Everything is a Little More Difficult

Some of you have sent me emails asking how things are going. Not surprisingly, we are loving this. Yes, this is one of those experiences that makes me feel like I've stolen something.

You might find it strange to hear me say this, but part of what makes this experience so special is that everything is just a bit more difficult than you would expect. Everything.

Every day at sea can be divided into 4 parts. Teaching. Eating. Prep. Working Out.

Karen and I start our day at 5:30 am to work out. I know that sounds hard core, but it's really not since we are heading west and we change time zones every 1 to 2 days. It's been really easy to wake up early since we get an extra hour of sleep most days. We finish by 7 and it's off to breakfast.

Working out on a ship is not easy though, especially since we've had 4 meter swells for the past week. Watching people trying to run on the treadmill is hilarious as the ship pitches back and forth! I don't even waste my time with that - no running on this trip. Instead, I get on the spinning bike for 30-45 minutes every morning, and then lift weights. I won't even try to explain what it is like to lift on a rocking ship, but let's just say it's good for the core! The other great thing is that the sun rises off the back of the ship sometime during my workout each morning. A sunrise at sea is something really special, and something I lack the literary talent to describe properly. Just take my word for it.

Karen pumping the iron at sunrise.

Never gets old.

There are no scales on the ship, but I'm guessing I've put on 8 pounds or so. 5 of it is good stuff. 3 is not. I really couldn't care less though. If I put on 15 pounds so what? I'll take it off when I get home if it's a problem. It's the last thing I should be worried about, and it is.

Eating on the ship is an experience as well. First of all, the food is very good. It's cafeteria style, it's tasty, and there is plenty of it. I've discovered just how much I love scrambled eggs. And omelets. And Cocoa Roos. At home I typically skip breakfast. Here, I'm famished by the time 7 am rolls around and it's 600 calories of goodness every morning.  I've heard 30 different explanations as to why we are all so damn hungry all of the time. I don't know which explanation is correct, but all I know is that I'm hungrier than I've ever been.

Channeling my inner 5 year old at breakfast - every morning.

Meals are exhausting for me though. We typically sit with groups of students, and man can they talk! And ask questions. Constantly. I really love meals, but I answer questions non-stop so by the time I'm done with a meal I'm pretty wrecked. Looking out over the ocean on the back deck for every meal is pretty amazing though, and it makes the time fly.

Then there's teaching. Let's just say that teaching on a ship that pitches back and forth like we've been the last week presents some challenges. I have to hold on to things just so I don't get flung across the room. The projector bounces like it's attached to a galloping horse. I try to point on things on the screen, but it's constantly swaying back and forth so I have to chase my material. Nothing is easy. My students are great though, and they ask so many questions that we are covering material at less than half the pace I expected. The teaching is hugely rewarding though, because they are so interested and engaged. Our hour and fifteen minute classes are over with in flash. The teaching I'm doing here is as rewarding as the teaching I did for the Yellowstone Field course I taught for the University of Pittsburgh. These are easily the two most rewarding things I've done academically.


When I'm not teaching, working out, or eating, I'm preparing. Preparing for classes. Preparing for shipwide talks. In the first 14 days I've taught every day, and given 2 shipwide presentations. There are no off days at sea. Just A days and B days. I teach both days. When I got on the ship, I did not have any of my classes prepared, so I've been working frantically with every available minute trying to get enough material ready for all of my classes. I've also had to prepare a couple of big talks that have stressed me out. I have been so behind that I haven't had a chance to relax, so I've been pretty stressed.

BUT! I finally have enough material to get me through China, so I think I can add a fifth part of my day. Relaxation. At least a few hours a day. I might even see my wife again! I don't get to see Karen all that much. I actually see less of her on the ship than I do at home. She takes about 4 classes a day, so she is gone a lot. But it's all good! Really! It's been busy and a bit stressful, but really amazing at the same time. I know I can't keep this pace up for 3.5 more months, so it's a good time to dial it back a bit and really start enjoying it.

Living with College Students - Unfair Perceptions

I work with college students, and enjoy it immensely. But I don't live with them.

I am now.

I was dreading it a bit. I'm on the 4th deck, and there are a couple hundred college students living up and down the same long hallway that we are. They are everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

Lunch! Most of the students are in the dining hall since chairs are limited on this aft deck.

As they boarded the ship yesterday, I was expecting to hear them talking about partying. I expected to see them playing on their phones, getting their last gasps of Facebook and Snapchat. I expected to them to be fully engaged in the social aspect of this.

