Feelin It Out (June 27)

So…if the other ports go anything like this one, I won’t have any time to blog until after we leave the country! I’ll try to blog sooner, but you might have to wait a little bit! Lucky for you, I’m leaving Espana and en route to Italia! Here are my days in Barcelona. :)

My first day in Barcelona- and in Europe, actually- began with quite the startle. At around 7 am, I was awoken from my peaceful slumber by a booming vibration. Now, this wasn’t a gentle hum that allowed me to drift out of dreamland. No, this was as sudden as a gunshot. Startled and completely discombobulated, I sat up straight and paused for about 5 seconds to figure out where I was, what was happening, and why I wasn’t still sleeping. BARCELONA!!! I immediately reached over and cracked open the shades, letting a strong beam of light into our pitch black room- quickly, of course, as Lauren was still sleeping. To my surprise, no Barcelona! I pressed my face as close as it could get to the cabin window, wayyyy on the side to see if there was any land in the distance. Nope, still just ocean. Hmph. Back to sleep.

At 8, my alarm went off and this time we really were here! The plan was to meet up at breakfast at 8, then wait for our *early dismissal* (for getting 3rd in the Amazing Race). I put on my cute sundress…and then the awkward money belt around my waist under it. Didn’t feel so cute anymore…
Breakfast was pretty good- lots of bacon for protein! Actually, for some reason this morning I was on bacon craving overload. I legitimately had about 15 pieces…and wanted more. And I had 3 egg whites! Protein, protein, protein!

Here’s the process of docking and getting off of the ship: when the ship is relatively close to port, they slow the engines (…the vibrations), attach to another ship (smaller), and let the pilot aboard to help dock the ship. Then once we dock, the immigration officers of the country come aboard. They check all of our passports and (sometimes) stamp them. They BETTER stamp them…I need something to show on my passport for all this travelin’! Anyway, as this is happening, a diplomat comes aboard and gives us a diplomatic briefing- the latest and greatest (not always) happenings in the country we’re about to explore. The Spain guy turned out to spend a majority of his time explaining why we should all become diplomats- he did, though, do his job to inform us of what was going on. It was pretty much what we expected- lots of pickpocketing. He mentioned that the shell game was recently becoming very popular. You know at Padres games when they put a 3 hats on the jumbo-tron, put a ball under one, move them all around, and make you watch and guess? And if the specially selected fan picks correctly, the whole stadium gets 2 free Jack-in-the-Box tacos? Well, it’s like that. However, they’re sneaky and pull some little tricks so you can’t actually follow it accurately. They have some people who are in on it “play” and win 50 Euros from betting. People see that it’s possible to win, and want to try it themselves. Meanwhile, they’re pulling the trick and taking your money while simultaneously distracting you so others they work with can pickpocket you. It’s really quite genius—and so wrong. The diplomat told everyone to sling their bags across their chests and keep them in front of them at all times. Oh, and did I mention that 62 out of about 700 Semester at Sea students on last summer’s voyage got pickpocketed on the FIRST day? Yeah, crazy.

So being Julia, I had already ordered my PacSafe bags that were "pickpocket proof." I dare you to try to pickpocket me…especially my camera bag! Well, it’s possible but not without some time and effort. As it ended up, all I used was my money belt with money and cards in it, and my camera slung across me (and holding it at all times with a death grip, of course). My debit card and some more money was stored in my bra- a “NO-NO ZONE” recommended by Semester at Sea for storage. We should all notice if someone is trying to pickpocket from THERE.

Anyway, this briefing happened. When it ended, we went to Timitz Square to wait for dismissal (first!!!). Well, we waited and waited and waited and heard some announcements about FDPs being dismissed first. We waited some more…and some more…and some more for the Amazing Race winners to be dismissed. All of the sudden, we hear over the loudspeaker- “Ladies and gentlemen, it is now general de-boarding is now open.” Well so much for our promised early dismissal! We were definitely a bit peeved, but got over it the second our feet touched LAND. We were planning to go to the Columbus statue, walk around Las Ramblas, maybe grab some Tapas, then get back to the ship by 12:30 to leave for the City Orientation SAS trip we signed up for. All we had to do, as we were told, was walk over a little bridge and the statue is on the other side. Well, so much for relative terms and accuracy. Quantitative please, not qualitative! This “little bridge” turned out to be a 40 minute walk in the hot 90-something degree blazing sun, in the shoes everyone was newly testing out. For some, the shoe thing went well. For others- including myself (why are we not surprised?)—not so much. 40 minutes, 10 gallons of sweat, and 5 blisters later, I was finally at that darn Columbus statue. FI-NA-LLY. Now, I have nothing against Columbus. Not even anything about the statue. It’s awesome. What I do have something against, however, is the fact that the bridge that led us there was “little!” Lies, I tell you. Lies.

Now time for Las Ramblas- the “awesome-but-scary-because-you-WILL-get-pickpocketed” street that runs in the middle of the city, lined with little shops and cafes and souvenir tents and street performers and sketchy people pickpocketing you. And annoying people with mouth pieces that make the most obnoxious sound in your ear as you walk by one every 3 seconds. And hey, they were probably trying to pickpocket you too. And hey, no, we don’t want to go to your club tonight. Not for a deal. Not for free. And you begging us isn’t making it any more likely. Okay, enough with that rant. As you can tell, not the biggest fan of Las Ramblas right here. Anyway, we were hungry and had very little time now after the trek, so we stopped somewhere close to the beginning of Las Ramblas for our first taste of Spanish food. Or in our parched cases, drinks. Guess how much Julia paid for her tiny glass of orange juice? About 8 American dollars. EIGHT. One tiny glass. A little taller than my fist. For REALS! So here we go- 3.50 Euros for the glass of orange juice. Okay, fine. Then we get the bill. An additional .35 Euros added for tax, and 1.40 for the service. Per item. Yeah, so my little orange juice was not 3.50 Euros..nope. And for those of you who don’t know, the American dollar is terrible in Europe. The conversion rate is 1 Euro to between 1.4 and 1.5 American dollars. So pretty much if something is 10 Euros, you pay 15 American dollars for it. Boooo. Needless to say, I sure savored that orange juice! Lesson learned: Las Ramblas rips you off!

Alright, I’m only at about 11:45 am in my first day in Barcelona blog but I must stop here for now-- my lovely bed is beckoning! I’ll try to finish soon…don’t want to leave you hanging for too long! :)

Barcelona, here I come! (June 26)

Today was the transition from school to fun. I woke up, took my two other midterms back-to-back, and was freeeee! I didn’t even know what to do with myself. And to make it better, it was TACO DAY at lunch! Hands down the best meal I’ve eaten on the ship. Possibly even better than the first breakfast…it’s debatable. Maybe they can tie. After lunch, I ended up just talking to Michelle for a long time, then when Kelsey finished she joined. It was weird being able to relax without having to go to class or study! Then I got an hour nap in before dinner. After dinner was the Logistical Pre-Port mandatory meeting where we learned about traveling tips, safety, and the processes that would be going on for getting on and off the ship, etc.

I get to get off first tomorrow…woo-hooo! I’m so glad I did the Amazing Race. Kelsey and I are planning on getting off the ship and going straight to the money exchange ATMs before the lines get ridiculous. Then we’re going to shop around a little bit and hopefully meet up with some others once they get off. Then from 1-5 pm, I have a City Orientation trip (though SAS) I signed up for. I’ll be on a bus most of the time, driving through Barcelona seeing the main sites. We’ll get out at La Sagrada Familia, and also get a walking tour at one point. Of course I’ll have more details AFTER I do it! I’m super paranoid about pick-pocketers, so I will be bringing hardly anything. Just the essentials! All my money and cards will either be in my money-safe pouch under my clothes, or in my bra. Hey, they told us to! That way if anyone were to try to reach there I would notice immediately- and freak out and scare them away. I also went to another meeting after the pre-port meeting just for girls- giving extra tips.

I’m about to go to sleep and when I wake up, we will be IN BARCELONA!!! I’m excited but a little nervous! I think just because I’ve never really traveled on my own. Tomorrow won’t be too bad because I have the city orientation, but for the 3 days afterward I don’t have specific plans. I should get to sleep- I have to wake up pretty soon! By the way, I am 9 hours ahead of Pacific Time. So all of you in San Diego, it’s still the afternoon for you! That’s crazy.

**** NOTE: Oh, and if you want to email me in the next few days, you should send a copy to jtaft22@gmail.com AND to jtaft@semesteratsea.net because I don’t know when I’ll be on/off the ship. :)

I can’t believe I’m in the Mediterranean.
Goodnight, and see you in the morning Barcelona!!!

