Crossing the Equator!!

Feb. 2nd, 2008- We Crossed the Equator!

Saturday around 2:30 p.m. my time (11:30 Dallas time) we crossed the Equator!! It wasn’t as exciting as it sounds, except we didn’t have class and got to lay out in the sun all day and relax! We aren’t celebrating Neptune Day (the celebration of crossing the Equator) until after Brazil, I’m not really sure why, but whatever, it’s another day off from class. It is weird having class on Sunday, I am losing sense of my days while at sea because every day is so similar.
Now on to the important stuff—Because I stopped reading comments on my first blog, after I started posting more blogs, I had NO idea Rachael was having a GIRL!!! I am glad I was probably the last to know, but oh well…. I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited! It made my day! J I was beginning to lose hope!
Anyways, we are almost to Brazil, and I am very excited, everyone is ready to get off the ship! The ship is divided into “Seas,” which are basically your hallways, so Jess and I are the Adriatic Sea. This is our team for Sea Olympics, which are pretty much just semester-long competitions between Seas. Tonight we have our first Sea Social to meet other people in our Sea/ hallway.
Classes are still going well, in my Human Unity and Diversity class, we were assigned group presentations and I volunteered to have the first one (which is tomorrow!!!) so I could get it over with—20% of my grade already out of the way! My group’s topic is discussing if Semester At Sea students are examples of globalization. My Women’s Politics class also has a group presentation, but this one is a little more intense and has to be an hour, so I signed up for a much later presentation time. My group’s topic for that is mail-order brides and child trafficking in Vietnam. So, my presentation for that isn’t until after we go to Vietnam.
I signed up for a few more day trips on my own for South Africa, since my Safari doesn’t leave until a few days after we arrive in Cape Town. I am going to an orphanage, which will probably be very sad, but I hear it’s an awesome experience. This counts as one of my Faculty Derived Practica (FDP) which most teachers require at least one so you can write about it and get a grade. I am also going to cycle in the hills to multiple wine lands, which will be fun and a good workout because it is a total of 29 kilometers!! First we cycle ten km’s, take a break and then 19 more! Now, I’m not very good at converting km’s to miles, but I’m pretty sure that’s far… if anyone knows exactly how far, I’d love to know! It’s an all day affair so I have to mentally prepare myself, but hey, you get wine out of it, so how bad could it be!!?? Ha! Well I better be going to Global Studies to learn more on Brazil, until next time! Xoxo, Marissa