I PACKED A WHOLE SUITCASE AND MY ROOM LOOKS THE SAME.
This is not good news.
I packed a bunch of clothes that I know I won't wear and the majority of the things I bought in country in the bag. When I told Jessi that I packed she said the room still looks the same.
Because it does still look the same. Packing the rest of my room is a daunting thought. Oh dear.
Right after I did that we got cabin searched. We were wondering when that was going to happen. Demitru, another security guard, and Patrick the RD kicked us out for five minutes. We waited in the hall while they searched. When Demitru walked in his words were, "Oh my god."
Yeah… our room is messy.
The good news is that we passed! Yay! And now we probably should clean our room.
It was interesting, we had heard stories of them turning rooms upside-down during cabin searches but we didn’t see anything different when we walked back in. I'm fine with that. I did not want to have to put our room back together.
In the morning I interviewed Ashley for a piece I am writing for travel writing. We went up to deck 7, he bought me a smoothie and I asked him questions about life at sea. One of the questions I asked was, "How does life at sea differ from life at home?"
We both just looked at each other and I added, "You know, as we are sitting here drinking smoothies by the pool."
It was pretty funny.
He did give me really good answers though, with an emphasis on the people interactions that we experience.
Here is a quote from his actual answer of how life differs:
"The social rules are different. It is acceptable and expected here that you can sit down with a stranger and essentially introduce any topic of conversation and can expect to get a fairly engaged response. You have got a primer to the conversation and a reason to be open. There is an underlying sense of optimism instead of an underlying feeling of anxiety and pressure that comes with home."
That is life at sea for you.
I think my piece turned out pretty good.
HARRY POTTER TRIVIA!
Sorry for that outburst, I was just very excited about.
In the evening there was Harry Potter trivia. During Travel Writing I quizzed a very confident Cody on Harry Potter facts. He didn’t do very well.
Mwahaha! We will win!
We didn’t win but we did pretty well. And by we I mean me. I was a team of one while Jessi sat on one side and played Candy Crush and Molly sat on the other and read a book. So, I am impressed with myself.
You know what is a life altering moment? When it turns out that you know less than you think you did about something that was a major part of your life. My Harry Potter knowledge could have been better but it didn’t traumatize me. It was Shaleen that was actually freaking out a little. He said his whole childhood was a lie and that he needs to go back and read all the books immediately.
I learned that I know more from the later books and so clearly I need to go and read the first few again. Thinking you know a lot about something and then realizing you don't can be quite life altering.
At one point during the day Jessi and I looked up Cuba on wiki travel and found this gem about postage. We probably thought it was funnier than it actually is but I will share it anyway:
If part of the attraction of going to Cuba for you is stepping outside of the US-dominated global communications order of status updates, likes, pokes, hangouts, tweets, vines and whatnot and enjoying the old-timey feeling of a different kind of country, why not complete the experience by sending your kith and kin an actual physical piece of postal mail?
Loving that list of social media terms. Cracks me up.
Another random thing that is happening: we have been having contests to see how many grapes we could fit in our mouths. Lillian started it. Don't ask why, I was not there when it began. And it is a weird use of grapes. But alas, these are the things we do for fun.
Don't worry, my group did actually put together our presentation. It is actually pretty good. Our case is on Indra Nooyi, the CEO of Pepsi, and is told more like a story of her life so that is how we are presenting it: like a story. It came together nicely.
Oh hey! I have exciting news. Well, for all of you connecticutians. A while ago I told my dad that I wished that I could talk about this experience to people all at once. So that I am not repeating myself over and over again. Well, my dad set up a talk at a library in my town! So, if you want to hear all of the stories, see all the souvenirs and pictures and videos so that you don't miss anything you can come! It is at 7pm on December 30th at Wood Memorial Library in South Windsor, CT.
There will be refreshments. And I will talk about camels and piranhas and some secrets of SAS that I haven't blogged about. Should be fun! I am so excited, tell your friends!
This has been the choppiest blog ever so I think it is time to be done.
