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Hi everyone! When you’re reading this, whenever this post has gone up, we have likely been on the boat for a little while now. However, I’m just beginning to write this upon the conclusion of our FIRST FULL DAY on the R/V Atlantis.
There is a lot I could talk about and a lot I will talk about, because the last few days have been incredible, informative, and most importantly, have been a lot of fun. Our group has run drills, gotten to know each other better, and lastly, set sail through the Panama Canal!
I will get to Panama Canal. I promise. But I wanted to write about our whole day, and this trip, and what I felt regarding all that we were learning and discussing.
We started out the day with get-to-know you lectures from our super cool mentors, Becky, Sheldon, and Jeanette. These small get-to-know-yous ended up taking forever (in a good way) because that’s what happens when you put 8 inquisitive students in one room. After all that, we went to eat a delicious lunch, and at 1230, headed to muster. Muster is basically a general fire and safety drill. Muster allowed me to realize my long-time dream of becoming a lobster, by squeezing into the famous red immersion suit as seen on past STEMSeas expeditions.
I also spent a great deal of today simply learning directions. Anyone who knows me may be well aware that I can be directionally challenged, and that challenge only increases when faced with new words for those directions. The good news is that new doesn’t mean impossible. I remind myself that when I walk one direction, I’m walking aft or turning starboard. Another way is port, and it gets a little easier, just like anything else.
The reason I brought this up is because this first day is a lot of learning, about myself, about others, and about the thousands of paths you can take through life. Just like my new sense of direction, I’ve had some incredibly fascinating conversations with bright, fun, and kind people.
Every moment of talking about parasites (of which there are many definitions), Monte-Carlo simulations (pic included, they are super cool), and grad school unions (be aware that these exist and are important), feels like a novelty. I have spent much of my life in school, trying to learn as much as I can about as many things as I can, so why does it seem like these past three days hold so much more information than the vast majority of my life? Well, we talked about an answer to this very question: the novelty zone. New places, people, and experiences push us into discomfort and allow us to learn and build up neural pathways. So, if you feel like you’re doing it wrong, you might be. BUT you’re also learning so, so much just by trying, so keep doing whatever it is you’re doing. Except better!
So, it’s only fitting that our first full day comes to close with an experience that is new for all of us, even some members of the Atlantis crew: the Panama Canal!
I learned while writing this that this is actually our program’s first time having students go through the canal. Every member of our team was hanging out on the O3 deck from 1830 until 0200 (for all you non-boat people, that’s about 6:30pm till 2:00am). It was in my opinion the coolest part of the day, and while the time spent waiting was well spent chatting with each other and the crew, seeing the canal and the different locks work was the most incredible part. There were cable cars attached by linemen who came on the boat, we saw dredging vessels and birds on the lake after the second lock, and the locks themselves were mechanical marvels! Most of us collapsed into bed long before the end was reached, though a lot of the crew were on shift throughout the canal until 0530, when the R/V Atlantis entered into the Atlantic Ocean and set course for Tampa.
All in all, seeing the Panama Canal at night, watching land fade farther and farther in the distance under stars and pale light of cargo and cruise ships, was one of the most amazing things I can say I’ve ever done in my life. Every moment of today is part of a path that I’m glad I ended up taking, and I can’t wait to see what the rest of our time on the R/V Atlantis will hold for us. Here’s to all that is new and to smooth sailing here on out!
