AMAZON and other stuff...

As I am sure you all have realized by now, I am not very good at updating my blog. I’m just going to make it semi short and sweet. I’m not too good on details to begin with anyways so hopefully this won’t bore you, but it will give you an idea of what I have been up to.

Life at Sea:
• Putting on SPF first thing in the morning and wearing a swimsuit under your pj’s to class is considered normal.
• The food all looks amazing, but it is extremely deceiving because it actually tastes a lot like what I imagine cardboard to taste like.
• If it weren’t for rolls and PB and J I don’t know where I would be.
• I can tell you what we will be eating at every meal for the next two months with good accuracy.
• The grilled cheese is amazing, but go figure, it costs extra.
• It’s not uncommon to be sitting at dinner, looking out of the window to see only sky and then look back a couple of seconds later to see only water. This is the rocking that puts everyone to sleep in class.
• Sleeping in port and on ship are rare. You learn to function with out it.
• 23 hour days due to having to set our clocks back an hour are normal and seem to occur everyday. They are awful and I hate them.
• I sleep more in global studies than I do in my own bed. Why they made the one required class for everyone so early is beyond me.
• Studying outside is never successful, you are guaranteed to be asleep 10 minutes later.
• Ship life can get boring. The options of things to do include sleeping, studying (as a last resort), class, and laying out… which generally leads to sleeping.
• We are going around the world… at 20 miles an hour. ☹
• The internet is slower than dial-up ever was. Except at 3am, then it’s as slow as dial up. It’s also super expensive and it isn’t fun watching the loading page go as the clock keeps ticking.
• Running in to walls is also normal… and funny to watch.
• Laundry day comes far to infrequently.
• My bed is made for me everyday. ☺
• I have yet to loose my room card, break my room card, or lock myself out of my room. I’m very surprised and proud.
• You give your class presentations in your pjs while Desmond Tutu is in the audience (I know, way to go me. But no one warned me… I guess that’s the point of a surprise guest lecturer…)
• It’s like spring break every 5 days. Nice, but makes it pretty much impossible to get any school work done.
• I crave Olive Garden EVERYDAY.

My 21st Birthday:
• It was as good as it could have been with out friends from home, no real bar, and a limit to how many drinks I could have.
• I still managed to have lotsa fun.
• I chatted with Desmond Tutu and he wished me a happy birthday.
• Two of my quizzes got cancelled ☺!!! Made me happy.
• I had the yummiest ice cream bday cake (thanks to my mom and dad) and am thinking about ordering another one sometime just because.
• I wore my life jacket and didn’t fall overboard like many of you predicted.
• I ate easy cheese and wheat thins I bought in Puerto Rico and was waaay to happy about it.
• I woke up the next day and went to ALL of my classes ☺

The Amazon:
• For lack of a better word, it was simply amazing.
• Worked out so so so well. Had the smoothest and easiest airport experience ever. They hardly have any security system there.
• I was really happy to have someone waiting for me at the arrival gate with my name on a sign…it’s something I’ve always wanted to happen. I am a dork, I know.
• We slept in hammocks on a riverboat, and bonded real quickly.
• We experienced the meeting of the waters, where two different colored rivers meet but do not mix. It reminded me of pouring cream in coffee. This is something only pictures can explain.
• Went Piranha fishing… proud to say that I caught the most. ☺ By far the easiest fishing trip I ever went on.
• Went alligator spotting and wanted to take one home with me…
• Went jungle trekking with an indigenous father and son. I swung from the vines like Tarzan and fulfilled a childhood dream ☺
• I drank the best water I have ever tasted from a tree.
• Went swimming in more waterfalls.
• Visited an indigenous Amazon community.
• Played drinking games in the airport before our 2:20 AM flight back to Salvador.
• We made it back on time and didn’t miss the ship, which I figure is always a good thing.

That should be all of the major updates. Up next is South Africa. Plans so far include going to a tree house restaurant with some friends and drinking lots of wine after hiking Table Mountain on the first day. Then cage diving with the great white sharks on the second day. A Breede River rafting trip and a visit to one of the Townships. Hopefully sky diving somewhere in there as well and who knows what else. It should be another exciting port with no sleep.

I hope all is well at home. Miss you all.

Laura