Ten Days Later: Finally in the Mediterranean

Now that I've taken the "long way" across the Atlantic, I'm gonna refer to airplanes as Time Machines from now on, because compared to a ship they truly are. Seriously- you can't really appreciate how huge the world is until you slowly drift across it at about 15 nautical mph. We actually ended up a bit ahead of schedule due to the relatively good sailing conditions most of the way (apart from last Thursday, a few hundred miles from the coast- that got pretty exciting), and cut the engines off completely for a few minutes today. It was a deafening silence, and really made us aware of all the ambient engine noise that we've since learned to tune out. Anyways, to what I've been up to the past ten days:

I really can't complain about ship life. Leading up to this, former students' biggest complaint has been the food they serve on ship. Well, if that's the biggest gripe they have, then it's smooth sailing from here. It's obviously not great stuff but it's infinitely better than Newcomb, even if the variety isn't astounding (we're in the middle of the Atlantic, so I think I can cut the dining staff some slack). I'll definitely appreciate the weekends even more now, having lived through essentially an eight-day school week with the same three classes every day. On the bright side, my classes seem manageable enough, and all interesting. Anthropology of Tourism is really giving me a new perspective on traveling and being more mindful. A lot of what we talk about in class refers to "third world" or tropical tourism, but many of the same principles apply to Europe, as far as how to make your time abroad as meaningful as possible. I'll be keeping some travel logs of what I do, where, and what I think of it. Also need to talk to local people about a variety of things, so that'll be an interesting challenge for my spanish skills (severely limited) and their english skills (probably as good as mine- you take that for what it's worth).

Despite the fact that I actually had a fair amount of reading to do on the way over, it was definitely an experience I'll never forget. It was strange to essentially be back in First Year, where everyone you meet is new and willing to hang out. The pool is really more of a pond that people sit around and occasionally stand in, but it's definitely the social focal point of deck 7. "Pub Nights" are always fun, too- haven't taken advantage of this as much as some people have, and it's pretty humorous to see how drunk that people get (or more likely, act) after the limit of three measly cans of beer or three comically small glasses of wine. Also, I swear some people have been tanning more than they have been in class, studying, or sleeping combined. Of course, 90% of the students on here are just aiming for grades better than C- here so that the get course credit- but us UVA kids have the enviable situation of whatever grades we get being carried into our GPA. So that could be a blessing or a curse depending on how I do, and I'm doing everything I can to make sure it's the former. Anthro has the most reading for any course that I've heard of so far, as well a lengthy paper due two days after leaving Italy, but I've been under crazier time constraints before and it's one of those classes that's worthwhile enough for me to suck it up.

Apart from flying fish (awesome) in the Caribbean, packs of dolphins near our wake, a whale (which I only saw pictures of, sadly), and amazing sunsets, there really isn't a lot of scenery crossing the Atlantic. On Friday we could see the Azores in the distance, but it was really too hazy on the horizon for it to be terribly dramatic. Entering the Strait of Gibraltar, on the other hand, was truly epic. Africa to our right, and Europe to our left- it's a sight to see after looking at nothing but ocean and sky for more than a week. We were flanked by numerous massive tankers and container ships, all funneling into the relatively narrow 8 mile wide opening between the two continents. Pretty much nobody realized that we'd be "bunkering" (getting refueled) in the Strait until it was announced the day before, so everyone was pretty excited that we'd be able to see the famous Rock of Gibraltar, as well as the continents we'll be in for the next seven weeks. The tanker that came to refuel us swiftly floated over, tied up less than 15 feet away, and sat there for the next several hours until we were good to go (some time after dark). I wish I could post pictures of all this, but it'll have to wait til I have unlimited wifi. When that will be, I'm not sure.

Pretty much all classes had midterms either yesterday or today, and ever since the last classes wrapped up, everybody's been in a fervor discussing their plans for Barcelona. Mine are pretty wide open as of right now, apart from a ticket on the last night to see Kaskade, a famous DJ, play a show at the infamous Opium Mar (a super-sized club in the middle of Barca). It seems like everybody on the ship bought a ticket on the way over, so it'll be a rowdy night, for sure. Everybody's worried about the pickpocket situation, which is obviously a real threat but not if you're smart and aware. Last year apparently 62 people were pickpocketed while the ship was in Barcelona, so maybe we'll have the distinguished honor of topping that mark. I guess that's one way to contribute to the economy...

I was part of a team who won third place in The Amazing Race: SAS Edition- just like the tv show, with riddles and all. We finished just well enough to make top three, meaning we get to be part of the first 24 people (8 on each team) to leave the ship. Out of an entire population of about 900, that's quite a significant cut to the front of the line. But, that also means I need to be up rather early, and therefore need to at least try to sleep. Barcelona doesn't get going at night til about 1AM, after all, so I need to get rested up for some absurdly late nights. I'll probably not be able to write again til I say hasta la vista to Espana.

Buenos noches!