My First Sea Sick Day!

Also (ironically) happens to be the day of my first exam at sea! So right now, as all my peers are suffering through our World Health and Nutrition exam…I’m lying in my cabin, drugged out on 50mls of Meclizine (for those of you that don’t know – this is A LOT), waiting until I feel well enough to take the exam. This sudden sea sickness is quite embarrassing considering we’ve been at sea for 1, 2 … 14 days! And we’re nearing the coast of Africa, so the water should be much calmer than it was in the middle of the Atlantic (during which I was mostly suffering from food poisoning, not sea sickness). But it is somewhat excusable because we’ve been advancing our clocks 1 hour every day for the past six nights and I have class for four hours straight in the classroom on the highest deck at the bow of the ship (read: most wobbliest) starting at 8am. Nothing like 23 hour days to get you ready for wobbly class bright and early.

Anyways…now that I’ve updated you on all of my bowel movements for the past week…hi, how are you? I’ve decided to use this sea-sickness time to update my blog a bit.

Life at sea has gotten pretty cold. We’re passing some current that comes all the way from Antarctica, so I’ve been having to bundle up in jeans and long sleeve t-shirts every day. The Californians have broken out their Uggs to stay warm. This wonderfully crisp weather reminds me of New Hampshire summers a little bit. As in…I’d probably go swimming now if they hadn’t drained the pool do to the cold. But because of the lack of a pool…there has been a huge surge in…wait for it…GAMES!! Oh my god. I love it. So you know how Chelsea Harris needs to offer people alcohol to get them to play games with her? Not necessary here! There are no other options! Hahahaha*evil laugh*hahahahah.

I’ve finally learned how to play Hearts and Rook and Oh Hell – Bridge is next on the list. I’ve also gotten to teach even more people Taboo and Apples to Apples. People here suck at Apples to Apples. For example: on “uncomfortable” I played “spooning” (Think about it. Like very objectively think about spooning – and then think about the bottom arm and then tell me it’s not uncomfortable.) and it didn’t win.

~~~~

I’ve also been meaning for a while to write a little entry about the type of people you meet at sea. The reason to be a parallel to the type of people I met in Mississippi. So here’s a quick break-down:

-25% from California

-5 from New England, not including Mass (our regional dinner was quite lonely)

-40 people each from USD and UCBoulder

-5 people from UVA

-2 of whom don’t drink (there go the Foxfield connections I was hoping to get out of this UVA sponsored trip)

-WENDY – another Dartmouth girl that we found

-lots and lots of people who have volunteered in Mississippi and want to join the Peace Corps after college

…and here’s the kicker. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to tell you…

-JENNY FISHER’S LITTLE SISTER

That’s right. Both of her littles (I’m the better one) are at sea together = maritime mischief. Carolyn Fisher is a Pi Phi at Vanderbilt, but this doesn’t stop her from being as badass as Jenny. For example, she’s getting in trouble for having glued a quarter to the floor in the middle of the student center (she thought it’d be funny to watch people try and pick it up). If you cannot read my sarcasm…my roommate is currently on probation for five different violations including … well more interesting charges. I’m guessing if Jenny were on this ship, she’d double that number. Easy.

Quick update on the Peace Corps: It still sounds sweet, but I spent an hour at pub night talking to a staff member who was in Americorps for two years and he did a pretty good job at convincing me to stay in the US. However…Cory has agreed to marry me so that we can go into the Corps together. Married couples get placed with each other – so even if we’re not in love, it’d be nice to not be isolated from all other American contacts. Our wedding is going to be in Vegas and you’re invited if you happen to be there at the same time that we are. And we’re going to wait until we turn 21 to get married. (I’ll give you a hint: book tickets for Sept 22/23 next year.)

Which leads me to my next point…pub night. Again, I’m amazed that I haven’t discussed this yet. We’re going to have to do a mental exercise for this one: imagine the Theta Delt basement.

Replace the kegs with cans and the “hot girls first – everybody else never” style of serving with a monitored line (it’s still packed though).

Now remove the beer spills, puke remains, and all other nastiness.

Okay, now dress everybody up. Boys should be wearing either sweet California bro t-shirts or nice polos (not pong-I-expect-beer-to-be-spilled-on-this polos) and girls should be wearing dresses or skirts and heels.

Great, now add a gym to the basement (because the sweetest dudes will do a few pull ups and then go and get a drink).

And finally, take away all pong tables/fun and restrict everybody to four drinks

Oh and one last thing: now tip the room 15 degrees and watch everybody (especially the girls in heels) fall.

In short, I think that pub night is the most hilarious thing I’ve ever seen. I remember going up to my first one and immediately keeling over in laughter. What is so hilarious is how dressed up some people get to go stand around plastic chairs and drink wine out of plastic cups. It’s also amazing how many people show up. I really haven’t figured out what people do on nights that alcohol isn’t being served. Whatever it is though, it leaves all public spaces on the ship deserted. But then introduce the opportunity to have FOUR alcoholic beverages and WAH-BAM! The place is PACKED!

If you were truly determined to drink all four of your allotted beverages in the two hours given, you would have to arrive promptly at 9pm, get your drink, and immediately walk to the back of the line. You would then finish your first beer in line, get your next one, and repeat. If you’re lucky, the line will be moving fast enough for it to take less than a half hour each time.

The only redeeming quality of pub night is that it reminds me of how much I love Dartmouth. And pong. I love pong. I miss it a lot. Cory and I played a game the other night on a 4 foot by 5 foot (generous measurements) picture that is hanging on my wall. (Second to last stop before leaving Hanover: Stinson’s for paddles and balls. Last stop: Foodstop for turkey and cucumber sandwich.)

~~~

Alright…I’m now significantly depressed and missing pong. And I think I have to take this exam thing soon. (But I’m not feeling any better. FYI – actual booting hurts A LOT more than volume booting.) So I hope these 1000 words (longest paper I’ve written since high school) keep you entertained and you read all the way to the end.

-18 hours from Namibia