Day 8: Day of Epic Nothingness

This was the first official day of summer and it actually felt like summer. There was absolutely nothing that I had to do. There were some reflection and re-entry events going on today. Originally I thought that we’d be required to go to these. We were not. So there was no way I’d be going. I’ve done the whole re-entry thing with Island School. I don’t think it makes much of difference. I’m already prepared by the fact that it’s going to be hard, no one’s going to really care what I did, and I’m going to have a hard time transitioning back to living in the US and not being a part of the SAS community.

I think someone called me and knocked on my door in the morning, but I didn’t bother to get up until almost 1130. I got up and knocked on Becca’s door, but she wasn’t there. So I knocked on Nic’s door. I think I woke her up. We decided to go and get lunch up on 6^th deck and then go tan up on the 7^th. Abel had sent out an email that our tests were done and graded and would be up in a box outside the faculty lounge. We went up there but couldn’t find them. On our way to the dining hall we found him and the tests. I got a 99 on my Biology of Sharks test! That was not at all what I expected. I expected an 85-90, but nothing more. Wow. And I got 94 on my Marine Biology test!!! This made me feel better knowing that this was my major and I could manage to not study for a basic level test and still get an A. A lot of people didn’t do well and got in the mid-70’s. I’m pretty sure Pat got a 40 or 50 something. He was the only person who I saw yesterday who told me that they thought the test was easy. He had made me nervous that I didn’t do well or know anything since I thought it was hard. But it was hard because I didn’t study. Whatever.

Lunch wasn’t anything special, some salad and some bread and soup. Isaac sat with us for awhile. I started bringing my notebook around to get people’s addresses and info.

Up on the 7^th deck we got some dessert. They broke out the double chocolate chip cookies! They haven’t had those once on this entire voyage. What is this nonsense?! I got some. They were delicious. Better than any of the other cookies I’ve had on the ship. We ran into Bea and Vanessa and everyone. We laid out on the port side for awhile. We brought out books and stuff, but ended up just talking about going home and stuff. After an hour of sweating and tanning, Brandon and Tania came up and laid with us. We didn’t stay much longer. It was getting ridiculously hot. I went back down to my cabin and changed and went up to the gym.

I used the bike and started reading a book that Nic gave me, The Road. I’m actually really enjoying it. I’m hoping she’ll let me take it and finish it. I did some ab work out on the 7^th deck after. Sam came up on the way to the salon.

I finished up and took a shower. Becca came over so we could trade pictures from the Ball. The pictures are so cute! Everyone looks amazing. I got Sam’s pictures, too. Then it was time for dinner. Tonight was our last family dinner. We found a mom! Holly is our mother now. Dad agreed to it after she offered to buy us an ice cream cake. Our family loves food.

We had dinner up on the 6^th deck. Dad had ordered us some food and mom got us a cake. Dad got us shrimp and cocktail sauce, dumplings and soy sauce, and chips and salsa. We went crazy scarfing it all down. It was so good. So much better than the dining hall food. I have never seen dumplings served on this ship, nor has anyone else. Very strange. I had a little of the spaghetti. This is the first pasta I’ve even since throwing up epic amounts of it last week after the Amazon. It went pretty well. We finished up dinner and took a bunch of family pictures on the back of the 5^th. They came out really cute. I need to get a hold of them from someone. Then out came the chocolate ice cream cake. It was really good. Oh, and Bea got adopted into our family. We had the best family ever. I’m so sad that that was our last dinner together. We had a big family hug when we were finished. I could have cried saying this goodbye. On the way back down we stopped in Tymitz Square. I got an 88 on my Global Studies final and ended up with a B+ in the class. I’m happy with that for not doing much for that class.

I went back to my cabin to finish up packing all of my stuff. I still had a lot left to pack. When I came back down to the 3^rd deck I saw the internet café full of crap. It was all Chelsea’s. She has so much stuff. She was in the process of packing. I don’t know how she’s going to get it all home. I spent over an hour gathering all my stuff and packing it into my THREE DUFFEL BAGS. I have so much stuff. My room was in a state of total chaos. But I managed to finish it up. For the most part. It all has to be done for tomorrow so they can collect all our bags to be taken off in Ft. Lauderdale in 2 DAYS!!! Becca, Victor, and Bea cycled through while I was finishing up to keep me company. Bea was working on an art project. She decided to make me a cape from left over clothing that everyone has. It’s the cutest thing. She even cut the hood off of a sweatshirt so it has a hood. It’s so funny. I thought it was a silly idea at first, but as I’ve seen it progress I’ve started loving it. And I love that she made it for me. When she finished sewing it I wore it around and we went up to the front of the ship to take pictures of it flowing. Bea decided it needed to be longer and we went back downstairs to finish up. Everyone was in the hallway, so I brought out my map and notebook to have people sign it. I’ve been working on a note and picture for Bea, so we spent the rest of the night doing arts and crafts. Anytime someone would go by that I knew or liked I had them sign my map and give me all of their info.

