Today was the last day of A day lessons. We all shared the most memorable experiences on our voyage, our greatest take-home points, what we’re going to change about ourselves after this sail of a lifetime. Today is a reminder that we are going home soon. The End of the Beginning is almost here.
i always come to Monuments of World Architecture class dressed and looking like crap because I take an hour nap before that 3.45pm class. Today I am actually dressed decently because it is John Jcuts21 Cutshall’s birthday. Happy 20th JohnJohn! :)
so i’ve not blogged about india, malaysia, vietnam, hongkong and now china. we are on our way to japan, growing increasingly lazy about traveling now.
just.get.a.drinking.card.next.time.i.have.learnt.my.lesson.ajdklsdfkjshadjsfsdd.
We’ve been together on this ship for about one and a half months now. We are almost in the middle of the voyage, and my last mid-term paper is today. i’ve just realised that gabriela and john have stopped speaking in an english accent to me. ABOUT TIME. today i will also be pampering myself in the wellness centre on the 7th deck. Seven Seas Massage, here i come. John’s face is currently peeling from Mauritius, strangely only on one side so he really looks like Harvey Dent right now. 2 days away from India. And all i care about is planning another SAS voyage. Short-Term 2013 voyage sounds good. I need to pack for india. I also need to tidy this cabin, it is a shithole since South Africa. I need to catch up with work before India. I had breakfast with my roommate Jordan yesterday for the first time. We both never wake up at the same time, she has an early start on A days, and I have an early start on B days. John Gabriela and I played a 20 minute long prank on Marek, we told her we snuck rum onto the ship and were acting drunk in my room for almost half an hour. We pretended to throw up, slur, make stupid sentences, demanded for more rum, hug and kiss each other, and she never suspected our lies. Jordan and Sunny watched our prank and had to try really hard not to give the game away. We demanded for rum and Marek even obliged. She went to the piano bar, bought a coke and lied to us that it was rum and coke, because she didn’t know how to handle us. HER LOOK OF SHOCK WHEN WE TOLD HER THERE WAS NOTHING IN OUR WATER BOTTLES BUT WATER AND THAT IT WAS ALL JUST A VERY LONG LIE. but marek, oh marek, she pranked us within 10 minutes of leaving the room. she got Alden to come round and say that Cherjanet, the living learning coordinator for my floor, heard that students snuck rum onto the ship and she will investigate when her meeting is over. we were slightly suspicious, slightly confused, but more importantly IMPRESSED with Marek’s comeback! Cabin fever starting to kick in. That’s why I need that massage.
it is 4pm here on the ship, and it’s 7pm in Singapore. i never felt so close to home this semester as I do now. Asia, we are on our way.
SEA OLYMPICS! The day after Mauritius was a study day, meaning no classes. It was a ship-wide event called the Sea Olympics. Functions pretty much like a Sports Day/Olympics style tournament full of events and we compete amongst our seas for glory. Of course, the events were nowhere near ordinary events. We had games like crab soccer, popcorn eating contest, reverse spelling bee, trivia, taboo and charades, extreme musical chairs, synchronized swimming, dodgeball etc. We reported to the Union for the opening ceremony where Dave Eng, the staff in charge of the Olympics, came dressed in a toga and carried in the Olympic Torch. As Caesar-lookalike, he declared the games open! I was a part of the Aegean Sea (what were the chances? The Aegean Sea is my favourite sea, because Greece was gorgeous) and our colours were GREEN! (WHAT WERE THE CHANCES?!) We had dollar signs painted on our faces (in reference to American dollars of course) and had posters with ridiculous captions like MEAN GREEN AEGEAN MACHINE! AEGEAN MONSTERS, FROM THE DEPTHS OF DECK TWO GO GREEN OR GO HOME! It was a fun day, and all I have to remember the day is the ridiculous aches my body is carrying with me today. Took part in Taboo and Charades, we came in 4th which isnt too bad! Was in the Crab Soccer team and we lost in the final (this is starting to become a pattern with me ) The Baltic Sea won the games overall, and their prize is getting to disembark first in Florida in December, and they get to have a social night in the faculty lounge! We hung around the Union for a while after, somebody got a massive dance party starting which I still find really impressive that SAS students find ways to have sober fun on board! WE, WE, WE ARE THE AEGEAN SEA!
