LIFE ON THE SHIP
I suppose it would probably be a good idea to talk about ship life. We don’t really have internet, or TV or radio. I spend most of my time reading, playing card/board games or trying to find people that brought movies with them, but usually I just hang out with my friends. Oddly enough, we don’t have much free time (I suppose the fact that we have a time change every couple days doesn’t help!).
Classes keep us pretty busy, because we only have 20 some days of actual class time, so we have a lot to do in a short period of time.
We have explorer seminars, which are held in the union, the biggest “classroom”. A variety of people give talks on interesting topics-there are some very interesting people on this ship: Desmond Tutu; a husband and wife that were in the Secret Service; five professors were in the Peace Corps; a photographer/videographer; and plenty of other people who have led very interesting lives, who take time to share their stories with us.
We also have had open mic night, karaoke (6 of us sang Dancing Queen!), and the whole ship played Zombies vs. Humans. I’ve been taking salsa dancing lessons with the girls, etc. There is plenty to keep us busy!
We have an amazing crew, too. Most of them are Filipino. We have our personal favorites: Julius is Katherine, Jocelyn, Evergreen and my cabin steward. He always says hi and asks how our day is going. I accidentally threw a sock at him when he came around the corner while we were playing zombies, and he laughed so hard!
Then there is the dining crew: Perry is my personal favorite. He must have read my name tag the first week because he always says “Hi Jen!” - every meal of every day, and he’ll bring us drinks to the table, or desserts.
Mez is also one of our favorites. He is from Jamaica, and always sings and tells us stories (he’s been on Semester - at- Sea for 20 years.). Mez calls all of us Smiley and brings us drinks and silverware. He even takes our water bottles and will put them in the dishwasher to clean them and then fill them with ice water!
We have a new buddy in the dining room now, too: Mardy! For Katherine’s birthday last week, he brought us ice cream cake with a candle on it for her! Then he asked us all our names and was talking to us forever!
The weirdest thing on the ship is the fact that we live simultaneously with our professors, which is sometimes odd. Such as this morning, I literally rolled out of bed and barely made it to breakfast in my PJ’s without taking a shower. I then ran into my sociology professor, who always makes a point to say hi to me.
I also have a tendency to run into the Tutu’s almost every morning, so I at least make it a point to brush my hair real quick before running to breakfast so I look semi-decent.
The professors also have a staff lounge, in which there seems to be an awful lot of dance parties happening that we are not allowed to attend….
I suppose I should also mention the most important people…my friends: Evergreen and Jocelyn live across from me. They are best friends from home, which is Tennessee. They were also home schooled, so they are very studious, but they aren’t as socially awkward as I would have guessed home schoolers would be. Laura is from Chicago and lives on the opposite side of the ship from us. She’s a bit odd, but nice nonetheless. The three of them are all work-study students and work on the ship. Katherine is from Colorado and lives a few doors down from us, she is also very studious and will talk to everyone and anyone. Megan is from Wisconsin and she is a floater, she comes and goes, but we are always happy to chill with her. She is very outgoing and shaved her head for Neptune Day! (When we crossed the equator).
I had a crazy week last week. I spend a lot of time next door in Jocelyn and Evergreen’s room. It’s cozy, and Evergreen and I tend to just sit in there and study; its easier to study when someone else is studying, too.
So the ship was playing this game called Zombies vs. Humans (similar to a game my dorm played in Scotland), in which the zombies have to tag humans and turn them into zombies.
Evergreen had been tagged by Ben, but she and I had an alliance so she didn’t turn me since we spend most of our time together. We were in her room, and Jocelyn had come back from work, and Jocelyn and I are in anthropology together. We have a novel to read, and she offered to read it aloud. So I grabbed my pillow and was lying on the floor listening to her read when Ben comes back with Megan, throws open the door and they tag me, turning me into a zombie! Jocelyn couldn’t be turned because she was in a safety zone: her bed.
Ben and Megan end up chilling with us, listening to music. Eventually, I was tired from our week of midterms and could kind of feel a cold coming on. So I said I was going to go to bed. Ben and Megan are like “No, stay longer, we’re not going to let you leave, let’s have a sleepover!“ And they sat in front of the door. I was like “No, I’m just going back to my bed“; but they wouldn’t let me, so Jocelyn offered to share her bed. I ended up staying, and our beds are smaller than twin beds, plus the ship was rocking a lot, so needless to say we did not get much sleep.
The next day I had midterms and I had pretty much missed a full night’s sleep, so of course, I ended up with a cold.
The next day, we go salsa dancing and at first I said I didn’t want to because I didn’t feel well, but then I got there and they were learning new moves, so I joined in.
Then we’re back in Evergreen and Jocelyn’s room playing Risk and watching a movie. I had been saying I didn’t feel good and was coughing a lot, but was trying to play it cool. Finally, I gave up on Risk and moved to lay down on Jocelyn’s bed. They each feel my forehead and determine I have a fever. They were very good at taking care of me, Laura even gave me Tylenol, and they all asked me 20 times if I was ok.
Unfortunately, this was the night before we got to Mauritius, so for the 2 days we had in Mauritius I had a fever and a cold. But I was determined to do things anyway.
Katherine, Laura, Jocelyn and I went to the Coloured Earth and hiked to see multiple different waterfalls-which were amazing!
Then we spent some time at the beach. It was short, but it was like spring break! The island was beautiful, and it was very relaxing, especially for me who was suffering from a fever, which left me with little appetite except for milkshakes!
Today, before we had to be on the ship, we got some free internet and did research for upcoming ports and bought souvenirs. We also bought some bootlegged DVD’s for $4 each, so we have plenty to do this week on the ship!
Mauritius was small but so expensive. We took a taxi to the waterfalls and the beach and it cost us almost $200. We had a nice cab driver though, and I thought if I held a conversation with him he might give us a deal. That didn’t work too well, but he ended up friending me on Face Book!
We also tried to go out last night to dance, but it turned out that the closest place was a $120 cab ride one way, so we ended up just playing music and making our own dance party on the ship.
I still have not caught up on sleep, and still have a cold, but I think the fever is almost gone, and I should probably go to sleep now that it is after midnight, and it’s back to classes tomorrow…