Bea decided when she finished that everyone should sign the cape. So she literally asked every single person who walked by to sign it. Most of the people we weren’t friendly with, but they happily agreed to sign it. They all laughed when we asked if they would sign our cape. It was so funny. At 2200 we decided to go up to the 7^th deck to have our final chicken sandwich of the voyage. At 2330 tonight, they’re closing our accounts. We could pre-order stuff for tomorrow, but that seems a little excessive to me. The final chicken sandwich was delicious. So many people came upstairs to get food right before our accounts closed. It was ridiculous. They actually ran out of chicken sandwiches for the day. I’ve never witnessed that. I’ve heard of them running out of other things, but never the chicken sandwiches. But they’ll have more tomorrow for the people that pre-ordered them. Pat ordered 4 for tomorrow. That seemed a little excessive to me, but he loves them more than anything else.

We walked back downstairs and didn’t make it past the piano lounge. We ran into Saahil and dad. They signed the cape and gave us their info and we ended up talking to them for awhile. We helped Saahil with his superlative thing for Pre-Port tomorrow. I got a lot more people to sign the cape. Wade was exceptionally excited when I asked him to sign my cape. Then it was almost midnight the last showing of the Jackie Treehorn movie was playing. They had finished the 5^th episode and were showing them altogether. It was in the Union. Finally they were understanding that it had a bigger following than just a classroom space. The Union was FILLED. It was almost an hour long with all 5 episodes. It was awesome. I’m so proud of Nolan and Pat. They did such a great job with it. I hope I can get a copy of it or that they put it up on youtube. I want to share it with everyone.

When it was over it was almost 0100 and I was getting tired. We went back downstairs and did more arts and crafts. So many people were up. I finished up my picture for Bea. I got more people to sign the map and give me their info. Everyone started going to bed after awhile, so I figured I probably should, too. I came back in and Tania wasn’t here, which is really nice. I fninshed up with all my stuff in the room and am finishing up the blogskis now. I am exhausted and now it’s 0400. I’m not exactly sure how that happened. But I have to get up in a few hours for convocation. Blah. I am exhausted. I can’t believe we’ll be back in the US in about 28 HOURS! That is obscene. Tomorrow/today (however you want to look at it), will be our last full day ever on this ship. I am so sad. I’m getting really sad and not wanting to go home now. I can’t wait to see all my friends and family, but I don’t want to leave my friends and family here.

Ok, enough with that. I need sleep. AMERICA SOONLY.

Day 7: B Final Day & Alumni Ball

Blahhh. My alarm went off at 0715 to get up and study with Chelsea and Bea and Nic. But I hit snooze. I figured no one would actually get up. A few minutes later there was a knock on my door. Chelsea had actually gotten up and wanted me to study with her. So I told her I’d meet her up on the 5^th deck for breakfast. I tried calling Bea but got no answer. I knocked on Nic’s door, but no one responded.

I went upstairs and met up with Chelsea and Ricky and at some Rice Crispies. We attempted to read through our notes. Nic came and joined us. We barely got any studying done. We all went into the test not studying. Sweet.

We went into class a little early. Abel had let everyone start when they came in. There were a few essay questions and then 50 multiple choice questions. It was kind of hard, atleast the multiple choice was. It was all about plankton and stuff like that. I had no idea that so much of the test would be on plankton. That made me a little worried, because I had only glanced at it. Oh well. In order to get an A or A- in this class, I had to get a 60% or above on the test. There was very little pressure to do well. I’m pretty sure I managed to get a 70, and at max, I got an 80. Whatever. It’s over now and it’s officially summer!!

Nic and I were chilling after our test done in the internet café. Pat walked by. I yelled to him asking what he thought of the test. Then Nic looked at him and asked him if he’d even gone to the test. Abel let people take the tests wherever they wanted on the ship, so I hadn’t even thought twice about not seeing him in there. Plus he never goes to class, so I’m not used to him being there either. He looked pissed and told us he slept through it. It wasn’t 0915 yet, so he ran up to find out if he could still take it. He came back down a few minutes later. Abel told him he could. He told him to put his contacts in and get some coffee and then he could take it. Abel’s too nice. It pissed me off a little that he had slept through it and he could still take it. It’s not like he puts in any effort in that class.

We had gotten back all our stuff, I got 100% on everything, solidifying the fact that I only needed a 60% to get an A or A- in that class.

I climbed back into bed for a little while, but couldn’t sleep so I went up to the gym to bike. I finished up my National Geographic. While I was up there Nic came in. She had her leg waxing at 1100 and was terrified. She dragged me off of the bike and made me come in with her. Haha. The young South African woman was doing it and just laughed, but said it was fine. So I kept her company and talked to her the whole time. It was nice to not be the one getting hair ripped out of my body. Nic didn’t take it too well.

After, Nic treated me to a chicken sandwich for sitting with her. We decided we’d go change and come back up and tan for a little while and enjoy being done. I took a quick shower and then we headed up to the port side of the 7^th deck. We read magazines and talked and just hung out. It was really nice out. It looked like it was going to rain for awhile off in the distance, but we managed to sail past it.

When we’d gotten our fill of the sun we went back down to our cabins. I took another quick shower and put on my pajamas. While sitting in the hallway, I ran into Sam coming back from her last final. She asked if I wanted to get my hair wrap then. I had asked her earlier and she told me she’d find me later to do it.

Nic was napping, so we chilled in my room and watched I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell while she did a hair wrap. I somewhat feel like I’m back in elementary school with a hair wrap. But at the same time, I absolutely love it. So many people have them on this ship. I’m waiting to see everyone’s reaction to it when I get back to Miami and see my friends and family. I really like it. It’s black, green, and blue. She had pink, too, but we concluded that I’ve very much not a pink person.

