Day 106
Today was the best morning ever.
I had breakfast brought to me by Ashley and it was both entertaining and delicious.
He told me that he was coming at 8:30 so I got myself up a little before that and was ready. I was laying it bed when I starting hearing things in the hallway so, like a creep, I got up and looked through the peephole. There were random boys doing something random right in front of my door but they went away and Rey, our cabin steward came into view and pointed at our door.
Then I saw Ashley and he started singing: "Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory. Rise and shine and give God your glory, glory. Rise and shine and! Give God your glory, glory children of the Lord!"
It was very energetic.
I turned to Jessi, who was only half awake and confused and told her that he was here. She claims that I whispered it really creepily but I don't remember that. She asked who was there and I told her, she had completely forgotten.
I opened the door and Ashley took a picture of me. Then he came in our room followed by two waiters carrying two giant trays. They put one on my bed and one on Jessi's bed. They took pictures of all of us before leaving.
On one tray was four plates: two with French Toast and two with steak, cheesy eggs, bacon, and hash browns. On the other tray was a giant pitcher of ice coffee, two boxes of granola, four yogurts, two orange juices, and two waters. So. Much. Food.
There were more pictures taken, and I called Molly to tell her to come eat French Toast and Ashley had me put on some music. Then we just partied and chatted and ate all the delicious food.
Then we took more pictures. Specifically one where Ashley was sitting on my lap pretending to feed me eggs and then steak. That was pretty hilarious.
And Jessi spilled syrup all over her bed. That was hilarious too.
The whole morning was just awesome and fun.
We had to be up early anyway because we were going to take a ship wide photo at 9:45. Bryan, the photographer, had been taking pictures of the ship with a kite and decided to try and take a ship wide photo this way. We were all told to wear our sea colors and meet in a designated spot. We, the Aegean Sea, were to meet on deck five aft on the port side.
When we got there we stood around for a long time. Until Dean Rita came on and told us that there were technical difficulties with the camera and we were going to have to reschedule.
Drat.
Good thing we know where everyone lives and while getting everyone to gather can be a challenge it really isn't all that hard.
Upon breaking up Molly and I grabbed pool chairs. We had planned it the day before. This was our last full day at sea and possibly our last really warm day so we knew that it would be really busy up on deck 7. We guessed that correctly. Everyone else was snatching up deck chairs at the same time we were. We definitely played that right.
We laid out in the sun until 2:15. I still wasn’t even hungry by that point. I was still full of steak and eggs. But I got a smoothie and that sparked my hunger so we ate a late lunch.
Then I showered, did some homework, and took an unexpected nap until 5:30. Oops. That was not planned.
In the middle of the day we had gotten an email spelling out the disembarking process in Ft. Lauderdale. We have to be completely done packing and have our bags in the correct location at noon on the day before. We have to have our customs form all filled out and our passport and any money with us. The first person will be off the ship around 10:30 and the last around 2. Everyone will go through U.S Customs and Immigration. Our luggage will be in a giant warehouse for us to pick up, we go through customs after we have it, and then we can see our family.
The end of the email brought the worst news ever: we are the last sea to get off the ship.
Seriously!? Does someone have a grudge against us or something? It seems like we are always last or forgotten.
Later in the day, after my unexpected nap, I got an email from someone on the ship named Stephanie. She sent it to the entire ship. She had won get off the ship first in Ft. Lauderdale but she is going on the enrichment voyage that starts on the 18th so she isn't actually getting off. She was selling her first place spot. I emailed her and told her that I was interested. We had a brief dialogue about how much she was selling it for and the offers that she had gotten. She had originally paid 200 for it and ended up selling it for 225. And not to me.
I totally would have gone higher than that.
Drat.
Guess I really was stuck last.
A bunch of us talked to Nathan about it and he told us that we would be grateful to get off the ship last. He had gone to a SAS reunion in D.C in the summer and when someone found out he was going to be an RD on this voyage they told him that if his sea won Sea Olympics to advise them to choose to get off last.
The reasoning is that you will be with your family and friend for the rest of forever but you will not come back on the ship with these people and in this way. So when the time comes you won't actually want to leave and will be grateful for the extra couple of hours. I can see how this may be true.
I guess things happen for a reason. Sorry family, we will be having a late lunch.
Apparently Dean Eddie has the goal of getting everyone off by noon. I feel as though that is a stretch, but things have gone faster than they have predicted in the past so maybe it won't be as late as 2.
In the evening I went to the Atlantic Ocean Film Festival. I love film festivals. These films were all made by students on the voyage. They had to be made with footage shot in port or footage shot on the ship. Some of them were really awesome, some funny, some sad, but mostly funny. My favorite one was made by the boys of Goat Noise. I am obsessed with it, the cinematography is absolutely incredible. My other favorite one was less professional but was just absolutely hilarious. It was a guy going around the ship hitting people with a Winnie the Pooh pillow pet to Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus. It is just as awesome as it sounds.
Colin made a film called The Rise to Grapeness. It was just him catching grapes in his mouth around the ship. Super random but also pretty impressive. Another was a parody of elusive animal hunting and followed one kids journey to find the most dangerous animal on the planet: the SASer. Another group did a stop motion movie using their souvenirs.
The whole thing was just awesome.
After the festival a bunch kids from my sea gathered in Nathan's room to exchange Secret SASer presents. You know, like secret santa. We planned it a while ago and tonight was the night for the reveal. I had Susan Thornton and just got her some candy and some little things from the store on the ship. It was funny because I didn’t know what souvenirs she already had and her mom walked by at the perfect time so I was alb to ask her.
I got a SAS cup, some Brazilian chocolate, and a flash drive with Disney movies on it! Woo! She said she asked someone and that is how she knew to give me Disney movies.
So Molly and I spent the rest of the evening watching Oliver and Company and then finished up our writing portfolios for our Travel Writing final tomorrow.
One day till Cuba!
