Feb 14th- Happy V-Day, Pre-port Brazil

More Puerto Rico
Pictures that the prisoners of San Cristobal drew during their stay
A really cool Lizard

February 13, 2007

Hello Everyone! Just thought I would post this on Valentine’s Day- I hope everyone has a magnificent day!! I love and miss you all! Life on the ship is going alright, though my seasickness has definitely made a turn for the worse. The sea isn’t as calm because now we actually have ocean and let me tell you- it is rocking!! (Before we were naturally in the Caribbean and the water was calm and smooth) Now not only do we rock, but we jump! In my cabin we are constantly hearing the bottom of the boat smack into the water. Its like a roller coaster 24/7 and is definitely getting to my stomach. I can only imagine what it is going to be like when we cross the Atlantic next week to get to South Africa! So in order to protect myself from that, I’m saving the Dramamine for when we cross the big waters and I’m taking the free pills the pursers office have. So far it is okay, I still don’t feel very well, but I’ve been sitting on the top deck by the pool ( I know- how tragic) and I’ve managed to be quite productive. I put on my I-pod and listen to my music and drown out all the rowdy sun tanners. I’m glad I get to enjoy this beautiful atmosphere. I’ll try and take a picture of me relaxing with the pool to the right and the ocean to the left, but we will have to see!

Lets see, I think I last updated on the morning of the Kayaking experience. Kayaking was great. I met another Jennifer who is also signed up to go on the first Rio de Janerio trip to carnival. I actually met her through the friend Ashley, whom I will unfortunately go into more detail in later. We were on the bus ride to the Kayaking beach and I sat next to this girl and we started talking interests, stage managing, etc and Jennifer was like “Oh so you’re the famous stage manager” and I said “what” and then she started telling me about how the professor talked about me in her two other classes and all that. So I thought that would be interesting to share. Kayaking was fun, though Ashley drove me nuts the entire time. I’ve lost entire respect for the girl for several reasons. 1.) We went to the dragonfly our last night and they told us 30 min wait, we said that’s fine lets go for a walk. Walked around and came back they said no one had left, its looking more like another 30 min wait. So we decided to stand there for a bit. Well time is passing, Ashley starts to complain about she is hungry. At first it was just to Christina and I but then she starts to get louder and soon she is complaining to the hostess. After 30 min, the hostess, sick of listening to Ashley sends us inside to find the other hostess. The other hostess shows us the table with two older ladies who are finishing their desserts and lets us know that as soon as the ladies are finished, we will be seated there. Ashley hovers at their table and informs them that as soon as they are done we will be getting their table. I don’t think I have EVER been that mortified in my entire life. And you WONDER where Americans get such horrible names!?!?! 2.) On our way back that night she proceeds to inform us that because all of the girls are going back out in sundresses and flip flops that Americans are going to get the reputation of being loose and that this attire is unacceptable in other countries. My response? None- I had NO words. I would rather be loose then arrogant- at least your likable in someone’s eyes. Not to mention she had no right to make that observation when she was making a spectacle and an embarrassment out of the rest of us. 3.) After writing in the blog last Thursday ?- days seem to mix up with one another, we agreed to be in starbucks for about an hour before leaving to go do errands and to wal-greens. She stays and extra 40 min at Starbucks and of course I can’t ditch her because then I would be walking Old San Juan by myself. That meant we had 20 min left in the city to walk to the other side and do shopping plus go to the post office (so she could send a t-shirt and key ring to her boyfriend- as if she couldn’t wait to get back to the U.S. to do that?) and the bank. We finally make it to Wal-greens when we should have been leaving Old San Juan to walk back to the ship. She rushes me through all of my errands and then when we go to leave Wal-Greens, loudly announces that yet again we are stuck on the slow side of the sidewalk. Everyone in front moved over to the side in order to let her (us) pass by. Again- MORTIFIED. So needless to say, I have learned my lesson and no longer associate myself with her. She continues to knock and call our room but most of the time we tell her we are busy or have plans. I’m hoping to have the opportunity to let her know (in a gentle-ish way) that she is an embarrassment and that I would prefer not to be looked at as a “rude” American. Well I have to go to class so I will probably write more later!