Africa AND Europe! Gibraltar! Land! (June 25)

This morning, I woke up feeling realllllly nauseous and seasick. The ship was still rocking like CRAZY. My stomach felt weird, and since I had a test later today, I thought eating would be a good idea. Turns out it wasn’t such a good idea…

I spent the next couple hours (and classes) trying to keep the food down. There were some very close calls. Luckily, my psych class got out early because it was a review session for the test tomorrow. Not many people had questions, so he let us go and I took the opportunity to catch a quick (really quick) nap before Natural Disasters. In Natural Disasters, we are studying volcanoes….like Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano I’m going to hike up while in Italy on an FDP! Yes, IN the crater. Let’s hope that’s not when it chooses to erupt. Anyway, I am on a ship. I learned all about the different kinds of volcanoes, how they occur, and what they’re like. Like I said, I’m on a ship. Ocean volcanoes are very peaceful. Land volcanoes are violent and dangerous. I’m on a ship, in the ocean, over water, where peaceful volcanoes occur. All the sudden the ship started vibrating/shaking quickly. What was happening? What did I assume? VOLCANO! Seriously. My heart started pounding for a split second as I legitimately thought a volcano was going to erupt. I guess I was really into it? Hey, at least I was learning!

I went to lunch and got some of a PB&J down, then went back to my room to study. God bless Katie for giving me her seasick wristbands that got me through the afternoon. I sat on my bed for the next hour, studying as much as I could. I went up and took my Global Studies test, and it was actually a lot easier than expected. I’ve never been one to like history tests…ever. I still don’t like history. I like learning about it when I’m seeing things that pertain to it, but I don’t like being tested on it. At all. Hence why I refuse to take a history class in college. But here I am, taking a REQUIRED one. :( Oh well, at least I got the first test over with! And my grade ended up being much better than expected….whew! And RIGHT before I went in to take my test, people were gathered at the windows so I peeked out too. What did I see? AFRICA!

We were just entering the Strait of Gibraltar. LAND was such a good sight! After I got out of my test, I went out onto the deck. It was SO cool. When I looked to my left I saw Africa. All I had to do was turn my head to the right, and I saw Europe!!! It was awesome. I could see 2 continents at once! We were passing through the narrowest part of the Strait. After taking a billion pictures, I ran down to take a quick shower. I didn’t even want to dry off in the bathroom because it was so hot and steamy, so I just stepped out into our room and I was going to dry off there. Right away, there was a knock at the door. Lauren opened the door and Brittany was standing there yelling at me to get clothes on because we were refueling! I dried off as fast as I could, threw some clothes on, grabbed my camera and ran up to the top deck. I didn’t see the refueling ship actually attach to us, but I did see the Captain out on the little extending-out platform which was pretty cool. After taking a billion more pictures, we went down to our rooms to finish getting ready. The second I got into my room, my phone was ringing and Brittany was eagerly telling me to run up to her room because the refueling ship was attached literally RIGHT outside her room. I went over there and saw, then decided to go up to the higher decks to get better pictures. We discovered the 5th deck that we didn’t know existed, and ended up being at the same level as the bridge of the other ship. I was taking pictures of the other ship and all of the sudden the people in the ship refueling us started waving and smiling for our pictures! It was so funny! Finally I got to go down and get ready. I didn’t need to dry my hair, though, thanks to the ridiculously strong winds. We all had to hold onto the rails so we didn’t blow away. They were crazy!

After dinner, we all ended up sitting at our table staying awhile talking. We were there for 2 hours, then went to our Cultural Pre-Port mandatory meeting. We learned all about the culture in Barcelona, and how to be careful of pick-pocketers. We stayed after that too, and asked tons of questions. We tried to study for awhile, but were distracted. Of course right when we started focusing, it was 10—snack time. I studied for about 20 more minutes since I had just gotten in the groove of it and a few of us went up then. Darwin works snack as well as dinner, and was really excited to see us. I saw that there was one brownie left, so I told him to save it for me! Just as a girl was going to take it, he grabbed it and put it at the back of the tray. She was really confused so he put it back- it was really awkward! I wouldn’t have asked if I knew someone was in the process of getting it! She ended up not wanting it and I split it with the girls. He scolded us (jokingly) and told us to get there earlier next time! We studied for awhile longer and went to bed pretty late. For some reason (engines changing probably), the ship was shaking/vibrating like crazy again which made it impossible to write!

Happy Birthday, Syd!!! :)

 ^ Captain!

Sunrise! (June 24)

Late last night (at about 3 am), we decided that sunrise was a go for the morning. At 3:30 am, I set my alarm for 5:50…it was a lovely 3 1/2 hours of sleep. When I woke up, it was pitch black. I cracked open my window shade to peek out and make sure we hadn’t already missed sunrise. To my surprise, it was POURING outside. Like, POURING. Water RUSHING down my window. Seriously…the one day we picked? Well, I still had to go up to the meeting spot next to the coffee at 6 because some girls don’t have windows in their rooms and I didn’t want to just not show up. I got all my layers on- leggings, sweats, socks, shoes, tank top, t-shirt, jacket, and rain jacket. I was ready. I went up to the 6th deck and was curious as to how hard it was raining. The other girls arrived and the others with windows said the same thing about the rain. We walked over to the door and peeked out…it was completely clear and dry. There was no sign of rain. Our theory is that they were cleaning SOMEthing at 6 am- either our windows or the top decks, and water was rushing off the sides over the windows. We were all convinced. After feeling like idiots, we made our way outside. It was pretty cloudy. We ended up waiting 45 minutes until the sun came up. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy so we couldn’t see much- bummer. At about 7:15, we were going to go inside and eat breakfast. Just as we were about to turn around, the sun came up just enough so that it was behind one cloud with beams BURSTING out down on the ocean. It was gorgeous. That was the end of the breakfast plan! We spent about 15 more minutes watching and taking pictures and fighting the crazy wind. I wish I could post pictures! Maybe I’ll get wifi in one of the ports.

Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed breakfast again. I went back to my room. I studied a little and got some work done, then got bored. I’m so productive when I wake up early! I ended up curling my hair because I was bored. Sometime during the morning, someone mentioned something about seeing a whale. I instantly remembered a dream I had last night! I had a dream that I saw a dolphin jump….dolphin!...two dolphins!...dol-that’s not a dolphin, it’s black. WHALE! IT’S SHAMU!! Yes, in my dream I saw a killer whale. It seemed so real that at first, I couldn’t remember if it was real life or a dream. Unfortunately it was the latter. :( I have yet to see a whale! The other day I did see a few dolphins, though.

Thanks to my 3 hours of sleep, I was exhausted. For the beginning of the day, I was energized because I’d gotten so much done and got to see the beautiful sunrise. At lunch, I hit a major wall. I couldn’t even stay away sitting there eating lunch. I knew Global Studies wasn’t happening for me that day, so I went to my room and set my alarm for 3 hours later. Someone while I was sleeping, it changed to 5 hours later. I went to sleep at 1 and woke up at 6. Now THAT is a successful nap. :) I woke up just in time for dinner and sleep-walked up the stairs. I was super out of it. After dinner, the ship started rocking worse than it has so far. We all (the entire ship) had a Global Studies midterm the next day, but nobody could study because everyone felt seasick. Some people were even throwing up. Of course, they didn’t postpone the test. We stayed up pretty late studying. As I was falling asleep, I heard some of my medicine bottles fall over. That got me thinking about friction and angles…so I fell asleep trying to determine coefficients of friction of different objects in my room. Nerdy, I know- but hey I had to! They’ve been trying to force history on me!

At dinner, we were all talking about blogging and how we’re all behind more than we’d like to be. The other girls are blogging every couple days and having trouble with that. When I said I was trying to every day, they were shocked. So many of you have asked me to, and I want to include you all in my journey! :) And thank you for emailing me! They said they noticed it seemed like all my relationships were really close- they were right! So I want to thank all of you for your prayers and emails! Seriously, every time I get an email it makes me SO happy. I often don’t have enough internet to respond right away, but I will!

Freckles & Our Bird (June 23)

While on the Bridge tour the other day, I was informed that on the morning of the 23rd, we would be passing some islands! I was not about to miss the sight of land after seeing nothing but ocean for a week. Did I see the land? No. Did I get breakfast? No. I slept through both. :( Some people did see the land and I was sooo jealous. LAND, and I missed it!

