The day after the ball was difficult. It was the designated "packing day" for the entire ship and anything we were not planning on carrying off the ship had to be packed and ready to be put in the holding area by noon. Ben was still slightly feverish, Chris was now feeling the same symptoms and Jeremy was still out like a light. He had persuaded us to let him sleep outside with friends after the ball. I found out later that they did not sleep at all!
We had a quick breakfast and hurriedly packed up 4 months of clothes, gear and souvenirs. It was a daunting task and a sad one to boot which made It all the more difficult. We made it just under the wire and decided to use the rest of the day to soak in all the personalities we'd encountered on this voyage.
The ship was the thing. It was our community, our home, our family. But the reason we chose to make this voyage had everything to do with the ports of call. Traveling to distant countries, learning their histories and cultures. How exciting it was going to be! That was the point of the whole thing. Traveling via ship was just our transportation. The fact that 900+ plus people were accompanying us during the 4 months was just because they wanted to travel the world too. No one told us about the friendships. No one told us about the caring of each other, the learning from one another, the love that would unite us all. All of that was a surprise. But it was the icing. The friends we made and the relationships we fostered far out-shined The Great Wall of China, the privilege of visiting a recently opened Myanmar, the view from Table Mountain, even a camel ride through the Sahara. I think Ben said it best. As we were reminiscing with friends about the highlights of our voyage, a student posed the question to Ben, "Out of all the places we visited, what was your favorite place?" His answer...."the ship".
So on that last day, we did our very best to enjoy our last minutes with all our new friends. There was signing of maps and flags, video messages, books filled with notes of well wishes, happy we are friends and don't forget me's. Stories of our experiences over this voyage and agendas being defined for Barcelona. We made plans to see each other again and began the discussion of a reunion voyage where could all return on the same ship surrounded by all the same faces. I hope it happens. It's important that it does.
We were up early for the sunrise over Barcelona. Breakfast was a half hour early that morning as we were expected to disembark starting at 8am. All went according to plan and the auction winner got off first, followed by the Caribbean Sea (the student floors were named after the oceans) whose team won the Sea Olympics, then us, the Life-Long Learners, faculty and staff.
We got to the carousel to collect our luggage, all the while saying our last good byes. As we exited the port and the cool Spanish air hit me, I felt ok. I felt refreshed. I'll quote our executive dean here who quoted Green Day the day before...."Every new beginning is from some other beginning's end." As we pulled away from the port, Ben snapped pictures of the MVExplorer as best he could from our taxi window. And once the ship was out of sight, his tears began to flow.
1 ship
1 semester
16 cities
12 countries
4 continents
106 days
1031 explorers
That was the plan. That was the goal. Mission accomplished and so much more.
Bon Voyage, MVExplorer. We will meet again ; )
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