When she finished I did a little more work on packing up my room. I found Becca and we discussed getting ready for the Alumni Ball later that night. It was almost 1600 by now and we wanted to start taking pictures at 1700. I went back to my room and started drying my hair and finishing up picking up all my stuff. I helped Sam pin her skirt into a dress. When this was all said and done it was almost 1700 and I wasn’t ready at all. Bea called me to tell me we could see Puerto Rico right outside of our windows on the starboard side! She was so excited about it. She had run into Amanda and Alexandra’s room and they’d all freaked out. She told me all about what we were looking at on this part of the island and how Alexandra’s boyfriend was right on this coast at a beach. They all had gotten cell phone service since we were close enough. I felt kind of bad for them. We were so close to their homes and we had to keep going.

So I got ready in my dress and put on my heels and put on my make up. Victor came by and kept me company. Tania and I were running around doing last minute things. Then we went and gathered everyone. We took tons of pictures along the way. We ran into dad and got a family picture with me, Becca, Victor, and dad. It was really cute. We went up to the 6^th deck aft and took a bunch of pictures. We took some with our other family and then took a ton more with each other and everyone else up there. Everyone looked gorgeous all dressed up and nice. This was the nicest I’ve seen people dressed. For the most part everyone was dressed formally. It was really nice. Pat was wearing a collared shirt and jeans with sneakers. Haha. I expect no less at this point.

We went up for dinner. My table was me, Becca, Molly, and Bea. Victor, Vanessa, Emily, and Sam were sitting at the table next to us. They gave us champagne as we walked in. The 8 of us toasted to SAS and Victor gave a little speech. It was really cute. The dinner was so good. We had empanadas, cream of broccoli soup, Caesar salad, and filet mignon. It’s so annoying that this food was so good. It made us feel like they’ve been holding out on us in the kitchen all semester. The dining hall was decorated really nice and the tables were set for a formal dinner.

I had a few glasses of red wine. It was a really nice dinner. When it was all done, they kicked us out to get ready for the second seating. We ran around the dining hall and took more pictures with other people. The next seating had started to filter in and we took pictures with them, too. We walked all throughout the ship for about an hour finding people and posing for pictures. We took pictures outside, but it was a little too windy and dark by this point. We were all dying for dessert, but it wouldn’t be served until 2200. So we had over 2 hours. LAME.

We ended up hanging out in Victor’s room until dessert trading stories and goofing off. At 2130 we headed up to the 6^th deck. Dessert was being served by the library and computer lab and then in the piano lounge. Everyone was lined up by the library and computer lab. There was no line by the piano lounge, so we chilled there and waited. Everyone was taking pictures and salivating at the crazy desserts. There were so many of them out there. So much chocolate. There was cake and towers of cream puffs. Eventually they let us get the dessert and it was an absolute free for all. We ended up getting way too much dessert and chilling in the 6^th deck dining hall. Some random guy came up and started talking to me. He told me we met on some trip together and remembered my name and where I was from and that I go to Miami. I was impressed because I couldn’t remember him for my life. I couldn’t even place what trip we might have done together. He was cute, too. I pretended I remembered him and he seemed really happy with himself. He’s also from Boston. I guess I have I’ll have another SASer back home, which is nice.

We gorged ourselves on all the dessert and hung out for awhile as everyone cycled through. I’m glad we had been at the beginning of the line, because it seemed to take forever for people to get through the line. We took more pictures. We got a huge family picture as people came through with their dessert. I can’t wait to see all of these pictures. We went up to the 7^th deck to see the dance party going on. We hung out up there for a little while. The dance part was a little lame. And I was starting to get sick of wearing heels and a dress. We all went down to change into sweats and hang out and maybe watch a movie. We all ended up in Bea’s room.

We spent the rest of the night trading pictures and chilling. Victor came down and tried to convince us to come up to the dance for a little bit. Apparently there weren’t too many people up there. Not a huge surprise. Maybe if they served alcohol us there people would be more inclined to socialize and dance. But nope.

We ended up hanging out until really late. I was exhausted by the time I ended up back in my cabin. There were some good movies on tv and my roommate wasn’t sleeping in the room tonight. Double score for meeee.

Day 6: Study Day & The First Day of May!

I didn’t go to bed last night until late, I really thought it would be a struggle when my alarm went off at 0930. Somehow I ended up waking up before my alarm feeling fully rested. It’s probably the fact that the blackout curtain wasn’t down and the sun woke me up a few times this morning. It’s really annoying, it shines right in my face. I’m going to have to fix that tonight. I’ve got a lot of stuff I need to do today.

I had an appointment at the spa at 1000. I’m glad I scheduled it for early to make sure I’d get up and moving. It was done by 1030. I checked out the 7^th deck pool area and found Vanessa and Patrick out there, just like they said they’d be. I told them I’d be back. There were already so many people up there tanning and hanging out since most people are done. And those that aren’t really aren’t too concerned about their last finals. Tomorrow’s the last day of anything school-related for the semester! That’s way too exciting. I went down to Becca’s room and found her. We talked for awhile before realizing that we were both hungry, so we went back up to the 7^th deck. I got a breakfast wrap. It was really good. We ran into Bea and Victor up there, too. Karen gave us her latest juicy gossip from behind the bar, so we had to go and investigate if it was true or not.

