I'm Finally Off! Hello From Somewhere in the Ocean Between the Bahamas and Venezuela.

Well, here I am . . . I’m on the ship cruising towards Venezuela. The surrealness of it all is starting to fade away and I’m starting to realize that this is actually happening now. We pulled out of Nassau at 5 p.m. last night and officially started our adventure! Pulling out was exciting. The ship would honk it’s horn and everyone would cheer. There were lots of parents running down the pier after the ship and waving goodbye. One mother even hired a jet ski and pulled right next to the ship as we were pulling out and screamed, "I love you _______." It was really funny and cool.

The Specs

The ship is amazing! There are tons of gorgeous common rooms, two nice dining rooms, lots of deck space including a pool deck, and a beautiful spa with the most gorgeous Grecian spa room that I've ever seen. It seemed like it was really rocking last night after we got going. I’m glad that I popped by sea sickness meds in time. Sleeping was amazing though, being rocked to sleep by the ship. Today, I am still working on getting my sea legs, but I’m feeling the motion much less. My equilibrium is still a little off though.

My room is great. It's tiny and yet somehow amazingly spacious. There are two tiny beds, two closets, two nightstands, a vanity, a little table and chairs, a tv, a little refrigerator, and a little bathroom. There is plenty of room for everything that my roommate and I brought. We've already decorated it really cute with our world maps and our pictures from home. We both agree that it's really cozy. We'll see how we feel about the size after fifteen weeks and the accumulation of nine ports worth of crap for two people.

My roommate’s name is Courtney. She is a junior from New York. She is really chill and nice. Plus, she brought a lifetime supply of crystal light. So, I think this is going to work out well. Actually, I think that it’s fate that we’re roommates. I met her in the cab on the way over to the ship yesterday and we were talking about wondering what our roommates would be like and hoping they were neat and had a good attitude. During check in we kept talking and were hanging out. We even took a picture together in front of the ship on the way in. When we got up to check-in, it turned out that we were roommates. I couldn’t believe it at first. But, it was true. Of all the 690 students aboard, we were roommates. It was completely random and I still can’t believe it happened that way. Although, I think it’s a pattern, because this ship seems to create random situations that are a little mind blowing.

The food is really good. There were several choices at all meals and it all seemed to be good and of good quality. I won’t tell you what I eat every day, but I know that you’re probably interested to get an idea right now. So, for dinner last night, I had a nice salad with all the fixings, a pesto pasta, green beans, and a roll. For breakfast I had hash browns, watermelon, and cinnamon raison toast. There were tons of other choices too. I hope that I don’t gain weight on this trip.

So, besides getting myself unpacked, trying to stay standing without staggering like a drunk, running around the ship trying to remember 689 students’ names, and eating we had a safety drill last night (where we had to put on long sleeves, long pants, closed toe shoes and our life vests and proceed to the decks for roll call) and several orientation meetings held last night and today. Tomorrow we start classes. I only have class from 8-10:35 tomorrow. So, it should be a pretty mellow day. I had a little break from 10 til about 2 today but then we have more meetings from 2-9. So for now I’ll say goodbye and best wishes. We will arrive in Venezuela on Saturday. I may update before then. Otherwise, I’ll be trekking through the rainforest from Saturday until Tuesday and will update after I return and recoup a little.