So we were in Mauritius for a DAY. How do you even begin to sum up a country after being only on their land for 12 hours? A different experience altogether, but a much-needed break from the hectic week leading up to Mauritius. In the 3 days before Mauritius, I had 2 mid-terms and 1 paper due, which in SAS terms, is a lot. Considering the fact that I have about 3 hours of school and 1 hour of work every day at sea, on top of the need to do readings, you can imagine that squeezing in studying is almost impossible. I spent my day in Mauritius on a private catamaran to Gabriel Island. We ended up drinking all the way there of course, and depleted the boats supply of alcohol (which wasnt supposed to happen because the tour said unlimited booze) We swam to Gabriel Island, which had gorgeous crystal clear waters. Their corals werent as beautiful as the waters; I guess this is the fault of global warming. But still, I had a good time in the sun baking with Gabriela, Sam, John, Luke, Ryan, Gerry, Adrienne, Ali G, Alden, Brian, Lindsay Cast, Steph Post, the list goes on. There were 30 of us on the ship, and it was a good time because I really liked the people we had on our catamaran. We had lunch on the catamaran after our swim, which was barbequed chicken wings, sausages, pasta, fish filets, and bread. It was good. A one day port does not mean zero excitement. We walked back to the ship at 5.35pm when we were due on ship by 6pm. On SAS, if youre late coming back to the ship and swipe your card in late, you get this thing called dock time where you have to come back to the ship at least 2 hours early in the next port. Its not proportionate at all, so 3 minutes late in Mauritius = 2 hours lost in India. Anyway, there was a long, snaking queue at the ship and the staff said to us well, theres no way you guys are gonna get back on time cos of the queue. Youre gonna get dock time That really upset Gabs/John/myself cos we were late coming back due to some inconsiderate people on our trip who prioritized shopping/buying drinks instead of reporting back to the bus on time. People on the ship were out on the balconies/decks watching and cheering us on, giving us a countdown as to how many minutes we had left before dock time would kick in. 5.59pm and we were still queueing for bag-checks, and we were getting nervous. We ran past security when we were cleared, headed to the machine where we swipe our attendance and the staff member said 25 seconds left! John Gabriela and I were the last 3 to slot our card in before the deadline. NO DOCK TIME WOOOOOOOOOO. We took a celebratory picture of the three of us and our huge smiles at 6.01pm. Mauritius, we wish we could stay longer! NEXT STOP: INDIA! Im back in Asia!
So I think I finally caught up on my sleep debt that I piled on in Cape Town from the balancing of Mitchell’s and daytime exploring the country. We’re arriving in Mauritius today at 3pm local time, almost a whole day earlier than the schedule. But we won’t be allowed off the ship so the Voice told us to just “stare longingly at land all you want” which I will. It’s mid-terms week on the ship and it feels strange to only have pretty much a day to study for a heavy weightage paper, but that’s shipboard life for you. The Sea Olympics will be on the day after Mauritius, AEGEAN SEA LET’S GO! Marine Bio test later today, let’s hope I don’t fail this one too. This is a pointless post really, but after all, I am a pointless person. Looking forward to the Asian continent!!!!!!!!!!! HI ZOE AND STAN.
so we all kind of suspected the MV Explorer was traveling a bit faster than usual, but we all thought it was just a long way to Mauritius. The Voice announced yesterday that we are traveling faster due to a medical situation on board and a passenger needs to get off. they said it was not life threatening so the person doesn’t need to be helicopter-ed away, but they do need to speed up for this person. we might arrive mauritius a day earlier, or stop by some other island/country before that depending on time, but we still won’t be allowed off the ship. god knows what’s going on! yesterday was Adrienne’s birthday. Marek, Sam and I put up posters with terrible puns on her name since her name’s Adrienne Ball. “Ballin’ with Adrienne”, “Are you having A Ball?” “Today is a B Day, Adrienne’s B Day!” (because it was a B class day also) “Saved by the Ball” there were so many. she ordered an ice cream cake for her birthday and it was delicious. Excited for our Mauritius Catamaran! Last night we signed up on which catamaran we wanted to be in and my catamaran has Gabriela, Sam, Alden, Ali G, Brian Glynn, Adrienne, Geraldin, John, Luke, Becky, Christine, Carly, the list goes on really. Sounds like we’re gonna have one hell of a party.
