe it-- I’ve been saying that for days now. How can it really be here already? And how can I be a senior? I’m not sure the reality of the situation has sunk in yet. I keep talking about the trip, the destinations, the facts, but it feels like I’m talking about someone else, like it’s not really happening to me. Yet here I am: halfway moved into a room not even half the size of mine at home, sharing it with someone I didn’t know until today. T (my roommate) is great-- we’ve spent most of the day together. She says she’s kinda messy and kinda lazy, kinda shy, but also fun-- and she really likes to eat. We should get along great. I really want to start meeting people, I can’t wait until the ship feels like home. I haven’t gotten seasick yet, but can really feel the motion and it’s pretty noisy. The ship rattles and creaks, and we can hear everyone around us. I wonder how long it will take for me to get used to it, and how long it will take me to fall asleep tonight. How long will it be before people start dropping by the room, or I really get to know anybody? Who will be my best friends when it’s over?
I cried hugging Pop goodbye, still not realizing how big an adventure I’m undertaking. It’s all so unreal. The trip up was great-- we talked a lot, barely listened to any music, and read The Firm outloud to each other, just like when I was little (only then it was Black Beauty or The Secret Garden). He talks to me like an adult, always has, respects my opinion, and wants to hear it. He loves me very, very much. We waved and took pictures of each other waving and blew kisses and now ha has to drive home alone. I hope he finishes The Firm soon, I hope Ma is happy with the movies. I hope I love this trip. I hope everyone turns out to be as cool as they seem. I could tell from the beginning that wasn’t just snobby rich kids, but quality, laid-back people-- most a lot like me-- excited and nervous and curious as to what the next three and a half months will hold. I feel a million miles from home-- by morning we’ll be long past the last glimpse of land. Then come fourteen days of open sea...
The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
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