What a day today has been.
It started off with a visit to the campus store, where I bought a world map and some markers. I am having people sign my map kind of like a yearbook. This map is huge, and I'm so excited because I already have had so many people sign it. Deb Resling, who I have talked about in my blog several times (one of my supervisors/favorite person on the ship), wrote the most wonderful message: "To the best work study and friend on our voyage, the best of luck in all your future endeavors. Deb" It melted my heart. She then gave me her card and told me that I could come visit her and her husband Rich in Colorado anytime. I will definitely be taking her up on that offer. I love Deb so much. Drew, my main supervisor wrote a really wonderful message as well. I can't remember what he said off the top of my head, and Staci currently has my map, so I'll post it tomorrow.
In my first class of the day, Adolescence, our teacher surprised us by saying that we were going to have "half a class and half a party." She ordered ice cream sundaes for all of us! It was the absolute sweetest thing! I love Dr. Kraft. She is one of the sweetest, funniest professors I've ever had. At the end of class she told us that we've been the best group of students, and she's really going to miss us. She also gave us her real world contact info (as our SAS emails won't work once we leave the ship), and said to get in touch with her if we needed anything. She is wonderful.
Global Studies was boring as always. I have such a hard time getting excited about this class. It's just not my cup of tea. Today was a review session for the exam tomorrow...which I need to do some more studying for.
Race, Class, and Gender was also just a review session for the exam. Nothing exciting. It's so weird to think that today was the last day of classes. Tomorrow is the GS exam, and then the day after are the exams for other classes, but I don't have an exam for Adolescence (I have a research project instead...ahhh...), so it's just R, C, and G.
There was a BBQ as a special event for dinner tonight! Mac and cheese, ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, etc. It was great! It was a madhouse though! They were serving food in the Garden Lounge (the 6th deck dining room) and on the pool deck (7th deck), instead of normally having meals in the Garden Lounge and the Main Dining Room (5th deck). The lines were insane! The lines in the Garden Lounge (one on each side of the room) went all the way across the room and outside onto the back deck! Everybody showed up for the BBQ! I had a fun time. The food was good (which is becoming more and more of a rare occasion), and it was a fun time spent with friends. Some girls in our group even ordered an ice-cream cake just for the heck of it. Usually they're ordered for people's birthdays, but they just got one because they could. It was delicious!
Tonight I went to an event called "Real Talk." It was intense, emotional, and a great experience. The program was created by Paul, one of the LLC's, and led by Staci. Earlier in the day signs had been posted all over the ship with provocative statements (ie "Black people are lazy," "Mexicans are coming into our country and stealing our jobs," "That's so gay!" etc.) to get people's attention and then at the bottom it would say that it was for the Real Talk program. About 20 or 30 of us came together and created a "brave space" or a "safe space." We talked about this issues of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. It was very similar to the material we cover in Race, Class, and Gender. It was great getting to hear what people had to say. People were letting their guards down and saying how they truly felt. It was a great dialogue. I took a step of courage and shared something I personally struggle with, but don't really talk about. I am a white person, which is a major identity to have as a dominant identity. While I do benefit from being white and my life has been very much affected by my race, that is the only identity in my life where I fall into the majority. Every other aspect of my life, that so inherently define who I am, is comprised of identities that put me in the minority. I face an issue with the fact that although I have all of these subordinate identities, they can all easily be kept under the radar, and many people might not have any idea unless they know me personally. I sometimes struggle with the issue of wondering what my life would be like if these identities were not so easily hidden, and thus did not create such burdens for me. What would my life be like if they were as in-your-face as race is? Would my life be harder or would there be a sense of relief and simplicity because it would just be out there for the world to see and that would be that? It was terrifying and liberating to put myself in such a vulnerable position in front of a room of people, but I felt a sense of relief for getting that off my chest, and I was given a lot of warm responses. It was especially comforting to hear the responses from the black students in the room who do face the issue of having their minority identity being so out in the open. Staci did a great job facilitating this program. I really gained a lot out of it.
I wish it was as easy to make my papers as long as these blog posts...I must get to bed now. I have my Global Studies final tomorrow. Yikes. Wish me luck!
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