Today is a beautiful day at sea. It's 68 degrees in the air and 70 degrees in the ocean. (Don't worry mom and dad - we only know that because of the announcement.) We're about a day and a half outside of Hawaii, and people on the ship have started to settle in to what it will be like to live here.
Again, I must reiterate that time is so weird on the ship. Weekdays and weekends no longer exists. We're either in an A-day or B-day (for students' classes), a port day, or an off day, which in the Unreasonable program we call "glory days." We don't have a port hole in our room, so we go to sleep in the dark and wake up in the dark, and it's really hard to tell what time it is unless we're on the upper decks where there are wonderfully large windows. The days seem to meld together, and it feels like we've been on the ship for a month, and it's really only been a total of six days. I've already started to get used to it now that we've gotten a little bit of a groove to our days.
The plan is to get a 24-hour glory day each week, but with the way our port schedules change things, we might have to squash a couple into a week and skip some on other weeks. It's so nice to have a day where we don't have to have a camera in our hand or be editing in the affectionately-named "vomit closet", however, cabin fever is a real worry on a voyage this long. The academic community tries really hard to keep people busy so that they can't dwell on the fact that we're completely confined to this moving space for days on end.
This six-day journey to Hawaii is the second-longest leg that we'll have to sail continuously without seeing any land. Hawaii to Japan will take nine days total. After leaving Ensanada, Mexico, it only took me two days to want off the ship. :-) After getting over my motion sickness, though, it's really a nice way to live. Far better than I was expecting.
Yesterday, Daniel Epstein (Founder of the Unreasonable Institute) and George Kembell (founder of Stanford's D-School) had their first class of the course that they are teaching together. We have a running joke about what it's called because no one can remember it. It's something like global entrepreneurial impact studies of the 21st century. Okay - I have no idea what it's called, but it doesn't totally matter because I can describe what they're doing it. They opened with having students pull out their syllabus and ripping it in half. This immediately got the students attention.
Semester at Sea, as we've been learning, was created for hands-on, real-life eduction for college students to not just teach them about the world, but to show them the world. Get them entered into their learning and their studies by taking them to places where they can apply it.
With the Unreasonable Institute or Unreasonable at Sea program on the ship, students get to work directly with 11 companies that are in different stages of development working on social issues our world is facing.
During the first class, all 11 companies pitched what they do and then offered up an issue that they need to solve right now. This ranged from the company called Artificial Vision for the Blind, who need to completely rename and rebrand their company complete with a website by the time we get to Japan, to the company called One Earth Design, who needs to figure out a way to make their solar cooker appeal to the first-world camping market in order to increase their profit margins to continue to be sustainable in selling the stove for less in third world countries where other people need it.
Plus, the three learning partners onboard the ship, SAP, Xbox and Nike had to pitch what they're working on right now and an issue that they need help solving. Nike, for example, has a piece of the company called "The Girl Effect" where they want to increase the level of education for girls in other countries, and the way that they feel they can do this is by motivating boys to become advocates for female education. (That seems like a complicated way to put it...I'd recommend looking it up because it's a great program.)
Then, once everyone pitched, the students in the class got to break up and go to the company that they were most excited about helping, and do rapid ideation to help find a few ideas that would help the companies with their issues. It was a very neat experience overall. Academia DEFINITELY needs more classes like this!
After a long day of shooting, we headed up to the Glazer Lounge, which is restricted to just faculty and staff - of which we are considered. In the spirit of renaming things, this awesome lounge is deemed the Tipsy Toucan. It's on the front of the ship, with almost floor to ceiling windows, many chairs and tables, a bar and a dance floor complete with disco lights and lasers. We celebrated with a dance party and got everybody from the Unreasonable program dancing away into the night.
I went to sit down and take a break from my grueling dance moves, and looked out into the pitch blackness of the Pacific Ocean. I realized that we are 1,000 miles from any sort of civilization living as if we're just down the street from our homes at a dance club. It was a humbling moment in the middle of all the excitement to realize how darn lucky I am to have been chosen as a part of this journey.
