Posted by Amanda and Noah

Today was the Sea Olympics, the day when each "sea" residence unit competes with all the others in a variety of events.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was a total blast. The games were fun, the competition was fierce, but mostly good natured and the sense of unity and energy was nothing short of thrilling. I often get cranky about these kids, when I think they're wasting their globehopping experience in a drunken haze, but today I felt like I loved every one of them.

We got up early for a quick breakfast, dressed in Green, the color of our sea, the Agean. We even let a student paint some green on our faces. Amanda got a little dots and lines pattern and I asked for some letters, since I would be competing in Scrabble. I know, I'm not a facepaint guy, but ... I dunno, they caught me on a good day.

We gathered with the residents for the first event. This was a chant, really a full rap song, written by Grant Cushman, who was really the MVP of the Olympics for the Aegean. He wrote this song -- very clever and funny -- directed it, co-choreographed and performed numbers for Synchronized Swimming (gold medal) and Lip Sync (Silver Medal). He is also competing in Mr. Semester at Sea tomorrow and has been performing singing telegrams all week to raise money for charity. I think he's gotten about twenty minutes of sleep this week.

This is Grant's chant written for the Aegean Sea's entrance during Sea Olympics. The parts in bold were sung by the entire sea...

Aegean Sea's here, gonna tear and gore ya'

Cause we own this ship from Bahamas to Florida

Gonna rock the seas like they don't exist

Cause we got more rhymes than Angelina's got kids.

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

We're on the second deck but don't be hatin'

Callin' us the dungeon and discriminatin'

You're sea sick up top? Well nope, not us

Cause down here the ship don't rock as much

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Yo the name is Henry—the double H dubs

Comin' to ya from above, I got Aegean love

The only thing flows like my rhymes is my hair

But don't mess with my sea, you fools better not dare!

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Grant Cushman's up to bat so try to be steadfast

I'm spitting, I'm licking, I'm kicking these rhymes all before breakfast

My skills are so grand so high in demand

Just ask anyone who's got a singing gram

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Thomas Carpenter's up when? Oh yeah, right now!

When I jump on stage Doc Brown is like WOW

But diss his seas and he'll make you pay

Like you cut in line in front of me on taco day

So listen up cause this is it

I'm too legit to quit so I'm throwing a fit

No one's got rhymes and beats like Aegea

And the only flow you've got is from your diarrhea

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Stu's here to rock-going dock to dock

What time is it Stuart? It's Aegean o'clock

You know I got the skills to make the ladies say Woah

Up next is my girl—Nicole's in control

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

I'll show you the business as God as my witness

Your chants can't be serious you got us in stitches

You must be fictitious, tell me where the hitch is

Now you better get used to sleepin with fishes

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

It's K to the evin rapper number seven

My singing voice is sweet like an angel from heaven

Rappin' skills, oh I got em. Biggie Smalls, yeah I shot him

But you know what they say—mo money mo problems

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Jamie's up next from Aegean Sea

Too sweet to be sour too nice to be mean

Yeah, I'm kind and sweet and so nice to cuddle

But mess with Aegean and there's gonna be trouble

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

You can call me George, I hale from Brazil

I got dark sink, dark hair and a license to kill

It's better on the bottom the Aegean motto

You wanna change seas? Psh, No Obrigado

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Connor's in the house I got no need for boastin'

Cause Red Sea can't win although their RD's hostin'W

e'll take you in the pool, on the field and court

We ace every test—don't even open Port to Port

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

So as you can see we've got some high skilled MCs

But we saved the best conclusively

He's the MC to be, the one you all came to see

Up next on the mic is our man Qi!

A-G-N, it's better on the bot-tom

Yo Qi is on the mic so all you suckas are done

Cause when it comes to rappin' I'm second to none

I roll into a party I'm a super hottie

But don't try to fight me cause I know Karate

I'm from China everyone so don't call me Korean

And the only sea I swim in is, of course, Aegean

Aegean Sea

Aegean Sea

The MV's never seen skills quite like these

Believe what you're seein'

Rhymes so fresh and so clean

We're the A-gean Sea Now you know what I mean.

Even though you don't know the participants, I think those jokes are pretty easy to get. (Doc Brown is our beloved ship's doctor, Taco Day is a very popular day at the cafeteria and "no obrigado" means "no thank you" in Portuegese).

As for the last verse, Qi (pronounced "Chee") is one of very few international students onboard. He's from China and, as you would imagine in a country of nearly two billion, he had a lot of competition to come here. He's proven to be incredibly game for anything -- he's doing Mr. SAS, too. His English is very good, but not perfect, so he had to work really hard to get the rhythm and the rhyme down. Of course, he was the hit of the chant (it might have helped that he was wearing a tiny woman's sweater borrowed from Amanda, since he didn't have any green to wear).

We marched in as the last Sea to present their chant. Yes, I joined in. Amanda was sitting in the audience to videotape it all, but I was right there with the kids. Yeah, I felt a little self-concious as the 31-year-old guy hanging around with college kids, but there was a "the more the merrier vibe in the air." I didn't get to see many of the other chants, but Grant and the gang totally blew the audience away, so Agean won the gold handily. Good way to start the morning.

This was just the beginning, of course. But enough for one entry. More to come in part two.