Barcelona, here we come!

Last time I was in Barcelona was in 1962 when three of my sorority sisters joined me on a three-month college graduation trip of most of Europe.  Barcelona was an industrial port-town where we visited a friend.  What a difference 51 years make!  From what I hear, it was the 1992 Olympics that boosted the image, economy and lifestyle of Barcelona, now the busiest tourist town in Spain.

As was the custom of the Explorer, we pulled into port early morning and spotted numerous friends and family members of the students and staff with banners welcoming us to civilization--European civilization, that is.  It took most of us an hour or two to say goodbye to those we would probably not see again...though we will keep in touch, thanks to the internet.

We bid goodbye to our ship in the Barcelona harbor from the Miramar look out point.

Topy and I had made reservations for two nights at a botique hotel downtown and made plans to meet up and tour the city with a few friends.  "It never rains in Barcelona" is a joke repeated by hotel managers, tour guides, merchants and bus drivers as they remind us to take our umbrellas (it rained several times a day).  

Barcelona is a scenic port city of 1.2 million residents with great architecture, good transportation system, numerous museums, an opera house and tourist-friendly promenades, shaded by sycamore trees.  There are 400,000 scooters registered here (second highest number after Rome)  Even though Spain is struggling with 25 % unemployment, Barcelona seems to be thriving thanks to the tourist trade (unemployment is around 10 % here). We were told to be watchful of purse snatchers and petty theft but did not encounter poverty.

A few of us shipmates took advantage of the 5-hour Barcelona highlights tour which included seeing the facades of several Gaudi Houses (famous modernist architect born in 1852 who died in 1926).  We also saw the Arc of Triumph, Old Port, Columbus Monument, World Trade Center, Miramar Lookout, Olympic Ring and visited Poble Espanyol (which is a miniature Spain, featuring the uniqueness of all the 16 regions).

   Barcelona has wide avenues with open spaces.  This is the Arch of Triumph.

Gaudi's  Holy Family church (Sagrada Familia) with a 60-meter high steeple (180 feet) is still work in progress. Gaudi was a meticulous architect who left behind plaster models of his vision, knowing it would take decades to complete the construction.  His mentor oil billionaire Guell financed the original project and 14 architects are working hard to finish it by 2026, the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.  About three millions visitors see this Gothic Catholic church that features three facades, representing Nativity, Passion and Glory and has 18 bell towers.  Sixteen columns holdup the dome (four are pink marble from Iran and Italy, four are gray volcanic bassard, four are granite and the final four are made of sand stone.  It can hold as many as 5,000 worshippers and 1,000 choir members. An individual visitor who wants to see the interior has to wait in line for several hours.  As part of a group we were ushered in through a different entrance. Entrance fee is nearly $20 which supports the renovation project.  Most of the church was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War between 1936-1939.

It's impossible to capture the immensity of Temple de La Sangrada Familia with my Cannon camera.  Cranes and protective canvases are inside and outside the church to be finished by 2026.

Barcelona's history starts with its Roman history around 15 BC.  The architecture remaining from the 9th through the 12th centuries is Romanesque, followed by the Gothic period which is at its best with Gaudi's creation above.  

There are so many wonderful walking tours, visits to museums, galleries, the opera and many theaters.  The Mercat Boqueria (market) along the Rambla avenue by the Opera House is treat for the senses whether you shop for groceries, chocolates or souvenirs. Restaurants serving ethnic foods from around the world are on every block. 

Barcelona was a great spot to end our four-month Semester at Sea voyage.  As I said goodbye to my roommate Topy Fiske and flew to Istanbul to visit with my daughter and her family, I had a sad nostalgic feeling.     

Sending off the Archbishop

Lifelong Learners bid farewell to Archbishop Desmund Tutu who left the Explorer in Cape Town, South Africa, where he was to visit the ailing Nelson Mendala.

