Is this real life??

I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my whole life! It’s been a crazy and busy 24 hours…plus the boat rocks really bad and so the medicine I took for seasickness made me really sleepy. I thought it would be just like a cruise, but it’s not… I feel like I’m on a rocket or something because the ship is going soo fast.

Yesterday I checked out of my hotel room and was going to walk down to the ship (they told us on the phone that it was within walking distance), but the person at the desk just looked at my bags and laughed. Apparently it wasn’t within walking distance, so she called me a cab. As I was waiting, a lady came up to me and asked if I needed a ride; they had just dropped their daughter off at the ship and said they knew how much saving every penny mattered. They were really sweet!

When I got in line this girl immediately came up to me and said she was my roommate. I like her a lot and think we will get along well!

It took FOREVER to get through the line and security and everything, but I was soo excited as I walked up the gangway. I just couldn’t stop smiling!

I got to my room (actually my ‘cabin’…they don’t like when you use the wrong words…like it’s a ‘ship’ not a ‘boat’,‘aft’ not ‘backward’,  ‘voyage’ not a ‘cruise’, ‘deck’ not ‘floor’, etc.  haha), and I was shocked to see how tiny it is! I didn’t know where I would be able to fit all of my stuff but I finally unpacked and it worked out.

My roommate Ariel and I went to the top deck as we set sail. We waved to the parents who were there and freaked out a little when we realized where we were and what we were doing. It’s still a little hard to believe!

We ate dinner and went to the meetings where they introduced all of the faculty and staff. By the end I was so exhausted I just went to bed. I slept really well; the rocking of the ship is good at night but I guess not during the day because I couldn’t stay awake at orientation today...  It was realllly boring. At the end though Archbishop Desmond Tutu (he will be sailing with us the whole time) was introduced and it was really cool; it’s like there is a real celebrity on board. Haha. Even in his opening speech he was inspiring, so I’m looking forward to talking to him. It was funny too because when asked how we should address him, he said by ‘Father’ or ‘Arch’.

Classes start tomorrow and I’m really excited for that. First of all because I think my classes will be interesting, but also because I want to meet everyone. Ariel and I are about to go to dinner and then maybe I’ll watch the sunset and look for the green flash!