How to do SAS pt.1

This blog is especially for Erin and Jean, and anyone else who will be going on this trip in the near future. It is a few thoughts I've been collecting. I might pull a few more of these together as things occur to me, especially when I have more in-port experience. I'm writing this now, because eventually all of these things will seem so normal to me that it won't occur to me to mention them.

Most importantly, be very very very careful when you're ducking under the library counter, because when you doink your head on it, it hurts really bad. Trust me.

The ship is cold and dry, it's a lot like the libraries at UVa, but probably drier. I get dehydrated very quickly. It's also a bit of a challenge to stay hydrated. It's not that easy to keep water around in the library, and there aren't drinking fountains around, soon after you get here you need to get a hydration plan and stick to it. There's no soft drinks in the dining rooms: water, juice and sweet ice tea. So take advantage of that and drink up at meal time. I don't know if it's a function of the atmospheric conditions, but I've been having a bit of a dandruff problem. I'm not usually inclined to that, though I've had an outbreak or two in my day. If you've ever had dandruff, bring some head n shoulders.

The coffee mugs in the dining hall are tiny, if you need to tank up in the morning you should bring a hearty size travel mug with you. Don't bring a regular mug, because you'll slosh hot coffee on yourself. The dining room staff don't mind at all if you want to fill up your giant mug. There's equal and sweet n low and sugar, no splenda.

Bring some kind of fiber supplement. Even the vegetables are a little bit greasy, I think a little extra fiber makes the food adjustment easier.

Bring a wine bottle/bottle cap opener for your room.

You'll probably want to have some snacks in your room, especially if you miss a meal here and there. Some nuts, power bars, crackers. If you like an afternoon coke you might want to think about getting a 12 pack. There's a tiny fridge in the cabins, big enough for a six pack, a nalgene on its side, and a glass or two. There are two snack bars, but what they sell is a bit limited, and if you just want to crack open a diet coke every once in awhile it's nice to have some at the ready.

There are some toiletries in the room, specifically shampoo, conditioner, mouthwash, lotion, shower cap, soap and sewing kit. Just like in a hotel. You probably won't want to rely on these for the whole trip, but you won't need to bring soap with you just so you can take a shower your first night on the ship. You can expect the same sort of amenities in your cabin as you would in the average Holiday Inn, plus there's generally turn down service but no mint on the pillow. Though I expect if you supplied your own mints your cabin steward would be happy to put one on your pillow. Also, the first night I stayed in my room I left a small pile of dirty clothes on the floor, when I came back to my room after breakfast the next day they were folded neatly and placed in the chair, even my dirty underwear. If you don't want the cabin steward touching your dirty underwear you better put it away when you take it off.

There's plenty of storage in a cabin for one person. For two people it might be a squeeze. You can put things under the bed, like duffle bags, etc. There are five nice deep drawers under a deep shelf that's 18 inches tall. There are two bedside tables with three drawers each. The vanity/desk also has a drawer. There's a nice size closet with hangers (hotel style with the ring that's permanently attached to the rod). There's a shelf above the rod, and two shoe racks. There's also a full size cupboard with shelves and slide out bins (the slide out bins are a good place to put those dirty clothes). There's also a shelf and a cabinet in the bathroom. Plenty of room for storage.

There's also plenty of outlets in the cabins that take an american style plug. Yet, none in the library.

Clothes are tough. Professors dress in everything from sport coats and skirts to polos and shorts. There are dressy occasions every once in awhile, but if you dress about like you would if you were talking at a library town meeting that would be perfect. A little dressier than normal, but not much. It's also nice to have a couple of things that you could wear if you were talking to a professor's class. Mary and I have been dressing pretty casual in the library, but not sweat pants and shorts casual. I wear pajamas to breakfast, and I put on shorts to go to evening meetings. Don't be afraid to wear the same thing over and over again, no one really notices. Bring some febreeze and downy wrinkle releaser and you'll be all set.

Be prepared to handle a lot of non-academic type reference questions. The majority of reference at this point has been questions like "What kind of bird did I see this morning?" "What is that flower that's everywhere in Hawaii?" There's also a fair amount of traffic from the staff and faculty children working on their assignments from home. We've also been called upon to assist with lesson plans for these kids too. If you had a reader's advisory class in library school that will serve you well.

My early advice on field programs is: don't over commit. Definitely sign up for the things that will be hard to manage on your own. If you want to travel a lot outside of the port city, I think the SAS sponsored trips are a good deal. You will find people to pal around with though, and there will be a lot of interesting opportunities beyond SAS. Leave yourself some flexibility.

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Thank you for leaving comments on my blog. I read them, and I love them.

My cold is better, though I'm still sort of run down. There's definitely a bug on the ship, lots of people dragging around feeling crappy. I haven't had much of an appetite. I'm not sure how much of that is this cold, and how much is just getting a little tired of the food. It's basically meat in sauce for every meal. Chris said if you ate at the same 5 star restaurant everyday you'd get sick of it eventually, I think he's right. Today for lunch they made grilled cheese sandwiches, I was so happy I thought I might cry. The soup is always really good, and a bowl of soup and a peanut butter sandwich is a really nice change of pace.

I had two meetings today, even at sea you can't escape committees, so don't entertain any romantic notions about that. There was a faculty meeting today that was so angst ridden it made my stomach hurt.

We're gaining another hour tonight, hurrah! We get 3 more hours between here and Japan. We also won't have Thursday this week. We'll go to bed Wednesday night and wake up on Friday. Too bad for Brandon Kidd (student) who would have had a birthday November 7th. Ha Ha