Executive Dean Jelke's remarks at convocation

We all loved our Executive Dean Tom Jelke, who made us laugh. He handled all sorts of challenges with grace and wit. One of his toughest jobs was sending students home for violating the honor code they signed when they enrolled at Semester at Sea. As many as eight students were sent home for such offenses as being repeatedly drunk, behaving in a violent manner and plagiarism. 

Tom said his toughest job was calling the parents to tell them their son or daughter was on his or her way home. When I sympathized with him about all the responsibilities he had, he said "I actually thrive on problem solving. I make a decision and go on to the next challenge." On the final day of the semester, he was inspiring, witty and reflective as he addressed the student body at the convocation ceremony. Below are some of his comments:

•  I often like to quote St. Augustine who said, "The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." 
• When we boarded the MV Explorer 105 days ago, I told you not to travel as a tourist, but consider this is a voyage of a life time. 
• I told you that only 1 percent of the world's population finish college and only 1 percent travel around the world. You got to do both. 
• You also were among only one-hundredth of 1 percent to cross the equator at zero degrees at the same time as you crossed the prime meridian. Do I need to tell you how few people get to do these things with a Nobel Prize winner as their travel companion? You are lucky indeed.

 Just to review our voyage, we left the United States, home for most of you in, early January.

•   Ensenada, Mexico– was a quick stop
•   Hawaii – our first bump in the road (drinking parties, disturbing the peace)
•   Japan – clean, unique, and expensive
•   China – huge, variant, and a beautiful mix of ancient and modern
•   Vietnam – developing so quickly except for the drivers. Your second bump in the road
•   Singapore – modern, luxurious, and oppressive
•   Burma – people at peace even though the country was in turmoil
•   India – Poverty, beauty, layered classes
•   Neptune Day – you crossed the equator
•   Mauritius – a quick stop, but just enough time to get in trouble
•   Sea Olympics – competitive spirit overshadowed by community building
•   South Africa – sharks, safaris and shantytowns
•   Ghana – you either loved it or hated it
•   Morocco – your taste of an Arab nation did not disappoint you
•   And here we are floating 70 miles from Spain.

Most of you think it is almost over but it is not. It’s just the beginning. You have all changed. You will all travel again. Those passports will be used again. You will see each other. You will never forget. I am proud to have been a part of this voyage, to have helped lead an incredible team, to have helped you in your metamorphosis,  to have been a part of this community with you.  It has been a great pleasure and honor to be your executive dean and I will always reflect on this voyage fondly.

I am honored to present the Outstanding Service Award – Staff Member.

Several people were nominated for this award, but one name kept coming up over and over. She was the first person I hired because I knew she would to the job diligently, go above and beyond every day, and do it with a smile. In South Africa, she helped defuse a potential crisis when the shark diving trips were cancelled for the field office. In South Africa, she masterminded a last-minute series of moves to help a student retrieve her passport, find safe accommodations and travel, get a last minute visa for Ghana, and rejoin the ship. Almost every day you could find her in the office at 8 a.m. and you could find her in the office at 10 p.m. You could always find her in Glazer Lounge at 5 p.m. for cocktail hour too. It is a pleasure to give the Spring 2013 Outstanding Service Award to an amazing colleague and friend, Karen Burns.

Rebecca and Tom Jelke with their sons at the Alumni Ball

“The Wellfleet Whale”

Professor John Miller and wife Emily of Maryland

The following is a reading by English Literature Professor J.H. Miller at the convocation.

On this Convocation Day, I will read to you a short narrative poem by the late Stanley Kunitz, former poet laureate of the United States. It’s called “The Wellfleet Whale.”

I will not explain the poem -- like all poetry, you have to hear it in order to feel it, and feel it in order to understand it. But some background information is enlightening. This poem had a long gestation period. Kunitz wrote:

“I knew from the beginning, in September 1966, when the whale [a 63-foot finback] foundered in Wellfleet Harbor, that it was a significant experience, and I experimented through the years with various ways of conveying what I saw and experienced. All of them were failures. During that interval, I had an opportunity on Cape Cod to study other beached whales, went out on sightseeing watches, and read whatever seemed to me even remotely pertinent, until I began to feel I was part of the civilization of the whale. Fifteen years after the event, I was able to pull it all together and write the poem.”

