the one with the first day of class...

ello-
    Last night we went to an involvement symposium, and signed up for different things around the ship, I signed up to lead a bible study that subsequently 20 people signed up to be in! (Kayla, I am going to make you proud!)  I also signed up to babysit dependent children on board; I would get paid for that. :] I also signed up to lead inter-port speakers around the ship and be a kind of student hostess. Inter-port speakers are people who get on in one port and travel with us giving lectures until we make it to there home country, They speak about safety, shopping, eating and other travel tips for their home. The last thing I signed up for was being a part of an “extended family” where you are paired with other students and faculty and life long learners to have dinner every once in a wile, and just get to know different people. I am really excited about all the fun stuff I am going to get involved in!
    Classes started today, they were quite refreshing after the awful meetings we endured yesterday. This morning I got up and hurried to breakfast, then found my classroom. It was part of the large “union” where we have all our ship-wide meetings. My teacher is fantastic! He has a sweet Scottish/British accent, and makes really great jokes. The class seems like a good fit for me, He covered “elementary biology” today so we all start on the same level. Although I am fairly convinced that I am on a much lower level then my peers, see how the last bio class I took was freshman year of high school. We also went over the diseases we will be covering, I think it will be a fantastic class. At 9:15 (that’s 4:15 to you Oregonians) they opened up the temporary walls and we turned our chairs around for Global Studies. It was a good class, but much of what he talked about I already knew, ex: The story of King Minos and the Labyrinth from Crete. But that’s okay he was a good teacher, with a very interesting personality. After GS I went to my Drawing class, where we discussed the requirements of the course, and how to get an A. Multiple people asked if they could pass the class even if they sucked at drawing, so I am assuming that most of the people in the class are as bad or worse then me. We have to keep a “travel journal/sketch book” and she is going to give us prompts on the kind of things she wants us to draw. I think it will be a bit of a pain to take time out of being in port to just sketch, but maybe I will come home with some great sketches… or not.
After class got out I went to the store and bought a sweet water bottle because the ship is so dry that if you are not drinking water constantly you get a sore thought. I also got a lanyard for my key card because I so far have lost it in my room 10+ times. So from now on I am conforming to the masses and wearing a lanyard 24/7. Since then I have just been doing my reading for GS (yes amber I am ACTUALLY doing ALL my reading), and getting help from the tech guys upstairs on how to get onto the server. Sabre and I are going to have dinner outside today, because we haven’t been outside since we left Halifax (I know crazy, but its freaking cold out there). Then we are going to a enrichment lecture called "Spain: what you find will surprise you" an Inter-port lecturer is giving it, meaning he is native from our next port of call: Barcelona!

Interesting Info from the “deans memo” which is a newsletter that is given to everyone every day so we can all be up to date on the latest information. :
Daily Water Consumption
June 15: 191 liters (50 gallons) per person
June 16: 256 liters (68 gallons) per person

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Love You All,
Cris