Wednesday, March 5, 2014

100 Days!

It's about 100 days before we sail. Can you believe that? So much great planning has already happened, but there is much more to do. This is merely a quick update on the state of things past, present, and future.

Past: We have assembled a first-rate faculty and staff for the voyage. I have been in close contact with all of the faculty and most of the staff, and I am confident and excited about our decisions. I think you will be, too. You will like working with the staff, who are all knowledgeable professionals committed to supporting the academic program. And we, of course, will support the staff as a seamless team whose main --and only-- goal is to have a safe, exhilarating voyage together.

Present: Syllabi are completed, Field Programs nearly in place. Time to get even more excited than you already are. Joyce Holleran will have sent you information on the "passport" page from ISE. That's the documentation every passenger needs to complete and view. Please DO THIS NOW in order to insure that the technical and logistical details are taken care of (make sure your real passport is up to date, think about travel arrangements, medical forms, photos, your family's passage, the hotel in Southhampton, etc.).

Future: Please begin to collect the teaching materials you will want to send over to Southhampton (ISE will have a container that goes to the MV Explorer). Pack only the essentials, as this is a cumbersome and expensive process. (The same for your suitcases when it comes time to pack - more on that later). Joyce will contact us soon about the process for securing visas for entry into Russia (spoiler alert: bureaucratic, expensive).

I will soon send information about the Interport Lecturers to you. These individuals come either from the shipboard community itself (we have several country experts among the faculty) or will arrive on the ship sporadically in order to inform us about the country of destination. You might want to invite one or more into your classes. They will serve as resources for the entire shipboard community for their days on the ship.

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