When at sea, days alternate between "A" days and "B" days - primarily to designate which day your class meets. Some classes meet on "A" days, some on "B" days.
Professors on the ship teach three classes...luckily, these were all classes we got to propose and they had to get approved by the University of Virginia. By and large, the professors on the voyage are teaching classes that they are really interested in (ie. no one was "assigned" to teach a certain class). A few months ago, professors were asked if they had any room preferences or special needs, and we were told that we would be accommodated as much as possible and that our classes wouldn't be scheduled back-to-back and that we wouldn't have all three classes meet on the same day. As such, I have two classes that meet on "A" days (Mass Media Systems Around the World and Intercultural Communication) and one class meets on "B" days (Cinema and National Identity). All of my classes are packed to capacity (35 students in each class!) Apparently Communication is the third most represented major among the students on the ship (Business and Psychology are apparently one and two...incidentally both disciplines have two professors on board to accommodate the demand for those classes - I, however, am the only Communication professor on board.)
Today is class meeting day "A1."
On the agenda for me is the following:
- Teach "Mass Media Systems Around the World" (Time: 0800 - 0915)
- Sit in on the Global Studies core course that the entire ship "shuts down for" daily - it is held in the Student Union area of the ship with the lecture being broadcast on the closed-circuit TV system of the ship to the various satellite classrooms on the ship for those students who can't fit in the Union (Time: 0920 - 1040)
- Teach "Intercultural Communication" (Time: 1045 - 1200)
- Meeting for faculty/staff who are leading trips in Puerto Rico (Time: 1730)
- Cultural Pre-Port Briefing for Puerto Rico (Time: 2000)
