Catch Up!

To all our followers:  We apologize for the delay in these posts.  Due to the campus email outage we did not receive Kimmy's posts until 6/11.  So here they are in digest form.

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Saturday, June 02, 2012

At 63°50’N, the sun only sets for some. The sunset last night (May 31, but technically slightly after 1 am on June 1) was a great learning opportunity. Cadets engaged in celestial navigation are generally quite finely tuned to the timing of astronomical events such as the sunset, but on this day only the diligent managed to see the sun set and green flash on the main deck and the boat deck. Why? Because had they taken the altitude of the deck into account, the cadets on the bridge deck, eagerly waiting for the sunset, would have discovered that there would be no sunset from their vantage point—the sun rose right back up! Yes, the extra 20 feet of altitude on the ship made all the difference!

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Halló, Ísland! Halló, Reykjavík! We are docked in an area called Sündahofn (New Harbor), two miles east of the Old City. Port side you see an industrial and marine transportation complex, where we see cargo operations up close; starboard side you see a yellow lighthouse, a blue Scandinavian-style house on a small island, and, just another quarter mile beyond, Esja, a peninsula of mountains with the last few narrow strands of ice hanging off the peaks; straight ahead beyond the bow is the Reykjavík skyline: dramatically framing the handful of tall buildings are the futuristic steeple of Hallgrimskirkja atop of a hill to the south and the modernist honeycomb glass casing of the Harpa Music Hall by the harbor to the north. For three days, cadets will be enjoying their liberty all around town, and sometimes far from town. A yellow school bus is waiting at the Harbor’s Visitor Center to shuttle us hourly between the ship and Old City.

Append to the May 23 entry: The mystery engineering professor is Prof. Strez.

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Monday, June 4, 2012

A steady traffic of cadets brave the two-mile journey to the city. They are walking, biking, skateboarding, and rollerblading, and they are in for a treat. Just off the docks by the waterfront is an artists’ park that reminds me of Socrates Park in Astoria, Queens. Sculptures of all kinds—metal, wood, and stone—dot the grassy field. In the center is a colorfully decorated hut which is the artists’ workshop. Art does not stop with the finished products: cadets climb these sculptures and pose for photos in creative ways. Further down the seawall path is Hofði (The Promontory House), where the October 1986 summit between Reagan and Gorbachev was held. The Icelandic people like to pride themselves in ushering in the fall of the Berlin Wall, but the breakthrough between the two leaders was actually on reducing nuclear arsenal, which led to the treaty on cutting intermediate-range nuclear weapons signed the following year. Continuing on towards the city center stands the Solfarið (the Sun Boat), an abstract metal sculpture, a morph of fish bones and a Viking ship. These are but a sample of interesting sites all across the city; cadets marvel at the confluence of modern conveniences so familiar and a culture so foreign. Cadets also caught the last day of Iceland’s annual Fishermen’s Festival where games, skills demonstrations, and, most important, free samples of seafood and birds were offered.

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

The bus stop by the harbor’s Visitor Center becomes the place to catch up on everyone’s adventures. Some cadets come back in awe from experiencing Iceland’s natural geological wonders on the Golden Circle tour; some come back happily exhausted from white water rafting; some come back completely relaxed after a thorough soak in the mineral water of the Blue Lagoon (so relaxed that they overlooked their hair, which was all sticking up crazy). The more adventurous organize their own tours:

surfing, skiing and snowboarding, horseback riding, and trips to the beach. In the Visitor Center, cadets call and write home using rental phones and computers. Cadets certainly know how to keep themselves active and busy!

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 From the Ship’s Librarian

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Bless bless (bye-bye), Reykjavík! We untied at 0800 bound for the infinite horizon once again. But before we leave the snow-capped mountains behind, the Icelandic people gave us a special send off. At 1015, we heard a helicopter catching up with us. We slowed down the ship and a line was dropped from the hovering aircraft. Three cadets tied it to the rail, and, zip lining down was an Icelandic coast guard, dressed in a bright red suit, followed by a stretcher-sized bucket. We performed this emergency medical evacuation drill twice in under 10 minutes’ time, which, as I learned from the Chief Mate later, was extremely efficient. The coast guard exchanged a few parting words and shook hands with the cadets before zip lining up back to the rumbling helicopter. As we waved our final goodbyes to the wonderful Icelandic people, the aircraft rounded an extra circle over the ship before taking off, disappearing among the distant specks of seagulls in the open sky.

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Today is all about emergency response. During the extended boat drill, corpsmen brought out their gear to each station and showed us the basics of handling a few types of injuries—fractures, sprains, and dislocations; open and closed wounds. We check for vital signs, consciousness, circulation, and body control, then stabilize, elevate, press, splint! Volunteers play victim, which always add levity to these proceedings, especially when learning to move the victim on to a stretcher and parading around, I mean, transporting the victim. Cadets are very smart, though. In the brief moments when the sun peeked through the clouds, they showed off their skills by taking their sextants out of the box and taking readings with one swift, continuous motion. They don’t waste any time!

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Friday, June 8, 2012

Seriousness All Around

Last night the library saw a record gate count of 55. Cadets are preparing for the sprint to the finish line. They are having their last few days of classes and are studying for the final exam; they are completing their celestial fixes and tracings due by arrival at Norfolk; some are still studying for the Morse code exam. It’s time to be serious! We are turning the clock back one hour every two days now and that helps. Speaking of being serious, cadets have been checking out some literary heavy-weights lately—fiction: The Sound and the Fury and The Sun Also Rises; non-fiction:  The Dialogues of Plato and Primal Leadership: Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence. There be seriousness all around.

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From the Ship’s Librarian

Sunday, June 10, 2012

A Mellow Sunday. Sunday At Sea was a mellow affair. Unpredictable weather conditions ran the gamut: sun, clouds, fog, rain, and winds. Although the grills stayed indoors, the menu stayed the same and did not disappoint.

Over 30 cadets attended a special lecture today on labor unions given by a mate who also happens to work in the labor sector. We learned about workers’ rights, hiring practices, and benefits. Cadets asked are concerned about employment opportunities and the speaker gave valuable tips on how to make the most of the hiring process, as well as general advice on saving and planning for the future.