I made it to breakfast this morning! I just love having cereal and cold milk. Its like a treat to wake up to! I sat down for breakfast at a table by myself. I like to eat fast in the morning and its hard to do that if you have people sitting with you. But then this old woman came over to my table and sat down with me. She is one of the lifelong learners on the ship. Her husband came over and joined as well. They are both from Atlanta, Georgia. They told me stories about their granddaughter who not only did Semester at Sea, but also likes to travel for fun. He told me a story about the granddaughter getting left in morocco in the middle of nowhere. I said that she sounded very adventurous, but he called her a "damn fool." It was really fun having them sit with me and share stories!

So I went down to the piano lounge, just like any other morning, and found myself a seat. This morning however, it sounded like there was a woodpecker, a very very very large woodpecker pecking away on the boat. Turns out they are chipping away paint that has rusted on the ship. The workpeople are standing out there with picks hitting the sides of the wall. It seems somewhat stupid to me,  because they are just going to paint over it again. You would think that they would do that during a time when no one was on the ship, but I guess they want to annoy everyone!

Global Studies was interesting and has been a surprisingly good class.

Drawing today was really fun because we went to the Union to sketch the interport lecturer, Grandma the Clown. It was very different trying to draw a figure compared to the shapes and inatamant objects we have been drawing so far. He did some really interesting poses as well.

Religious studies has been a really slow class so far. I don’t really feel like we have done anything in the class itself. I have learned a lot from the readings and such, but not from the class itself. I don’t think she realizes how fast this voyage is going to go by. 

Today was a beautiful day outside so I decided to take full advantage of it. I got my swimmer on and headed out to the pool. Of course the rest of the ship had the same idea as me. EVERYONE was outside. All the chairs, lounge chairs, and most of the deck space was taken. I found myself a little space and got my tan on. It was great sitting outside today because there was so many people out it was easy to meet people. I meet twin girls from Los Gatos that go to school at Sonoma State. I actually hit it off pretty well with them and Im sure we will be hanging out a bunch.

After a full afternoon of laying out it was time for dinner. We went in to eat and was surprised at how good the food was. They had pot roast which is on of my favorites. They also had really good fresh fruit, peaches and pears, so I put a bunch into my bag to save for later. Then it was time to shower and do some studying before the Global Studies Map Quiz.

The quiz was defiantly an interesting experience to take because there were 5 people using this tiny tiny little table with a scantron  test. It was nice and easy just like I was expecting it to be.

My mouth is feeling so much better, that it makes it so much easier to socialize. I met up with the girls that I met earlier to hang out on the pool deck, eat some snacks, an watch the sun set. Then we headed down to their room just to hang out. It was getting pretty cold outside. We took their picture off of the wall to read the things on the back, and there was even a photograph. Its really fun to see what people have written.

To understand what I'm talking about a little better I will explain. There are pictures/artwork in each of the rooms hanging on the wall. It’s a tradition for students to take down the photo and write advice and notes on the back. You do it at the end of the voyage. A lot of the messages tell you to sneak on booze and where to hide it, but sometimes there are really interesting things on the back. Ill write on this blog what I decide to write on the back at the end of the voyage.

We were to lose another hour that night so I decided to go back to to my room and head to bed around 12. Of course Lindsay and I ended up staying up for a few hours chatting and sharing pictures. It was a great bonding experience.

Hopefully I didn’t get to burnt in the sun today!!!!