Day 85. The 2nd April 12th, 2009. Studies and High Seas. And the return of "THE NOISE"

Hey all

We've run into some rough weather, which seems to coincide with our studying for our 2nd Global Studies exam which is tomorrow. We got an announcement this evening that the sea swells were up to about 15 feet, and we should secure all of our stuff, and walk with open hands (so we can grab on to stuff when the ship tilts). As I write this, the ship is doing its famous up-down movement where it crests a wave in front of it, gets some air and then slams down to the ocean below with a big "brrrruuuuuuUUUMMMMMMM." It's a bit unnerving, but we get through it.

In true high-seas fashion, the starboard stabilizer has been extended. Directly outside of my window. What does that mean? THE NOISE is back (see earlier blog entries to read all about its debut in January). It creaks us to sleep, even if it is insanely annoying 99% of the time.

Other than that, it's been 'full steam ahead' on studying for the test tomorrow, which should be loads of fun. In Biomedical Ethics class today, we watched a short documentary about a grandparent suffering from Alzheimers, and his grandson's documentation of his last few years. It was tough to watch, especially because the family was a stereotypical Jewish one from New York, easy to relate to my own. In true fashion, though, Prof. Harmon said at the end of the film, after the grandparent passes away, "Kind of puts your global test in perspective, huh?" And it did. As much as we stress for this stuff- who cares? We're 3/4 the way around the planet... we shouldn't get worked up about this stuff. But we do, and that's okay.

I got letters from my Vicarious Voyage classroom yesterday, which was great. I try to write them back, even if it's not as much as I'd like... they are all such great kids and so interested in the trip. I hope they all get the chance to follow in our footsteps in a few years.

In other news, a bunch of us brought our boxes of Matza up to the Deck 7 pool bar and asked them to make pizza on the Matza. Being the nice (albeit slightly confused) crew members they always are, they happily obliged, and I enjoyed black-olive topped Matza pizza for the first time in Pesach 2009.


Alright. Back to studying. I've had enough April 12ths for one year, and it's time for lucky number 13.



Greg