A journal entry that Kunitz made at the time of the incident precedes the poem. In this entry, the poet reveals his connection with the whale, the emotional tie that seems to bind the two. Kunitz put his hands on the whale’s flanks and “could feel the life inside him.” The whale opened its eye and, staring directly at Kunitz, sent a shudder of recognition between the two. Then the beached creature died, closing forever the eye that was to haunt him for many years.

As Kunitz wrote, “It’s a poem that wants to be read aloud, preferably in the open air. I guess I'm really thinking of an ancient amphitheater. I write my poems for the ear. In fact, my method of writing a poem is to say it. The pitch and tempo and tonalities of a poem are elements of its organic life. A poem is as much a voice as it is a system of verbal signs. I realize that ultimately the poet departs from the scene, and the poems that he abandons to the printed page must speak for themselves.”

I shared a copy of this poem with Archbishop Tutu just after he led the Palm Sunday service in this room. I don’t think he would mind if I were to enlarge on the concept of Ubuntu – yes, Ubuntu means “We are ourselves because of others.” 

But it also means that “we are ourselves” because of our connection not only with our fellow human beings but also with all creation: the birds of the air, the fishes of the sea, and our identity with the Great Leviathan itself, the largest mammal in the sea and our near cousin.

"The Wellfleet Whale"

You have your language too,

an eerie medley of clicks

and hoots and trills,

location-notes and love calls,

whistles and grunts. Occasionally,

it’s like furniture being smashed,

or the creaking of a mossy door,

sounds that all melt into a liquid

song with endless variations,

as if to compensate

for the vast loneliness of the sea.

Sometimes a disembodied voice

breaks in, as if from distant reefs,

and it’s as much as one can bear

to listen to its long mournful cry,

a sorrow without name, both more

and less than human. It drags

across the ear like a record

running down.

No wind. No waves. No clouds.

Only the whisper of the tide,

as it withdrew, stroking the shore,

a lazy drift of gulls overhead,

and tiny points of light

bubbling in the channel.

It was the tag-end of summer.

From the harbor’s mouth

you coasted into sight,

flashing news of your advent,

the crescent of your dorsal fin

clipping the diamonded surface.

We cheered at the sign of your greatness

when the black barrel of your head

erupted, ramming the water,

and you flowered for us

in the jet of your spouting.

All the afternoon you swam

tirelessly round the bay,

with such an easy motion,

the slightest downbeat of your tail,

an almost imperceptible

undulation of your flippers,

you seemed like something poured,

not driven; you seemed

to marry grace with power.

And when you bounded into air,

slapping your flukes,

we thrilled to look upon

pure energy incarnate

as nobility of form.

You seemed to ask of us

not sympathy, or love,

or understanding,

but awe and wonder.

That night we watched you

swimming in the moon.

Your back was molten silver.

We guessed your silent passage

by the phosphorescence in your wake.

At dawn we found you stranded on the rocks.

There came a boy and a man

and yet other men running, and two

schoolgirls in yellow halters

and a housewife bedecked

with curlers, and whole families in beach

buggies with assorted yelping dogs.

The tide was almost out.

We could walk around you,

as you heaved deeper into the shoal,

crushed by your own weight,

collapsing into yourself,

your flippers and your flukes

quivering, your blowhole

spasmodically bubbling, roaring.

In the pit of your gaping mouth

You bared your fringe work of baleen,

a thicket of horned bristles.

When the Curator of Mammals

arrived from Boston

to take samples of your blood

you were already oozing from below.

Somebody had carved his initials

in your flank. Hunters of souvenirs

had peeled off strips of your skin,

a membrane thin as paper.

You were blistered and cracked by the sun.

The gulls had been picking at you.

The sound you made was a hoarse and fitful bleating.

What drew us to the magnet of your dying?

You made a bond between us,

the keepers of the nightfall watch,

who gathered in a ring around you,

boozing in the bonfire light.

