connectedness

June 17th, 2007 was my first day at sea. i was getting to know my roommate and about 200 other people rapid-fire. i was unpacking my clothes and preparing for my first day of classes. i was nervous and excited about our first day in the port of Acapulco. i knew that i could live at sea forever.

June 17th, 2008 i got a new bike. a candy apple red one with room on the back for a basket. i took a bike ride with chris moore, and then later he and andy and i took a walk down to the beach to check out the bright full moon. we were only slightly intoxicated from free red wine (which always tastes sweeter to me).

as we were walking home from the beach, someone passing yelled out to me, "What's SAS?" he had seen the letters embroidered on my blue sweatshirt. assuming he was some drunk, obnoxious tourist, i ignored him. he persisted, "no, seriously, what's SAS stand for?"

"Semester at Sea," i told him as politely as i could, expecting him to keep walking past with the rest of his stumbling friends.

but he stopped and talked to me. he had done Semester at Sea in 2006. and there we were: two people who didn't have much in common except for that we were on the Ocean City Boardwalk, slightly buzzed, with ripe memories of an experience we were lucky to have had.

i've been missing sea a lot. and of course i sometimes fear that i'll never see the friends i made there again. in fact, just the other day i saw through facebook that a bunch of my "friends" had a reunion in Atlantic City. sigh. i guess no one in that particular group remembered me.

but i am glad that i ran into that guy on the boardwalk. he helped me channel my bitterness about the reunion into gratitude. he reminded me that i will always be a part of a community that has contacts all over the states and abroad.

i think that's pretty damn awesome.