Today in my classes, I learned something new. I think I’m allergic to Expo markers. In both morning classes, the teachers whipped out Expo markers for the board. Since I was in the front row, I got a strong whiff of the smell. And then started sneezing. And sneezing. And sniffling. And got a stuffy nose. I know it usually irritated me, but it never made me that bad! Also in that class, I felt like a creeper. The notes were projected onto the screen in the classroom, but my professor was standing in front of the screen lecturing at one point. When I was copying the slides and got to her shadow, I had to look on her body for the missing words! ALSO during that class, there was a crew emergency drill, so every (about) 5 minutes we heard the captain’s voice over the loudspeaker. And another thing- I felt a little tingle on my face, and felt it to find that it was a double bug bite of some sort right next to my eye. Great, attacked by the bugs again. Always me! I went into the bathroom to check it out and make sure it wasn’t anything bad- it wasn’t, it was just two very large connected bumps. Lucky for me, it disappeared by the end of the day!

Later in the day, I decided that I would join the tannies and expose my skin to a little sun. Don’t worry Mom, I wore sunscreen! :) It was so nice being all warm laying out doing homework! Except then one of my friends Brittany came out, and the whole homework thing went down the drain- we ended up talking for about 2 hours until dinnertime. And hey, I ended up getting some color—freckles, that is. :)

When I got to our table at dinner, Kelsey was mid-freak out. As it turns out, she was also out on the deck in the afternoon and saw a bird on the ship. A BIRD. We haven’t seen any birds in a week. She guessed it had flown to our ship when we passed land earlier, and stayed. It was flying against the window over and over trying to get out, but was failing miserably. A little boy ran over and picked the bird up with 2 hands! As his mother screamed at him from across the ship, he let it go and it flew away off the ship. THIS is why Kelsey was freaking out. We hadn’t been near land in 12 hours, and the bird was going to die! Just as she was telling us this story, we noticed a little black and white bird flying next to our ship out the window. It was the bird!!! For the rest of dinner, we watched the little bird fly close to the ship. It’s our baby! We hope it lives!

Sooo… recently we decided we wanted to wake up for sunrise. I emailed Patrick (my boyfriend) to see if he could look up sunrise times for me for the time zone I was in. What did I discover? I am not IN a real time zone. Apparently the only land that’s in my vertical range is Greenland, and they’re in a different time zone for some reason. It’s so weird! It seems like we’re in the twilight zone or something—it isn’t our time anywhere. Crazy. Maybe I just find that weird because I’m delirious and need more sleep. But still…weird! Anyway, we didn’t wake up for sunrise because we had no idea when. We’ll probably ask around to see if anyone knows. Then we can wake up and watch the rumored-to-be-gorgeous sunrise! Still losing an hour each night…

The Amazing Race! (June 22)

Alright, I’m already sick of typing the same thing each day- wake up, class, eat, class, eat, blah blah blah. And I’m sure you’re sick of reading it! So today, I’m going to blog more about the thoughts of Julia- what MY hightlights of the day were.

One word: BREAKFAST!

This morning, I woke up for breakfast for the first time. And let me tell you---- it was AMAZING! I never want to miss breakfast again! Seriously, breakfast put me in a good mood for the entire day. What did I eat, you ask? A TON. In my PJs, I enjoyed an omelet with cheese and bacon, 2 thick pieces of French toast, 2 hard boiled eggs (only the whites), yummy bacon, a warm chocolate croissant, 2 glasses of orange juices, and 2 mini boxes of cereal to go (Pops & Captain Crunch—don’t tell!). And after I was done eating all of that, I was STUFFED. So naturally, I went back to the room with Lauren and slept. :) We only had 20 minutes for a short nap before getting up and ready for class, but it felt great! I went to class and was ready to learn. Psychology was interesting as usual, and where did I sit? Front. You can just go ahead and assume from now on.

In Natural Disasters, I was still thinking about breakfast. We learned about plate tectonics and the make-up of the Earth. My professor said to think about the Earth as a hard-boiled egg- a sphere with a core and mantle, and a cracked shell around the outside. I had NO problem thinking of the Earth like one of the delicious hard-boiled eggs I ate earlier! Also worth noting in class, someone legitimately raised their hand and asked if it snowed last night. Now, I’m no weatherman but I’m PRETTY sure it hasn’t been even close to freezing. And last time I checked, it had to be freezing to snow. My professor took the next ten minutes to confirm what I was thinking. I was slightly shocked that conversation had to be had in a college course. Later, I found out that my Global Studies professor had mentioned something about it? I’m still confused as to why. Other things worth noting in Natural Disasters: she used an overhead projector (old school!), she said “that’s rubbish!” (how adorable), there were a couple anxiety-inducing booms heard from above (not something you want to hear in the middle of the Atlantic), and my chair was clicking obnoxiously again (it was like Chinese water torture…but not. Point being it drove me crazy).

Oh, guess who forgot to take her bug bites pills this morning. THIS girl. I was so enthralled in the whole breakfast thing, it completely slipped my mind. Let’s hope that’s okay? On the topic of my bug bites (since you’ve been asking)…..(drumroll please)…they’re getting better! I wore shorts for the first time today! I have a theory that calamine lotion not only soothes but also heals. The tops of my legs and knees that were once home to the worst bug bites are now almost clear! And the bottom of my legs, which showed when I wore leggings (so they didn’t always get calamine lotion) still have deep red circles scattered on them. Not nearly as bad as before, but I see the trend! I like my theory. And if it’s already known that calamine lotion heals, then I guess I just supported that.

Let’s see...lunch? No lunch. Pops, Captain Crunch, and a long nap instead. In fact, I almost slept through Global Studies! My travel alarm clock has 4 different settings, and when I wake up and want to set my alarm for a little later, I almost always end up changing the time and that’s the end of an alarm going off. When I woke up, it was 1334, one minute before Global Studies started. Yes, it is only 3 floors up on the front of the ship, but I was soo sleepy. I tried to watch it on TV, but it didn’t work. :( So I dragged myself up there, still wearing my PJ shorts. Oh and guess what clicked today. My chair. Surprise, surprise, huh? Maybe I’ll start getting used to it!

In the afternoon, I decided to go out on the top deck and get some fresh air while I got work done. At first, it was very sunny and there were skinny tan bodies laying all over. I pulled my little lounge chair into my stair shade and started working away. Soon enough, the sun disappeared and so did all the tanners. Kelsey came out to join me, and it was just us working out there for awhile on the side deck. A little while later, a guy with a ukulele came wandering on out to the deck and met a girl there. At first, I was peeved at the idea of someone disturbing our peace and quiet, but once they started I couldn’t have cared less. The guy sat down and started strumming away at his ukulele- I LOVE the sound of ukuleles. It helped that he knew what he was doing. He started with Somewhere Over the Rainbow. We figured he was maybe serenading the girl, and thought that was really cute. All of the sudden, the girl started belting out the lines in an amazzzzzzing voice. We were in awe! And boy were we happy to be the only ones out there enjoying the show. They continued on, playing and singing a medley of What A Wonderful World, She Will Be Loved, You Found Me, I’m Yours (Jason Mraz), TITANIC (so good), and various other similar songs. They have GOT to get married. We asked them if they were planning on being in the talent show, and they weren’t. We strongly recommended it (slash begged them)! But really, if they don’t get married and live happily ever after…..I don’t even know. They just need to. They were adorable and amazing, and I’m hoping they’re planning on making a routine out of their music-making because I can sure be out on deck 7 when they are. At the same time, two guys came out and were doing P90X on the other side of the deck. It was a really neat moment, sitting out there in the middle of the overcast Atlantic. There was a constant mist of salt water, and it was the perfect comfortable temperature. There was us, studying away, the couple (I’m hoping) playing music to our left, and some guys working out on the right. It was such a good image of simplicity and ship life.

Tonight was The Amazing Race. We weren’t too sure what to expect, and hadn’t heard all that much about it. All we knew was that if we wanted to do it, we had to sign up with 8 people and a team name and that it would be some kind of scavenger hunt or race around the ship. A couple of us had talked about it, but none of us got a team together to sign up. This morning, though, my roommate said her friend had signed her, me, and a couple of my friends up with her in the hopes that we’d want to do it. We all talked and decided it would be fun—after all, the prize was FIRST ones off the ship in Barcelona! And so, I was a part of The Land Ho!s. Notice the “s” after the exclamation. Not the other way around. Anyway, it turns out that there were 60 teams and everyone gathered in the Union at 1930. Well, only 5 of us showed up. We had 5 minutes before the race started, so we all ran out to find some people. We found the girls who were supposed to be doing it with us, but they said they had too much schoolwork. We somehow found 3 more people just in time, got our envelopes, and were off!

