For this next entry here I was going to just kind of give you a feel for a typical day at sea, and try and prove to you neigh-sayers that what I am doing actually is work and a lot of studying. But after having been at sea for almost a week now, I have come to realize there is no 'typical' day at sea. Everyday is crazy, and everyday is different, but I will try and fill you in as best I can. Basically at sea, we go to class every day, regardless of if it's a holiday or weekend. Occasionally we will have a day of no classes (such as the celebration of Neptune Day, but more on that later). We have two different days of classes and they are called A days and B days. Everyday we have to attend the one class that was required - Global Studies (and Mike, unless it is different for me because I am sure my professor is different than yours was, but I am so angry at you for not telling me just how BORING that class is!) and then I have different classes on A and B days. I am taking two 400 level courses and one 100 level course. It is a lot of journaling and reading and paper writing. Keep in mind here that now I am in mostly upper division classes, and I am taking 12 college units. So I do actually study and have school work. Everyday at sea since we left Brazil, I have been teaching my Kickboxing class, and it feels really good to be able to that. I have had a really great response - people are really enjoying it, and I have about 10 - 15 people every time. I teach that at 3:45pm and all my school classes are done by that time. So I usually have just enough time to shower and head to dinner, but usually before or around dinner time I have some sort of meeting. What kind of meeting you ask? Well, me being the kind of person that just cannot deal with a laid back schedule, I signed up to get involved in a bunch of clubs. For instance, I am in a women's group called WAVES which stands for Women Achieving Victory, Equality, and Solidarity. We are setting up women's forums and just providing a place for people to come and share experiences from the countries we visit, which I think will be especially important once we hit up India, because from what I hear it is quite a culture shock. I also signed up for the Spirituality Planning Committee. This past Sunday we had our first worship service, and yours truly led music by playing guitar and singing. We had a really great response, I wasn't sure how many people would show up to something like that, but a lot of people did. And they are all excited for the next service. There is a rumor going around that the Archbishop may do a sunrise Easter service for us which would be amazing, but that is just a rumor. I also signed up to join the choir, but we have yet to start anything with that yet. And lastly, I signed up for Students of Service which is a group that does service projects and helps to raise funds for organizations for countries that we go to. So my days at sea are pretty much packed until after dinner time around 6:00pm or so. And by then I usually find some excuse to not do my homework such as updating this blog, or playing the card game Phase 10 (which I have become addicted to) with a few of my friends. So, a little more on Neptune Day - that was when we celebrated crossing the equator. I posted some pics of that. There is a pic of me getting drenched with what they told us was fish guts, but I think it was like pancake batter and something smelly that they mixed together. We then had to jump in the pool, kiss 2 dead fish (and that was really gross me being a vegetarian and all) and then kiss the Captain's ring. And that guy all painted in green is the Captain of our ship - Captain Jeremy. The other day I was lucky enough to take a tour of the bridge and control room of the ship, and I posted a couple pictures from that. And then I was able to capture a beautiful picture of the sunset, so I just thought I would share that too. Oh, and one more thing, there is some huge ATM card fraud thing happening in Brazil and a LOAD of students got money taken from their checking accounts, me being one of them. It was almost $500. Luckily, the ship let me call the bank, and they are refunding my money, but it was still a hassle, and some people got as much as $2500 stolen, so apparently I was one of the lucky ones. But that did mean I had to cancel my card, and now that leaves me with no ATM card for the rest of my voyage. GRRR! I have my credit cards, so it's all good, but still. I really could have done without Brazil. I can't wait to get to Africa and be on my Safari and forget about all the stress. Only 3 more days and we are there!