Date: 17.03.2023
Author: Thea
Position: North Atlantic
Nautical position: 3506,3 N 04303,7 W
Etmal: 11461nm
Ship: Pelican of London

Our journey with Ocean College is coming more and more to the end. And that happened fast, way too fast in my opinion.

Now I am sitting here in the dark, hearing classical music and write what will probably be my last daily report. The word “last” is coming more and more out of our mouths.

Talking about, today are our last birthdays from our loved mate Nate and our crazy first Officer Tamsin. Looking back, I realize how impressive everything we have experienced is.

At the moment we are collecting many things for our board book and it is overwhelming how much we are able to collect. But we mustn’t leave anything out, because we experienced so many impressive things and grew so much over time.

What the whole thing is about

In this text I don’t want to write about the past like I did in my last daily report “Marmeladenglas-Momente” on the 13th of February. I would rather like to look into the future.

Would like to look at how we changed here at Ocean College and what we’ve learnt about ourselves, other people or general things.

Also, I would like to write about the day we need to say goodbye and finally, I would like to think about what it’s going to be like – afterwards – when I am not sailing around the world with my second family.

Planet Pelican

Of course, I could tell you many things about myself, how I have changed and which of my characteristics have changed or are new, but I believe that I am not really able to answer this question 100% correctly, because it’s a feeling that you only understand if you had experienced such a thing.

It’s hardly possible to explain it in words. Also, because we are changing with every step, every watch, every stop and every month that we live on planet Pelican, we don’t even realize it, if we are not reflecting ourselves regularly.

And especially, you are not reading this daily report because of me, so many other people are on this voyage with me and now it should all be about them.

I asked every single one of us, the students, the Watchleaders and the teachers, what Ocean College showed them, how they have changed or what they have learned in the last few months.

Cabin 6:

Annbritt: I have learnt a lot about sailing and I have learnt to enjoy every moment.

Franzi M.: Honestly, not that much about sailing, but about finding the most wonderful friends and how to live without the luxury life at home.

Klara: Now I am more open to everybody and everything.

Sophia: I have grown more confident and have a better picture of the world as a whole, but I know there’s always more to learn.

Sophie: I am more open to new people and have learnt much about Bosun’s stuff.

Hanna: I became more self-confident and realized that you sometimes just have to do things and don’t think about it that much.

Cabin 7:

Lara: I realized that I have to think more about myself. What I really want and what makes me happy (but not in an egoistic way).

Kaija: I learnt that we are really strong as a team, when we have a certain plan.

Leni: I got more self-confident and now I know who I am. Also, I noticed how many open doors there are in my life.

Ellen: I realized what friendship really means.

Elizabeth: That being your honest self is scary and often times feels too hard too… but if you keep on trying, it‘ll get easier and easier. And with your honest self there comes a lot, like true friendship and bravery.

Thea: I learnt a lot about myself, who I really am and to use every moment that we have in our lives, because we probably are not coming back to many places we have been.

Cabin 8:

Nate: That a hug can save a life.

Theo: To enjoy every moment even if they are really exhausting.

Philip: I got more confident, more thoughtful and can let go on things.

Manuel: I learnt to be calm about situations that I can’t influence.

Paul: I learnt how good we can live in our western world and how important it is to have water and food for cheap prizes.

Cabin 9:

Saba: I got more independent.

Anna: I got better at looking on the bright side of things.

Kaya: I have learnt being more relaxed about things that went wrong and see the positive aspects of the situation instead of pitying myself.

Lea: I grew up, got more confident and learned a lot about me and my way to live.

Franzi S.: I got more thankful for all the small things.

Caro: This question is pretty hard to answer on the run. I have learnt and changed quite a bit. For one, it has helped me in many ways and I am a happier and more confident person. I have also learnt how precious time is and that I want to live my life to the fullest extent. Yolo. It’s important to follow your own dreams, no matter what others say. Don’t stop dreaming…but stay realistic…thank you to mum and dad, who gave me the chance with this voyage to change in many ways. You can’t believe how important and character-shaping this time is and will also be in the future…love you <3.

Cabin 10:

Benjamin: That I live a very privileged life.

Anton: I learnt general stuff about laundry.

Peer: I learned to live with many people on less space and I can reflect myself better.

Lennox: I am thankful for my privileges at home.

Cabin 11a:

Fynn: That you need friends for life.

Nicolai: I learnt a lot about my personal perspective and how far I can go in extreme situations.

Simon: I have no idea how I have changed, but I know that I have.

Constantin: You can still have a lot of fun after bad news.

Cabin 12 (Watchleaders):

Carlina: Now I know what I want to do in life.

Marie: I learnt to follow my plans.

Leander: I learned to be more thankful for my childhood.

Matti: I just developed myself further. There is nothing in particular that I can tell you about.

Cabin 4 (Teacher):

Britta: We should step outside our comfort zone more often.

Benno: Challenges are a driver for personal development.

Simon: That I’m an impatient person, but it‘s getting better.

Trough Ocean College we all have changed a lot, only into positive I would say. To everybody who hasn’t done an Ocean College voyage yet, I would like to say that Ocean College is not only a voyage. It is way more, it is a voyage where you are learning more about yourself and how to compromise with people in a small area even in hard situations than you would do anywhere else. And this is coming to an end.

Don’t even think about it

The farewell: A day that I don’t really like to think about. A day with an extreme stop off our new life in which we get pushed back into our old, “normal” lives. Now I am asking myself, how we can prepare ourselves the best for it in the best way or what should happen, that it’s not that hard for us to kind of loose our Ocean College lives. I like to take it all back to the beginning.

Once we take a step back and think of everything that already happened, we often realize all that will soon be behind us. For me the beginning is not Amsterdam, where we started, but our first official stop: Dartmouth.

Dartmouth is something like our Ocean College mainland home. In order to get there one last time with my Ocean College family, I would do almost everything. Even if it is only for a few hours or one night. Sadly, due to our delay in Bermuda, Dartmouth was cancelled, which means that we’re going to spent our last shore-leave on the Azores – way to early. I’m hoping for a miracle… a good wind or just an Angel, who’s going to take us to Dartmouth, back to the beginning, so we can experience it all once more…

A new beginning is coming

The talks of „after Ocean College“ are coming more and more often these days. What’s going to happen after this? The fear, of what is going to happen how it is going to be when we’re alone again. The last six months it was impossible to be alone. Almost everywhere are people.

You were only alone when you were actively trying to be alone, for example going climbing or just listening to music in a hidden spot. There’s also this fear of losing contact. I’m sure that we all want to keep in touch. And we’ve already made plans to meet up again, in the whole group, but also in smaller ones or also just with one other person.

My conclusion I made the last few weeks is, that I really don’t want to lose contact to my closest friends. I am sure that at least in a few years, I’m not going to have any contact to most of the voyage crew.

But you aways meet twice in life.

Best wishes:

Caro: I think I will never like maths… I kind of stopped dreaming there… it’s not my world… we wrote an exam…pure pain for my brain.

​​Manuel: Happy Birthday Mama! Ich wünsche Dir alles Gute zum Geburtstag, fühl‘ dich umarmt, gedrückt, lass Dich feiern und mach Dir einen schönen Tag :D. Hab‘ Dich lieb, dein Großer. PS: Ich hoffe, es gab lecker Kuchen von Oma.

Elizabeth: Best wishes to Mama, Papa and David and Valerie. Miss you guys. I hope you have a great day!

Klara: Grüße gehen raus an Nina, meine Chaya und meine Familie.