I tried going back to my room, but Kenton was cleaning it. He saw me coming back, but I quickly assured him our room needed the cleaning and that I didn’t need to get into the room. This is the first time it’s been cleanable in at least 4 days. I went back to Becca’s room. Nic wasn’t in her room. I just wanted to go to my room and study and take a nap. When I tried to go back Kenton was still in there. I wandered the ship for another 15 minutes. Then my room was clean. I chilled for awhile, but we had a meeting at 1400 that was mandatory. Brandon was chilling in our room and we gathered everyone up to go to it. It was stupid. It was all about disembarkation. It was literally a repeat of everything in the email that they’d sent to us. I’m not sure what the purpose of this was. They told us to read through it, and I did. It didn’t take too long. Then they showed a video after. It’s their promotional video for SAS. It’s the exact same one that they sent to us when we got accepted. I don’t know why they showed us. It was cool to see that we’ve been to so many of these places. We all commented throughout the video. It was weird to see the ship and see our semester broken down into all of its parts.

When it was over we all went back down to our cabins. Nic wanted to check out the school store, so Becca and I went with her. I like how we go there on a weekly basis as if there’s actually going to be something new there. I do miss shopping and having more clothes than just all my tshirts and sports shorts. I miss dressing up and looking nice. We found nothing we needed or wanted and ended up chilling in the hallway for awhile. We realized we were bored and hungry, so we went up to the 7^th deck. I got a chicken sandwich and water. The water was from Brazil. This worried me a little bit, I really didn’t want to drink it after getting so sick from God only knows what. But my thirst overcame anything else and I was forced to drink it. Mason joined us and got some food. They started talking about the Wire and Oz, and I quickly lost interest and went back to my cabin to study. “Studying” quickly turned to napping. I took the best 2 hour nap ever. When I woke up it was dark out and 1900. I got up and found Nic to study with for Marine Bio. I couldn’t motivate myself alone.

Studying with Nic wasn’t much better. I sat in her room and talked with her and Sam while Sam attempted to pack up all her stuff. Becca came by after awhile. Then Bea came by asking if we were studying. She didn’t want to. I guess no ones really studying for this test. Then it was suddenly 2100 and there was a comedy study break up in the Union. We all went.

Eric started it out with some stand-up. Then Max and Tolan did a rap. Then Max, Tolan, and Danny did a musical story. They were all so good. The Improv Club tried to do some different scenes. The first few they failed miserably at. They were incredibly dirty and sexual and made everyone feel awkward. They really weren’t funny. They eventually got some momentum and they got better. They weren’t great, but they got better.

When it was over it was 2200 snack. Nothing good was there. So Emily, Becca, and I ventured up to the 7^th deck. They had different cookies. They were back to being the good, delicious cookies that they originally had at the start of the voyage. We all got some. I signed up for the gym and went back to my room. I took a quick shower. When I came out Tania was watching a movie and I didn’t feel like dealing with it so I went into the hallway to do some stuff. There were a bunch of people out there studying and messing around. People cycled through, so I hung out there for most the night. But it’s getting late and I need to sleep before my final tomorrow. At 0915 tomorrow, I will be completely done! 4 days until Ft. Lauderdale! Tomorrow will be 3! I can’t wait. I just want to see all of my friends and family again and be able to talk to people with my phone and internet. I miss normal communication. This is not the real world. People in all of these countries have cell phones. Even in the Amazon. So I don’t feel like an ignorant person saying I can’t wait to get back to NORMAL communication. Internet is more of a luxury, but it is a luxury that I cherish. Anyways, I’m off to bed. It’s way too late for me to be up. Plus I can hear Tania sighing at the fact that I’m still up and typing. But hey, at least I’m not keeping her up because I’m having sex. So I don’t feel too bad.

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL.

Day 5: A Exam Day

4/30 I wanted to wake up early to study for Biology of Sharks, but didn’t end up getting up until almost 0900. After showering I studied for awhile, but quickly lost interest as I always do right before tests. I was really wishing Tania had gotten me Rice Crispies this morning like she said she would after eating my last box last night. Sick. You’re such a great roommate.

My Biology of Sharks final was at 1100. Abel was laid back about the whole thing and told us we could take the test anywhere on the ship as long as we handed it back in at 1215. I just stayed in the classroom, most people left, including Abel. It wasn’t too bad. I’m pretty sure I only had to get a 60% on the final in order to get an A- overall. When I handed it in he handed me back my FDP papers, the practical, and homework assignment. I got a 100% on everything. So I’m thinking I did ok in that class.

I went back down to my cabin to study for my Anthropology test at 1400. I had my box of Unfrosted Mini Wheats and attempted to figure out what could possibly be on this test. After studying for a half hour I got bored and found myself checking my email and messing around and hanging out with Becca. I went up to class early and studied a little more with people. No one seemed to know what the test was on so I really didn’t stress. The test ended up being a little difficult since she gave us no direction with what to study. I’m hoping I did ok. After I handed in my test I got my final paper back. She marked me down a fair amount because I talked about the development of tourism rather than the development of people. Isn’t this class called Globalization, Tourism, and Development? Talking to her is impossible. She’s a stubborn old woman. I just accepted defeat knowing that I am a happier person.

