Almost forgot I'm taking classes!

Classes began on Tuesday.  I’m taking four courses: Global Studies; Theology, Spirituality, and Ethics of Sustainability; Marine Biology; and Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Human Sexuality.  In each of my courses we will be incorporating the concept of “Sustainability” into our discussions since this is the theme of the spring 2010 voyage. 

Global Studies is a required course so we meet every day in a big lecture hall.  Many of the teachers and their families sit in on this course, as well as, the Life Long Learners.  In this course we will learn about the countries we are going to be visiting with a global and comparative approach.  We have guest speakers from each country we visit who come on the ship at the port before.  The teacher for this course is so funny and makes everything really interesting. 

My Theology teacher is also really funny.  Come to think of it, all of my professors have a great sense of humor which makes class much more enjoyable.  In my theology course we will be exploring the theological, spiritual, and ethical perspectives on environmental issues that are becoming increasingly important across the globe.  We will look at the relationship between religion and nature, as well as, the sea as a religious symbol.  We will also be discussing animal rights and the spiritual value of vegetarianism.

In each of our classes we are required to do field work and submit a certain number of journals or reflections about each trip we take.  We have an opportunity to go on field programs led by our teachers or we can write about another trip or individual traveling we did.  For my theology course, one of the options is keeping a food log or reflecting about the food we eat.  This is interesting to me because I’ve recently been thinking a lot about vegetarianism.  Prior to this trip, I hadn’t been eating red meat or pork and since I’ve been on the ship I haven’t had any chicken either, only fish.  It was not intentional but now I’m thinking it might be neat to experiment with this, especially since we will be discussing vegetarianism in class.

My next course, Marine Biology also has some interesting field work options.  For example, I’m already signed up to do a snorkeling excursion in Hilo, Hawaii next week.  I also have an option to write about the marine life I see at each port or the type of sea food that is served in each country.  So my “homework” is to go to sea food restaurants and write about what types of fish they have.  I don’t see this being a problem, especially when I get to Japan—I can’t wait to try the different types of sushi!

My fourth class, Human Sexuality, seems like it’s going to be a really interesting course.  Not only will we be covering different aspects of sexuality but we will be looking at it with a cross-cultural perspective.  It will be interesting to see how differently sexuality is expressed in each of the countries we visit.  Our field work assignments will require us to write about a topic involving sexuality in three of the countries we visit.  Examples of these topics include family planning and contraception, sexual violence, sexual orientation in the media, sexual exploitations, etc.   I really like the trips that my professor is leading so I am signed up to do two of them.  One of these is a trip to the Chu Chi tunnels in Vietnam and then visiting local homes on the border of Cambodia.  The second is visiting the SOS Children’s Village of Bambou in Mauritius.  Although they are not directly related to our course (my professor teaches several different courses), both of these trips will undoubtedly give me information for my field assignments on sexuality.

I hope my classes continue to stay interesting because we have classes for 6 days straight until we get to Hawaii.  It will feel weird going to school on Saturday and Sunday, but it is well worth it to have off in Hawaii!