I agree with Daniel's belief that entrepreneurism will change the world, and my job, as a part of this film crew, is to make sure that everyone is aware of what's going on. These companies are ridiculous. Protei designs autonomous sailing drones that can head out into the ocean and clean up oil spills and plastic all while mapping out uncharted parts of the ocean. What? Damascus Fortune has found a way to take carbon emissions out of our atmosphere and turn them into a light weight material, called carbon nanotubes, and make a profit out of waste. What?! Artificial Vision for the Blind has literally found a cure for blindness. SAY WHAT?!
Yeah. This is cool.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Speaking of Comfort Zones...
Life on a ship isn't necessarily the glamorous lifestyle that some might make it out to be. There are some perks: you never have to make your bed, you never have to do your laundry, you don't have to cook for yourself and your view is the beautiful ocean all day long.
The downsides are the fact that someone else is coming in your room to make your bed, you stink more often than not because you do a lot of re-wearing of the few clothes in your possession, you don't get to cook for yourself and not only do you not have a view from your windowless dwellings, but the churning of the waves outside matches perfectly with the churning of your tummy.
The hardest thing so far has been focusing on all the filming and footage-sorting that we need to do while adjusting to life in closed, moving quarters with 1000 of your soon-to-be-closest friends.
We've officially nicknamed the media room that we dump and sort all of our footage in the "eagle's nest" since it's on deck 6, but after spending two days in there logging our footage, I prefer it's other nickname, "the vomit closet."
We've decided to test out a new way of telling the stories of the Unreasonable companies on the ship, so I will be following closely with One Earth Designs to try and share their vision for a better world.
We're on our way to Hawaii and will be arriving in Hilo on January 15. First stop will be a snack location to get ourselves some tasty treats for our room. We've found that we've been hungrier than we've ever been. I wonder if its the motion of the ship having our bodies work overtime or something.
The downsides are the fact that someone else is coming in your room to make your bed, you stink more often than not because you do a lot of re-wearing of the few clothes in your possession, you don't get to cook for yourself and not only do you not have a view from your windowless dwellings, but the churning of the waves outside matches perfectly with the churning of your tummy.
The hardest thing so far has been focusing on all the filming and footage-sorting that we need to do while adjusting to life in closed, moving quarters with 1000 of your soon-to-be-closest friends.
We've officially nicknamed the media room that we dump and sort all of our footage in the "eagle's nest" since it's on deck 6, but after spending two days in there logging our footage, I prefer it's other nickname, "the vomit closet."
We've decided to test out a new way of telling the stories of the Unreasonable companies on the ship, so I will be following closely with One Earth Designs to try and share their vision for a better world.
We're on our way to Hawaii and will be arriving in Hilo on January 15. First stop will be a snack location to get ourselves some tasty treats for our room. We've found that we've been hungrier than we've ever been. I wonder if its the motion of the ship having our bodies work overtime or something.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Ensenada, Mexico
Today, we started out with a delicious breakfast in the Garden Room (AKA Level 6 Cafeteria). They have a wonderful spread of food on the ship during mealtimes which could prove to be dangerous to over-eaters like myself. They warned us about the freshman 15 effect so we're trying to be very conscious about getting our exercise. So far, we have forgotten so many little pieces of gear that we need during the day that running from the back of the ship on level 6 to the very front of the ship on level 3 where our rooms are has left my muscles aching in the night. I will have perfect thighs of steel in four months, or get smarter and start carrying a backpack...
After some final meetings and orientations and finishing up setting up our editing room on the ship, we headed to lunch with the Unreasonable team. Daniel gave an interactive orientation to the Unreasonable at Sea program, which we filmed, and then we completed our final orientation meeting on the ship.
After all of our business of the day was finished, we went out as a full film crew and admin team with our learning partners from SAP, XBox and Nike to enjoy some Mexican food in the port town of Ensenada, Mexico.
