Day 7. A2. January 21st, 2010. 3 days till Hawaii. Day of the week: Unknown. So many different ways to keep track of time on this ship it is crazy, but definitely doesn't make it less easy. If I wasn't keeping a journal where I write the day of the month and such, and have a calendar next to my bed, I would have no clue what day it was at all times. We are in a nice little bubble here, and literally have no clue what is going on around the world, which is ironic since we are traveling around the world. It is so weird that even though we have only been on the ship a few days, and I have been traveling for over a week now, I feel like we have been living on this ship for months. While Hawaii is quickly approaching, and everyone is excited for land, I know that once we get past this leg of the trip ad the one to Japan, the semester will go by in a flash, and I obviously don't want that to happen. So it is a weird mixture of wanting it to speed up for land, and slow down so that I can dwell in every minute of the semester.
So, I started to sit out the third day, and officially decided, along with everyone that I was with, that this is THE BEST study abroa program. You truly cannot find one that is better than this. I sat outside for HOURS studying, sleeping, reading, etc. in BEAUTIFUL weather. Everyone is just so much happier in warm weather, it is incredible. The waves were getting pretty bad in the afternoon, so after class I went to lie down in my room, which wasn’t the best idea since it was super rocky there. A little bit later I went to a meeting for Students of Service. I signed up for two groups- one is the SOS Auction in April, where we raise money for both some of the field programs that we do and the scholarships that they have for the students. I am chairing that one. The other one I signed up for is basically just a general raising awareness and creating different events for different organizations. After that my friends went to eat, but I felt too sick so I just watched and then spent the rest of the night playing lots of games- like taboo, egyptian ratscrew, and this game that involved a circle and running around screaming moo, and yee-haw! It was a LOT of fun. That night the waves were SO bad that when we were out on the top deck, we would literally slide in chairs from one side to the other with every wave. It was, as everything seems to be, fun and terrifying all at once.
NO ONE slept on the ship that night, due to awful waves and everything in the rooms sliding back and forth, opening and shutting. It was pretty awful. Some of the professors cancelled or rearranged their classes even because they were too tired to teach. In that sense, it is nice that the professors understand where we are coming from when we can’tdo work or are exhausted in class. The following day, with the continuing awful ocean, the gym was closed, the elevators were shut down, we weren’t allowed on the side or front decks, there were no chairs or tables out on the decks because EVERYTHING had to be secured all over the ship. It was absolutely crazy. I found my alarm clock at the OPPOSITE side of the room that I had left it, my entire nightstand detached from the wall and toppled over, and every drawer in our room was blockaded.
The next morning, following my sleepless night, I dragged myself out of bed and went about my day. I had a class, a meeting, played some card games and then at night we did Speedfriending. What we thought it would be was like speed dating but with friends, but instead it was just everyone clumped together in a hallway basically, not able to hear each other speak, crowded, etc. but I still met some people and it was entertaining. After that I drank for the first time on the ship.. it was very interesting. I met some more people, and then PASSED OUT!!!
After the most soundless, incredible nights sleep after (especially because of the awful night before that). However, I was unbelievably exhausted in my classes and had a really really hard time keeping my eyes open… and the small classes makes the professor aware of when you can’t keep your eyes open. After classes I sat outside for awhile. It started off overcast but when the sun eventually came out it was so bright that it hurt to open my eyes and so strong that I felt like I was on fire. At 8:00, we had our first cultural pre-port. We have two types of pre-ports before every country, the cultural and the logistical. The cultural was slightly boring, mostly because while yes, it is Hawaii and the culture is not exactly American, it is not as interestingto me as the other placeswe are going to. For most people, it is just a vacation type place. Following that we went to a coffee house, which was AWESOME. There are some incredibly talented people on the ship, and not only singers and musicians but poets. There was a professors daughter that read two poems that are “slam poetry” and I could not believe that a person could write like her, at any age but especially because she is only high-school age. Throughout the night we were learning about how there is a new rule that they were enforcing this voyage about high risk activity, including high-contact sports, bungee jumping, and sky diving, which absolutely stinks. I have been mentally preparing myself for sky diving for a month now, and my group was cancelled because it was through facebook and they had all of our names. There are still a good group of people going that weren’t in our group though. It is the thing that everyone says to do in Hawaii.
Today was just what is now a typical day on the ship…. Went to classes, laid out, hung out with some friends. We had the logistical pre-port today, which was basically them repeating, you ARE in the US still, but make sure not to go down poorly-lit alleyways because guess what? They are potentially dangerous. I am shocked. They also finally opened up the front of the ship, so my friends and I were up there for a while looking at the stars. There are a bunch of people sleeping out there tonight, but the problem is that people have said to do that so that you can watch the sunrise AND us pulling into port, but we have to go through immigration starting at 6am so it isn’t going to work out and be worth it. Instead, my friends and I are sleeping out there in between Hilo (which is pronounced HEEEEELLO for anyone wondering) and Honolulu.
One extra thought, everyone is starting to plan Japan and while at least one of my friends and I want to go to as manyplaces as possible, we were sitting with some people who were just like, I don’t need to go to more than one city.. as long as I can RAGE, I will be fine--clearly are wasting their money and have no concept of how much they can get out of this trip. For me, it is like I obviously want to go out in these countries and have fun and stuff, but my main goal is not to get shitfaced in every country and miss out on all that there is to see and do. Some people just piss me off. Anyways, another thing thatpeople have been saying is that the ship is rehab because of all the limited drinking rules. It’s funny. Ok well have to wake up in just a few hours for HAWAII!!!! ALOHA!
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