Ahoy from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge!

So when I left off was right before our first pub night, which so far has definitely been one of the best nights of the voyage! We had our designated 5 glasses of wine and gained the liquid courage to make LOTS of new friends! First of all, I spilled some wine on the table where we we sitting, and Camille jokingly suggested that I slurp it up as to not waste any, and a girl from the neighboring table heard and ACTUALLY CAME AND DID IT. The entire deck was chanting "Sarah! Sarah!" Hilarious. Then I verbally harassed some of the LLCs (Living & Learning Coordinators a.k.a. camp counselors of SAS) convincing them that Caroline HAD TO teach a hip hop dance class to the entire ship. Needless to say, she is a little unhappy with me right now. I met all 4 of the students from Louisiana, and had a nice long chat with one of the assistant deans who used to work at Tulane, earning myself the nickname "Hannah from Louisiana." Then we saw our FAVORITE waiter Allan (from the dining hall), and he and I made up a secret handshake (which I have since taught to everyone who will listen). Allan even showed us his tongue ring, which has a smiley face charm. After pub night closed at 2300 we hit the smoking deck for our now 'usual' after-party. I sang some Disney tunes with Triana, a Fashion Institute of Technology student who hails from Brooklyn and has braids down to her knees- which I later found out was a weave. We rapped some Lauryn Hill then went on to some free-styling. After that we had to get to sleep because we lose an hour every night.

Class continued and I learned about the fundamentals of Ethnomusicology and geological proccesses. Triana introduced us to the interport student, Fernanda who has become our BEST friend that we've made so far. The sad part is that we have to drop her off in Spain :'-( . Fernanda is Brazillian but grew up on the Spanish Baleric island, Mallorca (next to Ibiza) and she speaks SEVEN languages and has the COOOOLEST accent ever (becuase she grew up going to a British school). We ate dinner with some other LLCs, and one of them told us all about how she works at Radio Disney. SHE KNOWS MILEY CYRUS AND THE JONAS BROTHERS!!! (hehe) Then Friday night, we had another pub night, which wasn't as crowded but was still really fun! We hung out with even MORE LLCs (Sadika and Simon) and found out that they are married and are high school sweethearts! Afterwards, we stayed up till 4am chatting with Triana and Fernanda.

Yesterday, I was the ONLY one who made it to all my classes! I was running on empty so I had a Cappucino at the snack bar and it gave me energy for the entire day. After class, I worked out and then ate dinner with a professor named Rocky, who told us all about his life. He has a PhD in Geologicial Sustainability and lives in the Bay Area. He works a lot internationally and has been to over FIFTY countries. Crazy. Then around 2100 we passed through the Azores Islands, which are on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. They are an archipelago of islands that were created between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate becuase of a hot spot that leaks magma between the cracks of the plates. (I learned all this in my geology class!) The islands were AWESOME. They were tiny tiny but houses covered little countrysides, and once the sun set, we could see lights flickering across. It was soooo weird so see land for the first time in 4 days! We met some more friends at pub night and made plans for Croatia- we're renting a house on this cliff that overlooks the ocean in Dubrovnik! The house fits 25 people and isn't expensive at all- it's going to be incredible.

We have 2 more days of class until Cadiz. Once we get there, we're taking a train to Sevilla to do some sight-seeing there. I'll check back before then hopefully!