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!