*Warning! What you are about to read is so long that the following side effects may occur -- strained eyes (from staring), cramped hands (from scrolling), and DEATH!!
Yesterday, when my alarm clock went off, I thought "HALLE!! Why did you set the clock so early! I don't have to get up for school until 6 today!" I started to reach up towards a shelf that I have above my bed and then I realized... That isn't my reality. I am literally living my best life as I wake up every morning in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. So... I thought it was about time that I shared what the ship actually looks like.
It consists of nine floors. (10 including the volleyball/basketball court) Most of them have cabins, but Decks 6-9 are the ones that I visit the most. I sleep on Deck 8 with the faculty, family members, and lifelong learners (families who are super rich and just pay a bunch to come)
On Decks Six and Nine are the buffet restaurants. Breakfast usually has eggs and either french toast or pancakes. They provide some sides like, bacon, hash browns, fruit, and yogurt. They also have cereal and toast/bagels. Most mornings, I like to eat fruit (pineapple and watermelon) and a bagel with bacon and eggs on it. For Lunch and Dinner, you can ALWAYS find some form of potatoes and pasta. So much so, that I usually eat potatoes 3 meals a day!
They also serve rolls (which are delicious and eat too many to count) some hot meal like fish or meat. They provide sandwiches and a pasta with sauce. I hope that I don't come back to Fort Collins in a coffin because I died from eating too much :) lol sorry that was so morbid.
On Deck 9, there is also the pool, a game area called the Lido Terrasse, and what we call the spray tan area. That joke started when the college students first got on. My friend Clara and I started noticing how many girls looked like Oompa Loompas because of their incredibly fake tans. They all seem to hangout in the same area too. Thus the name -- the spray tan area. On a different note, my ship friends and I like to hang out on the Terrasse and in the pool. The pool is super fun too because often times, the ship is rocking back and forth and that makes the pool water go everywhere and it creates waves. We play lots of card games, so much so that if someone mentions Uno, we all start to walk in the other direction very quickly.
Our schedule consists of little work and lots of play. After waking up at 7 am and eating breakfast, I work on school stuff for 4 hours. After that, the day is free! We eat lunch around 11:30 and my ship friends and I usually end up playing volleyball or gaga ball afterwards. We take a swim in the afternoon for fun. Around 3:30, all the ship kids meet in the biggest room for our Afternoon Session aka Preschool as we call it. We do "fun" games like draw an underwater superhero, scavenger hunt around the ship, and yoga. We also learned how to "hula" (we actually just learned a few symbols from it) The fun part of that class is the moment you realize it is over... jk. Since the person in charge knows a lot of us are theatre or musically talented, we are putting on shows for the college students. My friends (girls) and I are going to acapella sing. My brothers are writing a script at the moment so we can film a parody off of "Suite Life on Deck" the disney show. We are calling it "Suite Life on SAS." I am also going to teaching the group how to improv, (or at least the few rules there are) and help lead them in putting on a play. (shout out to my favorite drama teachers, Mrs. Kochis and Ms. Ward!!)
I think that's all that I've got to say about the ship. I couldn't get my pictures of the ship to load so if you want to see pictures of the ship and what it looks like you can go to -- https://www.semesteratsea.org/life-at-sea/our-ship/
Hope all of you are having a great 2019 so far!!
- Rebekah Blocker