I was so happy to be done with almost everything. I stopped by Becca’s room to tell her the good news. Then it was on to packing up my room. I had to start the process since there’s so much stuff that I need to fit in my bags and bring home. I had to make a list of the things I bought for people to see what I have and I have to make a list to give to customs when I come back home to Ft. Lauderdale. I wonder how strict they are? If you have more than $800 worth of stuff you have to pay some sort of tax. Considering the fact that I have ZERO cash on me I’m going to have to fudge some numbers. How will they know? I could have bargained all my stuff down in any of these countries. That is the joy of it. Most of the stuff is tshirts and souvenirs like that and art. The US is not getting more money out of me for purchasing little things in other countries. They can kiss my ass. After traveling in these other countries and dealing with immigration and security, I have come to DESPISE the United States’ way of existing. We make everything into a production. I struggle getting through security at the airport back home, that is no secret. I had zero issues with security in any other country. I’m beginning to think the United States is really not the place for me to live. But more on that later.

I put together an excel spreadsheet. I feel so organized. I packed up an entire suitcase of stuff I’ve bought in obscure places and a bunch of clothes I don’t need and won’t be bringing with me to Miami. I’m glad I bought another duffel bag in Vietnam to pack up the rest of my stuff. Although it’s a really cheap bag and the shoulder strap already broke, so I’m not too optimistic for this bag. I’m thinking I’ll just have to ship it home for convenience purposes. The room ended up being a nightmare, but that it’s so small, that was bound to happen. The only difference with me and Tania, was that I made sure to put all my bags back under my bed when I was done for the day. Random shit of hers is still on my side. Whatever, only 5 more nights of this.

When I finished packing I was on my computer. Tania had been in the room for most of this. Whilst I’m inputting information in my excel sheet she decides this is the time to ask for my computer to take some of my music. I just look at her confused, and hand it over when I’m finished. For someone who’s not a fan of my music, she took a lot of my techno and house music. Stuff I distinctly remember her criticizing. Whatevs. I went up to sell back some of my books. I got $8.75 back for 3 books. One of them being the Global Studies book. The other two are little Anthropology books that I didn’t even think they’d take. The buy back prices are horrific, because they know we can’t afford to take them home. We don’t have the space. I just wanted to get rid of them. I would have felt bad throwing them away, because there’s no way I’d have space in my bags for some textbooks I don’t want. I’m going to keep my Marine Bio and Sharks books. They’re sweet books. Oh, and for the Global Studies book, they’re only taking back 175 of them. I returned mine as soon as possible to get my $5. In exchange for the books we got US dollars back! Money I haven’t seen in forever. That actually was exciting. On the whiteboard in the library someone always rights the conversation rate between US dollars and whatever currency we’re about to use. Today it read 1 USD = 1 USD plus tax. Tax. Something I haven’t experienced in awhile, unless I ate at a legitimate restaurant, which wasn’t often.

As I’m going through stuff on my computer she gets up and walks out the door and says, “Ok, I’m going up to dinner.” Then she turns around and says, “Oh, uh, did you wanna come?” I just give her a death look and say, “Um, yeah.” Sweet, be a bitch. So she goes off to round up people. Nic comes to the door. She didn’t even go get Nic, she only went to find the boys. I’m seeing a pattern here. Bea called me asking me to go up to the 7^th deck for dinner. I told her I’d meet her up there at 1800, I wanted soup on the 5^th first.

We all went up to dinner. I’m still avoiding the pasta since the Amazonian food poisoning deal. I had some potato soup and rolls though. It was pretty good. I excused myself when I could take no more comments from the boys about disgusting things. Usual dinner topics.

I went up to the 7^th deck and got M&Ms and looked around for Bea and Victor. No sign of them. I sat by the pool for a little bit. Then figured they must have already eaten. I went down to Victor’s room. He was watching Dexter. He called up Bea and we watched the episode. I have a new show that I want to start getting into. I really liked it. Then we got chicken sandwiches up on the 7^th. They were good perusual. I ran into Amy, she told me Elena was coming to her room at 1900 and I should come so we could finally divide up the elephant pictures. I met up with them and we hung out for awhile. Eventually we got around to the calendar. I got some really sweet pictures. I don’t know how I’m going to get them home, but I want to crop them and frame them. They’re absolutely gorgeous. I’ve now collected some sick art from around the world. I’m pumped to decorate an apartment or room or something.

When we finished I went looking for Nic, thinking she’d appreciate them. She wasn’t in her room. I found her with Becca watching the Wire. I had no interest in watching it so I went back to my room to clear off my bed and hang out. My packing for the night was done. I have to wait to get my laundry back before I can continue. Laundry day tomorrow! The last one. I have so much stuff, too. Everything from the Amazon, and everything I vomited on. Lovely.