Wow, was I wrong.

I feel like a complete jerk for expecting so little.

The students have been absolutely wonderful. Charming, engaging, and genuinely interested in learning everything they can. I haven't had a free minute except for when we are sleeping. They talk to us non-stop about their majors, the classes they are taking, their plans for the rest of their college years or what they want to do when they graduate.

Opening welcome session with all 700 participants, faculty and staff. 

So why did I expect something different? I'm not really sure, but when I ask myself where I got the perceptions of how college students live I realized my direct experience with this is from 30 years ago, even though I work on a college campus. We see them in class, and in our offices. We don't see them where they live. When we hear about college life, it's typically not from them.

I have a college-aged daughter, and she is very serious about what she is doing. I guess I thought she was the exception. Now, I'm not so sure. Certainly there are a lot of students who go to college and couldn't care less about their academic experience. We have no shortage of those students at my home institution - the University of Northern Colorado. But the vast majority of students there, and the vast majority of students on this ship, are not like that.

I think this generation of college students is exceptional. I've been working as a professor since I was 26, and I think there are cycles where we have very engaged students, and periods where we have many who don't care. This wave of students is the best I can remember. It's sad that our perceptions of how they live are tainted so much by the 24 hours news cycle and outlets. They sensationalize every assault, every tragedy, every mistake they make. It's unfair to them, and I'm mad at myself for falling prey to that. They are so much better than how they are portrayed. Fox News, CNN, MSNBC - turn them off. All of them. They are crap. Many of my friends are parents of college students today. As a group, you've done a great job. This is a special generation in my opinion.

The students on this ship are the cream of some kind of crop. They aren't all the best academically. However, they all chose this experience because they are different than norm. They are amazingly outgoing, and they want to experience as much as they can. They are self-selected for adventure, and as a volcanologist I can really relate to this group, much like I did my University of Pittsburgh Yellowstone Field course students from a decade or so ago.

After 2 days with them I am invigorated and exhausted at the same time. Their enthusiasm rubs off on me immediately, but I don't get much of a break from them so by the end of the day I am pretty melted.

It's Time...

I should be more excited.

In about 24 hours we will arrive at DIA and board a plane to San Diego. I've been thinking about this day for 2 years, and seriously planning it for over half that. I'm still a bit stunned at just how much work it has been to prepare for this. I didn't anticipate the amount of time it would take me to get my personal and professional effects in order, and I am pretty certain that stress has replaced a good deal of  the enthusiasm that I should be feeling. Stress is big right now - I'm completely packed, but Karen isn't. I know she will pull it off - she always does - but it's stressful watching her. But as usual she's happy as a clam and jabbering away as she puts things in her bags, and that always makes me smile.

Karen's Stuff Stressing Me Out

I believe this will all change tomorrow. Once Aspen picks us up and we start heading to the airport, I can mentally disconnect from "getting ready" and focus on what lies ahead. I haven't truly had a chance to fully entertain what I will be doing this spring. I'm ready to teach my first few classes, but haven't thought much past that. We've signed up for as many trips as we could squish into our schedule, but I haven't had a chance to daydream about what might actually transpire. And that's OK.

One thing I've learned as a professor is that traveling and teaching have some similarities for me. I've found that the best trips, and the best classes, are not fully scripted. The trips  I've enjoyed the most, and the classes that have connected best with the students, are the ones where I've done enough planning to ensure I will get off to a good start, and then I just let the rest happen. Well, I definitely haven't overplanned anything thus far, in terms of classroom planning and in-port traveling.

The other thing that it's taken some time for me to figure out is that I would rather "do" then "see". I'm just not all that enamored by sight-seeing. Never have been. I love to do things. A good example is our plan for China. Seeing the Great Wall is cool, and something most visitors to China want to check off there list. I would like to check it off the list too, but to me a checklist approach to traveling feels "meh". However, we found an option where we can hike along the Great Wall for 4 days and stay in towns along the way, and that sounds fantastic to me! Yes, it will be winter, and it will be cold and maybe snowy, but it's my kind of travel. I'm not good with relaxing travel, something my daughter shakes her head at. Luckily for me I have a wife who can't relax either. We know we drive our kids nuts because we suck at relaxing, but hope they don't think we are too weird.

See you later winter. I'm not sad to say goodbye to that. Our cat, Fatty Patty, and our old dogs? That's a different story. Our kids? Well that's by far the toughest part.