I'm working on my Spanish, so I was able to order up my Ceviche del Pescado y un Margerita. We were seating in and outdoor eating area covered with Christmas lights and fun decorations. We were serenaded by many a street vendor with various instruments and had great talk of our past adventures. Everyone is in high spirits, but secretly wishing we could keep the ship to ourselves instead of welcome on 640 college students in the morning...
But in all seriousness, the adventure really begins once the students and lifelong learners embark and our ship community is complete. This is going to be an amazing voyage! And it all begins at sunrise!
After some final meetings and orientations and finishing up setting up our editing room on the ship, we headed to lunch with the Unreasonable team. Daniel gave an interactive orientation to the Unreasonable at Sea program, which we filmed, and then we completed our final orientation meeting on the ship.
After all of our business of the day was finished, we went out as a full film crew and admin team with our learning partners from SAP, XBox and Nike to enjoy some Mexican food in the port town of Ensenada, Mexico.
I'm working on my Spanish, so I was able to order up my Ceviche del Pescado y un Margerita. We were seating in and outdoor eating area covered with Christmas lights and fun decorations. We were serenaded by many a street vendor with various instruments and had great talk of our past adventures. Everyone is in high spirits, but secretly wishing we could keep the ship to ourselves instead of welcome on 640 college students in the morning...
But in all seriousness, the adventure really begins once the students and lifelong learners embark and our ship community is complete. This is going to be an amazing voyage! And it all begins at sunrise!
Orientation
Monday morning, bright and early,we packed up the house in San Diego and headed to a hotel near the port to begin our orientation with Semester at Sea. It was designed well in that we were interspersed with all of the faculty and staff for the voyage and got to meet the academic side of the ship as we all got oriented together. I got to sit with the ships physician and three professors and their spouses and one residential director who will be working on student life on the ship. (A job that I applied for in college and was not selected for because I had no personality...not bitter, just saying.)
We snagged a shuttle bus to the port and embarked on the Semester at Sea ship in the afternoon and met the entrepreneurs that we will be sailing with and documenting during the voyage. Our first meeting was with a camera in their face which is how they will most likely see us throughout the voyage. :-)
It was exciting to get to meet them face-to-face for the first time after hearing so much about their ventures and backgrounds. They are doing remarkable things for the huge issues in our world, but in getting to mingle with them, we quickly realize they are people just like everyone else. They're approachable and interesting and hard-working and totally awesome.
We had our first muster drill where we donned our life jackets and headed to our stations in silence. Matt got sent back to put pants on since he was wearing shorts. Apparently, it's important to dress conservatively in the lifeboats.
We finished our drill and then had an informal induction ceremony that allowed everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves and say what they were excited about. This included the film crew and because we were filming we had to jostle around a bit to get everyone on the crew filmed during their moment to speak. It was all well and good until Matt got to introduce himself and the ship began to back up causing the loudest (and moderately concerning) amount of vibration in the room. None of us could really hear what he was saying because he still has his "sick voice" from the cold. It felt like the louder he spoke, the louder the vibrations got, and it ended in defeat as everyone laughed at the funny situation.
After introductions, we headed out to the stern of the ship to watch San Diego disappear into the night. It was quite magical, and people had all sorts of reactions. Our new friend from India began an impromptu dance party where he led a circle of Unreasonable seafaring dancers in steps to his singing. A fun ending to a long day.
We snagged a shuttle bus to the port and embarked on the Semester at Sea ship in the afternoon and met the entrepreneurs that we will be sailing with and documenting during the voyage. Our first meeting was with a camera in their face which is how they will most likely see us throughout the voyage. :-)
It was exciting to get to meet them face-to-face for the first time after hearing so much about their ventures and backgrounds. They are doing remarkable things for the huge issues in our world, but in getting to mingle with them, we quickly realize they are people just like everyone else. They're approachable and interesting and hard-working and totally awesome.
We had our first muster drill where we donned our life jackets and headed to our stations in silence. Matt got sent back to put pants on since he was wearing shorts. Apparently, it's important to dress conservatively in the lifeboats.
