It has officially been a week since I left home for this trip. Wow. It already feels like it’s been a month! This morning we passed by a group of Islands called the Azores, so a bunch of people went out to watch as we passed. It was sooooo beautiful! Not just the Island, but also the sun. It was 8 AM here (2 AM Denver time) and so the sun was still pretty low to the horizon. I have seen so many Colorado sunsets, and a couple sunrises, we have some of the most beautiful sunsets in the mountains….but I have never seen something like what I saw this morning as the sun rose over the ocean. Amazing!!!

On the ship we have two days worth of classes that cycle 7 days a week so our weeks on ship are not 7 days, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc, but A days and B days. Today is day B2. I like B days because I only have one class at 10:45 and I am done by noon. I have recently taken up nannying for a four year old boy named Rydder a couple hours every B day. I am pretty excited to be with little kids again, although it sounds like Rydder and Isaac would get along really well. :/ haha.

What? Did I say kids? Kids on a ship? Traveling to 11 different countries? Yup that’s right. I guess now I should tell you all a little bit about the people on the ship. There are 604 college students from all over north America and some outside of the U.S., 60 some lifelong learners, 40 some family members, including 26 children under 16, 30 some faculty and staff, and then the Captian of the ship and his 100 and some crew and staff members (sorry I don’t remember all of the exact number, but I think I am pretty close). Making the grand total over 900 people While the student ages range from 18-25, the ages on the ship range from 6 months old (the head librarian’s baby named Griffin) to just over 90 years old (a lot of the lifelong learners are over their 70’s! See Grammy I told you you’re not too old!) Now just a note about the amazing ship I am on, The MV Explorer is the fastest Cruise ship in the world, with a 15,000 horse power engine. She can go pretty fast but right now we are only going about 13 knots.

Pretty amazing right? Oh also the state which is most represented on the ship is California. The second most represented state is none other than COLORADO! Woot! When I tell people I am from Colorado I get one of 3 reactions: “I’m from Colorado too! What area?” “You’re from Colorado too? I have met so many people from there.” Or “You’re from Colorado? That is soooooo cool! I love it there!”  It’s pretty good being from Colorado. But I think it is so cool to be surrounded, already, by people who live so much differently than I do. I have been sitting with my roommate for meals, she and her other southern friends sit properly with no elbows on the table, with their dainty fork and knife action. It’s pretty interesting to watch and I almost feel out of place….but then there are people from California, Nevada even from Boston….and other places that seem to be so free of anything that it is a little ridiculous hearing how loud they are and how much food they eat. The other day my roommate asked if the boys where I’m from dress like the boys here on the ship. What? Either the boys she’s from wear tuxedos every day, or they go naked every day….I dunno, cause the boys on the ship seem pretty normal to me. What I find ridiculous is the amount of girls who walk around in nothng but their bikini and a shear tshirt or dress over it. Yeah it is a cruise (although we get in trouble if the staff hears us calling it a cruise rather than a voyage) but when girls are in their bikinis during class I find it a little disrespectful….but maybe that’s just me.

Well the fact that we are just passed the Azores (which are part of Portugal) means that we are getting close to Spain!!!!! YAY!!! A little less than three days and we will stop rocking on the ship and start exploring Spain. No one can wait, I think most people are already sick of classes and once we are in Spain we won’t have classes until after Morocco. But that is so tiny compared to the fact that we will be in freaking Spain!!!! I have gotten completely wrapped up in getting used to life and culture on the ship that I have almost forgotten the real reason I am on this trip. Gosh I can’t wait.

Sorry I haven’t posted a ton. Getting used to life on the ship, my classes, getting financial aid all settled, and figuring out the ridiculous internet system has really taken up my time but I already have my next blog partly written up so hopefully I can post that tomorrow or on Friday……maybe tomorrow since I will be getting ready for Spain on Friday!!!!!

Well that is all for now I think. Thanks to those of you who have been emailing me. I am glad to hear that life in Colorado is staying pretty normal. I will hopefully get around to emailing you all back sometime before Spain. I have a couple videos I have taken, like a tour of my room, and the dolphins we saw yesterday (yes we saw dolphins yesterday they were sooooo awesome! They even jumped for us!) and I really want to share those with you but my internet constrictions on the ship are awful so hopefully I can figure it out in Spain. But for now I will leave it with that!

Jya ne!