Notes from the Red Sea

Natalie Penry
Feb 12, 2023
4 min read

Land Ho! And thank goodness for that.

It’s been a long eleven days at sea my friends, but we’ve made it to Jordan. While sailing around the Horn of Africa has its exciting moments, the majority of my days at sea were school days, so lower your expectations on the level of adventures.

That being said, locking 500 or so college kids on a cruise ship for two weeks means there will inevitably be some shenanigans. Care to learn more about how we’ve entertained ourselves?

Leaving Us to Our Own Devices

A typical day on a floating campus looks like this:

7:30 - wake up & getting ready

8:00 - Breakfast

8:30 - Global Studies

9:40 - Travel Writing (B Days)

12:00 - Lunch

12:40 - Reading Without Borders (A Days) or World War II in Europe (B Days)

2:00 - Free Time! Do homework, go to the gym, hangout with Annakate

5:30 - Dinner

7:00 - Cross Currents Lecture (Special Faculty Lectures)

So technically, after 2:00 in the afternoon, I’m completely free to do as the spirit moves me, but my scheduled activities typically end at 8:00. That still leaves *several hours* of time to kill before bedtime. Some people spend hours stargazing, others prefer to play boardgames and talk into the wee hours of the night. Being the film major I am, you shouldn’t be surprised I’ve surrounded myself with a group of friends who turn to movie nights.

saw this & was convinced we were about to be the next Captain Phillips

We absolutely had to watch Captain Phillips on this stretch of the voyage - it was thematically relevant, what with us sailing around Somalia. Our movie-going experience was enhanced by unintentional 4D: we went through some rough seas that night, and the ship was shaking right along with the handheld camera.

Semester at Sea hosted a movie night in the Union early on in this stretch, and Annakate being the big Indiana Jones fan she is, Kelsi and I joined her to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark. Harrison Ford continued to grace our screens with Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; since we are en route to Petra, it seemed fitting that we would watch Indy’s Jordanian foray.

That still leaves several days of movies to watch though, which leads us to…

Harry Potter and the Movie Marathon

It came to the attention of my friend group that one among us had neither read the books nor seen the movies of this simply iconic (if somewhat controversial at the moment) franchise. We had to remedy that, naturally.

We’ve watched one movie a night for six days, and will wrap up with the Deathly Hallows after our time in Jordan. Taylor (Harry Potter newbie) is quickly becoming a convert. Her reaction to *that scene* in the Half Blood Prince was priceless! Glad to know the magic is still there :)

Cross Currents

Aside from watching movies, the aforementioned Cross Currents are a big hit with SASers while at sea. Cross Currents gives faculty a chance to go really in-depth with a topic they’re passionate about, as well as a chance to show their personalities. Some of favorite lectures thus far have been Jim Schiffman’s coverage of CNN & The Gulf War and Michael Connolly’s look at the Rise & Fall of the British Empire.

The hands down winner, though, goes to Nancy Carr’s Musical Theater Trivia. Nancy & her husband Geno are both true theater vets, and it felt like coming home to walk into the Union and hear show tunes blasting. There were eight rounds of trivia, ranging from multiple choice “name the show from this description” to “name the show from the first lyric of the show.” The final round had a handful of brave souls come on stage and attempt to finish the lyric of an undisclosed song.

Dear Reader, I am proud (and a bit bashful) to say that I won the whole thing. My identification of “Man of La Mancha” and “Once on This Island” really came in clutch, not to mention the two decades of research that comes from being a born & raised theater kid. My grand prize is a fancy dinner with the Carrs later on in the voyage, so expect to hear more later!

Miscellaneous Mischief

Enjoy these three random photos that only begin to capture the chaos of life on the World Odyssey :)

Final Thoughts

This feels like a disproportionately short review of eleven days at sea, but as I’ve said in earlier posts, time moves differently here. It takes me a hot minute to recognize what day of the week it is or if there’s a semblance of hope the East Coast will be awake yet. We’ve been on this ship for a small infinity, and yet, no time at all.

Unlike the Fall SAS voyages, we get the bulk of our school days out of the way at the beginning: we’re two days short of halfway done, though we’ve only gone to two ports. What that means is a dramatic increase in pace for the rest of the journey. Instead of incredibly long stretches at sea, we’ll be out for five days at the most, hopping from port to port in search of adventure.

I’m eager to get on the ground in Jordan, go in search of Aqaba’s landmarks and find myself in the iconic film locations of Wadi Rum. I’ll be spending the next five days here before the World Odyssey leaves for our first European leg. For my friends and family at home, have a wonderful Super Bowl Sunday and a lovely Valentine’s Day - I’ll be busy falling in love with Jordan!