Journals, week of 3/25/96
Cass Ruff, Student
March 15, 1996 aboard ConcordiaMariner's Watch
Mariners watch is a requirement in which each student must engage every night. Each shift is two hours long, but because of the number of people in each watch group, individually you only spend about 40- 60 minutes actually standing on lookout. I find mariners watch to be a nice quiet time where you are finally alone after a busy, strenuous day at sea. But there are occasions when the weather is very poor, and those nights I usually wish I was down in my nice warm cabin instead of facing the stormy night. We are all equipped with foul weather gear and a safety harness for watch purposes. It is always our responsibility to be there on the lookout ready for action. On stormy nights you use your harness to clip yourself onto the ship, you also need to hold on tight if you don't want to end up in the sea. No matter what the conditions, mariners watch is very important. There is always someone on the bridge keeping a lookout. -
Devon Cruickshank
March 14, 1996 aboard ConcordiaFaculty Journal: Rough Seas...
Almost every night of our second semester we've had rough seas. Rough seas mean that the ship rolls a great deal. So yes, we do worry about falling out of bed. To fight this we usually use wedges, which are pieces of foam cut at an angle to keep us in bed. The way the wedge works is you simply shove it under your mattress, this makes a little cocoon like space for you to sleep in. However, in one situation, at about three in the morning, my wedges seemed not to be working, I adjusted them and went back to sleep. Shortly thereafter, I found myself laying on the floor. As I stumbled to my feet I realized that not only was I on the floor, but so was my mattress, and the rest of my bunk. It had torn right out of the wall. So, essentially, sometimes, there is absolutely nothing you can do. By the way, I spent the rest of that night on the floor.
Lisa Feldman
March 18, 1996, aboard ConcordiaUnited States vs. Australia
Because both the United States and Australia have historical ties to England, their cultures have many similarities. Social behavior such as manners, body language and basic ways of showing respect are the same in the United States as in Australia. But there are some obvious differences as well. These include, a strong accent (which I find very hard to understand) and various expressions, like ‘g-day mate’, ‘how-y going’, ‘enrolling in uni’, and becoming ‘friends with a bloke.’ The food in Australia is almost identical, although there seems to be more fresh fruit and ice-cream is much more popular. Aussies enjoy vegemite - a yeast flavored breakfast spread, pavlova - a multi-layered cake, and damper - a bread that is cooked in the earth. Perth, more specifically, has a very laid back attitude, where young men often have long hair and people walk around barefoot. As a whole we have found Aussies to be very open and friendly to visitors, they really seem to go out of their way to welcome us.
Simon Menard
March 17, 1996, aboard ConcordiaCanada Vs. Australia
To me, Australia seems a lot like Canada. The city life is similar. Commerce seems to be very similar to that in North America. The language most commonly spoken is English. Though the accent is different and some words don't mean the same thing, the principles that run the society seem to be very cohesive with the Canada that I know. Australia is seen as an extremely environmentally friendly place. Some ways that they conserve is through water bans and recycling. One thing that I found odd was the negative feelings that Western Australia and Eastern Australia hold for each other, it seems that both think the other is made up of grouchy, unhappy people. Funny how this scenario resembles our own at home. All in all I think Canada and Australia are similar nations.
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