We finished our drill and then had an informal induction ceremony that allowed everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves and say what they were excited about. This included the film crew and because we were filming we had to jostle around a bit to get everyone on the crew filmed during their moment to speak. It was all well and good until Matt got to introduce himself and the ship began to back up causing the loudest (and moderately concerning) amount of vibration in the room. None of us could really hear what he was saying because he still has his "sick voice" from the cold. It felt like the louder he spoke, the louder the vibrations got, and it ended in defeat as everyone laughed at the funny situation.
After introductions, we headed out to the stern of the ship to watch San Diego disappear into the night. It was quite magical, and people had all sorts of reactions. Our new friend from India began an impromptu dance party where he led a circle of Unreasonable seafaring dancers in steps to his singing. A fun ending to a long day.
Monday, January 7, 2013
Comfort Zones
As my good friends at Four Story Creative pointed out last week with a tweet of a quote by Peter McWilliamson: "To the degree we're not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.”
Today, we had our first big team meeting where the entire Unreasonable team was able to finally be together all in the same room. It was truly inspiring to get our heads out of the nitty-gritty details that we've been living in for the past six months and realize, once again, the big picture of what we're doing here and why we're doing it.
On a personal note, my reason for coming on this adventure is more about following the crowd. I wouldn't describe myself as a very adventurous person, and yet, I find myself in the middle of Texas shooting the gathering of bull DNA, or in a hotel room interviewing a couple whose son is on death row, or sitting on a pile of snow at the bottom of the earth filming a bunch of lounging elephant seals. I don't think I'd get out of bed if it weren't for the positive pressures of my adventurous friends and husband.
I was afraid for the longest time to come along on this four-month journey away from home, but with each turn and new piece of information, Matt and I just kept landing on, "Let's do this!" I was afraid to leave our comfy house, and afraid to leave little Chester the cat, and afraid to leave the comforts of having a grocery store down the street and safe drinking water to come out of every faucet. I feared being homesick and especially feared all that would happen and move on back home while we were gone. I didn't want to miss out on a moment!
But, here I was today, surrounded by 18 people who have also left their lives for four months to be a part of a world changing experiment which will bring some of the world's most forward thinkers and technology creators together to immerse themselves in the world rather than step back and point out the things that need to change. For a moment I felt out of place, but then I thought, if I didn't fit here, I wouldn't be here.
George Kimmel brought up a talk that he had heard where a person talked about bravery. He mentioned that we always think of bravery as the absence of fear or vulnerability. We think that there are moments when we are brave and moments when we are scared, but this just isn't true. Bravery and fear go hand-in-hand. For every moment that a person is being brave and facing a fear, they are screaming out inside themselves, "what the heck did I just get myself into?!"
No good adventure is worth doing if you're doing it in your comfort zone. It might feel nice, but it's not challenging you to change. It's not challenging you to follow your dreams or to ignite your creativity.
I was inspired today to take life by the horns and not allow my fears to control me. They will still be there, but as the Unreasonable Group's values state, I will lean into them.
Tomorrow morning we pack up this house and head to the ship for orientation. Whatever happens, we're going to come back to the States with a lot of learnings.
Todays take-way: Follow your dreams. Live outside your comfort zone.
Today, we had our first big team meeting where the entire Unreasonable team was able to finally be together all in the same room. It was truly inspiring to get our heads out of the nitty-gritty details that we've been living in for the past six months and realize, once again, the big picture of what we're doing here and why we're doing it.
On a personal note, my reason for coming on this adventure is more about following the crowd. I wouldn't describe myself as a very adventurous person, and yet, I find myself in the middle of Texas shooting the gathering of bull DNA, or in a hotel room interviewing a couple whose son is on death row, or sitting on a pile of snow at the bottom of the earth filming a bunch of lounging elephant seals. I don't think I'd get out of bed if it weren't for the positive pressures of my adventurous friends and husband.
I was afraid for the longest time to come along on this four-month journey away from home, but with each turn and new piece of information, Matt and I just kept landing on, "Let's do this!" I was afraid to leave our comfy house, and afraid to leave little Chester the cat, and afraid to leave the comforts of having a grocery store down the street and safe drinking water to come out of every faucet. I feared being homesick and especially feared all that would happen and move on back home while we were gone. I didn't want to miss out on a moment!