Toward dawn we shared with you

your hour of desolation,

the huge lingering passion

of your unearthly outcry,

as you swung your blind head

toward us and laboriously opened

a bloodshot, glistening eye,

in which we swam with terror and recognition.

Voyager, chief of the pelagic world,

you brought with you the myth

of another country, dimly remembered,

where flying reptiles

lumbered over the steaming marshes

and trumpeting thunder lizards

wallowed in the reeds.

While empires rose and fell on land,

your nation breasted the open main,

rocked in the consoling rhythm

of the tides. Which ancestor first plunged

head-down through zones of colored twilight

to scour the bottom of the dark?

You ranged the North Atlantic track

from Port-of-Spain to Baffin Bay,

edging between the ice-floes

through the fat of summer,

lob-tailing, breaching, sounding,

grazing in the pastures of the sea

on krill-rich orange plankton

crackling with life.

You prowled down the continental shelf,

guided by the sun and stars

and the taste of alluvial silt

on your way southward

to the warm lagoons,

the tropic of desire,

where the lovers lie belly to belly

in he rub and nuzzle of their sporting;

and you turned, like a god in exile,

out of your wide primeval element,

delivered to the mercy of time.

Master of the whale-roads,

let the white wings of the gulls

spread out their cover.

You have become like us,

disgraced and mortal. 

​​​​​​​-- Stanley Kunitz

Convocation

Forty-four students from 31 institutions in the U.S. and abroad completed their senior studies at Semester at Sea by the University of Virginia and received their diplomas at convocation the day on April 24, 2013, before the Explorer arrived at Barcelona.

The processional of 45 faculty members and the graduating seniors began to the music of "Pomp and Circumstance" played by brothers, Adam and Geoffrey Ullerich. Welcoming remarks by Academic Dean Sharon Hostler, M.D., were followed by a student greeting by Abraham Wapner.

We Lifelong Learners nominated Tom Cunningham, an adventurous soul originally from Massachusetts transplanted to California, to be our spokesman at the convocation. Tom has travelled from Hawaii to Tahiti in a canoe, brought freshwater to villagers in Micronesia and Nicaragua for a dozen years with help from volunteers and natives and, with his wife Linda, travelled to all seven continents and around the world at least twice.

On April 24th, 2013, here is what Tom told those gathered in the Union of the Explorer:

I am honored to represent the Lifelong Learners on this special occasion. We are a diverse group made up of doctors, nurses, lawyers, educators, scientists, authors and journalists. We are also backpackers, sailors, adventurers, skydivers and bungee jumpers.

There may be snow on our roofs but there are also fires in our furnaces and you students have rekindled those fires in our journey around the world. We have been your classmates and shipmates and you have become our extended family.

We are not pleased with the world we are turning over to you. We wish we could have done better.

When David Brooks, a columnist for the New York Times, was asked why he was optimistic about the future, he said: “I have met the young people of the world and they have made a commitment to change the status quo and they have the tools and skills to do it. They are the leaders of tomorrow and their tomorrow is not far away.”

You are those students that David Brooks is talking about. You have seen the results of leadership at its worst in the War Museum at Ho Chi Minh City, in the killing fields of Cambodia and in the townships of South Africa. You have also seen leadership at its best in the resurgence of Burma, led by Aung San Su Ky and we all have been inspired and motivated by the words and deeds of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. You have also met the future leaders of many other countries in your classrooms and in their homes, schools, clinics and workshops. Hopefully you can build on these friendships and work with them to solve the many problems you have witnessed over the past four months

The time has come for you to throw your hat over the wall. In a commencement speech at Stanford in 2005, Steve Jobs told the story of his life from being adopted to dropping out of college to being fired by Apple Corporation, a company he founded, to his battle with cancer which took his life a few years later. Steve Jobs concluded his speech by saying, “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life so I had to trust in something and I knew that the dots would connect in the future. Your time is limited so don’t waste it living someone else’s life and have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

Tomorrow it will be time for us to part, and we Lifelong Learners would like to offer you an Irish Blessing.

