[postlink]https://beenaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/02/life-on-ship-peopletoken-black-girl.html[/postlink]endofvid
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Sorry for the long hiatus! The last few weeks have been very hectic, found it very difficult to find time to write. I’ve taken a ton of videos however, due to the ship’s bandwidth, I can’t upload any of them until I get back home. But I’ll try to upload a few once we get to Japan. The next few blog posts will just be a series of (LONG) updates to orient you about what life is like on the ship, and then I’ll talk about Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii.
In a word, life on the ship has been great! The days are soo long. We’ve only been on the ship for a couple weeks but it feels like a couple months. There are over 600 students on the ship, but everyone pretty much knows each other already. It’s funny how quickly you bond with people once you are completely detached from cell phones, Facebook/internet, family, friends, and spend every waking hour with each other on a ship lol.
In terms of demographics of the ship, I would say its 90% white, 4% Black, 3% Asian, and 3% Hispanic. It was announced on the first day that the male to female ratio is 1:2 (33% male, 66% female). Most students come from small schools in the Midwest, California, and Southwest. While the ship is, for the most part, racially homogeneous, I would not say that I am constantly confronted with blatantly racist actions/comments or feel polarized. Not gonna lie, initially there were quite a few slightly annoying comments/pseudo-compliments about my hair and name--i.e. when I introduce myself as Chi-Chi, “oh that’s fun!”, (after asking me to repeat it) “really?, at least it’s easy to remember”. For laughs, I pretty much responded in the same manner when they in turn introduced themselves—i.e. “I’m Kelly”, me: “oh that’s fun too!” or “at least it’s easy to remember” lol. However, there were quite a few genuine compliments about my hair and name also, so it’s all good. Over time, I’ve learned that most comments are unintentional and come from a place of ignorance or lack of exposure—so I just address the more serious/blatant actions and mitigate/overlook the rest and move on. At the same token, I’ve resolved to not tokenize myself by taking it upon myself to bear the burden of constantly educating other people. I’m just going to be myself and allow genuine bonds to form, if true understanding and cross-cultural connections grow from the friendships I form, then that’s a beautiful thing.
For the most part, everyone I’ve met has been really chill. My roommate Leah Farrakhan is from Stone Mountain, Georgia. I’m so glad to have her as a roommate. My biggest fear was having a messy, passive-aggressive roommate that eats all my food and sabotages me by turning off the alarm without waking me up or something lol. I’ve heard (& experienced) some wild roommate horror stories. But we’re both really flexible and look out for each other. I connected with Neha Maheshwari from Cincinnati, OH, right off the bat. Originally due to the fact that we both have similar senses of humor and we’re both 2nd semester seniors that hustled our way onto the ship lol. Upon having a 3-hour conversation about our backgrounds (she’s Indian and I’m Nigerian), families, experiences, goals, and outlook on life, we realized how much we really have in common. I’ve pretty much been hanging out with Neha, Jenny Feuer (LA, CA), Amy Altzsuser (NJ/NY), Candace White (VA), and Kareem Cumberbatch from the Bahamas. These people have provided me with non-stop laughter since the very first day. We just finished planning out our itinerary/game plan for Japan, China, and India. We’re pretty much city hopping and don’t plan to sleep lol. So excited for what’s to come!
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[starttext]
Sorry for the long hiatus! The last few weeks have been very hectic, found it very difficult to find time to write. I’ve taken a ton of videos however, due to the ship’s bandwidth, I can’t upload any of them until I get back home. But I’ll try to upload a few once we get to Japan. The next few blog posts will just be a series of (LONG) updates to orient you about what life is like on the ship, and then I’ll talk about Hilo and Honolulu, Hawaii.
In a word, life on the ship has been great! The days are soo long. We’ve only been on the ship for a couple weeks but it feels like a couple months. There are over 600 students on the ship, but everyone pretty much knows each other already. It’s funny how quickly you bond with people once you are completely detached from cell phones, Facebook/internet, family, friends, and spend every waking hour with each other on a ship lol.
In terms of demographics of the ship, I would say its 90% white, 4% Black, 3% Asian, and 3% Hispanic. It was announced on the first day that the male to female ratio is 1:2 (33% male, 66% female). Most students come from small schools in the Midwest, California, and Southwest. While the ship is, for the most part, racially homogeneous, I would not say that I am constantly confronted with blatantly racist actions/comments or feel polarized. Not gonna lie, initially there were quite a few slightly annoying comments/pseudo-compliments about my hair and name--i.e. when I introduce myself as Chi-Chi, “oh that’s fun!”, (after asking me to repeat it) “really?, at least it’s easy to remember”. For laughs, I pretty much responded in the same manner when they in turn introduced themselves—i.e. “I’m Kelly”, me: “oh that’s fun too!” or “at least it’s easy to remember” lol. However, there were quite a few genuine compliments about my hair and name also, so it’s all good. Over time, I’ve learned that most comments are unintentional and come from a place of ignorance or lack of exposure—so I just address the more serious/blatant actions and mitigate/overlook the rest and move on. At the same token, I’ve resolved to not tokenize myself by taking it upon myself to bear the burden of constantly educating other people. I’m just going to be myself and allow genuine bonds to form, if true understanding and cross-cultural connections grow from the friendships I form, then that’s a beautiful thing.
For the most part, everyone I’ve met has been really chill. My roommate Leah Farrakhan is from Stone Mountain, Georgia. I’m so glad to have her as a roommate. My biggest fear was having a messy, passive-aggressive roommate that eats all my food and sabotages me by turning off the alarm without waking me up or something lol. I’ve heard (& experienced) some wild roommate horror stories. But we’re both really flexible and look out for each other. I connected with Neha Maheshwari from Cincinnati, OH, right off the bat. Originally due to the fact that we both have similar senses of humor and we’re both 2nd semester seniors that hustled our way onto the ship lol. Upon having a 3-hour conversation about our backgrounds (she’s Indian and I’m Nigerian), families, experiences, goals, and outlook on life, we realized how much we really have in common. I’ve pretty much been hanging out with Neha, Jenny Feuer (LA, CA), Amy Altzsuser (NJ/NY), Candace White (VA), and Kareem Cumberbatch from the Bahamas. These people have provided me with non-stop laughter since the very first day. We just finished planning out our itinerary/game plan for Japan, China, and India. We’re pretty much city hopping and don’t plan to sleep lol. So excited for what’s to come!
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3 comments:
Nice analysis. I have read through some of your postings and it seems like you're having a once in a lifetime experience. Continue to have a great time...I'll continue reading :)
Ada (Ogbonna) Chiejina
LOL...i miss your humor. Could you ask Neha if she like chili with cheddar cheese on it? (she'll know what i'm talking about)...
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