Day 7 – Southern Hemisphere or Bust!

Sept 4th

Small World
While passing the time before econ, I began chatting with another girl next to me. We talked about class and other such mundane topics. Once we settled into our seats and I began to prepare for class, the strangest thing happened. Once I retrieved my nametag from my bag, she exclaimed, “You’re Jenny Fisher’s sister?!” I hesitated and replied, “Ummm yea…?” Apparently I had just met Jenny’s Sigma Delt little sister! Our laughter was only muffled by our professor’s evil stare, forcing us to postpone our excitement till lunch.

Passing the equator
To pass the time after dinner, a group of us headed to the Union to hear speakers tell personal “sea stories.” The professors were hilarious with their vulgar, unique tales. One professor told us about how she saved a chartered yacht from sinking in the Caribbean, but unfortunately failed to save two fancy lap dogs that died stiff with rigor mortus in the bathtub. (I know, don’t ask.) The other professor actually dressed as a pirate and told us of his first experiences working on cruise ships as a young adult. Just imagine this young, Jewish boy with curly brown hair hanging around with the multicultural deck hands. Needless to say he didn’t quite fit in. During the performance, we snuck out to celebrate the passing of the equator on the top deck. At 8PM the captain blew the ship’s whistle and all the students gathered on deck cheered and shouted. Many of us took pictures of the water and the giant, red line that clearly marks the ocean’s equatorial line. Just kidding. We didn’t see anything at all, just more rolling waves. The buzz and excitement on deck was enough to make it worth it anyway.

What do you do…
Imagine you have 600 college students with nothing to do on a cruise ship off the coast of South America. Now, what to do with them at night? Apparently, the answer to that is set them in front of a TV set to watch Pirates of the Caribbean (just like you did when they were kids) OR present them with a plethora of board games to keep them occupied. Well, our night was filled with Uno, Pictionary, War, Scrabble, Kent and just about everything but Janga (for obvious reasons).

Highs and Lows
My “high” was cruising into the Southern Hemisphere. My “low” was discovering there is a 6AM wake up call for Neptune day tomorrow.