Brandon came over and Tania and him decided to watch some movie loudly on her computer. Sweet. Luckily I was saved by a knock on the door and Bea. She was bored. We decided to go and play a game and look for people. We went up to Tymitz Square, but the Activities desk was closed. Jay ran by wearing a jacket with no pants? Things like this on the ship really aren’t questioned. They’re pretty standard at this point. We spotted Midhun looking at the map. He went back and got us Scrabble. They were having a Sea Social tonight at 2200 in classroom 9 with ice cream. I asked him if I could come with Bea and he agreed fairly easily. We’re having one last family dinner on the 3^rd and he’s ordering us dumplings and spring rolls and Holly, our new mother (YES! We found one!), is getting us an ice cream cake. I’m so stoked. I’m also incredibly sad that this will be the last family dinner. L

We wandered around looking for Vanessa or Victor. No one was in their rooms. There was barely anyone around the ship either, which was weird. We looked everywhere. We eventually found everyone in the 5^th deck dining hall for their respective final Sea Socials. Vanessa and Patrick said they’d play with us when ours was over. We went in and got some vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Kaylin was there, I hadn’t seen her in awhile since I’d missed family game night to work on my Global project a few nights earlier.

The next random adventure of the night consisted of Aaron bringing his suitcase to the Sea Social. He zipped Alicia up in it and started toting her around the ship. A bunch of us followed them to see what was going to happen with thus. Bea filmed it. He took her up to the 7^th deck and rolled her to the White’s door and left a note saying open me and knocked and ran away. Mark White and his wife opened the door to see this and opened the suitcase. They freaked out and laughed so hard when Alicia popped out. They loved it. I wasn’t sure how they’d react, but their awesome. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. They egged us on and we knocked on the Crabtrees door. They hid behind the wall with us. But no one opened. We tried Don’s door. Again, nothing. Then we heard music coming from the Glazer Lounge. They realized that the string band was performing in there. Aaron asked if he could have permission to wheel the suitcase into there and leave it. Mark White said sure and laughed. That was good enough.

Aaron wheeled her in and left her in the middle of the floor. We watched from the outside windows. They opened it and all nearly had a heart attack. Everyone thought it was hilarious. It didn’t even phase most of the people in there. This was a standard idea on the ship. Aaron took her and continued the journey down through the Piano Lounge. He had a few people open it along the way. People’s reactions were priceless. One girl almost had a heart attack. Aaron picked up the suitcase and put it on the Piano Bar counter for Theresita to open up. She asked who was in it and he told her no one. She unzipped it and Alicia stuck a hand out. Theresita screamed. It was so funny. It started to die off after a while, but they gathered quite a following in those 20 minutes.

Bea and I stopped in for 2200 snack. Nothing special. Then we set up to play Scrabble. Bea called Vanessa, and she and Patrick came up to play. Isaac joined us, too. As we were setting up, some random girl, Margalit(?) asked if she could play. She never introduced herself or asked our names. We all looked at her skeptically. We already had 5 playing and no one knew her. In fact, I’d never seen her before in my life, but we agreed. We started playing. Vanessa had some funny rules and thoughts on how you play. This girl, Margalit, took the game really seriously. Anytime anyone did anything that wasn’t totally within the rules she called them out on it. Patrick asked if he could get away with some word and I was saying yes, when she was like absolutely not. Ok, Hitler. She made the game unfun. When it was my turn one of the times I put blonds down. She told me blonds needed to have an e in it if it was plural. I was like no, it doesn’t. She nearly threw a fit. So I made a big production of being like well, if you’re gonna make a big deal I’ll do just blond. This made her really agitated and she tried to take it back as to not look like a bitch. Too late. As I sit here typing this on Word, I’ve typed in blonds, and, oh, hey, it’s a word! The rest of us were having so much fun and goofing off and she really wanted this to be serious. We were playing it incorrectly at times, but whatever. We’re all friends. I think we could have gone without keeping score and we would have been just as happy. Vanessa and I were sharing tiles anyways. It wasn’t a legitimate game. Plus, games are about having fun. So lighten up! We got bored and started messing around with the board and she eventually disappeared, frustrated with us all.

Saahil came by and joined us. We spent awhile hanging out up there and fooling around. I had a fantastic night with everyone. I’m going to miss all of them greatly. I’m glad Bea’s going to be up in Boston for the month of May! Yay!

Eventually I did have to come back down to my cabin to put my laundry out for tomorrow and get ready for bed and sleep. 5 days until we’re in Ft. Lauderdale! AND WE GO BACK THE FINAL HOUR TONIGHT. AKA WE’RE IN EAST COAST TIME FO REALLLLLL. And the clock on my computer finally tells the right time and it’s normal.

Day 4: The Global Studies Presentation

So as I write this I really should be studying for my finals, but I really have zero motivation. And my idiot of a roommate is blasting something on tv while she “studies.” I cannot wait to be back home and out of this room. Our room is still a mess. She has not continued on in this packing rampage she started yesterday. And now she won’t stop talking to me. Wonderful. I need to get off of this ship before I kill someone. Trust me I’ve already thought about the ramifications about killing someone. But then I remembered my ocean law class from sophomore year. I could be punished by the nation state of the vessel, my nation state, the person’s nation state that I killed, and whoever is in control of the waters that we’re in. So basically I’d be screwed and it wouldn’t really be worth it. But I did consider this for awhile.

Anyways, my day. I tried to get up early before the gym to get some studying done. That didn’t happen. I kept hitting snooze and eventually got up at 1030 and went to the gym at 1100. I biked and ran and did some abs outside. It was finally nice out. I think this was the first day it’s been nice since we got back on the ship in Brazil.