May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of His hand

Thank you.

Tom Cunningham in a tuk tuk in Rangoon

Sending off the archbishop

Student Bradon, a Texan who is part of my "extended family," sings a parody about life on board the Explorer before we part ways with the former archbishop, Desmond Tutu.  

Introducing the crew and staff

MV Explorer has been traveling the world this semester under the direction of Captain Jeremy Kingston, Staff Captain Korniff Polikarpov, Chief Engineer Rumen Fudolov and Hotel Director Stefan Heuser. 

Akin Akargul (right), a Turkish national, is in charge of waiters

The purser's desk is open 24 hours a day. The ship's personnel are friendly and helpful, hailing from 21 countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Nepal, the Netherlands, Panama, the Philippines, Romania, South Africa, St. Lucia, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the United States.

Executive Dean Tom Jelke, Academic Dean Sharon Hostler 
and alumni Amy and Matt Schamroth toast Lifelong 
Learners and the faculty  at the Glazer Lounge

The day-to-day activities for the voyagers are sponsored, conducted and supervised by several deans. Tom Jelke is executive dean; Sharon Hostler, a pediatrician from the University of Virginia's medical school, is academic dean. Craig Hauser and Jim van Arsdel are assistant deans, and Maggie Harden is registrar.

There are additional administrative personnel including a librarian, technical staff and residential directors, or RDs, for every 60 or 70 students. The medical clinic is managed by Dr. Micah Rosenfield, a physician's assistant and several nurses. The spa has a sauna and a steam bath and offers massages, facials, hair and nail treatments.

Classes start at 8 a.m. and go until 4:30 pm.  There is a writing center that is open long hours to help American as well as foreign students with their essays, resumes and more. Announcements throughout the day include half-dozen extracurricular programs scheduled each evening as well as the location of the Explorer, the depth of the ocean, the air and water temperature, the daily water usage per person and birthday wishes.

Each cabin has a television that shows documentaries and movies that are associated with the countries we are visiting on the "Loop" as well as news from Aljazeera that does a good  job reporting international news. Voyagers can also watch, via closed circuit TV, the fireside chats or lectures that take place in the union during the evening. 

The two dining rooms serve buffet-style meals that are rich in fruit, vegetables and protein. For breakfast we can choose from three different kinds of eggs, sausage or bacon, as well as hot and cold cereals, fruit and rolls. Lunch and dinner include salad fixings, two meat dishes, pasta, two vegetarian choices, dessert and always peanut butter and jelly. In addition to water and iced tea, we can have fruit juices. 

The dining room on the sixth deck has outdoor seating. Deck 7 has a swimming pool, ping pong table, weight machines, chaise longue for sun worshippers as well as a fast-food stand that sells hamburgers, hotdogs, pizza, ice cream, smoothies and fancy coffees. Snacks such as chips, candy bars, apples, muffins are also for sale near the piano bar where many students sit with their laptops to study or chat. 
  

Juan from Mexico City, Betsy from Winnetka, Ill., and Sierra from Idaho were 

members of my "extended family." Missing from photo is Bradon from Texas. 

Lifelong Learners "adopted" students so they could have someone to lean on. 

 

There also are two shops selling clothes as well as articles such as memory sticks, school supplies, books and toiletries. To avoid spreading germs the temperature inside the ship is kept low, and the janitors  are constantly wiping railings, door handles and elevator buttons. There are sanitizer dispensers in strategic spots.

A large lounge at the bow of the ship surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and a deck is for the enjoyment of the faculty, staff and Lifelong Learners. It is quiet until 5 p.m. when the bar opens for cocktails before dinner or catered receptions from time to time, often there is music and dancing late into the night.

Life is good aboard the Explorer.

Four Lifelong Learners enjoy a five-course  steak and lobster

dinner with champaign (at $29.95) in the special dining room

Here's looking at you, kid

Do you remember that line from the movie Casablanca?  

