live life fully while you're here

“live life fully while you're here. experience everything. take care of yourself and your friends. have fun, be crazy, be weird. go out and screw up! you're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
-anthony robbins


26 april 2009
1227 (12:27p)

again, busy days on the ship!

we are now just 2 hours behind the east coast standard time, where we will stay until we leave guatemala. it's so strange to be so close, its made emailing much easier!

our global studies exam was yesterday, i don't think it was too bad. we also filled out semester evaluations, which included what ports we like the most, how difficult it is to study, the crew, etc. my evaluation was positive; semester at sea is a well-oiled and very put together program. my only issue was the lack of study space! there is just no where to escape and find absolute quiet.

last night we stayed up far too late, trading stories and talking about life with our favorite guy friends. we realized that we only have about 8 nights left on the ship, not including guatemala. that's enough to get everyone a little emotional. we plan to sleep on the deck, stay up late and just enjoy our last bit of time on the mv explorer as we can. it's only our home for another 10 more days and then a whole new batch of kids will take our spots! its rather depressing.

today is a study day, or a sleep day for many. i don't have too much test-prep to do, so i took advantage of a little sleeping. i'm off to print up some papers and then enjoy a little sun before reviewing one more time. i have essay-tests tomorrow, so i need to review my facts!

tonight's plan is to watch the sunset, as it is finally getting warm again! we had a dreary few days after hawaii, which no one expected. it has something to do with the currents of the pacific that all converge in the area, cooling the water. i'll be bringing my camera and hoping for the best. i generally have it when the clouds are too thick and never seem to have it when the sunsets ar spectacular. tonight, i'm going to stalk the sunset; hope its a good one!

we have cultural pre-port tonight, in preparation for guatemala tuesday. it's our last pre-port! we joke about having a pre-port for fort lauderdale; maybe i'll suggest it. i suspect that attendance will be high, especially with all of this talk about guatemala's safety.

hopefully people start getting out of bed and poor joel and jesse can clean. it's nearing 1230 and the poor guys have been sitting around waiting to clean rooms! maybe mckendree and i will pass on the room cleaning and simply ask for a couple towels. then they won't have to wait outside our door any longer.

word has it, in the form of emails, that connecticut has been quite warm lately; some summer temps to warm everyone up? enjoy it!

 i'm going to run upstairs, grab a little lunch and enjoy the 6th deck. as hard as it has been to study and accomplish work, boy am i going to miss the distractions!