very quickly: we've had I believe 5 time changes and it has been messing up my sleep schedule big time. It will be nice to have some time to catch up when we arrive in Cape Town. Love!!!
February 15, 2008: Day 24
Wow, it has almost been a quarter of the way through this journey—that's amazing! So many things have happened, and every day, no matter what, I am so grateful to be able to do this. I know it seems like sometimes I wasn't or am not, but truly I am grateful. Thanks to everyone who made this possible for me. Anyway, today was my first full day rockin a pixie cut... I don't even look like a "baldie" as they've come to be called (I like skinheads better lol, but oh well), and people stare at me anyway, which is weird... My haircut isn't that unusual... hmm. So, I just stare back, haha. I've found that I've been looking into people's eyes more, daring them to stare. Normally I would walk along and avoid most people's gazes because that's just how I roll :-P But anyway, Caitlin misses her hair sometimes and sometimes doesn't mind that she's a baldie... I would not have been able to handle totally shaving my head, and I'm glad I recognized that. The only problem with my haircut is that some of my superblonde highlights were growing out and so it looks really patchy in a not flattering at all way :-( So, in S.A., I'm going to get some hair color and fix it, and I'm going to give Teneya pink highlights and Michael said he wanted his hair electric blue, so we're going to have a hair dyeing extravaganza... I also can't wait to buy more snacks and clothes, and especially scarves!!! I'm ready to look cute! :-) So, I'm very, very happy because I found the cute little drawing Kristin up the street drew for me and I magneted (yay making up words) it to the wall, along with the note Jess left me when she spent the night, and the scavenger hunt Alex put me on to find a note in my room :-D Those were lost inside one of my packages I brought along with me, and I had thought that I had lost them, but I'm soooo happy to find that I hadn't!!! Yay! Anyway, sleeping last night was not so successful. I'm freaking exhausted. I would slide up and down the bed a little bit as the ship hit each wave, and our room creaks with the slightest movement from the ship, and we had to tape the drawers shut so that they wouldn't open and close loudly. I dragged myself to Global Studies, only to find out that 1. North Illinois (right?) University had a shooting today or yesterday, which is absolutely awful. It breaks my heart to know that such things go on like that in this world... and 2. The guy posted the powerpoint online, just like the guy before him, which does not encourage anyone to go at all, it's so dumb... But I'm ok with that, because I like sleeping in :-P I tried taking a nap today but the ship was rocking so much that it was barely successful. I hung out with Michael and Alex in their room for a bit and then went to Art and Architecture, after which I grabbed some dinner with Caitlin. I went to snack this evening and had some of the amazing pink cake that they had yesterday, too, and it has the most amazing frosting EVER. Yumm. So, off on a random tangent, but something I really like is that the clock on my phone and on my computer show the time at home, and whenever I see the time at home, it makes me think of what you guys are doing right now, and I wish I could be there with you to participate, even if it's just cleaning the dishes :-P I've been going to bed so late, I really need to stop or I'll shave a bunch of years off my life from so little sleep—and by that, I mean I'm getting 8 hours of sleep like a normal person, rather than my customary 8 or 9 or even 10... lol One last thing: Teneya has me as her accomplice in her playful scheme against the executive dean, Kenn Gaither: we're going to play small-scale pranks on him, and she is the mastermind. Tonight, at 2 am, we're going to put up a sign we made on his door and knock loudly, so when he answers the door, he will have to un-magnetize the sign before he can get out to see who it is. We'll see how he handles that and then move onto the next one :-D Tis fun! At least at that time in the morning the internet will be super fast, yayaayayay! Much love to you all!!!
Michelle
February 16, 2008: Day 25? (I don't even know anymore....)