Well, not only did we see the movie again and again (on the loop in our rooms) but we had dinner last night at Rick's Cafe (a lovely restaurant in an old renovated building created by an American woman in the style of Humphrey Bogart's cafe).  For the last nine years tourists have been flocking here more for the ambiance than the food (though the Moroccan specialties are pretty well prepared.) The piano music, lanterns,  columns and antique furniture with tables in various cubicles bring out nostalgic longings in us all. Hitler's troops never reached Morocco in WW II, but the 1942 movie tells a great story of courage, compassion, romance and more. 

View from the upper level of Rick's Cafe, a popular tourist attraction 

based on Humphrey Bogart's Cafe in the movie Casablanca.

Of course,there is so much more to Casablanca and Morocco.  Because I visited all the Imperial Capitals (Fes, Marrakech and Rabat) 15 years ago, I decided to explore Casablanca this time.  

I was pleasantly surprised that this country is on the right track with improvements in education, health care and economic incentives.  Forty-six  year old Muhammed VI, king since 1999, is the spiritual leader of the country.  He is progressive, popular and eloquent  His reforms may have avoided the Arab spring to spread here. His wife, seen in public often, is trendy and well-liked.  Tourism is thriving because Morocco offers a lot of variety in its four imperial cities.  With the recently built Hasan II Mosque (third largest in the world) the port city of Casablanca is full of new construction and late model cars. 

Morocco, an agricultural state, counts on rain. It has to import wheat during dry years

and exporting such things as apricots and citrus fruit become rare. There is some production of phosphate, leather, silver, salt and other spices.  Fish is plentiful. Even though it has a mountainous region and coastline along the Atlantic as well as the Mediterranean, the climate is hot and dry.

Of the 32 million residents, 6 million live in Casablanca and 2 million in Rabat, the capital.  Twenty percent of the population is berber (there are 36 different tribes) who have lived in Morocco for three thousand years.  Its Jewish history goes back even further, however, only 3,000 are left now, most of them live in Casablanca. Arabs invaded it about 700 years ago and Muslims are the majority here.  Arabic is the official language with French being widely spoken. There are numerous berber dialects.  The Portuguese invaded Morocco in 1515 and stayed for 250 years.     French took it over in 1912.  Morocco declared its independence in 1966 and many natives blame the French for the poor literacy rate which is about 50% (used to be 10% 50 years ago).  Unemployment is around 20%.  Life expectance is 76 years.

Ministry of Islamic Affairs has a lot of influence on society according to Prof. Mejeda Bergash who works at the University of Virginia but brings students back to her native country on study abroad programs. "I am not happy about the tendency toward more conservative ideas and dress. My mother and I never covered our hair, but I see more of a trend now," she said. She also said there are a lot of human rights violations and corruption in  Morocco.  Educational system needs to be improved.  There are 25 cities with universities that are free provided graduates serve their communities for a couple of years after finishing school.

I was happy to participate in Professor Joe Laycock’s Religions of the World class exploring and comparing the three Abrahamic religions (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism). We visited the Hassan II mosque, Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic church, and the Museum of Moroccan Judaism to gain a greater understanding of the three faiths and the history of how they have interacted in Northern Africa.

I am standing in front of the Hassan II Mosque,

the third largest mosque in the world (after the 

ones In Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia).

Stained glass walls in the Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic

church.

Historic pieces displayed in the Judaism Museum of Morocco.

Built by a french architect over the waters of the Atlantic, the Hassan II mosque is a master piece that can hold 25,000 people.  It has meeting halls, a huge Turkish bath

and pool,  dozens of purifying fountains and a retractable roof. 

The colorful stain glass windows, telling the story of Jesus, Virgin Mary and trinity, created by a French artist, line every wall inside the Notre Dame de Lourdes church.  The Sacred Heart Catholic Church, a few blocks away, is shuttered.

The curator at the Museum of Moroccan Judaism explained the Morocco's Jewish

history and explained the collection of displays from all corners of Morocco, mostly after the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 when thousands of Sephardic Jews escaped to Morocco or the Ottoman Empire.