On the road to Rhodes

September 9, 2012 – September 26, 2012

September 9^th was a day of goodbyes. We met our families at the shipyard where the ship refit was taking place and got to tour the ship. I saw the Sorlandet a year and a half ago in Norway, but so much has changed since then! All of us students – and the teachers too – can’t wait to move in to our new home!

It was time to say goodbye to the ship for now though, but more importantly, time to say goodbye to our families. After many hugs, smiles, and tears, our busses drove off, leaving our families and the familiarity of our lives behind.

We drove along the coast until we reached Gallipoli. We had our very first port program there, visiting the area, which played a big role in the shaping of two nations, Turkey and Australia, during World War I. We went to memorials and museums, and then to a beautiful cove called Anzac Cove.

Beach in Gallipoli (lots of Class Afloat t-shirts!)

Gallipoli

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Armed Corps, and the cove was where their forces landed. They had intended to land further up but hadn’t accounted for the currents and wind, so instead came to the cove where they faced a massive cliff. The Turkish troops, led by Mustafa Kamal, “father of modern Turkey”, were prepared and a battle ensued. Interestingly enough, Mustafa was shot during the battle, directly at his heart, but he was saved by his pocket watch. It is strange to think about how different Turkey’s future may have been if the events hadn’t occurred as they did. In all, it was a really interesting port program and one of the Class Afloat teachers is from Australia and knows a lot about Gallipoli so he had lots of stories to tell. We returned to the hotel that night for a games night. We always seem to have lots of activities going on and I am sure that this is going to be a busy year! We started classes on the 11^th and I began to fully realize that I really am gone from home. At first, it felt as though we were just on a holiday, but now that school has started, I can imagine classes going on back at home while I am here, so very far away.

We had a meeting that night, where we discussed all of the clubs we want to have (just when you thought things couldn’t get any busier!), such as spirit day, knitting, SCUBA/snorkel, baking, dance, holiday, birthday, and stargazing club, to list only some!

On September 13^th we had our second port program! We left in the morning for Troy (we also watched the movie a couple of nights later!) and in the afternoon we went to a Greek ruin called Pergamon. There was a theatre there that is one of the steepest in the world! We then drove to Izmir, Turkey, where we stay a few more days, which consisted of school, more school, and then a beach day!

Port program day!

Pergamon

One of the steepest theatres in the world

Pretty soon though, it finally came time to leave. On the 20^th of September we drove to Marmaris, Turkey, where we took the ferry to the island of Rhodes, Greece! When we arrived in Rhodes, we walked around the small bay and as we walked we could see the Sorlandet, our new home, growing ever nearer. After so many setbacks, date changes, and changes of plans, we had finally arrived at the ship where we would spend the next 8 months.

We got settled in on the ship and got assigned lockers and bunks. There are both hammocks and bunks but I got a bunk. It’s great now, but we’ll see how things are when the ship starts rocking! The area of the ship where all the students sleep is called the banjer. It is the main room of the ship where we eat and have classes as well. At night, curtains separate the girls’ side from the boys’ side. The benches where we sit at the tables have back rests that fold down flat, and then the whole thing lifts up to turn it into a bunk. We finally got to spend our first night aboard the Sorlandet!

I slept much better than I had expected that first night – and pretty much every night since – because we’re always so busy so I’m always tired! On the first full day on the ship we got a tour of the ship. There were three stations; the first station taught us how to do our cleaning jobs, which is where each watch cleans a certain section of the ship every morning. In the second station we learnt about emergency equipment on board and put on flotation devices and survival suits. One of the maritime crew said that after lots of practice we would be able to put the suits on in a minute or less. So, even though it was our first attempt, my friend Georgie and I timed each other, and we both did it in under a minute! The final station we got a tour of every part of the ship.

After all of the ship stuff was done for the day, we got shore leave! We went swimming at a beach in the harbour. We are on the Aegean Sea and the water is so blue! After swimming we went back to the ship to shower. Since we have limited water on the ship, the showers have a push button and you are only allowed to use 3 pushes a day. Each push only lasts about 30 seconds, so you have to be pretty quick! You are allowed to save up pushes though, so say you don’t shower one day, you can have 6 pushes the next day.

We left the ship again, this time going into the Old Town of Rhodes. The Old Town is surrounded by stone walls with turrets and a moat, so it looks sort of like a castle! Inside is a main square with shops and restaurants and such. We went out for supper at a restaurant on the rooftop where we could look out on Rhodes and the sea beyond.

Rhodes

The Old Town

That night (the morning of the 22^nd, if you want to be exact), I had gangway duty. Since I am in watch 5, we start with the 4am-6am night watch. It was pretty tough getting up in the middle of the night, but the people who are on the watch before you come and wake you up so there aren’t alarms going off throughout the entire night. I was on galley that day too, and you had to report at 6:45am so rather than going to bed after watch, I stood on the foc’sle (fore castle), the deck at the front of the ship, and watched the sun rise.

During the day, we went through emergency procedures. We had a fire drill, a man overboard drill, and an abandon ship drill. It was pretty impressive how quickly a group of 80 can get organized during these drills (haha it never seems to happen any other time!). That afternoon we had shore leave again and we walked along the walls of the Old Town before going back to the ship for supper. Galley duty is optional during shore leave so if you want supper you have to sign up, and then help out with the prep and clean-up. When supper was over, we went back out into town in search of internet (the typical in-port activity!) and then returned to the ship for the night. The next day, September 23^rd was scheduled as departure day!