Submitted by Jack Roff on the 2023 summer program in Volterra, Italy…
By the time we got to Cannes on the cruise, I was used to the standard schedule of cruise port stops: You wake up, eat breakfast, and get off the boat to walk around. I had spent the previous port stops walking around with friends to go to the beach as well as do things like snorkeling in Portofino. Today was different, though, as most either wanted to spend the day shopping or on the beach. I, on the other hand, had seen something that looked like a castle off on a distant hill and wanted to find my way to it. So, I split off from the rest of the group and began the journey to the castle (It was a Church). As it turned out, this sort of individual journey on my own was just what I needed to finish off this trip. For the last two and a half weeks, I had been partially relying on others to get me through a new foreign country. This solo excursion made me rely only on what I had learned, and I fully embraced the challenge. I didn’t just make a beeline for the castle but instead meandered through the town, looking into shops and talking to people. Doing it on my own gave me a great sense of accomplishment. This same situation occurred in the next port stop of Palma de Mallorca as well. It was a hot day, and once again, I saw another castle (it actually was a castle this time) on a distant hill and decided to walk to it. I stopped in to get coffee at shops and joked with them about how American my Spanish sounded. And after finding the castle, I kept walking to find caves as well as a secret beach, where I met someone who was also on his way to Barcelona. What this taught me is that although traveling with others is great, sometimes you can use others to hide behind and mask your own social weaknesses. While allowing others to pick up the slack in areas you aren’t strong in is by no means a bad thing, it also means that you aren’t growing in those areas like you could be. By working up the courage to travel alone, I exposed my weaknesses fully, and I feel that I am a drastically better traveler and more confident socially because I did. That lesson will stick with me for the rest of my life.
Probably the most fascinating part about the cruise ship for me was how everything managed to get done without ever interrupting the cruise experience. Even on the first day, when the staff was rushing around dealing with 3000 new passengers, the dinner staff still took the time to pull out my chair for me to sit and even unfold my napkin for me. Never in my life have I felt like a rich person, but for those 10 seconds, I did. It was all just so impressive. Housekeeping would clean our rooms twice a day, and I never ran into them once while they were cleaning them. It made me think about how many unseen people were working behind the scenes, doing jobs that many wouldn’t want just so the passengers onboard could forget about their lives and have a relaxing vacation. In class, we learned that many of the crew members are people from poorer countries who work on the ship to feed their families back home. Despite these unfortunate circumstances, every single one of the crew shows up energetic and friendly at any time of day. It just caused me to do a sort of reality check comparing my life back home to their life on the ship. At home, so many people are annoyed and even angered by small inconveniences and often cite them as reasons for ruining their day. We are so used to being comfortable and having the idea of the “dream job” where we don’t have to work hard and make money anyway as the path to happiness. Meanwhile, on the ship, a large majority of the crew are from far more difficult backgrounds, many some not seeing their families for months at a time and still working every day being happy, kind, and straight-up nice to be around. When I stepped onto the ship, I did not expect the thing to leave the most lasting impression on me would be the crew, but writing this after I’m off the ship, that’s exactly what it is. Ironically for all the trouble, they go through to keep the crew as sort of the background actors in the cruise experience, they are at the forefront of my mind purely for the kindness and professionalism they exude. When I find myself complaining about some minor thing, I just think of people like the Celebrity Edge crew, and I move on happily. (Submitted during Week 3).