I’ll spare you the details, but it was 18 different clues that led us around the ship. All 8 of us had to be present at each checkpoint, in the order of our clues. There was no running allowed, or your team was disqualified. Well, we started off and were struggling a bit. We were figuring the clues out but other teams seemed to be way ahead! We got to about clue #3 and had to figure out this crossword puzzle. All 8 of us were trying as hard as we could, and failing miserably. There was no list of words. We just had to find words, and they were clues to lead us to the next place. We got “SALT” and “LINEN” and realized it’s probably the kitchen or dining halls. We were about to run up there, but decided that we’d probably have to present the completed word search. So there we sat for the next 25 minutes, stumped by the stupid word search. Finally, we were frustrated and decided to just check where we thought it was. We made our way up there and sure enough, that’s where the clue led us to. The girl at the checkpoint didn’t need to check our answers because she hadn’t even figured them out. After that, we had ALL the other clues figured out. Since we couldn’t run, we had to walk to the rest of the 15 clues and get signed off. When we finally finished, we were the 4th team in. We highly encouraged them to let the first 5, rather than 3, teams off the ship first but to no avail. Oh welllll, at least we tried. And 4th out of 60 was still pretty impressive! We took our “#4!” team picture and sat down to wait for the rest of the people. Once everyone arrived, we were announced as team #3!!! Apparently the real 3rd place team cheated and got fake signatures, and were disqualified. Honesty really is the best policy, isn’t it? :) Because now we get to get off the ship FIRST!!! (Well, “third” but all top 3 teams get off at once).

I want to end with a shout out to the nice girl who lives somewhere on my hall! She was walking back from the gym as I was desperate for internet in the hallway, and (in a quick whisper) informed me that the crew member walking behind her just screamed at some girls for not wearing shoes. I quickly jumped up and ran inside to hide my bare feet. Thanks random girl!!

Well, that pretty much sums up today. :)

The Front Row (June 21)

Last night, we were supposed to hit a storm. Did we? I wouldn’t know…I was out like a baby! When I woke up, there were pretty intense waves, but then again we are in the middle of the Atlantic- that’s kind of asking for it. Lauren and I had planned to go to breakfast this morning. We decided last night that we would wake up at 8, zombie our ways up to get some food, and come back to take a quick snooze before going to class. Well, at least Lauren followed through. I was up until about 4 am (we had ANOTHER time change), so when our 8 am alarm went off, I was NOT about to drag myself out of bed. I actually don’t remember even waking up to the alarm, but apparently I had a quick conversation with Lauren about how there was no way I was going to get to breakfast, and could she please wake me up when she got back. Hey, at least I was polite for a conversation I don’t remember having!

When it was finally as late as it could possibly be without me being late for class, I got myself up and threw on some leggings and a giant sweater. I wasn’t about to be uncomfortable! Of course, since I waited until the last possible second to wake up, I had to sit in the front again. I’m starting to embrace front-sitting…it really makes me work hard to stay awake! Plus, then I get to get two more minutes of sleep than everyone else because all the early-arrivers sit in the back, and fill in forward as they continue to come. And really, that doesn’t make much sense. You’d think the over-achievers who get to class early would want to over-achieve some more and sit in the front. Well, it doesn’t happen so there I am in my new favorite seat. In class, we learned some more about learning. Hopefully sometime soon I’ll actually start applying it...!

In Natural Disasters, I met some people (in the front row, again) which was cool. The front row really is becoming my new thing—everyone else in my class somehow managed to get from one class to the next with lightning speed, leaving me as one of the last ones to get to class again. But hey like I said, I’m starting to warm up to the idea of the front. Natural disasters was…informative. What exactly did I learn today? Well, let me tell you. UCSD IS A FIRE HOLE. Seriously, though. I talked to my professor about it and this is how our conversation went— (make sure you have her voice as an adorable British accent!)
--Prof: Eucalyptus trees are one of the most flammable trees that exist, because they are native to Australia and contain very flammable oils. This is the very last kind of tree you want to have in a fire-prone area.
-- Me: So if my campus is covered in Eucalyptus trees…it’s really unsafe?
-- Prof: Well, yes, but it depends. It would only be very dangerous if it were somewhere like Southern California, or one of the other most fire-prone places on Earth.
-- Me: Well, yeah, San Diego.
-- Prof: Oh. Yes. Then you should be concerned about that. Is it at least on a flat area so the fire doesn’t spread as quickly?
-- Me: No, it’s actually very hilly…all of it.
-- Prof: …..well, that’s one of the worst combinations I’ve heard!! Yes, yes, that’s about as dangerous as it gets.

So that lovely exchange was quite encouraging. Really made me want to get back to that fire-safe campus of mine!

It was then time for lunch, and let me tell you how sick of this food I already am. Take a WILD guess as to what I had for lunch. I dare you. OH, you guessed it! Pasta. Rice. Bread. SAME. AS. ALWAYS. So I made myself a PB&J again, as usual. At our table, I was asking about how the first Global Studies class went. The other students expressed that it had been relatively boring again. And it’s especially hard for me to enjoy, just because of how much I like history. Of course, just as we were getting up we noticed the Global Studies professor sitting at the table right next to us. We were really smart about that…

I’m now laying out on the 7th deck. My friends are lounging in the sun, tanning and reading, and I’m being a good pale white girl all set up in a lounge chair under the stairs in the shade. I’m currently checking my emails (THANK YOU EVERYONE!) and blogging. I really should do my homework. Woops. Okay, here I go!

Now I am in Global Studies, TRYING to pay attention. This class is in the Union which is on deck 6 at the front of the ship, so the rocking is bad here. Every time the ship rocks one way or the other, this darn chair I am sitting in clicks. It’s starting to drive me nuts! Rock, click. Rock, click. Rock…what next?...CLICK. It happens about every 3 seconds and really isn’t annoying at all…

Well, I ended up putting my computer away because I felt bad writing my blog, being in the front row and all (notice a pattern about the front row? Nobody who gets there early sits there!). Turns out, it would have been more productive to keep blogging, because then I would have actually stayed awake. Instead, I put it away and ended up falling asleep, sitting up, in the front row. I was trying SO HARD to stay awake, but I was so exhausted that it just wasn’t happening. I faded in and out and tried to keep my eyes open and pay attention whenever I could.

Since I was so tired that I couldn’t even stay awake in class when I tried, I decided that a nap was in store. I was SO tired. You know that feeling of urgency when you’re running through a packed crowd, trying to get through because you have to puke? That’s like how I was, but because I had to get to my bed. I got there and collapsed in my bed, passing out within seconds. I woke up awhile later and was SO confused. First, I thought I had slept through my entire day of classes and freaked out. Then I realized I wasn’t asleep from the night before, but just from a nap, so I went back to sleep. The next time I woke up, I thought I had slept through dinner and panicked. Once I realized that wasn’t the case either, I set an alarm for dinnertime and went back to sleep. When I woke up, I had just taken a THREE hour nap! I got myself up to the dining hall on 5 at 6, and apparently the effects of my nap were obvious to others. I saw my friends and went to sat with them, but was very delirious and had a delayed reaction time of about a minute- about 2 times longer than usual. =P

After dinner, we all went outside onto the deck to get ice cream and watch the sunset. I got the last cone! I got swirl soft serve and let me tell you—it was so good! We wandered over to the spa to look at prices, and discovered that some things are pretty reasonable. Chair massages are a dollar a minute, with a 15 minute minimum. Other massages are slightly more expensive. I’m actually considering getting once, since I’ve never had one before and the knots in my back are pretty ridiculous. Really. We’ll see, though! The less I spend on the ship, the more I’ll have to frolic around Europe with.

In the evening, there was a lecture on Food in Barcelona. It was really good!! I took tons of notes. The lecturer was very funny and kept our attention, and was also very informative. I’ll be sure to get some paella, jamon (ham), and chocolate con churros (apparently worth a visit to the cardiologist), but to avoid the criadillas (bull testacles), pulpo (octopus), lamprea (eel), and percebes (expensive barnacles that look like scorched fingers—to eat, you peel off what looks like the finger nail and suck the juices out). Also, I now won’t wonder why I can’t get dinner until 9 or 10! The Spanish eat so often! Breakfast in the morning is from 7-10:30 am, almuerzo (snacks with friends) is from 11:30-1:00 pm, tapas (more snacks with more friends) are from 1:00-2:30 pm, lunch is from 2:00-4:00 pm, even more tapas are from 9:00-10:00 pm, and finally dinner is from 9:30-11:00 pm. Then it’s time to go out! I’m thinking I’m really going to like Spain…they eat, eat, eat, eat, eat, stay out late, sleep, wake up, repeat!

