crossing the Atlantic!!!!

So after leaving brazil, I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to 9 days on a ship with no where to go but hmm the dining hall a couple times a day, classes, laying out getting tan = ) and hmm what else? Talent shows, Neptune day. I don't know a whole bunch of stuff! But as the time went on and the more and more I went to class and to the dining hall and got to lay out and get a good tan I actually enjoyed it…however 9 days is a little too long and I have to admit that I'm getting a little bit of cabin fever! Thank god ill be in cape town in TWO DAYS!! So classes started again, they are going well…global studies is awfully boring and is just so hard to actually pay attention! The only good part is that I’m learning a lottt of really interesting things about the countries that I’m going to! Tuesday I went on a tour of the bridge of the boat! It was really cool to see all the computers that monitor everything. I actually understood some of the things that the guy was saying thanks to Dad!! = ) The guy told us, however, that the captain doesn’t actually steer the ship except going in and coming out of ports. I thought that was pretty interesting! I took pictures and when I get to an internet café or this internet isn’t SO FREAKIN SLOW, ill upload those pictures! I went to pub night on Tuesday night which was pretty fun! Lots of people were there, it’s nothing like the parties at UNH though! I definitely miss some of those! Wednesday night there was an animal dance where you were supposed to dress up as a jungle animal...I put together my costume at the last minute and was a tiger! It actually came out pretty good for putting it together in about 10 minutes! On Valentine’s Day we had no classes because it was Neptune Day! It’s the celebration of crossing the equator even though we did that before we got to Brazil! Everyone got woken up by the stewards around 7:30 in the morning! They ran around the halls banging on drums and our doors to make sure we were awake! When I finally made it outside to the pool deck there was a big crowd! Most everyone was in line to get “fish guts” poured on you! So I got in line! It was SOO cold out that morning (actually still pretty warm since I was standing in a bathing suit- but cold compared to what we have been used to! Haha) – it was really rough out and the wind made it even colder! Finally it was my turn to get the stuff poured on me! I walked over and they poured this disgusting smelling bluish greenish colored liquid over my head and then jumped in the pool. When I got out I had to kiss a fish and then kiss King Neptune’s ring. All just part of the tradition! Soon after people went through that line, the head shaving began! NO WORRIES I DIDN’T SHAVE MY HEAD!! A lot of people did though, and I heard that this voyage broke the record of the number of girls that shaved their heads (that could be a rumor though!). The rest of the day was pretty relaxing since there was nothing else scheduled and we didn’t have classes. The ship was SO rocky that day, although I found out later in the week that it was only a 6 on a scale from 1-14!! I can only imagine what a higher one will be like. Stuff was flying all around our cabin, drinks were spilling in the dining hall, chairs and tables were sliding all over on the back decks. It wasn’t as scary or I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be! It did freak me out, however, standing on the back deck and watching the horizon go so far up and down when the boat rocked! It’s only going to get worse too. I guess the day we leave South Africa is the roughest day of the whole voyage! I’ll let you know how that day goes...I’m not too worried though! After Valentine’s Day and Neptune Day classes began just as normal again. Saturday night there was a Captain’s Challenge for the Sea Olympics. The Sea Olympics is a challenge between I believe 9 different seas on the ship that determines the order in which we get off the ship back in Miami. So last night there was the Captain's Challenge. They had to come up with a skit or a song and make it all about Semester at Sea and the MV Explorer. Our captains rewrote the song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. It was really funny, as were all the other skits! We didn’t win; actually, we didn’t even come in the top three spots! Oh well! We still have the actual Olympics which everyone participates in to catch up! Well that’s about it for now, I have a really busy week for South Africa coming up so I probably won’t write again until I’m back on the ship! I hope everything is well with everyone!! LOVE YOU MISS YOU ALL LOTS!!!! xoxoxoxoxox