days have no real relevance at sea

i'd like to start out by saying this:i made a "stupid" comment when i was signing up for my classes for semester at sea.  i said that i was taking 8am and 930am classes and that they wouldn't be bad because time at sea would be different.  now, when i said this, everyone laughed at me and told me that was one of the stupidest comments they'd heard.  i'd like it to be known that, in the direction we will be traveling this whole journey, we will constantly be turning our clocks back and gaining sleep.  so all of you can bite your tongues and recognize my accidental intelligence, thank you very much.  we turned our clocks back last night from west coast time (3 hours behind east coast, since that's where you all are), to 4 hours behind east coast time, or in my phone it says alaskan time.i worked out for the first time this afternoon in the little gym on the 7th deck, i signed up last night for a stationary bike. i was slightly afraid as i heard horror stories of people breaking ankles trying to run on the treadmills. i wanted to run so badly, but we're in rough seas.  also, you can only sign up for 30 minute increments since the gym is so small and there are so many students and faculty on the ship.  the bike turned out to be much more difficult than i'd anticipated.  i put it on random, but as the ship rolled from one side to the other, the bike went forward then backward, either hurting or helping my momentum.  it was actually like riding a bike up and down hills without the hill setting. i definitely burned more calories than the machine said.  it was rough.  all of the machines say "exercise caution in rough seas," you don't usually see that sign at the gym.basics of the ship: i live on the 3rd deck on the outside with a window, cabin 3039. the dionysus deck. decks 2, 3, and 4 are all cabins. deck 5 has the nice dining hall, or whatever it's called, the main desks (aka the purser's office) and a classroom, deck 6 has the library/casino, the computer lab, the union (where we all meet at times and for global studies class), 8 classrooms, the piano lounge, bookstore, c store, school store, teachers' cabins, and garden lounge/dining hall. deck 7 has some cabins for teachers and  guests, the pool, the pool bar, gym and spa, and i think that's it.  apparently this ship, the MV Explorer used to be a grecian cruise ship.  each of the floors has a greek god or goddess name and there are quotes in greek at the staircases.last night i went to a reading out on the 6th deck of jaws.  everyone huddled in a circle with flashlights and read under the stars.  i could get used to things like that. there weren't too many visible stars last night, but it was slightly cloudy.  i hope to see obscene amounts in the future. when it gets warmer we'll sleep out on the deck under the stars.  i can't wait for that.today was warmer, thank god. i was pleasantly surprised after global studies to go out on the 7th deck on the port side and realize i didn't need a sweater or jeans. we laid out in the sun for a few hours til dinner time.  the food is good, but it's repetitive. fails.there are a few seminars and things tonight. so i might go and check them out after i do some reading for classes. the rocking and rolling of the ship makes me really tired and it's a constant battle to remain in the upright position, degree of difficulty 3.3 (you would probably only find that funny if you watch competitive diving, and if not...well then...nevermind)the waves have gotten bigger, but the sun is still shining with no clouds in the sky. last night at 3am tania and i were woken up by the crashing over of one of the night tables. apparently everything is not bolted in. this both confuses and perplexes me, as we have not yet hit the big time waves and storms. i can't wait til our first storm. i think i'm one of only a few people looking forward to storms.on a bright note (note i don't say brightER, because, well, everything's pretty damn bright and joyous), i met a guy with a box tattoo today. for whatever reason that made my day. something fascinates me about someone who has a box tattoo.  forget about ridiculous tattoos, to quote my bureau from island school "simplicity is key"sorry to everyone i've been bbming with, my bbm on the ship goes in and out of working. i don't really know why. but if i stop responding mid conversation it's because the ship has lost my signal or something. anyways, that's all for now. love and miss