After hearing so much about the amazing food we’ll get to experience so soon, we decided it would be a good idea to work it off in advance. We met up on deck 7 at around 2100 and I brought up my laptop for some Insanity. Us four girls did an Insanity video on the side of deck 7, while pub night was going on close nearby, in the dark, on a rocking ship. Let just say that at the beginning, we were all shifting forward and backward as the ship rocked. We got tons of looks, some good and some bad. Some people were encouraging and wanted to join! Others laughed as they went by. People will be people! So anyway, we finished our workout and felt great! We now feel a little bit better about all the food we plan to eat in Spain. We’re hoping to keep up this Insanity routine every night. We’ll see how that goes.

I went back to my room and tried to get Internet- failing of course. I went out into the hallway where I can usually get internet- nope, no internet. I had to go up to the piano lounge to send some emails, and made the trip quick thanks to the obnoxious conversation going on next to me. Then it was bedtime!

C2: Bridge Tour & Esperanto (June 20)

Today, Lauren and I woke up for class and had a little bit of trouble…
The alarm went off and I turned it off, so Lauren attempted to pull up the curtains so it would wake us up more. Well, it didn’t work, so I reached from my bed to try, and we determined they were broken. So she climbed up on our bedside table to manually pull them up, slipping and kicking the alarm at my head. In the few seconds that took, I had dozed back to sleep and was awoken by my alarm hitting me in the head…and that’s how today started!

We got ready quickly and went off to class. I wore a maxi (long, for you guys out there) dress to cover my legs, since I was sick of wearing leggings to cover up my diseased-looking, bug-bitten legs. They are getting better, but slowly, so it still looks gross. I was surprised to get a lot of compliments on my black & leopard print dress! :) Who knows what I’ll find tomorrow…I’m hoping one of these days my legs will be looking human again and I’ll be able to wear shorts.

I sat in the front in Psychology, meaning not by the windows so I did get a bit dizzy at some points. It was crazy!...in one class period, my professor integrated things I learned in two different completely unrelated classes I took last quarter. We talked about individual analysis in psychology, so sexual reproduction and its processes, including all the genetic combinations possible. A little over a week ago, I was taking a biology test on the details of this! Later, he was showing us different graphs and we were looking at standard deviations, correlation coefficients, significant differences that I learned all about in last quarter’s biostatistics class. Also relating to my UCSD classes, someone asked the Captain yesterday how far out we can see. He said it depends on your height, but usually about 25 miles. I did a physics lab similar to this in the fall, analyzing the sunset and finding the radius of the Earth. A little different, I know, but still kind of similar!

In my Natural Disasters class, we started by doing a “free-write.” It sounds just like what it is- we have a couple minutes to just write. If we run out of things to say, we have to keep writing regardless- even if it is “I don’t know what to write. I don’t know what to write. I really don’t know what to write,” until the next thought pops into our head. Today in class, we talked about heat waves and fires. Well, I sure had a lot to contribute to that topic! One other girl lived in Southern California during the 2007 wildfires, so our professor was very interested in hearing about our experiences.

At lunch at I didn’t see my friends, so I sat with and met two new girls. After that, I bought a map from the bookstore and went and hung it in my room. While I was at it, I decided to finish unpacking and “clean” my room, since I was pretty rushed moving in the first day. I covered the random painting on my side of the room with my new world map, so we have 2 maps now! Lauren’s side already has a map. I’m planning on mapping our progress on the map, then having friends sign it at the end! :)

Global studies was from 1335-1450, and rocked me to sleep once again. I actually videotaped out the window because the horizon was rising from the top of the window to the bottom and showed how much we were rocking!

Finally, it was time for the bridge tour at 1630. I hurried up to the activities desk and chatted with the woman who was going to bring us up while we waited for the other people in our tour group to join. She said if we thought this was rocky, just wait until we’re right in the middle of the ocean. Uh oh! I thought we were pretty rocky right now- walking up and down stairs and down hallways, everybody just goes from side to side simultaneously. They weren’t joking when they said to hold onto the rails!

We were brought up to the bridge and got to go into “restricted area”- so exciting! The third captain, Cristian, gave us the tour and was very nice and informative! He let us look at all the computers and buttons and equipment as long as we didn’t push any buttons. He showed us the GPS, radar, steering equipment, backup equipment, etc., along with who was in charge of each and how they controlled everything. It was about 30 minutes and I learned a lot! At the end, I got to sit in the Captain’s chair and wear a Captain’s hat for a picture. :) I’ll post it when I get internet in a week!

After the bridge tour, Kelsey, Brittany, and I all went out onto the front deck—our new favorite place! We took some talked, relaxed, and took some pictures. Then it was dinner again…I feel like I’m always hungry and always eating! I’ve heard lots of rumors that the potatoes are the first thing everyone gets sick of. Well, today was the first day I started getting sick of them, and I’ve only had to have them 8 times! I’ve been taking full advantage of their decaf coffee, so I had some for the second time today. If anyone knows anything about overdosing on decaf coffee, let me know soon before it’s too late…….I’m kind of an addict.

I came back to my room after dinner and have been listening to Jack Johnson while updating my blog. I was good about it yesterday and today, but I actually have some catch-up to do from a few days ago. This blog’s going to sit until I finish the others so I can post them in chronological order!

I’m about to go snap some pictures of the sunset, then go to a nighttime learning session. I might watch Inception afterwards…OR start some homework. We’ll see! :)

Here I am again! It’s 0016 and we have to move our clocks forward AGAIN tonight. They’re just jipping us of our sleep!

Tonight, I went to a seminar about Esperanto. It was really interesting! Esperanto is a “universal” language- it is meant for communication with anyone who knows one of the Romantic languages. I have a little background in Spanish, but Sign Language was my primary second language throughout high school. When I walked into the room of the seminar, I was surprised to understand almost everything the lecturer was saying! It’s really neat. It’s extremely simplified, with very few rules about grammar and conjugating verbs and all the annoying stuff other languages involves. I haven’t decided if I’m going to look further into it- the lecturer and some other students are going to try to learn it this voyage. We’ll see!

I finally figured out what the darn course folders are and how to access them! All the teachers have been talking about them and telling us we need to get information out of them, but it’s just been this big looming unknown to all the students. I finally accessed it! And I thought it was a big enough deal to share. :)

I just finished my planned “homework session.” Did I do any homework? None. But hey, at least Lauren and I got to talk for the hour and get closer as roommates! I really need to actually get work done….I’ve been so bad with my schoolwork! There are just too many people to meet and too much to do!

Okay, so maybe I got a tiny bit of work done. It was actually really weird reading about learning and memory as I was studying it and trying to learn it…it’s like I was reading about what was currently going on in my brain! Trippy.

Alright, it’s time for me to do my daily calamine lotion routine and get to bed. Till tomorrow!

First Day of Classes- C1 (June 19)

Last night, I had to change my clock forward one hour- I’m losing time already! In a matter of ten days crossing the Atlantic, we lose 6 hours. Lauren and I were up until about 2:00 am talking and getting ready for class the next day, and set our clocks forward and went to sleep. My iHome alarm decided to have a mind of its own and turn on at 5 am…definitely not what it was set for. That was bizarre, but thankfully we woke up at 8:30 and started getting ready. We both have class at 9:20, so it works out well!

Right after we woke up, our steward Crispen must have knocked lightly enough that I didn’t hear. He opened the door and quickly apologized and left when he saw me half-asleep on my bed. I opened the blinds to help me wake up, and finally dragged myself out of bed. After my transition to such a new environment and new people and new everything, plus the lack of sleep, plus the time change, I was exhausted. Most people had been able to fit a nap in here or there, but unfortunately I hadn’t. I somehow managed to get myself up and ready, and finally went to class.

My first class is Psychology of Human Learning and Memory. It is from 9:20-11:35 in a small classroom. The first thing I noticed when I got into the classroom is how much I noticed the ship was rocking just from watching the blinds. In our cabins, the blinds are attached to the window and don’t move much. The blinds in the classroom, though, hang heavily and stay in the same place while the ship rocks. I think the ship will be rocking more and more until we’re in the middle of the Atlantic, then probably slowly get smoother again. At least, that’s what the trend has been so far! Anyway, my psychology professor seems really nice and interested in what he does. We did a few exercises in today’s class to demonstrate how the memory works, and he talked about what made him interested. We watched part of a documentary about a famous musician who got herpes, and part of his brain was destroyed from it somehow. The musician lost his ability to learn new things and remember. He could still play some music he used to know, and his wife was the only person he recognized. Day in and day out, every time his wife walked into the room, he would embrace her as if he hadn’t seen her in years. He could only remember things from within the past 30 seconds. Several times, he tried to do things to fix his own memory. He often took notes in this attempt, and a minute later would look down and not understand where the notes came from and who wrote them in his writing. We also talked about Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. My professor said he got so interested in memory because it makes us who we are; if we can’t learn from things and remember how things affected us, how do we know who we are? I never really thought of it this way. I’m excited for my psychology class! I haven’t done my reading for tomorrow yet, but I sure hope I enjoy it!

