Day 105 – Ship Time

Dec 10th

Morning
My alarm went off at 10AM to get to the gym to meet Sara and Goldie, but I was way too tried and hit snooze before passing out again. I later woke up at 1PM, and found out that I successfully slept later than Britney Brit! That’s huge. I grabbed a quick snack for lunch before visiting Sara and Goldie on the top deck where half the boat was sun tanning or sleeping in the sun. After responding to some emails, I went with Becca and Britney to the Union for a disembarkment information session.

Disembarkment Meeting
Jack and Bob “The Voice” announced that we officially raised $30,000 through Students for Service due to the kindness of the Life Long Learners and some of the students’ drunken mistakes. Other announcements were as follows: There are no cash advances at the Purser’s desk, so if you have to pay off US customs you have to find money elsewhere. The last day for laundry was today. Now we just accumulate dirty socks until we get home to do it ourselves. We are each getting five luggage tags to attach to our oversized duffels for the crew to collect and take off the boat for us. For this, they are using a small crane, so we are advised to make sure the luggage is well sealed. After going over the disembarkment order, the Arabian Sea realized the only group that gets off after us are the “administrative boxes,” which are boxes of professor’s books. Otherwise, we are stuck there to the bitter end. Students for Service is also collecting unwanted, but gently used clothes, beddings, school supplies and toiletries that you don’t want to pack for the next two days.

Ambassador’s Ball
The girls (Britney, Sara, Goldie, Becca, Falyn) and I started getting all gussied up at around 6PM. All the guys were donning their tailor made suits from Vietnam. This included colors of orange, African print and purple suede. All girls had done up their hair, make up and wore their favorite dresses and hells. It was really weird seeing everyone in something else other than sweatpants or jeans. Becca, Britney, Sara, Goldie and I went to the Union to hear some “entertainment,” which consisted of Tien serenading us with the voice that I’m dating, Michelle re-creating Nora Jones for us and two professors playing classical piano. By 8PM, it was time for dinner. The fifth floor dining hall was decked out in a Chinese “A Forbidden Night” theme with paper dragons on the walls and lanterns floating about. As you walked in they handed you champaign in a real glass (as opposed to the plastic ones they hand you at Pub Night). We found our table, which was all the way in the back on the right. The table was stuck in a group of tables with other friends, so it was perfect to run around and take pictures with everyone. Darwin, our waiter, brought out the dishes, which included wonton and dim sum appetizers, sweet and sour soup, a mixed salad and file minon with veggies. Everything was delicious, except for the soup that was too spicy. Britney, a self-designated Chalula addict, polished off a few bowls. Between each course we reminisced about the trip, and talked about our favorite ports, favorite memories, best thing we learned and what/who we will remember most. It’s really hard to believe that this trip is actually ending. We have been stuck in our own bubble for so long that going back to reality will be quite a change. Regardless, we still don’t have to think about it for a few days. So, after we wrote down one thing that we wanted to remind ourselves of in the future and then all signed each others cards, we headed upstairs to socialize. Dessert came out a little while later. It was a long buffet of cheesecake, brownies, lemon cakes, fondue and fruit. After indulging, we headed to the Union, where a dance party had been set up with lights, streamers, balloons and blasting music. It really reminded me of a Bat Mitzah with the music choices, but we boogied away for a few hours before heading to Britney and Becca’s room to get into sweats and hang out. We flipped through slide shows of pictures from the trip, most of which made us hysterically laugh. About 60% of the pictures were just of me, since I am a bit of a camera whore due to my philosophy that “the more you take, the more bad ones you can delete.” I think Goldie will never ever forget my smiling face seeing how many times I used her camera recently.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was spending the time to sit down and really enjoy the company of friends. My “low” was not being able to take them home with me.