After showering I hung out with everyone and we finished burning discs for our presentation at 1415. We met up right before and waited anxiously for Don. Everyone we’d talked to already said that they had done well and it wasn’t a big deal. They were right. He talked to us all in general for 20 minutes about what we did for the project and how each of us contributed to the project. We each had to answer some question for him. He singled out my highly intelligent roommate because she didn’t voluntarily say anything. I’ll give you a little background, we had to do a project on sustainability of something in the different countries we’ve been to. We did sustainability and food consumption. Each of the 6 of us picked a country and did interviews and did research, etc. for the project. My highly intelligent roommate had Japan. Don asked her what she learned from this project. Her answer didn’t have to be facts or anything like that, it could have been general, like “I learned a lot about the locals just by talking to them.” Her response was about how she learned they eat a lot of rice in Japan. And that they became an island nation. (When wasn’t Japan an island?) She told him they used to be poor back in the day and used to only eat soup. Becca and I exchanged looks and tried really hard not to laugh. Nic wouldn’t even look up. Don was a little confused by this and asked when “back in the day” was and she really had no answer. I’m convinced that’s part of why we only got a 90 and not higher. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has had between an 80 and a 94. I’m happy with that grade. But honestly, what?! He only watched about 3 minutes of our 20 minute video. I’m a little annoyed we spent so much time on this project for him to grade us right there knowing barely anything about our project.

We celebrated being finished by having a chicken sandwich up on the 7^th deck. After that I headed back downstairs to start studying for Biology of Sharks. I did most of the study guide and got the other parts from Victor and Bea.

We had a family dinner at 1730. I wasn’t planning on going, but Tania ordered an ice cream cake. And who can turn down an ice cream cake? Family dinner has been less and less family as this trip goes on. We all want to kill certain members. But whatever. The cake was delicious. It was chocolate ice cream. It was mostly melted when we got it, so we had to eat it quickly.

After dinner I went back downstairs to finish up studying for Biology of Sharks. When I’d gone over it a few times I decided to go to Becca’s room and see if she’d go get tea with me. Nic was in there, alive from being dead from the Amazonian sickness. We talked for awhile about being excited to go home and happy to be away from everyone else. We all realized we were ravenous, even though it was 2200 and went up to the 7^th deck for the second time today. I got another chicken sandwich and some M&Ms. That hit the spot and now I have to go back to studying before bed. I’ll also have to get up early tomorrow to actually study. I really don’t want to study. I’m pretty much over all of this school stuff on the ship.

I’ve turned up the volume on my computer to drown out all noise coming from the left side of the room. I’ll be happy to get out of here. Only 6 more nights of this bullshit. I will really miss a lot of people on here. But I won’t miss having to share a room with someone I’m not friendly with.

I apologize to those of you who don’t appreciate my attitude on these last few days. But imagine being trapped for 10 days with almost nowhere to go and being with the same people and living with someone you don’t like that much. There’s no escaping. Back home I could drive off or avoid my room almost altogether, but not here. You cannot avoid people. The more you try, the more you see them. It sucks. TAKE ME HOME ALREADY. That is the general consensus of the ship. I’m not alone.

Day 3: The Global Studies Exam

My alarm went off a little before 1000. After hitting snooze a few times I decided that I needed to get up and finish up the Global Studies readings for the test later today. Tania was asleep so I couldn’t turn any lights on. I read for over an hour and finished almost all of it before heading up to the gym. I used the stairmaster for awhile and read some more. I did the treadmill, too. I got really angry while running. I’m getting so sick of being on this ship. I feel so trapped now. All I want to do is run outside and not on a treadmill that moves side to side. I’m sick of worrying if I’m going to fall of it and break my ankle with each wave. I miss having a real gym. It is impossible to be healthy on this ship in terms of working out or eating. I’m over it at this point. I wish we were only 2 days from home instead of 7.

Anyways. I attempted to stretch and do abs outside, but it started down pouring. And there’s nowhere else do this stuff except for outside. So that was that for the day. Again, I can’t wait to have a legitimate gym. So I went and showered. Upon entering my room I discovered that my roommate had decided to start packing. Her shit was everywhere. We’ve still got 7 days… So our cabin steward basically cannot clean our room until after we’re completely packed and ready to go home, sweet, Tania.

I finished up the rest of the Global Studies reading. Becca came by and we all decided to go up and get food on the 7^th deck before really studying for the test. Sam came, too. Nic’s still sick. I got a chicken sandwich for lunch. I ran into a girl who I went to the Amazon with. I hadn’t seen her since we’d gotten back. She told me that she got sick the last day while she was out in Salvador and had to run back to the ship. That sucks. Literally everyone on my boat got sick. I know of 3 people who didn’t get sick on group A.

I went down to the 5^th deck dining hall with Bea, Vanessa, Patrick, Victor, and Becca to study. I studied down there up until dinner at 1700 and took a break. I still cannot stomach pasta. So I ate the vegetable chili with a bunch of roles to hold me over. We all hung out before the test and didn’t get much more studying done.

The test was at 1930. We had to fill out some questionnaire then do an evaluation of the course. Then we took the test. It wasn’t that bad. I was glad I had done the reading and read over all of the class notes I’d gotten from Victor. Most people said it wasn’t too bad, but a few friends said it was horrible. I’m hoping I did ok and that he’ll post the grades before we get of the ship. I’m really interested in it.

