Day 100 – Study Day

Dec 5th

Pre-Birthday Preparations…
The rocking of the ship was so bad this morning that after the sixth time I woke up before 7AM, I decided to just get up anyway. I headed up to breakfast for the first time in a long time, and discovered that the other half of the boat couldn’t sleep either. After some fruit to wake me up, I headed upstairs for stretching, weights and (since everyone was too intimidated to attempt the gym) a 45 mins run… on the treadmill! (This is almost as exciting as discovering Santa left presents under the Christmas tree.) After a quick shower, I went to the ‘Wellness Center’ to primp myself with a deep conditioning treatment, scalp message, hair cut, blow out and a complimentary bottle of leave-in conditioner –all for half the price of my haircuts at home! The hairdresser was a pleasant South African woman, who I remember from Goldie telling me she had ripped her pubes out earlier. I told her to add layers, angles and whatever else she wanted. It turned out wonderfully, and my hair smelled better than Bradley and Sidney’s after they come home from the groomers. Once I got back to my room, Sara called to see if I wanted to lay out on the back deck. Of course, I only made it for about 30 minutes before I felt my heat rash coming on. While I was pulling on my favorite pair of Hydraulic jeans, my toe got caught on a hole near the left knee and ripped an enormous hole down the leg. Flustered that I looked like a complete fatty trying to get re-dressed, I went inside to hide my knee under the table, while we had turkey sandwiches for lunch. A little while later, I used Julie’s scissors and a little ingenuity to make my favorite pair of jeans into my favorite pair of jean shorts! And, as Cassidy would say, “They are as hot as fuck.”

Special Dinning
The rest of the day was spent reading 30 to 48 page articles about anorexia and obesity for my psych of food final. At 6:45PM, Britney, Becca, Goldie, Sara, Jonah, Dan and I got all gussied up in cute dresses (except the guys were in jeans and button downs) and headed to “special dining” on the fifth floor. “Special Dining” is a five-course meal in a separate room that is designed for special occasions, like birthdays, dates, holidays, etc. Some students just go because the food is really good, but it costs $25 out of their parent’s pockets each time. Since tomorrow (my real birthday) is the day before we land in port, they don’t have special dinning. Thus, we decided to have the meal today for our first (and last) time. When we got there, they handed us menus to make our food selections for each course: appetizer, soup, salad, main dish and dessert. Then they poured us a glass of champaign, which we used to toast to our 100 days together (and my birthday). Then came out the courses: veggies wantons, chicken cucumber soup, mixed green salad, lamb chops with ratatouille and mud pie for dessert. It was the best food (yes, better than taco day) we have ever had on the boat. Clearly, that is why the Captain was there having his meal with the other officers.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was being the only person wearing a color at my special dinner. (For some reason, every single person wore black except me. I wore bright purple.) My “low” was missing Annie’s performance in the Vagina Monologues because I was studying.