That class got out a little early, so I hurried over to the bookstore to check it out. It opened for the first time at 800 hours, and apparently there was a huge line then; it still hadn’t changed. People were crowding in, and the line to both get in and check out were ridiculous. All of the extra-small and small sizes were gone, and since the sizes run big the mediums were huge. I luckily found one small sweatshirt that I liked, and got it even though it’s pretty baggy. But hey, I like to be comfy! :) I checked out right as my next class was starting, so I scurried on over to my Geohazards and Natural Disasters class. It was located in a classroom inside the Union, but thank goodness some of the crew was around to ask because I would never have found it. Even with someone pointing to the door I had to go in, I didn’t get it. At first, I didn’t even notice the door. Then I saw it, reached to open it, and changed my mind because I thought it was a closet or storage door. Finally, the crew person I asked had to come over and physically open it for me to get it. I’d like to blame my lack of sleep for that one! I got inside and the professor had just started taking attendance. (If you miss two class periods of the same class in the first eight days before Barcelona, you can get sent home…I’m so glad I don’t have an 8 am class!) My professor is from the UK and has the cutest accent. I actually saw her in front of me during Orientation with her husband and adorable little daughter. I can tell she really enjoys what she studies, and her field trips (FDPs) should be really interesting. Those of you who know me well and know that I’m a worrier might wonder why in the world I am taking a Natural Disasters class. I’m actually excited for it! We will be focusing on earthquakes, fires, volcanoes, and hurricanes. I am signed up for two FDPs for that class. On the first day in Italy, July 2, I will be going to both Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were both destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The remains were preserved very well, so she said it’s very cool to see and learn about! The day after that, July 3, I will be hiking up Mt. Vesuvius. We start at 700 hours and get back at 1300 hours. She said it will be very hot, so we start early to try to avoid as much heat as possible! We will be in the crater at the top and be able to learn about how volcanoes erupt- while we’re on it! For this class, we have to write papers on the FDPs we go on. We also have to make a short documentary with a group on a natural disaster that occurred in one of the places we are visiting. We have to decide soon, but I’m not sure what I’ll do it on yet…maybe Mount Vesuvius, since I’ll be there anyway!

After class, I went back to the bookstore to get some other things I didn’t have time to get earlier. I got a Semester at Sea lanyard to hang my ID on, a coffee mug that I forgot to bring (and you have to have one if you want coffee anytime), some 98.5% Deet bug spray (yes, I know it’s dangerous but I don’t think I want to have to go through this miserable bug bite-infection thing again… I might just use it when I’m hiking!), and an AWESOME water bottle. It’s like a flat pouch with a water bottle top, and when you fill it up it stands up, but when it’s empty it’s just this small flat thing that rolls up really small. When Lauren (roomie) saw it later, she said she has one at home and LOVES it! I’ll probably use this on hikes and adventures too to take up less space. Later at dinner, I made a comment about my awesome new purchase and Kelsey started laughing and said that she saw it in the bookstore and thought to herself “WHO the heck would actually buy that..” and that I popped into the back of her head. Haha, I’m glad she knows me this well after only knowing each other a few days!

After the bookstore, I went to the dining hall and got lunch. I sat with some girls Lauren knew and had the usual- pasta, potatoes, and some kind of small dessert. Toward the end of lunch, another girl joined us who had just worked out and was quite sweaty, and turned out to be super nice. I have no problem with sweat, but I was glad I had finished eating when some was dripping onto the table. After awhile I left because 1) I had class soon, 2) I was done eating, and 3) the other girl was making me feel fat and lazy. So what did I do? Went to my room and ate some flavor-blasted goldfish, of course. This whole eating well until I get to Europe is really not going very well considering I have the appetite of a huge hungry bear, all thanks to my (amazing and healing) steroid pills.

My next class was Global Studies. There are two sections taught, and all students on the ship are required to take the class. This summer, the focus is on the Mediterranean. Today, Professor Butler spoke a little bit and then the Captain Captain Captain of the ship…like the Master-of-Command (I think that’s what he’s called), came in to talk about the ship and answer some questions. Seriously though, they should NOT have let some people ask questions. I too thought we were a ship full of intelligent college students who knew levels of respect and basic knowledge of how to treat superiors, but apparently not. Some questions asked were “How do the toilets work?,” “Can we get healthier food at the snack bar?,” “You’re a pretty big guy- when do you work out? I could help you out!,” and “Can we eat dinner with your family when they are on the ship?” It was clear simply from the Captain’s demeanor that he was very serious and was here to inform us about his prized vessel. I was slightly shocked that people actually asked those things. Of course, there were many good questions too. One person got the microphone to say Happy Father’s Day! That was my far the best thing. He got a huge smile on his face and said thank you, and everyone “awwwwwed”- well, at least all the girls. During the presentation portion of his appearance, he told us all about the ship. Some things were shocking (and awesome!). The MV Explorer is one of the fastest cruise-ship-sized vessels in the world. We can go up to 30 knots with our 4 engines! Someone asked about pirates, and he said they really do exist and have to be taken into consideration, but he isn’t worried because first of all not many ships could actually catch up to us, and if they could, our over-3-meter wake would flip their ship. That’s quite encouraging (right, Mom?). :) The ship is completely self-sustaining, which is also pretty awesome. It is always very, very, very clean, which makes it easy to want to treat it well. After being rocked to sleep in Global Studies and getting to hear from the Captain, I signed up for a Bridge tour for the next day! I’m so excited to see it!

In the afternoon, I brought my laptop out to the top deck to get some fresh air, start some homework, and work on my blog. There was only one table in the shade and by the edge (to look out at the water, of course), so I pulled up a chair and joined one of the crew members. I know she’s foreign and was in her nice white uniform, and her nametag said she was a Doctor. She wasn’t the SAS doctor, because I had already seen him. We were told not to talk to the official ship’s crew or try to strike up conversation, so I just sat there and kept to myself. She was acting kind of peculiar, and eventually got up and left. Apparently I wasn’t even supposed to sit near them either? I really did just want shade! With my fair skin, only 20 or 30 minutes are needed to turn me into a lobster so I have to be careful!

I met some girls for dinner on Deck 5 at 6 (or 1800)—our new meeting time and place. Darwin was there as usual. Dinner was good, and we all got to talk and catch up on classes and such. After dinner, we watched the sunset, then explored the ship a little and found the front deck. We met a few new people who were up who had also discovered the best place ever, so we chatted with them as the sky darkened and soon all we saw was blackness and stars. We went back inside when it finally got chilly, and hung out in the piano lounge until snack time at 10 pm (2200). Then it was time to get some homework done and get to sleep!

As of now, I think I’m going to take a blogging break. The waves are getting a tad ridiculous and I’m feeling a wee bit seasick. I was just in the bathroom and had to hold on so I didn’t fall forward off the toilet! My bridge tour is soon- at the TOP and FRONT of the ship—it’s going to be so rocky! Wish me luck! 

Orientation Day- June 18

Today’s blog is going to be relatively short and simple. It can be summarized in 1 word: Orientation. We had orientation from 9 am until 5 pm, then deck, or “sea,” meetings and book discussion groups for the rest of the night until about 9:30.

Orientation was boring, as expected. It was speaker after speaker telling us all the rules and regulations and things we needed to know. ALL. Day. Long. Somehow I managed to stay awake during it all.

In fact, I don’t really even know what else to say about it! We got short meal breaks, then had to go back to listening to speaker after speaker and presentation after presentation.

Our “sea” is starboard deck 3. We are the Caribbean Sea, and our color is blue. At the end of the voyage, we’ll have a “Sea Olympics” and compete against the other seas.

