Hello everyone.
I've only been here a week, but it feels like forever; I guess because we do so much each day. Food has been pretty good this week, the gym is weird because I'm not used to it and there's a layer of saltwater over all the weight machines outside, and it was laundry day for my cabin (3113) yesterday. It doesn't sound exciting, but it kind of was.
When I look out my window now, I can see the Amazon river! This river is way bigger than I ever imagined, but you can actually see land on both sides of the ship if you look hard enough. There are deposits in the river of mud and other solid debris, and apparently the largest one is the size of Switzerland. We're the first SAS voyage to ever travel along the Amazon, which is pretty amazing.
For the most part, everyone seemed to enjoy Dominica. Other things that were apparently fun to do were to go snorkeling at Champaign Reef, visit the black sand beaches, and tour the hot springs. There was a marketplace, which I heard mixed things about. I think you had to go at the right time, and go to the right one. There were two markets; one for food and one for gifts. We arrived in Roseau on Sunday so things were pretty dead since everyone was in church and the city shuts down that day.
Classes are still going well. Our food and culture professor told us about her graduate research work in Slovakia, which was interesting, though I'm not sure what it really has to do with anything since she barely talked about food and mostly talked about the country's economic history. That class should be a good amount of writing, but not too terrible. We've already read an article on coffee farmers, the basic notional needs for humans, and how humans have evolved to eat the way we do. We've also read about how our environments shape our diets.
For stress management, we've been talking about what stress does to the body, and we split into groups to talk about what stresses us out an how we deal with it. In Altruism, we're talking about oppression, and eventually I need to write a paper about a time I've been oppressed. People really bare their souls in that class. One girl talked about how she used to be homeless and one guy talked about how his family used to be rich and then lost everything and were living below the poverty line. Our professor told us his life story and it was really intense. People were crying because it was so emotional. I'm not used to it in a normal classroom.
Yesterday in Global Studies, Professor Kottler spoke to us about his work in Nepal helping girls of the lowest cast receive an education, preventing them from being sold as sex slaves. I seriously can't escape Kottler. I see him on A day for Stress Management and on B day for Altruism. To see him in Global Studies was kind of surprising. He's a really good speaker, who has lead this exciting life and published over 80 books, one of which is being made into a movie soon. He's been working to provide scholarships to girls so they can attend school (children need to pay for school after third grade, costing around $75 USD/year). He started the foundation when he traveled to Nepal, one of the world's poorest countries, and one of only two countries to use a cast system, to help his student do a research on why Nepal has the highest rate of death among pregnant women. His goal is to inspire girls to become doctors so women will come to them for medical care because many women would rather die than go to a male doctor and feel violated by the procedures. Everyone seemed really moved by his talk. People were talking about doing service even after GS ended, so their interest really seemed real. It was pretty great to see people really get excited by a cause.
Internet is really slow here (I've been sending all my blog posts to Dad so he can quickly update them) so the best way to contact me would be through my SAS e-mail, which is way faster and free to use. I haven't checked my UVA e-mail or G-mail accounts in a while so this is the best way to contact me if you want (and you all should).
I'll update again after Brazil.
Alex
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