Day 27

It is so rocky today. We are all stumbling around like fools. Being on land for so long didn't help, our sea legs are gone. I even was starting to be a bit woozy sitting in class this morning. Looking out the window you could watch the skyline appear and disappear under the windowsill. This doesn't bode well, because this really isn't all that bad. The roughest seas we will be encountering will be down by Cape Town and during our trek across the Atlantic. Oh dear. 

At some point today we crossed the International Date Line. I don't know when, but that’s cool. 

Tonight I went to a talk on Ireland held by one of the professors on the ship, John Boyer. He's a geography professor and teaches one of the most popular classes, geography of wine. I would like to transfer schools to wherever he teaches normally and then take all of his classes. I had never been to one of his talks before and he had done them on both Russia and Germany. He was so entertaining. It was the most interesting and engaging lecture on history I have ever had to sit through. I learned so much about Ireland. Like that it is the 20th largest island in the world. 

And while I knew that the potato famine was a horribly devastating thing, I never knew that it was all England's fault and that Ireland and England have the biggest rivalry. Basically the Irish were suppressed by the English for over 400 years. They were controlling all of their imports and exports. When all of the potatoes were destroyed over one million people died of starvation. What. They had lots of other food. It didn't affect the grain, the vegetables, the cows, the chicken, and yet they all died of starvation. Why? The British were controlling their exports and so all other kinds of food that they were producing were exported over to England. The British knew what was happening and they did nothing to stop it. By today's standards, it was genocide. 

And that is why the Irish now hate the English. Well, except for North Ireland, which is still considered part of the UK. 

In other news, you know what is really exciting? Getting stamps our passports. It has happened in Russia and Belgium but didn't in Belgium or France. Which was strangely upsetting. When they announced that we would be getting stamps for Ireland everyone cheered. Why is that so exciting? Is it because it is proof that we have gone places? Because it proves that we have traveled? I have always had the perception that a full passport was cool, that it made you a little better then me. I have always been jealous of people with lots of stamps in their passport. A stamp in your passport means that you are brave, that you have traveled. That you are cultured. A new stamp in your passport is so exciting. 

And I get one tomorrow! Ireland!