After the test we met up to finish up our Global Studies project. This took a lot longer than expected. Our presentation is tomorrow afternoon so we really need all of it to be done tonight. The video got finished as well as the bibliography and all of the handouts and papers. Some people in my group really are just lazy. I found myself having to do much of this final work. I’m sick of the complaining. One of our group members is just stupid and I’m really not sure how she gets through college on her own. I’ll be ecstatic when this is done with tomorrow afternoon. I worked until late putting it all together and correcting stuff and printing it all off. Somehow I ended up being in charge of the bibliography. That sucked.

Once it was all done I came back to my room and found my roommate was already in bed asleep, so I couldn’t turn the lights on. Now let’s regress back to when I said she started packing earlier. Our room is a nightmare and a ton of her stuff has now ended up in the middle of the floor and on my side. I nearly killed myself walking in the dark. The chair that’s supposed to be on her side is now in the middle of the room. Our room is tiny and it’s nearly impossible to get around. I’m going to kill her. Thank god it’s only a week until we get home. I’m going to sleep and rest up for tomorrow for our presentation and studying for two of my finals.

Day 2: B23: THE LAST DAY OF CLASSES ON SEMESTER AT SEA/The 101st day of the 101st Voyage

It’s the very last day of classes on the ship! I woke Nic up for Marine Biology at 0800. She was not looking so good. Apparently she spent all of last night up puking with the Amazonian food poisoning bug. She said she might be up for class. I told her I’d tell Abel she was sick.

I grabbed a bunch of boxes of Rice Crispies at breakfast to stuff into my bag for later. I sat down with Tania and two random people. Then went off to class. Marine Bio was pretty useless. We did an evaluation and that was basically it. He let us go after 20 minutes. Nic showed up to hand in some stuff for Abel.

I got back into bed after class to nap before Global Studies at 0930. I didn’t feel too great still from being sick a few days ago. When my alarm went off for class I decided to keep sleeping until 1115 and just go to the 1400 Global Studies class, the one I’m actually signed up for.

I got up to go to the gym at 1130. I had been able to sign up for the treadmill last night because so many people were too sick or hungover to even comprehend the gym for today. I got up there a little early to hop on the treadmill for a little extra time. I started feeling sick as I ran. I wasn’t even sprinting, just a light jog and I was struggling. I stayed on for about 20 minutes before I got off and went back to my room to shower, not even bothering to bike or do abs or stretching.

When I got out of the shower and dressed, Sam was at the door asking me to record my piece for the Global Studies project. It only took a half hour and I was done. I’m pretty much done with that entire project now. Everyone has to record their pieces and then we have to burn the disc. So close to being completely done with that class. JOY!

I had a brownie that Nic and Sam had stolen from the dining hall, but still had no appetite from whatever sickness I have. We all hung out until Global Studies at 1400. Nic dragged herself up to the Union with me. It was the best Global Studies we’ve had. It was all speakers talking about the semester in general and how they’ll miss the ship and the people on it. Warner, the librarian gave the best talk. Brian also gave a good talk with a bunch of random stats and numbers. At the end there was a group of students that sang. It was so sad. Nic and I wanted to cry when it was over. This was the first time we’ve really felt like we’re coming to the end of our voyage. It’s sad.

Nic and I decided we couldn’t be alone after that depressing thought and hung out in her room with Sam. Becca joined us soon after. She was cheerful. She had just gotten to steer the ship for a half hour. That was the big thing that she purchased in the silent auction. She said that it was awesome.

We continued working on Global Studies. Shannon recorded her piece. It was almost dinner by this point. Nic and I opted out of dinner because we didn’t feel well. I did some work out in the internet café. Everyone else went off to dinner. At 1800 I went up the 6^th deck dining hall to celebrate Bea’s birthday, now that everyone was out of isolation and recovering. A bunch of people showed up and we sang happy birthday to her. Victor ordered a huge sheet cake. It was a vanilla ice cream cake. It was so good. We took a ton of pictures and shared the extra slices of cake with other people in the dining hall. Patrick was talking to our table and was asking how we were all doing after the Amazon. Apparently only one or two people in their group got sick. Then he started laughing at the person who puked all over the stewardess in the back of one of the planes. Everyone erupted in laughter and pointed to me. He told me that people had been talking about that and how great it was. I’m glad people know me.

Little Andrew and Lizzie Finn came over and crawled all over us and got a bunch of cake. Stacey was babysitting them and wasn’t too pleased to find this out. Oh well. She should have been paying more attention to them. After the cake I got a small bowl of soup in hopes of getting some real food in my body, but I had to force myself to eat it with a roll. Still zero appetite.

After dinner I did some more Global Studies and chilled with people downstairs. We had a group meeting and tried to put more of the project together. We’re almost done. Hopefully by tomorrow night it will be completely done. When we finished up our meeting I came back to the cabin to do some reading for tomorrow’s Global Studies exam. There’s about 80 pages of reading. I’ve done all except for 15 of it. I’m saving that for tomorrow morning. For now I’m going to get some rest and try to get better/get rid of whatever sickness it is that I have. Tomorrow will be one week until Ft. Lauderdale! So close!