But, here I was today, surrounded by 18 people who have also left their lives for four months to be a part of a world changing experiment which will bring some of the world's most forward thinkers and technology creators together to immerse themselves in the world rather than step back and point out the things that need to change. For a moment I felt out of place, but then I thought, if I didn't fit here, I wouldn't be here.
George Kimmel brought up a talk that he had heard where a person talked about bravery. He mentioned that we always think of bravery as the absence of fear or vulnerability. We think that there are moments when we are brave and moments when we are scared, but this just isn't true. Bravery and fear go hand-in-hand. For every moment that a person is being brave and facing a fear, they are screaming out inside themselves, "what the heck did I just get myself into?!"
No good adventure is worth doing if you're doing it in your comfort zone. It might feel nice, but it's not challenging you to change. It's not challenging you to follow your dreams or to ignite your creativity.
I was inspired today to take life by the horns and not allow my fears to control me. They will still be there, but as the Unreasonable Group's values state, I will lean into them.
Tomorrow morning we pack up this house and head to the ship for orientation. Whatever happens, we're going to come back to the States with a lot of learnings.
Todays take-way: Follow your dreams. Live outside your comfort zone.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Made it to San Diego
We arrived in San Diego yesterday morning and came to our first home away from home at a vacation rental house on Pacific beach. Just three blocks from the ocean and ocean walkway.
There are five bedrooms and a big basement with beds everywhere. There were almost enough beds for every one of our 18 Unreasonable team members. We all claimed a bed, then headed off to find some lunch on the beach.
We had burgers at a quaint breakfast and burger bar and laughed about how crazy it is that we're finally here and doing this all together.
For dinner, we went to the grocery store and got a bunch of burgers and brats and grilled on the roof patio for the whole team. It was a lovely way to end our first day altogether. Which it is!
Today, we're free to do whatever we want until 1:30 when we'll have our first team pow-wow to finish all of the details that we need to tie up before getting on the ship Monday morning.
There are five bedrooms and a big basement with beds everywhere. There were almost enough beds for every one of our 18 Unreasonable team members. We all claimed a bed, then headed off to find some lunch on the beach.
We had burgers at a quaint breakfast and burger bar and laughed about how crazy it is that we're finally here and doing this all together.
For dinner, we went to the grocery store and got a bunch of burgers and brats and grilled on the roof patio for the whole team. It was a lovely way to end our first day altogether. Which it is!
Today, we're free to do whatever we want until 1:30 when we'll have our first team pow-wow to finish all of the details that we need to tie up before getting on the ship Monday morning.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Embarkation is Near!
I can't believe that the countdown has gotten so low! Matt and I leave for San Diego in just four days. We have figured out and packed all of our film equipment that we'll be needing for the four month documentary, but haven't yet started with the clothes. They say that you need less than you think because the will do laundry on the ship each week.
We're trying to fit in seeing everybody before we take off, but have found that its hard to spend quality time with all of our loved ones with preparations to leave the country for four months!
The plan is to head to San Diego on Friday morning and join up with the rest of the Unreasonable at Sea team and finish up all of the final details before getting on the ship on January 7th. A that point we will head down to Mexico to pick up the 600 and some anxious college students who will be joining in on the Semester at Sea program.
Taxes, New Year's and packing are all that's left before we bid adieu until May 1st when we'll set foot back in the great state of Colorado.
We're trying to fit in seeing everybody before we take off, but have found that its hard to spend quality time with all of our loved ones with preparations to leave the country for four months!
The plan is to head to San Diego on Friday morning and join up with the rest of the Unreasonable at Sea team and finish up all of the final details before getting on the ship on January 7th. A that point we will head down to Mexico to pick up the 600 and some anxious college students who will be joining in on the Semester at Sea program.
Taxes, New Year's and packing are all that's left before we bid adieu until May 1st when we'll set foot back in the great state of Colorado.
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