This is a picture of our ship finally leaving Miami taken w/ my HOT new camera and lens. Good thing i bought that UV filter jounks....i think.

BTW...this is not a "cruise" or a vacation. I worked about a 14 hour work day today. A lot of training and preparation for welcoming 725 students on board Monday in Nassau, Bahamas.

However, I did get a chance to go out and enjoy this sunset before dinner. We had just begun to depart for Nassau (we were anchored off the Miami coast for a day). The sunset was quite breathtaking..and even moreso from the back deck of this ship. I waved bye to the United States and enjoyed nice Miami skyline sunset. I sat there for about 30 minutes just watching the skyline disappear and enjoying the open water.

Tonight at dinner we must have been navigating some choppy waters because it was like 100 drunk people trying to walk around the dining area. Everyone was wobbling and trying not to run into each other.... I'm experiencing slight nausea, but no sea sickness yet. Perhaps a sign of things to come when we really run into some choppy conditions.....ah well, it's worth throwing up for 3 months....isn't it?

Work is coming along ok. I really enjoy and am excited to see this community of people come together on this ship. I've enjoyed getting to know some of the faculty, staff, and crew on this ship. One of the faculty members saw i minored in Spanish and came up to introduce her and her husband. And so we have committed to speaking solamente in espanol. Her and her husband are mad cool, they retired in Mejico and serve underprivileged communities there.

Looks like there's about 8 UMD students, 5 UVM'ers, 4 UCSD'ers, and ONE NC State student!

We dock in the Bahamas tonight, and will have 500 parents on board for a couple hours. Afterwards, me and a couple staff members are hoping to watch some football on land in the Bahamas. I'll do what I can to watch the RAVENS. Should be a good game.

Can't believe this ship is bout to be bumpin w/ people....