October 16 through 19 2010 / MV Explorer

We have been sailing from Mauritius for the past four days, and things have been going pretty lovely, asides from a random bout of depression that seems to have settled over me.  I’m not quite sure why, I guess it’s just because I feel a little lonely and stressed and it’s been harder for me to write poetry, which I’ve been really enjoying.  Here is something cool we did—Cushman (poetry professor) noticed we were getting kind of quiet in class, so he decided to spice it up and asked us what we wanted to do.  So for the first time we did writing exercises in class, one where you write lines in between a poem and another where you eliminate words from a poem to create something entirely new.  They were really awesome prompts and we had a great time sharing what we had made with each other.  I’m going to try to do similar things with song lyrics.

Had my Anthropology of Tourism midterm—unlike the other two, I am actually 100% sure I got an A or at worst an A-.  I found it pretty simple because I’d kept up with the reading and all the material was pretty straightforward to understand to me.  Plus she is incredibly reasonable with her test, which is a nice surprise. 

Lorelei and I were on beverage duty for the first time in an eternity on the 17th, which we had a great time with because we just sat together with Bryan (and Lander, for a little while) and watched videos of him drinking white russians and reading FMLs, which was pretty amusing, and talked about love and loves lost.  We actually stayed up on Deck 7 until like… 1AM, which became 2AM because we had a time change.  We’re now officially 12 hours different to home hours! 

Went sunbathing for the first time on the ship.  It was lovely and I did not burn.

Last night on the 18th we had a Sea Rally for the Sea Olympics that are coming up in a couple of days on the 21st.  The Nomer Sea (say it out loud… they were going to be the Tip Sea), which are the older folks  and dependent children, did an amazing Lion King skit.  In the end they held up the 6-month-old babby, Simba style, into the air, which was hilarious.  The other sea skits were a little sketchy because a lot of them were hating on other seas.  Still, the prize to winning the Sea Olympics is a dance party in the Glazer Lounge, which is super swanky, and we would get to be the first people to leave the ship when we get to San Diego, which would be AWESOME to bypass the huuuge line.  I’ve already signed up for Jeopardy and Tug of War to do my part. 

Today has been pretty good.  Worked a little bit on poems, which is nice to do.  Sat out on deck with Bryan and Julie listening to Lady Gaga and doing our respective creative pursuits.  At Bryan’s mention I went to go check out Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, which is amazingly dry and hilarious so far and I love it, so I will finally know what Bryson and Winston love so much when I get home!  Even worked out with Jared and Julie, so that was nice. 

I’m gonna try to get back on daily updates, buuuut it is almost India time!  :D  Also if you have any questions about life at sea or any country-specific questions I would be happy to answer.  I know I probably don't clarify a lot of things or am vague.  I am excellent at being vague.  Anyway, have a nice night <3