Entering European Territory...

We are officially sailing in European waters! And only 3 more days until Cadiz! Words cannot express how excited I am… and then Italy, and Croatia…!! But, I am trying to live in the moment and just soak up everyday… which by the way are flying. These 23 hour days really take a toll… but tonight the clocks do not change. Yay…hopefully we can all catch up a little.

I still cannot believe that I am in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Waking up and being completely surrounded by water is a surreal feeling. I love looking out my cabin window! And I had no idea that we were to be passing islands! Last night, we sailed right through two small islands. It was absolutely breathtaking, and the weather was incredible. Everyone was out on the decks taking countless pictures! They were the cutest little islands, and they were only about 1 – 2 miles away from us on either side of the ship. We could see small towns near sea level on them speckled with little houses, and at night their lights glistened in the distance. I couldn’t imagine anyone being there…I am definitely going to find out the names of them (& they do have names!) and then Google them when I get home! I want to see if people actually live there! If they do… I imagine they must be extremely rich, and somehow fly there or something. I can’t fathom living in such a remote part of the world… halfway between the United States and Europe in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean! And I always wondered where the birds flying around stopped to rest… now I know! You learn something everyday I tell you.

I got to go on a tour of the Bridge! It was really something to see everything. I have never been on a ship this size (We cannot call it a “boat”… people get very upset!), so seeing all of their equipment was really educational. The only other bridge I have seen in my day was the one in San Diego when my family and I went on a small two-hour boat cruise, and that one was much, much smaller. The sign-ups for the Bridge tours of our ship, the MV Explorer, started a few days ago, and Anthony so generously signed Kevin, Bo, Shannon, Kate and I up for one. Good thing, because they are already filled up for the remainder of the voyage! I can definitely say that we were lucky because our tour took place on the clearest day at sea yet. The sun was shining, and we were just cruising along at about 17 miles an hour on this beautiful day (the 20th). The tour lasted about 20 minutes, and we all got to sit in the Captain’s chair! It was very comfortable…and don’t worry, I took plenty of pictures! We posed for a variety of them… and I liked looking out of the giant binoculars. But… the best part by far was when a school of dolphins began jumping out of the ocean right in front of our eyes! There were so many of them! The crew said they see them a lot I guess, as they are very social animals and kind of like to play with the ship. I was not able to get very good pictures of them, although I tried… but Anthony was able to get a great little video on his camera! But hopefully we will see them again on our journey… and maybe other animals too! I guess a group of students saw a large sea turtle from one of the decks the other day...so who knows! And seeing the ocean 24/7 you get thinking about it… it is cool (yet kind of creepy!) thinking what lies beneath it… it is a world of its own! The ocean is just so vast and mysterious… it is incredible! After the bridge tour, Kate, Kevin, Anthony and I went up to the deck above the Bridge and all swapped cameras and clicked away! We fooled around, took some funny pictures, and just had a good time…

My global music class has been my hardest thus far… I have realized how very little I know about music! There is so much terminology and things to know… I do not know how Annie does it! I had difficulty grasping the concept of pitch, but Anthony helped me out…what a good friend. After today though, we will move away from learning music theory and vocabulary and begin exploring the wide world of music out there… we will I guess try to become little ethnomusicologists in training. And I definitely want to see a Flamenco show in Spain! It should be a lot of fun… and then I can reflect on the soundscape I observed. Writing about that Spanish musical experience will constitute one of my three papers needed… Only 19 class days left…

Tonight there is a dance on the ship, advertised as the Rock the “Boat” Dance. Anthony and Shannon were both on the committee that helped plan it… so hopefully it will be a good time!

And I got into the four trips that I signed up for the other day…but Anthony and Kevin didn’t make it into the hike in Turkey. I am hoping other students will be selling theirs so they can go as well…

Until next time…Lots of love,

-Erika