Well Back from class, I can’t say it was really all that enjoyable.. and I just noticed- not a lot of battery left in the computer, so I only have like 20 min to work on this… then I’ll have to start on the mound of homework… well mostly reading, though now I have a 4-5 page paper due on Thursday for the class I was just in. Hense why class wasn’t all that great. Oh and we lose another hour tonight which puts us 3 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zoners (is that better then my broad statement the last time??) I can’t do the math for the rest of you- hell I can barely keep the time, day of the week for me, never mind the rest of you! Speaking of which, so the other day we moved the clocks forward, but my roommate and I were so tired that we completely forgot. 8:27am I turn to my roommate and I asked if Breakfast ends at 8:30am and she answered yes, so I asked if she thought I had time to run up and get a box of cereal to sneak out and she kind of just shrugged and then it dawned on me and I was like shit. No, actually we are 10 min late for Global Studies. We jump out of bed grab our crap, change shirts and run upstairs. Thankfully they usually wait until 9:30am to start the lecture otherwise we would have been screwed. All we missed was the professor saying that our sample test was now available on the intranet and that it would not occur during out class time. And another occurrence was yesterday when I thought my class started at 2:15 (which is today’s) and went to the other side of the ship to get my stuff, almost hurled from the rocking of the stairs and realized I went down to the room for nothing because I had an hour and a half before my class. So I gave up and went back to the pool area and continued reading.

Anyways, on with what I’ve been doing. Kayaking was cool, we went to the seven seas beach which is called the seven seas because there are seven ecosystems surviving there- coral reefs, lagoon, rocky mountain, palms, seaweed, sand, and the organisms that do the bioluminescence, which by the way was the number one trip to go on according to the “sea feud” we had in the union on Sunday. So we kayaked out, though unfortunately I was partnered with Ashley who couldn’t row for the life of her. And then we went to the beach for a little while and then our science lesson. Oh and we are the first tourists to visit the beach, it’s a secret for the natives. After we returned from our trip I hung around the ship, other people went out to the bars for one last drink- but considering its still US territory- I chose not to bother. Nothing all that special, chatted with my roomie about what a terrible experience Ashley is and all that. Saturday of course we had classes, first set of B classes, so my new class was Energy Technology and Society. It seems like it will be okay, a lot will be over my head but the professor seems really nice- a little dorky but still really nice. At night we had the activities fair, so we signed up for clubs we would be interested in. I signed up for Ambassador’s Club, Pilates and Extended Family. Again, very relaxing- lots of reading for classes. Sunday was day a classes, I had my directing class again, and that was pretty interesting, I did my self-portrait for the class and that went pretty well. I split my items into three piles- personality, fetishes and activities. So I had my stage manager kit, history book, my favorite book and my girl scout water bottle J and then I had chocolate, i-pod, Kleenex/germ X and gloves (because I like to come prepared) and then I brought my glasses, sunglasses (because I like to look at the world in different lenses) and then a camera (because I like to observe) I located my project back stage of the union because I don’t like to be in the limelight but I don’t like to just be an audience member which is why back stage interests me. Oh and my back pack was next to my display which had a mess of stuff in it because all though I look extremely organized, my head is a mess and I try to conceal that. Either way I got an A for effort J. The Global Studies which made me sea-sick. So after that I went to my room and passed out trying to read several times. I got myself out of bed for Critical Issues and then passed out again. After dinner we had our sea meetings (instead of halls, we have seas! We are the Mediterranean Sea) which was followed by the Sea Feud (like Family Feud, only Semester At Sea style!) Both were quite exciting. We will be randomly chosen for cabin searches and drug testing…. Good thing I left all my paraphernalia at home huh? Just kidding! And the Sea Feud was cute. I took my laptop with me and quickly copied all my emails on to my hard drive so if you were paying attention, I went on that day but didn’t post- Sorry! Monday was our 2^nd day B and that was alright. We lost an hour and ended up being 10 min late for Global Studies because we forgot about the time change. We didn’t miss anything though because they give us 15 min to settle down and to allow for technical difficulties in the satellite rooms (the union only fits a couple hundred, the rest have to sit in the adjacent classrooms and watch on the tv screens. Your lucky if you get a seat though –many sit on the floor. I spent most of the day outside on the pool deck which turned out to be MUCH nicer then in my cabin so that will probably be a ritual for the rest of the trip. When I’m in my cabin I feel every move whereas on the deck- you don’t really feel anything. In Energy, Technology and Society we played a game in Pursers Square with everyone watching.. that was interesting. I will admit though it was fun. Spent the rest of the evening on the deck and then went to bed massively early- 10pm. Today was alright, again A day, directing first thing, watched 3 other self-portraits, only 7 more to go. Then Global Studies, which wasn’t too bad. My Energy Professor was one of the guest speakers today and he did magic tricks with it. We are currently discussing how important the environment is and how the Amazon is slowly getting killed and what this means for us. Very exciting. We have also talked about how dangerous Brazil is. So If you hear from me at the end of next week, at least you will know that I’m safe. Brazil is pretty sketchy and I’ve been told a million times- no purses, no jewelry, no watches, no anything. Bring as little as possible because they will snatch it from you (this includes earrings) and will probably leave you hurt and very shocked. So needless to say, here comes 6 days with nothing at all. After Global Studies I hung out in my room for a little bit and then went to the deck because I couldn’t handle the waves anymore. Lunch and dinner were okay meals, it was a little surprising. The majority of the meals I have are not usually that good. Critical Issues was really boring, I almost fell asleep. Oh well, I guess even in the middle of an ocean classes don’t change that much. And this afternoon I did my first installment of laundry. I hope it was good enough cuz otherwise I won’t have the option of doing it through the school for awhile. I just now have to wait for it to dry. I’m pretty sure it is going to take awhile. Oh well.

