Day 106 – Panama Canal

Dec 11th

The Canal
Despite going to bed at 4AM, Sara, Goldie and I woke up at nine to watch us go through the Panama Canal. While selecting a shirt to wear, I flipped open my blinds to find a few canal workers in hard hats standing across the ledge outside my window. I screamed, although I don’t think they heard me, and dove on my bed for cover. I stayed crouched down for a few mins before finding it safe enough to close the window, throw on a shirt and run to meet Sara and Goldie. The whole process was a lot slower than we could have imagined. The lack of sleep last night didn’t help, since all we really wanted to do was crawl back into bed. Of course, we didn’t realize we would be going through the gates all day until six o’clock tonight when we reached the Pacific. So, we spent some time taking pictures of the lush green surroundings, murky water and canal operators who were working at each gate. Professor Sobey made periodic announcements about every 30 minutes about which body of water we were in, the number of gallons (16 Olympic swimming pools) filled each gate and how long the canal was itself. Very informative, but not an easy thing to sleep through. We watched as small trains drove along side the canal with ropes that dragged us through each gate. We had to sit and wait for water to fill us up to the next elevation level each time, so needless to say the whole process would be a lot more exciting in fast forward. Regardless, I was really impressed that the ship never hit the edges, seeing as there was only a few feet of space on each side. After an enjoyable brunch where the eggs were actually completely cooked for the first time, we headed to Britney and Becca’s room to watch a marathon of Sex and The City and take periodic naps.

Evening Activities
Once we reached the Caribbean Ocean, the ship got remarkably rocky. Perhaps that’s just because we were remarkably stationary throughout the canal crossing. After dinner with Falyn, Britney and Becca, I went to listen to Julie get serenaded by Tien, another SAS student with the most amazing voice. Julie and her two friends Stef and Cynthia had won the serenade and a number of his self-made CDs at the Students for Service auction. He sang a bunch of songs about his “hopeless crushes,” which made him all the more adorable. Later, Britney, Becca, Goldie and Sara dragged me out of bed to see the ‘Grande Finale Talent Show’ in the Union. Once again, Bobbie MCed that acts that included: a ballet dance, a few singers and a bunch of guys with guitars trying to be sexy. (It kinda worked.) My LLC Brooke came out of no where with one of the best voices I have heard on this trip. Armon sang an “interesting” song/poem about plagiarism in a Russian ascent. A group of guys raped about the trip, which was freaking hilarious. Chris brought out some raggae with a song he wrote on the trip.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was enjoying the greatest man-made wonder of the world (because it brought me much closer to home). My “low” was realizing that this “intermission” between countries and going home pretty much just consists of eating and watching SATC.