October 04, 2012 – October 11, 2012
The trip to Ajaccio, Corsica took only 4 days. They were
just typical days of classes and day watch at sea. One of the physical watch
positions is Safety, and you have to do a round of the ship twice every hour to
look for fires. There are specific places you have to check every time and the
Officer on watch will tell you if you have to do anything else (clean up
something, check portholes for leaks, etc.). While I was on Safety I learnt
that there is apparently an astronaut figurine hidden somewhere on the ship
that you are supposed to be able to find while on your safety round. I have
been looking and looking though and haven’t seen it yet!
October 8th was arrival day – happy Thanksgiving
everybody! I was on galley and we had Thanksgiving lunch with all the students,
teachers, and maritime crew (we usually eat all the meals in two sittings,
except for Sunday night suppers where we all eat together, maritime crew
included). After a great lunch, we got into our number ones (Class Afloat
uniforms for formal occasions) and walked from the ship to the house where
Napoleon was born (he was from Corsica) where a mayor’s reception was hosted
for us to welcome us to Ajaccio.
Following the reception (which involved a couple of
speeches, and refreshments afterwards) we had shore leave for supper.
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| Wearing our numbers 1's (uniform) at the Mayor's reception |
We didn’t
have shore leave the next day though because it was port program day! It was
our first overnight port program; we drove a few hours across Corsica to the
Ecovillage of Fondale. It was smaller than expected, with only 6 people living
there and their goal was to live peacefully and to be more environmentally
sustainable. When we got there we ate pizza that was cooked on a wood oven,
fresh picked fruit, and delicious fresh almonds. It was really good, but we
could also tell that the Ecovillage had never had so many people there before.
After lunch we helped with some work around the village. As we walked to the
garden, the path led us through the forest and across a little stream with a
tiny waterfall filling small rock pools. It was so pretty, and we scrambled up
the side of the valley to get to the garden that lay beyond. Next to the garden
(where they grew most of their fruit and vegetables) a bonfire had been
started, and there were tents, tipis, tarps and cabins around for us to sleep in.
I was in a tipi, along with 12 other girls, even though the tipis are really
only supposed to fit 8 people! It was a little crowded, but it was fun, though
I’m pretty sure I woke up in the middle of the night with a bug on my face.
Yuck!
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| On the way to the Ecovillage |
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| Walking around the Ecovillage |
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| In the tipi |
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| View from the Ecovillage |
The next morning we
drove back to Ajaccio where we had shore leave. October 11th was
departure day, but we had shore leave again until early afternoon. A group of
us went for a hike. Corsica is a lot more mountainous than I expected, and the
hike took us up and up. It wound around the side of the mountains and in and
out of the trees. The view was amazing and we looked out onto the bay and
Ajaccio below. We only had shore leave until 3pm though, and as we hiked it
kept getting later and later, and the trail seemed to keep going up! We were
going as quickly as we could and we were so hungry, but we finally made it to
the town at the end of the hike and reached the bus stop to catch the bus back
to Ajaccio. The bus came only 10 minutes later and we went back to the city where
we got gelato and bread from the bakery for lunch! It was so good, and we ate
as we hurried back to the ship just in time for curfew! About an hour later I
sat on the boat deck as we left France behind.
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| The hike |
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| Awesome view from the hike! |
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| Gelato! Yum! |
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