The book discussion groups were okay. We were supposed to have read “Triumph of the City” before boarding the ship, and we would discuss the book as a group activity. I got lucky, and my group met in the faculty lounge! This is on the top deck, deck 7, at the very front of the ship. It is a room panoramic with windows. I have to admit, it was tough concentrating on the book discussion when there was a beautiful sunset right outside! Most of the students didn’t read. I read the first 8 pages…and that was a lot compared to most people. We were still all able to have the discussion about cities, and whether cities really are better than suburbs and rural towns (as the author suggests). Of course, I am biased since I didn’t grow up in the city. I prefer towns. :) The discussion was interesting since there was a diverse group of students in the group. The author’s side was that cities are what advance the world forward based on a number of reasons. Since people are all congregated, there is more human contact, spread of knowledge, and innovation. Companies are in close quarters and must compete to succeed. Also, since everyone is congregated in one place, the carbon footprint is less. In my opinion, I prefer rural areas. I think the quality of life is better. Yes, there are more interactions in cities, but they are often quick hellos and goodbyes whereas in a town, running into people means having actual conversations with content. Of course there are exceptions. I prefer the slower moving life. I actually think I would like a nice balance, and suburbs provide that too. Or maybe even something between a suburb and town! :) In the book, the author made a statement that people reported greater happiness in cities, but did not give any citation. The entire group caught this and agreed that it is probably actually the other way around. Anyway, now I’m just rambling but you get an idea of how the book discussion went!

One thing worth mentioning about the day was dinner! A group of us met on Deck 5 (the dining hall that isn’t as busy) for dinner at 6, and so began “on 5 at 6”—our regular routine now. We sat on the starboard side and met some really nice crew members! They are mainly in the dining hall to make sure the food is put out and to make sure people clean up after themselves. Darwin and (the other one whose name I forget right now!!) went above and beyond, and were serving people their drinks, clearing plates, and checking to see if there was anything else we wanted. It’s buffet-style, so they didn’t have to at all! We talked to them a little bit and somehow I ended up being called the trouble-maker. I think it was from walking to the table—the ships rocks constantly and I just can’t walk straight. I most likely almost caused some kind of collision or spilling or falling…it wouldn’t be surprising. Anyway, somehow I got the name “Trouble Maker,” so every time Darwin sees me it’s- “Hi TM!” It’s my goal to get everyone else nicknames, too!

Well, that’s about it for that day. I went back to the room to get ready for classes to start the next morning, so my night was pretty uneventful. Showered and slept, then woke up for classes!

Embarkation Day! June 17

After waking up and doing my new bug bite-care ritual, I finished getting ready and somehow managed to fit the extra things I had left out into my suitcases. I honestly don’t know how. All the other girls had check-in at around 9, but since my last name starts with T, I of course wasn’t until 11. I was not about to take a taxi alone, though. I’d heard they’ll sometimes let you on before your time if you have a good enough reason, and I figured I did. Checkout took awhile, but went smoothly. We just split the cost 3 ways, and it was easy. Then came the complicated part.

We walked out of the hotel to where all the taxis were and of course had to wait for a long time. Everyone else was trying to get to the same place we were, and everyone else also had 2 giant suitcases and 1-2 carry-ons. Since most of the taxis are big taxi-vans, we found a group of 7 and attempted to all fit in. I’m not sure if we ended up fitting all 7 of us into that one taxi, but it was an adventure trying. The taxi driver was loading all of our luggage, and ran out of room after about the third person’s bags. It was ridiculously hot and he was sweating like crazy, but the people who work in the Bahamas are so hospitable to the tourists. They know it’s their job and they really do put 100% into it. It’s so different than America!

The driver packed as many bags as he could into the back of the taxi-van, then started trying to fit some in the front seat. He pushed my bag in and knocked his rear view mirror right off! He just laughed and shrugged his shoulders, and said it’s better than breaking his window like he did the day before. It was quite the ordeal trying to fit all the bags along with all the people. We all felt so bad standing and watching, but he knew what he was doing and didn’t want help. Once we all crammed in, we had to get to the port. Well, since half the tourists on the island were trying to get to the port too, it took quite awhile. Everyone else was on some kind of edge of the taxi or had a source of airflow (hot, though) at them. I, however, was the only person stuck right in the middle with absolutely no window crack to stick my fingers out of or put my face up to. After about 25 minutes of sitting in traffic, my body started getting panicky. I couldn’t move my legs because they were pinned under all the luggage. The luggage was starting to push on and rub my bug bites, majorly irritating them. On that note, my bug bites had gotten even worse. When I woke up in the morning, they had developed clusters of blistery fluid-filled bubbles at the center of each one. Some of the huge red swollen circles were starting to deform and develop tails pointing upwards. Even the ones on my arms and shoulders were growing tails and spreading. Okay, back to the taxi. So along with the current claustrophobia I was experiencing and the misery of my bug bites, it was SO stuffy and hot. I got to the point where I felt like I couldn’t breathe. It was at that panicky point where I was on the verge of literally getting out of the car because I was so desperate- I couldn’t move, I was in so much pain, and I couldn’t breathe because it was so hot. The taxi driver heard me ask if anyone had a paper of some sort to fan myself with, and handed me a booklet. It was actually a BahamaHost Lesson 2 booklet- how to be a good host to tourists! It was funny that he gave that to me- he was currently putting it into practice! I somehow made it to the port, and we got our bags and tipped him extra- he was definitely the best taxi driver we’d had. He let us ask him questions along the way, too, and answered everything we wanted to know!

We got to the ship and prepared to get in line. Only thing was…..we had to walk for about ten minutes to GET to the back of the line. In the sun. :( I’m talking, walking for ten minutes, THEN came the line we had to wait in. Well, at that point I wasn’t worried about getting to the ship before my 11:00 check-in time. There was no way I’d get there before then! Luckily, we moved up enough in the line so that we were waiting in the shade after awhile. We waited for about 2 and half hours in the brutal, humid heat and finally got to the front. I found out my room number and proceeded to the security line. I had to take out all of my paperwork, including proof that my hair straightener and curling iron were auto shut off. I got through! Just before getting onto the ship, I had to turn in the immigration form I got at the airport. Luckily it was still in my backpack…nobody told us we’d have to present it again after the airport. I had to search for awhile, but found it thankfully. I turned in my passport as I got onto the ship--  I was on my new home!! We were directed first up to the Union to go through all of the registration steps- it was a room full of tables we had to circle around. Yes, I signed up for classes, yes I took my alcohol awareness test, yes I took my moral code (in the airport, right before leaving!), yes I signed up for trips, and I got my medical insurance card. When I was at the medical table, I took the opportunity to show them my lovely bites- that now resembled giant welts. I showed the Physician’s Assistant and Doctor and they were slightly shocked. They took me right down to the Walden Clinic on the second deck, and got me in a room to see me. The Doctor had to go back up to the registration table, but the P.A. stayed to check out my bites.

She didn’t have to look at them for very long before telling me that she was really worried about them. Yes, I was too! She said the most worrisome part was that each bite was swollen to an abnormally large size and had developed a tail. All of the tails, regardless of whether they were on my legs, arms, or shoulders, pointed toward my heart. She described to me that when something poisonous was trying to attack your body, it got into your blood stream and made its way to your heart. And that’s why all the tails were doing that. Then she told me she thinks it’s developing into staph, and that we wanted to stop it early when we could so it wouldn’t get too serious. She immediately put me on antibiotics and steroids (lots of them), and warned me that I would probably have the appetite of two men for the next couple days. She then sent me off to lunch after telling me not to touch or scratch or pop the blisters, in order to prevent spreading. I got to lunch, found some of my hotel roomies, and proceeded to eat three platefuls of pasta. She really wasn’t joking when she said I would get a huge appetite. After lunch, I went to my room and met my roomie! I unpacked a little bit, and then heard a knock. The P.A. was at the door and had calamine lotion for me!!!!!! That has seriously been one of the highlights of my trip. Is that sad? I guess it just goes to show how miserable I was! I immediately covered myself in the calamine lotion and was now everything but presentable to the rest of the world. Great first impression on my roommate, huh? First, walking in with diseased-looking skin, then being covered in calamine lotion. She was super nice regardless and we chit-chatted as I unpacked some more. It was finally time for the muster drill. Well, I had to put my clothes on and get up the station. Once the calamine lotion was dry, I put leggings over them to keep it on. I wore sweats over the leggings because we were required to wear long pants for the muster drill, and put on a long sleeved shirt and close-toed shoes. Keep in mind that I was still in around 100 degree weather….

Luckily I got to blend in with everyone else in my pants, so nobody had to question why I was dressed so warmly. The muster drill alarm sounded and the Captain spoke, so Lauren (my roommate) put on our life jackets and made our way up. I brought my little camera and documented some of it. :) We had to stand for awhile until everyone was accounted for, and only one person was missing. When that person showed up, we were dismissed and the Captain said we had done one of the best muster drills he’s ever had. Apparently he never says that!

