**Note: Post Date June 29, 2009**
Yay! It’s laundry day! And thank god! I have like no more clothes left. Erika doesn’t have laundry for another couple of weeks so she gave me some unmentionables to watch. But seriously my clothes supply is not enough. I knew I should have packed more, but I don’t know if Big Bertha could have taken much more. I’m going to have to go shopping once we arrive in Italy.
ITALY!? I can’t believe it! Probably the place I want to go the most! I am ahead of my goal of making it there by the age of 30. Score! These past couple of days have been quite uneventful besides sailing through the Gibraltar Strait, which served as our gas station. We use tons of gas per nautical mile. It was interesting to see the process of refilling. Of course smoking was not allowed. Smoking is just stupid.
Now we are sailing on the Mediterranean Sea in between Spain and Africa. This positioning on the map is surreal. Take a look at a map and just think of sailing here, it will blow your mind. Homework is catching up to everyone, while I am so ahead of the game, I’m in shock! I have NO homework! I don’t study either, so even though our midterms are tomorrow I’m pretty smooth sailing from here. (ha ha ha get it? Sailing?) If we aren’t doing homework then we are all hanging out, playing games, watching movies and planning.
We booked a hotel in Rome for the first night. A group of 9. The group from Seville plus Danilo and Niko. We might take a day trip to Florence but we have found that not planning every detail actually leaves room for relaxing and flexible days which works with large groups. We are superstar globetrotters! We are all pumped to explore the sights of Italy and to submerse ourselves in their food. I probably won’t stop eating.
The transition back to ship-life has been a sad one. After a taste of traveling in Spain, we don’t want nothing to do with anything else. Yet it is nice to relax and reflect on our time in Spain. We have time to plan for our time in Italy and relax by the pool. It is absolutely gorgeous everyday. I never sit out in the sun, but here (with 50 SPF and my shades of course) I can’t do it enough. I listen to music and just soak in the luckiness of my life. Sometimes I lay in my bed and watch the serene nightly waves crash. The sound is so peaceful and puts me to sleep.
Classes are going well. As I said I’m keeping up with my work quite comfortably and I find some of the material quite interesting. I was happy to find out that all countries in the European Union do not have the death penalty, an issue I feel quite strongly about. Go Humanity!
Having all your homework done lends itself to a boring evening on the boat. I helped the others study by playing a jeopardy style game with flash cards. I also watched Rachel kick butt at Ping-Pong. She beat like 9 people including our student from Italy. For each port that have a student from that particular country board the boat so that we can interact with them as well as use them as a resource for the next country. I told him about my visit to Montemurro and he knew exactly where it was. I look forward to that adventure.
Once again, I can’t properly express how happy I am with the group of friends that I’ve made on the boat. It is quite a large group and we are just all on the same page with attitudes, planning and just plain fun. Tonight we had a dance party in my room. It served as a break from studying. Too much fun!
I still miss my friends from back home though and wish I could share with them this experience more vividly. Shout out to you all! Leave a message if you happen to be following along.
Midterms tomorrow.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
~Michael-Anthony
P.S. Why do we say the phrase “Spitting image?” What does it mean? Spitting? Why Spitting?
Yay! It’s laundry day! And thank god! I have like no more clothes left. Erika doesn’t have laundry for another couple of weeks so she gave me some unmentionables to watch. But seriously my clothes supply is not enough. I knew I should have packed more, but I don’t know if Big Bertha could have taken much more. I’m going to have to go shopping once we arrive in Italy.
ITALY!? I can’t believe it! Probably the place I want to go the most! I am ahead of my goal of making it there by the age of 30. Score! These past couple of days have been quite uneventful besides sailing through the Gibraltar Strait, which served as our gas station. We use tons of gas per nautical mile. It was interesting to see the process of refilling. Of course smoking was not allowed. Smoking is just stupid.
Now we are sailing on the Mediterranean Sea in between Spain and Africa. This positioning on the map is surreal. Take a look at a map and just think of sailing here, it will blow your mind. Homework is catching up to everyone, while I am so ahead of the game, I’m in shock! I have NO homework! I don’t study either, so even though our midterms are tomorrow I’m pretty smooth sailing from here. (ha ha ha get it? Sailing?) If we aren’t doing homework then we are all hanging out, playing games, watching movies and planning.
We booked a hotel in Rome for the first night. A group of 9. The group from Seville plus Danilo and Niko. We might take a day trip to Florence but we have found that not planning every detail actually leaves room for relaxing and flexible days which works with large groups. We are superstar globetrotters! We are all pumped to explore the sights of Italy and to submerse ourselves in their food. I probably won’t stop eating.
The transition back to ship-life has been a sad one. After a taste of traveling in Spain, we don’t want nothing to do with anything else. Yet it is nice to relax and reflect on our time in Spain. We have time to plan for our time in Italy and relax by the pool. It is absolutely gorgeous everyday. I never sit out in the sun, but here (with 50 SPF and my shades of course) I can’t do it enough. I listen to music and just soak in the luckiness of my life. Sometimes I lay in my bed and watch the serene nightly waves crash. The sound is so peaceful and puts me to sleep.
Classes are going well. As I said I’m keeping up with my work quite comfortably and I find some of the material quite interesting. I was happy to find out that all countries in the European Union do not have the death penalty, an issue I feel quite strongly about. Go Humanity!
Having all your homework done lends itself to a boring evening on the boat. I helped the others study by playing a jeopardy style game with flash cards. I also watched Rachel kick butt at Ping-Pong. She beat like 9 people including our student from Italy. For each port that have a student from that particular country board the boat so that we can interact with them as well as use them as a resource for the next country. I told him about my visit to Montemurro and he knew exactly where it was. I look forward to that adventure.
Once again, I can’t properly express how happy I am with the group of friends that I’ve made on the boat. It is quite a large group and we are just all on the same page with attitudes, planning and just plain fun. Tonight we had a dance party in my room. It served as a break from studying. Too much fun!
I still miss my friends from back home though and wish I could share with them this experience more vividly. Shout out to you all! Leave a message if you happen to be following along.
Midterms tomorrow.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
~Michael-Anthony
P.S. Why do we say the phrase “Spitting image?” What does it mean? Spitting? Why Spitting?
Anthony - I am behind in reading your blog - so sorry. By the way, what is it with "Michael" Anthony???? You are Anthony to all of us family...
ReplyDeleteI can actually say it is quite a nice day this afternoon 7/3/09. The sun is shining and no rain (so far). I have 3 sleepy dogs here and am reading your blog. Yesterday was Papa's 82nd birthday - God Bless him! I need to show Papa how to post a comment so he can talk to you too.
You are such a good student! Soak up that free time. Can't wait to here about Italy! Is time going fast or is it my imagination?
Love You!