September 27 2010 / MV Explorer

I have this incredibly dark and thick red line between my eye and eyebrow, I’m not sure if it’s a burn or a bruise or what, but it makes me look like I came out on top in a bar fight.  Too bad I didn’t get it in an epic battle and instead got it getting my eyebrows waxed--far less dramatic. 

Women in High Courts was just kind of a debriefing day from our visit to the queen mothers in Essikado.  We talked a little bit about our papers, which she wants to be obscenely long (6 to 10 pages), but I guess I can try to eek that out—it’s just hard because we were only there for two hours.  She also wants it to revolve around a ~*~central theme~*~, and gave us traditional vs. modern if we don’t have a theme of our own.  I think I might actually use that, because there were just so many conventional roles in a royal court system that were ignored or broken, and it was really interesting.  Should probably get started on that tomorrow, if I am not studying far too much for Global Studies.

In Global Studies we talked about threats to global peace, which is things that undermine personal safety (crime, inequality, poverty, natural disasters, etc).  We did a little bit on organized crime, which made me happy because it reminded me of Media Academy documentary project in high school.  :B  We talked a lot about the drug trade, and the professor seemed to have his presentation angled a lot towards the idea of legalizing drugs, though I’m not sure how I feel about that (actually I do: marijuana, sure, drugs like cocaine or heroin, heck no). It was interesting seeing a graph for drug-related deaths—Tobacco came first, then alcohol, second hand smoke, prescription pills, and then finally ALL illegal drugs combined.  Of course, those also cause so much violence—just look at the drug trade in Mexico.  Anyway, it was a pretty interesting class.  I like Global Studies—a lot of it is stuff that I already know from sociology classes in the past, but it’s cool to look at things from a global rather than a national perspective.  The guest lecturer talked about piracy which was really neat.  :B  Apparently the reason why these tiny boats can get away with it is because they have grenades that can blow out the bridge.  Neat stuff.  There was also some stuff about how there are no jobs in Somalia and things like that, but it’s awfully hard to feel bad for a pirate.  :o 

After that I took a short nap and then went up to lunch and sat with Martha and her lecture buddy Adam.  Lunch was kind of sketchy.  I wish that I didn’t have to just feel like all there is to eat on this ship is carbohydrates—I have pasta and potatoes nearly every meal.  I try to balance it out, but it’s tough.  Guess that’ll just have to be what I do in port. 

Decided that I should probably get on this whole studying train—our first Global Studies exam is tomorrow night, a Scantron that’s 50 multiple choice questions.  Instinctually I feel like it’s going to be pretty easy, just because I feel as though I’ve been able to easily understand everything that has been presented in class, but then again the textbook is kind of a dull read so maybe things slipped by me there.  I read over all my class notes and then perhaps tomorrow I will flip through the book before the test.  I’m not too worried about it, though I know that I should definitely over prepare because I’ve never taken a test with this professor before.  Considering that virtually everyone that I’ve talked to has said that they haven’t started studying yet, I think I’m ahead of the game anyway?  The midday announcement came on and announced that we would have a time change tonight—yeah, there’s NO WAY.  Not with Neptune Day and a test tomorrow.  That would just not work.  She later said that there wouldn’t be a time change tomorrow after all, thank goodness.

Studying was pretty dull after the first hour or so, so I explored all of my built-in game options on my laptop.  There is a pinball game on here that I remember playing on my Windows 95 computer in my room at night—blast from the past.  I must have been way better at it then. 

A quick dinner and then back to my room.  I was going to study a little more, but luckily for me Steven came by.  We talked about making movies, mosquitoes, and Neptune Day, which he hadn’t researched at all.  Neptune Day is tomorrow.  I have some things that I am expecting but I have no idea for other things.  I had assumed that we would be woken up at 5AM, but Ellie said something about hearing that we would be woken up at 7 or 8.  Not sure what to think!  But I know that as soon as I hear something happening, I am going to race up there for initiation.  I want my Emerald/Royal Diamond Shellback status!  I’m really really excited.  :D :D :D :D After a while Jared came by and I went and worked out with him.  He taught me a couple of free weights exercises for my biceps, which are pitiful (triceps are enormous, biceps not so much), so that was awesome.  :D 

Now I’m just laying in bed wondering what’s in front of me for tomorrow.  I am SO EXCITED for all the rituals and traditions.  SEMESTER AT SEA!! WHOOOO!