MAR to Cathy - Semester at Sea

Oh oh. Is that how you spell it? When you say it, it sounds more like oht-oh. The lettering is done with some Pantone markers from when you could buy one at a time - used to augment the ZIGs - and they are 30 years old - and I should just toss them - but that does not seem like something I could ever do ---- although - I'm almost thinking I could...... 

Brace yourselves for quite a few that are ho-hum or even worse.

***

It is still the same afternoon when I wrote yesterday's blurb. Wondering about stories caused a few to pop up - including one that is about mail

When I first met him - in 1976 his World Campus Afloat experiences were fun to listen to. I searched and did not find this story on the blog - so it's a good space filler - and not entirely off-topic.

WCA is still around - it is now called Semester at Sea - easy to find through Google. It's a big cruise-type ship offering college credit for classes taught by legitimate instructors/professors who are on board. It is not a fancy ship - but sea-worthy. MrWilson chose an itinerary that started in Florida and had a couple stops in Africa and then India - then some other places - maybe Phillipines, Hong Kong, Japan - then Hawaii - ending in California. 

Trips are approximately 110 days and 10 stops - so that's a lot of time on the ship and in 1973 the only communication with family was writing letters. Families had addresses and a timeline so they could send mail that would be waiting at the various ports. Phone calls were available for emergencies only. 

In one of MrWilson's classes - the assignment was to come up with some kind of rumor to start on the ship to track the flow of rumors. The rumor they started was that there had been a problem and there would be no mail at the next port. Enough of the students were so traumatized by the news that they had to call off the project. As I recall, he said the women were a little more upset about not getting their mail - not that it matters - but just think of what it would have been like to send your kid off - and having only snail mail for updates. Or perhaps it was a welcome break?