Day 10!

Germany is on the horizon. Well… not literally. But we will be there in two days so of course that is now what everyone is talking about. It is so weird to switch topics so quickly. What are you doing in St. Petersburg to what did you do in St. Petersburg to what are you doing in Hamburg. As you can see, class is not really involved in those questions. 

In the evening we heard from the two German students that are on the voyage. They gave a brief presentation about their recommendations of places to visit and some of the cultural differences that we should look out for. Some of the more interesting things that I learned are that Germans aren't all that religious. They generally use the bible as a learning tool, seeing the stories as things to learn from, instead of taking it literally. They have a much looser view on sex. They think of it as a personal journey, have a lot of sex education in their schools, and they don't have a teenage pregnancy problem. Their politics are much less exciting than ours, they talk about the important issues and that is it. It is much simpler and much less expensive. Their talk was very informative, and very interesting. The culture sounds a lot looser and simpler and open. 

It has been raining all day and right now the ship is rocking quite a bit. I am sitting on my bed and am swaying back and forth as I type this. I actually think I like this kind of rocking better, at least I can tell what is happening. The subtle rocking is what makes me feel sicker. 

I signed up for another field program in Germany today, I will be going to see Miniature Wunderland. It is a huge miniature railroad with replicas of cities from all around the world. Then I am going on an overnight to Bavaria and Munich. After the field programs in Russia I am really excited! 

Here's the bridge report from today: 

NOON BRIDGE REPORT

Miles Made Good Since St Petersburg

167 nautical miles

Nearest land 11 nautical miles to Storo Island, Finland

Average speed of ship 12.3 knots

Sea Depth 43 Meters

Air Temperature 13°C or 55°F

Water Temperature 16°C or 61°F

Sunset: 20:17      Sunrise: 05:19