After the muster drill was embarkation. We all went up to the top deck and waved goodbye to Nassau as we pulled out of port and started on our way. There was a group of parents we could see who were waving back at us! THEN, it was really hot. The rest of the ship had taken off their pants and long sleeves and were back in shorts and tank tops. Not me. Nope! I was still in my 2 layers of pants and 2 layers of tops. I wasn’t about to be making more first impressions with my bites and bright pink calamine lotioned skin…I thought it would be better if people just thought I was crazy for wearing long sleeves. Needless to say, though, I was sweating like a pig! Once we were on our way to Spain, we went to dinner and ate again. I met some more people, then went out on the deck to play catch phrase with them as the sun set. At night, we had our first snip-it of orientation. We had a welcoming lecture to attend. I don’t really remember the details of it- probably just a condensed version of all the info we got at all-day orientation the following day. After orientation, I showered and got ready for bed. It was time to sleep in my new bed for the next 2 months! The gentle rocking of the ship rocked me to sleep and I was out like a baby in no time.

Last Day in the Bahamas- June 16

If I’m being honest, it’s really June 20 and I’m looking back at the quick notes I wrote for June 16 to fill in this blog. I have more recent ones already written, but I want to post them chronologically to make it less confusing! So here I go to try my best to remember the events of June 16, 2011. :) And also, I acknowledge that I might mess up some of the details. I just finished reading some of my psychology book, and learned all about immediate & short-term memory loss. SO there is a very good chance that I will have forgotten about 50% of the details. :) More on that when you get to the June 20 blog!

In the very early morning, I remember waking up just enough to scratch at my legs that were itching like crazy. I was dreading waking up and having to deal with bug bites, so I just itched them and went back to sleep. If I recall correctly, I was having dreams about bedbugs! And when I finally did wake up, my legs were indeed covered in bug bites (and bigger than normal!). I figured that either I was bitten when I was at the Jacuzzi the night before, or that a mosquito or insect had gotten inside my sweats and went crazy biting me in the middle of the night. Either way, it was super itchy. I showed the other girls and they were shocked at how many I had! Just on my legs, there were 16. These bites were itchier and more miserable than normal, so I tore apart both suitcases to find hydrocortisone cream, Benadryl, and Tylenol. And so began my days of drowniness…

As the day progressed, the bites on my legs started getting bigger. Since I had internet at the time, I decided it would be wise to look up the diseases I might have gotten from this insect that attacked me and feasted on my blood. Very characteristic of me, huh? Well, I unfortunately discovered (after reading tons and tons of articles on WebMD and Wikipedia and CDC and other news sites) that there was a recent outbreak of Dengue fever in the last month or two- IN the Bahamas. Well, that was wonderful! I read all about terrible extreme flu-like symptoms that took 4-6 days to appear, and stayed for at least 10 days, and all I could do was wait for this terrible occurrence. And on top of that, I’d be in the middle of the Atlantic when it would all start. If I had to get airlifted out, I wouldn’t get to go on Semester at Sea! And what if it lasted through Spain and Italy!? If you know me well, you should not be at all surprised by these thoughts. And I was pretty convinced. I emailed my amazing doctor parents, and they agreed that it would be bad if I did get it, and that there was no way to know other than waiting, but hoped for the best and told me that they too (along with the bugs) think that I am very sweet. Thanks, guys! ;) As the day went on, they were getting uncharacteristically huge, and I was getting freaked out. I hadn’t read anything about Dengue fever bites swelling to enormous sizes before the symptoms came, but maybe I hadn’t done enough research. I was still taking Benadryl religiously and rubbing hydrocortisone on constantly- I even brought it down to the beach. That day was very…slow… and… relaxed. Or maybe it was just the Benadryl! We lounged on the beach and by the pool, and took some pictures around the hotel. I stayed in the shade since I had previously gotten splotchy sunburns, plus I didn’t want the sun to suck out the minimal amounts of energy I had left. By the time we left the pool, a couple more bug bites had developed on my legs, and on of my arms and shoulder. As time continued to pass, one or two would keep showing up randomly. I think my final number was around 25. And remember, these things were giant. You’ll understand when I post the picture- and it’s the day I got them, not even at their worst!

We left the pool and went up to the hotel room to order Domino’s. :) We took turns showering, and ate the pizza as we were getting ready. That night, we planned to go to Senor Frogs (and actually go in this time). There was a big plan for everyone going on Semester at Sea to meet there on Thursday night before we boarded the ship the next day, just so we could start meeting each other. We planned ahead and left before 7 to take the bus and get there for only $1.25. Well, everyone else had the same idea and the bus was PACKED. I’ll have to find some pictures from it- I might have even taken a video. I was sitting in the aisle on a “seat” with someone on my lap, and people alllll around me. It we got into an accident of some sort, none of us would have been able to budge since we were all packed in so tightly like sardines! We got off the bus downtown because some girls wanted to look around at the shops, and possibly the straw market. I had been to the straw market in 6th and 8th grade, and remembered being pretty overwhelmed. Since they wanted to go though, I was up for it too. I didn’t want to be alone in Nassau! We walked around, took lots of pictures (posted on my Facebook from before I left the Bahamas), and shopped in some of the small stores, but the straw market had already closed. We were near the port, so we took a picture in front of the MV Explorer! It was crazy thinking we’d be on it the next day, and for the next two months! We saw a really pretty fountain behind a gate, and were admiring it from a distance. A man came up to us and asked if we wanted to go in—we all freaked out a bit. Then he said he was security of the building, and told us what it was and what he did. I felt a bit uneasy (so from then on we decided to verbalize our gut feelings) as some of the other girls did, but a couple had already gone in and we weren’t about to let them be in there alone. In my head, I saw him locking us in and then go from there…yeah, bad. Apparently some of the other girls had thought the same! It ended up being fine- he took our picture in front of the fountain, told us all about what the buildings were (business buildings of some sort- I forget by now). We got out of there safely, then discussed how we wouldn’t be doing things like that again unless everyone agreed on it. See, living and learning! :)

Finally, we headed over to Senor Frogs and (thankfully) got in for free. Just to be safe, we had gotten some free vouchers at the hotel before we left that said no cover—we were serious about not paying! We got in, and it was crazy. Apparently there was a high school graduation trip in Nassau at the same time as us, and they were all at Senor Frogs too. Senor Frogs was as densely packed as the bus we took to get there! Okay, sorry, a little nerdy…but seriously. Anyway, it was really fun meeting people and socializing and getting excited about Semester at Sea. Some of the new high school graduates who weren’t legal to drink in the States but could in Nassau were acting like madmen- they were wreaking havok. Most of the SAS kids hung around the sides rather than the dance floor and mixed and mingled and got to know each other there. I had a lot of fun talking and hanging out. I spent some of the night looking for my future roomie- Lauren! I only knew her from Facebook. We had randomly friend requested each other through a SAS group, and started talking and decided to request each other as roommates. I knew she’d be there so I kept my eye out! Finally just before we left, I was in the bathroom and saw her walking out. I ran up to her and said hi- she was just as I had expected! She had to go right away because she was trying to find someone so they could go, but I would see her in the morning. On a side note- while in the bathroom, I asked someone who worked at Senor Frogs if they normally got bitten by bugs like this (and showed her my bites). She look disgusted and asked if I had a disease. Not quite the response I was hoping for……..

We left Senor Frogs via taxi-bus and got back to the hotel safely. Now it was time to get ALL my clothes, currently strung across the hotel room due to my frantic Benadryl search in the morning, back into the vacuum bags and get my suitcases shut. Now, THAT was going to be a problem. While packing at home initially, I laid on the bags and rolled on them and probably looked like a freak trying to get the air out to seal them. Well, I tried to do that in the hotel room, but 1) the girls found it quite hilarious and kept taking pictures of me, and 2) I couldn’t even kneel because my bug bites were so itchy and painful. They were still growing, and I was getting more worried! They even were developing bumps in the centers! First task, though? Get packed. I SOMEhow managed to get everything in- well, except for the things I needed the next morning. And just as I was about to go to sleep, I realized I had included all my PJs in the vacuum bags and packing….so I had to start over. Welcome to my life. I finally got to go to sleep, and had to wake up just a few hours later in the morning. You’ll have to stay tuned for the next blog to hear about that, though! Trying to sleep that night was like trying to sleep on Christmas eve (well, with the addition of an itchy/burning factor)- I was so anxious!!