This is my fourth attempt at writing this blog post. The previous ones have been disrupted by distractions from the news, chaos from traveling home, and, most significantly, writer’s block as I attempt to cram the extent of the past twelve weeks into a mere 500-word summary.

Despite the choppiness of the sea following the last of our gales, we arrived at Wellington Harbor enough ahead of schedule that we hove to for the night in Cook Strait. Even with doing that, we docked off of Queens Wharf around 1130, after only a few hours of navigating our way through the harbor.

A few days ago we found out that we would have to go home early from Wellington because of the COVID-19 virus, and since then we have all been trying to make the most of what time we had left. It’s been hard. Unfortunately, we missed out on the entire last leg of our trip that would take us to Christchurch.

Today has been quite a day. When we arrived in Wellington yesterday, it felt like the world crashed into us. Today felt like two different worlds. As planned, we visited Te Papa, which is Aotearoa New Zealand’s national museum. As such, it tries to present a unified idea of New Zealand that people can support.

In the deck watch rotation, positions rotate every hour. They are lookout, helm, weather/navigation, and boat check. Lookout used to be my least favorite position because time always passed so slowly, and I thought there was nothing to do except stare out over the vast blue ocean towards the horizon. Many watch rotations later, lookout has become one of my favorite positions

As we approach Wellington with only 11 days left on our floating classroom, academic deadlines are in full swing. Five main things remain: “Sense of Place” travel stories, science research Projects, “Oceans and Global Change” ocean health projects, the “Maritime History and Culture” final exam, and final “Leadership in a Dynamic Environment” essays

When applying to SEA Semester, I thought that I would be missing out on the experience to be surrounded by a new culture and language to the extent that those studying in non-English speaking countries have. However, I quickly realized that living on a tall ship does require learning a new language of sorts.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been a little homesick lately. This being said, I have also come to think of this ship as my home, with all of its weird and wonderful quirks. I can finally find my way around the ship in the pitch black and recognize my friends/shipmates in the dark before hearing their voice.

On our first full, 6-hour watch underway on the ship, I was assigned to the engine room. During our time here, each student gets the opportunity to spend a day in the life of the ship’s engineers (the dynamic duo: Henry and Sonia).

Today is day four of our longest sea stretch of the trip, which will last eleven days total. I can’t decide if that seems like a short trip or an eternity. It feels as if the days at sea are nebulous at best and nonexistent at worst. Time is entirely defined by purpose here, which is a big shift from life on land.