I finally learned today about all those damn maps the meteorologist like Sam Champion put up on the TV. They are actually pretty cool.

One last thing--we climbed the rigging today on the Conrad. It was so cool! We were so high up. I felt like a real live sailor. It was our ONLY practice for when we can actually climb the rigging aboard our moving vessel !! It should be interesting. The picture enclosed is how high we were up---as you can see I was holding on for dear life !!

I am finally at Mystic and have had a little free time to write. I arrived here on Wednesday August 25th and was immediately busy. We had a Welcome/Orientation and then some dinner. On Thursday morning we had English class. We are reading Two Years before the Mast by Dana. It should be a good book!

On Friday we had more classes and orientation about our vessel. We will be sailing on the SSV Coriwith Cramer. The itinerary is to sail from Woods Hole, MA to Rockland, ME. But we are entering hurricane season so who knows. We leave for Woods Hole, MA on tuesday morning (August 31st) and will be onboard the vessel till the 10th. Hopefully I will get one more entry in before we leave for Woods Hole.

Overall I have been having a great time seeing the seaport and wandering around. It is so cool to be living in a museum--which we have access to all the time. One of the awesome things that the professors here are stressing is that at the seaport there at tons and tons of primary sources. This is really the place to do awesome research! It will be an exciting time and a memorable semester.