A day in the life of an assistant field office director

I’ve mentioned in other posts that I’ve been very busy since boarding the ship. However, do you know what working in the Semester at Sea field office entails? Probably not and honestly, I am still learning the answer to this question! However to give you an idea of my work, I’ve marked below “a day in the life of an assistant field office director.”

06:45 Wake up and get ready for the day

07:30 Breakfast and a quick cup of coffee before heading to the office (Yes, this avid tea-drinker has switched to coffee. I need quick jolt of the caffeine.)

08:00-08:30 Arrive at the office, depending on who I sit with at breakfast and how chatty we are!

08:30-12:30 Work like a madwoman throughout the morning. I answer student questions both via email and in person, meet with faculty members about their field labs (in-country field trips with their students), respond to copious amounts of email, and troubleshoot the often malfunctioning database and reporting system.

12:30-13:30 Lunch in the Garden Lounge or on the deck, if the weather is nice.

13:30-17:30 or 18:00 Back to working like a madwoman. I try to use the afternoon to work on projects, like preparing for future port and the port’s respective field programs and field labs.

18:00 Dinner, generally in the Aquamarine dining room which is a little fancier than the Garden Lounge but does not feature outdoor seating.

19:00 World Café session. A variety of speakers give presentations each night on the ship and this is one forum for them to share their information.

20:00 Insight Lecture. Another opportunity for presentations. The Insight Lecture is commonly given by a faculty member while the World Café session has a more “student-life” feel.

20:00-22:30 Back to my room to work on school work. (Yes, I am still working on my school work throughout the voyage. I have to write my capstone paper this semester). Some nights I’ll visit Glazer Lounge, the lounge for faculty and staff only, but because I have to work on my paper I haven’t been up there too much.

22:30 Sheer exhaustion sets in, so it’s time for bed. Gotta get some sleep so the madness can start all over again tomorrow!

I realize after typing this that my day on the ship isn’t very different from a day I would have while working on dry land. However the primary difference is that on the ship, I have no weekends. There are no days where I can sleep in or just relax. Generally the shipboard community has free time in port but I’ll have to work then too and I don’t want to spend my only days in Hong Kong, for example, catching up on sleep on the ship! 

I’ve decided that basically this is going to be one crazy semester and by the time we hit London, I will be ready for one long nap!