Lol I don’t know what else you guys want to know about, so at this point I’m pretty much rambling. Let me know if you have any questions that I haven’t answered yet. I’ve written so many journals and emails that I can’t remember what I’ve included or not included!

Before I forget, My Mohegan Suners! First, Thank you Nicole and Ken for your comments. I had a big smile when I realized the sun wasn’t getting left out J I think I said this before, but in case I didn’t- I talk about the sun and the good times we have all the time over here. Of course most people just want to know about the shows. I hope the shows are going well. I hope Dancing with the Stars went well. Let Josh Groban know I said hi ;) Enjoy your V-day with each other (last thing I knew you would be working….) I miss you all. Tell the “A” Team I said hi!! And naturally pass these blogs on to them please! I can’t remember any of the other shows or I would put some more personal antidote in relation to whose is coming! “A” Team- The Ashley story was for you. I hope you enjoyed it. Not a whole lot of other stories for you- Though I’ve got a lot of really good rumor stories for you J Don’t worry I’ll be writing those down and saving them for when I come back- I can’t tell you everything otherwise you won’t need me when I come back J Also, alas I have yet to find anyone who is apt at ringtoss, though honestly I’m not really looking all that hard. Well hope that was good for a laugh. Enjoy your time at the Sun, I miss you all!! Nicole- I’d also like to apologize because I can’t make your life seem better than mine, sitting by the pool and watching the cuties (without shirts of course!) flirt with other girls, it just isn’t all that bad.

I was just like to reiterate how much I love my roommate, we are frequently with each other at night and for meals, though usually we have opposite class times. Its nice to know that I’ll always have someone to hang out with. We have a few trips that are the same, but there are a lot that I won’t know anyone.

Well, I’m watching Office Space and I should go, Hope everyone’s V-day was amazing and I’ll write next week after BRAZIL! Have a great week

~Jennifer