coral reefs, wikitravel, sea olympics & pre-port for mauritius..

26 february 2009

global studies was all about coral reefs today. much of the lecture was given by our dean, professor garret. i have him for nutrition and boy is he smart. all of the professors on this ship are highly educated and all have lists of accomplishments pages long. as a result, however, many are nearly too smart for their own good. professor garret's presentations have a tendency to be so filled with biology terms and tend to be over my head. i just don't retain that sort of information!

i did learn some interesting things about coral reefs and how incredibly complex they are. there is a life cycle to reefs, and there are supposedly up to 500 types of fish that can only be found in coral reefs. we also talked about a few types of fish that we may see in our tropical ports, mauritius and hawaii.

after global studies i sat outside and enjoyed some sun. it was warm but windy, so its wasnt overpowering. i listened to my ipod and tried to work out some plans for mauritius.

after some lunch i headed back to the room to shower and get ready for class. i keep checking my email but you are all sleeping when i'm awake! its so strange. i'm half a day ahead of you! before i know it, however, we'll be crossing the international date line and then i'll be behind you!

nutrition has become rather difficult for me. my professor is so smart and goes very quickly. i've tried taking my computer in to type notes but i'm not sure if that method is effective for me. its easy to get behind when all the words are so big! i'm going to do some extra work on my own, as we have a quiz coming up after mauritius on 4 chapters. its time to buckle down!

i am getting very excited for mauritius and i have a feeling that i won't want to leave. all the descriptions i've heard make it sound heavenly. i am going to spend my time near the water-- maybe sea kayaking with mckendree and caitlin or possibly checking out the inland waterfalls. we can also rent bicycles, so i may do that so i can see as much of the island as possible. i'll bring my spf, don't worry!

to get some ideas for traveling, i have been using wikitravel. it is a branch of wikipedia, meaning it can be edited by anyone. its also a free site! there are often great suggestions of what to do and an overview of what each place has to offer. if anyone is planning a trip, check it out! there is no southbury page, the closest page was for litchfield or new haven. fun to read what people suggest to do.

the night we leave mauritius is the opening ceremonies for the sea olympics! i'm not sure how many teams there are but i am part of the aegean sea with my whole floor. we are green so everyone has been trying to gather up green clothes. we named our team gang green after we heard that the yellow sea is yellow fever. each sea must pick participants for each event and there are many. there are sport-related games, like sit-ups and push-ups but there are also plenty of games for the non-athletes like myself. there is a spelling bee, sudoku, paper boat competition, scavenger hunt and pictionary. our sea picked our mascot last night, a big kid named d and some girls were creating a flag and a song for us. we will get points for how many people participate, how many events we win, best cheer, best flag, best mascot and we can lose points for poor sportsmanship.

i will be judging the mascot, flag and cheer competition, which i'm excited about. i will also be taking part in the big relay race, i think i'm in the orange pass. i'm excited for the games but i don't have any green! i'll see if i can find something in mauritius or look into borrowing green from someone.

go deck two! yay aegean sea! gang green! :)

as i write this i am in the 6th deck dining hall and listening to some kids play guitar and cello. interesting combination of people but its wonderful to listen to people play when its something they simply enjoy. and i think i may just have a weakness for anything guitar or acoustic. :) i am also downing my 4th or 5th hot tea of the day. i'm not sick or anything but its a little more interesting than straight water all the time. at least i'm hydrated!

our evening announcements, which happen every night at 1730, reminded us today that we have our mandatory preports at 2000 and that they will be playing an episode of the office at 2200! i've never been a huge fan of the office but it is definitely growing on me! plus, it's something else to distract me from my studies, so i'll go and watch.

word is that our global studies grades are up.. i'm nervous! i hope i did well! i'll check after dinner..


...i checked my grade and i got a decent grade. here's hoping to do better on the next one!


have a good day! onto mauritius in the morning!