Today was pretty good... I slept in until 10:30 because I was sooo tired from last night's devious activities (pranking!), so Caitlin's going to give me the notes from the Global lecture I missed. Then, I went to lunch with Caitlin, which was good... Then, I went to drawing class, where I realized that I had forgotten to do the homework... urgh. Not good. But, it kind of doesn't matter because my grades I will be getting at the end of this voyage will not be calculated into my GPA, and I will only be getting credit for the classes (if I pass them, and I will)... Besides, I'm going to have to take drawing again anyway, because that class is a joke. Anyway, we learned how to use a viewfinder... what fun? And then I went on the 5th deck aft to draw Caitlin for my homework, and I was out there for 10 minutes and my shoulders got burned, which is lame. I don't ever go outside except for meals, so I need to condition myself to the sun. Besides, as much as I am an advocate for having healthy skin, I want to be tanner to make up for my short hair. So, I tanned with Caitlin for about an hour. Then, I went to dinner with Michael, and I was outside eating during sunset, and Ben: I am sorry to report that I started into that sun until my retinas bled (not really :-P) while the sun was setting and I saw no trace of a green flash :-( I was disappointed. So, my theory is that the whole green flash thing is a myth, but I will not discount it just yet—I will try it again. Michael and I talked about what animals we would be if we could be one, and he said wolf, and I said a bird. A funny thing about eating here on the ship is the fact that my favorite part of my meal without fail is the rolls. I freakin love the rolls, they are soooo good! I'm literally going to miss them when I come back home. Their desserts aren't so bad most of the time (except for today: sticky date pudding?! Ew...), which I have been eating way too much unfortunately... I can foresee myself gaining weight on this trip. If the gym wasn't so crowded, and if I was willing to change up my schedule, I would work out more, but at least I get TONS of exercising in port, so it's not so bad. After dinner, I came back and wrote my paper for Art and Architecture on Stonehenge, and got dragged out of my room by Teneya right after I finished it, saying something about making a banner for our sea, and I for the first time (amazingly... I would have expected this to happen earlier, knowing me) I locked myself out, and with no shoes on (which is not allowed—apparently it is easier to get toes chopped off in rougher seas?), but luckily I saw Tricia not long after that and she got me my card. We had a "captain's challenge" where we were notified last-minute that we had to come up with a chant by 9:00 for our sea (part of the competition for the Sea Olympics), and only 10 people out of about 30 or so in our sea showed up for this, so we were by far the smallest sea that performed (even though apparently we are the largest on the ship?) because no one knew about it, so we definitely didn't win that round—sadness. If we win the Sea Olympics, we get to be the first off the ship in Miami, which is excellent motivation, but I've never been much of a "team spirit" type of person, so I'm not too interested in all this—just winning lol. After that, we had our first coffeehouse (without the coffee... sadness) and lots of very talented people played guitar and sang, and juggled, and read their poetry. It was awesome! The only thing I didn't like was Noah, the ship's store guy, who did some comedy and introduced each person as well, and he was raunchy in all of his acts—yes, we are college students, but his stuff was gross and inappropriate and was waaayyy too much information, and I'm no prude. I imagine he will not be asked to perform again (I hope so). All the guitar playing action made me quite nostalgic and caused me to think of that special young man of mine back home, and miss him terribly. I realized that music is the purest and most meaningful way to speak to my heart, especially when accompanied with lyrics. It makes me so happy that Alex is musical. I miss hearing him play, and sing. I wish I could sing with him right now. And dance with him :-) Oh, I forgot to mention: I bought a Lonely Planet book for Japan, and it has been such a pleasure reading through it and learning about Japan. I think that because Japan is bustling with opportunity and things to do that it will be way up there on my list of favorite countries. You can get a ski ticket on one of the finest slopes in Japan for about $35... I'm so sad that Caitlin is not into skiing. But hey, it's not like I won't be going back someday! I wonder why it is that I have such a fascination with Japan, and its people... I don't really understand why I feel so drawn to it. But, I am very excited about going, and especially doing it indy. Did I already mention that Caitlin and I are on the same safari, as well as the same Beijing trip? This is totally by pure luck, which is awesome. Caitlin and I are going to be roommates for the Beijing trip, which is going to be amazing. Well, I'd better get to bed... Much love to you all! Muah!
Michelle :-D
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