Goodbye

The three days after Morocco were not enough time to say goodbye but boy people sure did a good job! We had the Alumni ball which was fun and I had an amazing table with my besties, students were signing flags and t-shirts and stuffed animals and journals in lieu of yearbooks (I had them sign my map but it was taken the night before we left by the housekeepers never to be seen again :( ), and we had Convocation.

Alumni ball consisted of a farewell slideshow, fancy dinner, and dance party.

Alumni Ball (aka Photo Shoot) VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

The slideshow and video they showed were pretty spectacular (you know, the talented students and media team and all that) – here is one of them that’s already been uploaded onto youtube:

SAS Spring 2013 End of the Voyage Slideshow

At Convocation we recognized the graduating seniors and faculty and staff and everyone. It was so well put together and beautiful. There was even a blessing sent in by our number 1 Arch! Then they played this video which is the poem I shared with you all before in my Talent show blog – but Stephen reading it with pictures… so incredible. I wasn’t able to upload it but ask me when you see me and I’ll show it off!

Tom shared another great video tribute at our last pre-port for Spain.

So it was a cryfest for a couple days. I cried a bunch today when I said goodbye to my children (pictured above in the Alumni ball photos on the deck with Craig and I), when I said goodbye to my sea, when I said goodbye to the staff, but the worst ever was my goodbyes with Craig, Jason, Kelly, and Dan… ouch. Even though those three are definite “see you laters” – it felt extra painful to know I wouldn’t be seeing them everyday for a long time.

So the voyage is over and I learned a lot. Besides what I learned about countries I had never heard of, I also learned a lot about myself. Early thoughts on lessons (though I’m sure there are MANY MANY more):

• I’m stronger than I ever thought I was. I have done something I never thought I could do, pick up and quit my job, and travel around the world essentially alone (I was at first).
• This is a cheat because I already knew it – but I am so lucky to have the family I have.. to support this even when they didn’t understand it, embrace it, and travel with me in every blog and email was so incredible. I am so lucky and I couldn’t thank them enough. (Friends – you apply here too!)
• I learned so much about humanity and kindness and forgiveness through my time with Arch and through the people I met in a number of the ports.
• The power of community is unbelievable – we lost a member of our community, got into big trouble, got into little trouble, got through stormy waters (literally), celebrated together.. it was so strong and the experience was all we needed to bond us.
• It doesn’t matter how much stuff you have, or how big of a space you have – you can make a home with anything if the people are right. The ship honestly felt like home – I’d get back from port and know I was safe and knew I had people that cared about me, and knew I had someone to sit with at dinner.
• Homesickness is real, and fueled by lack of puppy kisses.
• It is easy for people to find reasons to be unhappy, even when you are sailing around the world! I learned new skills to rise above it, and question it, and found ways to make myself happy (usually I get my energy and, in some ways, happiness from other people – hence the extrovert)
• In the beginning of the voyage, I didn’t think I could do it. In those Asian countries I literally believed I would starve to death because I had to eat with chopsticks. People laughed at me everywhere, and stared, one place gave me a spoon, but eventually I prevailed. I wouldn’t say I mastered the chopsticks but I have mastered the art of never giving up about something I am passionate about (in this case food). :)
• Having a routine is equally hard and important… I have to work on that more now, for me and for Fletch.
• When I travel in the US, I’m going to travel like I have abroad – ask questions, take risks, talk to people, etc..
• I can honestly say I have reignited my passion for the work I do in higher education. The ability to see so many of my students completely mature and transform in 4 months was incredible and reinforced how important the college experience is. I know there aren’t a lot of experiences like this one – not many people can study abroad – so we need to give them equally as gratifying and educational opportunities on campus.. somehow. I hope to figure it out. :)

So like I said, I’ve learned tons of stuff from how to (kind of)  use chopsticks, to how I will eat raw salmon if I want cream cheese badly enough, to the philosophies of Ubuntu, to combating technological difficulties, to the incredible inequalities of the world. I wanted to do this blog to share my goodbyes but also because I was really bad at keeping my journal… so now this is kind of my journal.

I fly to the States tomorrow, and will be spending a whirlwind All-American weekend in our nations capital! Perhaps I’ll blog about it through my new lens! :) So if you were reading to spend my international time with me, thank you! I appreciate the interest and I hope you have enjoyed… and if you were reading just to read – perhaps there will be more to come! Maybe I’ll find interesting enough things in my everyday life to blog about (though, let’s be honest – I’d probably just blog about food). ;)