I'm no longer a Pollywog!

The past 8 days have actually gone by really quick and I am definitely VERY excited to go to Namibia tomorrow. I will be going on a safari for the whole time so hopefully I'll have some good stories then to tell you. From the first day back we did start back to work, which was kind of a shock considering we hadn't had class for about 8 days. I'm pretty sure I even forgot when World Dance actually was, don't fret Mom I did make it in time! I was actually pretty excited for Global to cover some African Politics, which they did in the beginning, but after that they switched to the theme of "Out of Africa" and early humans which isn't exactly my cup of tea. We finished learning the Sevillanas in World Dance and now we are working on belly dancing. I definitely enjoy this a lot more and it's really fun! My group is hoping to do a hula for the last project which should be pretty fun, and also gives us quite a bit of time to work on it.

 

I have also been working on the Ambassador's committee to plan the ball at the end of the semester. It will be when we cross through the Panama Canal at the very end of our trip. Our theme is "Sea of Dreams" and I am working on the entertainment aspect of the night. Its kinda a little like prom, but hopefully not exactly the same. We might be having the World Dance professor perform with some students, and then we were hoping to get one of the administrators to perform as well, which would be SO funy, maybe even some of the kids on board. Overall it should be a really fun night, and I'm enjoying helping plan it. An exciting addition is that they extended lunch so that now I can get some in the last 15 minutes on A days. They also extended breakfast, but I rarely wake up in time for that.

 

I have been going to the yoga classes, but I think I might switch to the Pilates because, as my roomie Cassie would say, "it's like yoga on 'roids!" I definitely felt more of a workout after this. I've been trying to stay active on the boat because we don't have too much time for that while we are in port. I received my first Vicarious Voyage package at the beginning of our time at sea and it was too cute. They actually remind me a great deal of the students that Mom teaches at Randall. I also met my extended family, which is where they assign certain students to an older member on staff and we have dinner and stuff every now and then. Mine is our communications director, which is kind of funny because he is only 23. I have friends that are students on board that are the same age! Our family includes 12 students in total so its actually pretty big, it was fun and I recognized some of them but not all which was cool.

 

I have been hanging out a great deal with the roomies, Cassie and Megan, and we have been having a pretty good time lately. One day they served french fries for lunch and I'm pretty sure Cassie and I went through about 2 full plates of them together, it was SO GOOD!!! The funny part is that about halfway through our second plate, Megan came up with a plateful herself. Its kind of funny how often we are on the same wavelength hahaha. We actually made a really funny document called our "Roomie Pact". Megan wrote it and here is some parts of it, but we have added more items since then:

 

~THE ROOMIE PACT OF 3117~

**NOTHING SHALL BE STOLEN OR PICK POCKETED THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE VOYAGE**
As simple as it seems, this is a big undertaking. Pick pocketing is a major issue in each of the countries, which several students have already experienced. Apparently by the time we reach Guatemala it’s easier to leave a pile of valuables to save thieves the trouble. We refuse to be dumb tourists.

**SYLVIE MUST BE CONVERTED TO COUNTRY MUSIC**
This one is actually working! Not that she has a choice. Cassie and I take all iTunes deejay control. Having a roommate who matches my love for country is rare, and we take full advantage of it. 2 vs. 1 = we win! Sylvie is a good sport though.

**ALL MUST SING TO 90'S MUSIC, REGARDLESS OF ABILITY OR CHEESINESS**
Self explanatory. Yes, this is as special as it sounds.

**CASSIE AND MEGAN MUST LEARN TO CONTROL THEIR CRAP**
To my family: I know what you are thinking. Shutup, Cassie is the same or worse than me :) Thankfully, Sylvie is not a neat freak and is very accepting of our inability to corral our clutter.

**ALL MUST CONTRIBUTE TO THE STOLEN FOOD PILE**
Big signs are plastered all over the ship: “Food should not be removed from the dining area!”We read them as we stuff fruit, bread and little cereal boxes into any available pocket. There’s just something about set meal times that brings hunger exactly when food isn’t being served. What can we do? These people are picky about their rolls.

**NO BEDTIME WITHOUT DOING "X" NUMBER OF PUSHUPS**
Our food shelf usually contains many chocolate bars from the most recently visited country. Good, but oh so very bad. Bedtime pushups are our attempt at justifying ourselves.
       
**SYLVIE MUST LEARN THE FINE ART OF CHOWING DOWN**
Felicia, I finally found a slower eater than you! It’s a bit ridiculous. We call her Grandma.

**CASSIE MUST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT GLOBAL STUDIES IS MANDATORY**
This is a pretty pointless class, but still. She doesn’t sleep through it purposely, but the alarm is not her friend. Also, she has to stop claiming, "Sure, I'll go to breakfast tomorrow!" We know how that ends by now.

**ALL MUST REMEMBER THE KEY CARDS**
We’ve each locked ourselves out a few times. A good thing about being in a triple is there’s always someone in the room to save you, otherwise you pay to get a temp key. New rule: every time this happens, we have to donate $1 to our personal Roomie Fund (to be used at the end of the semester).

We have added things about my sleep talking, and attaining the ability to sing "We didn't start the fire" and "Its the end of the World as we know it" by the end of the trip. Overall we are definitely happy with the living situation and have no idea why it costs so much less to be in a triple. To all future SASers, get the cheapest one possible, its definitely worth it!

 

NEPTUNE DAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

 

This was a couple of days ago and I have explained it to many of you but here it goes. When one has never crossed the Equator on a ship before one is known as a "Pollywog" and once one has been initiated one is called a "Shellback". The initiation included the staff banging on our doors playing drums at about 7:30 AM and then herding us up to the pool deck. There a whole bunch of the staff and the Captain were all dressed up in crazy attire. The ritual involves dumping "fish guts" on the pollywogs, making them kiss a fish, kiss "Kind Neptune's" ring and bow to his queen. I have several pictures of them dumping what was basically just green water on me and jumping into the pool. Many people also shave their heads on this day, including 11 girls on the whole ship. Needless to say I kept my hair, because I'm pretty sure my dance teachers at home would not be happy with me if I did end up shaving it hahaha. The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in the sun, but one of my favorite parts was the AMAZING dinner! It was basically a picnic on the pool deck with burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans, fresh fruit, and ice cream sundaes we could make. Everyone was so excited because our meals are alright, but literally the same thing day after day so this was an awesome change.

 

Since Neptune Day I have just been finishing up my work, and I have had two midterms ALREADY! The weird part is that now we will have 9 days of no class at all. Getting used to this is very strange, but they definitely cram in the tests as much as they can now. I had two that were back to back, but I'm pretty sure I did alright. We had the cultural pre-port for Namibia last night which was fine, but the part on Namibia only lasted about 30 minutes. After that they talked about Darwin for an hour because it was his 200th birthday. I find this really amusing and I will say that I made an inappropriate comment about how Semester at Sea has an "affinity" for the sciences. I'll keep this clean though. We have our logistical pre-port in a little bit and then we get to watch some episodes of "The Office" later which should be pretty funny. I'm actually impressed how they try to keep us updated on things like that, the inauguration and even the Superbowl. I'm sure I'll have much more exciting things to tell everyone after Namibia, plus I have South Africa right afterwards. Should be pretty cool!