Musings of Fabulosity

      I know you all want to read about my exciting adventures while I'm in port in fabulous places. But it's not all fabulosity on the SAS voyage. We do actually have classes. This is the longest stretch of classes, 4 days between Spain and Scotland. Below are my musings from these 4 days.

July 1st, Day 1:
       Today was the USA v. Belgium World Cup game in the knockout round. I missed the USA game in Portugal, so I was very excited to watch the game with other SAS students in the Student Union. I love soccer and have played it for most of my life, so there was no way I was going to miss this game, especially since they shut down the intranet/internet in order to broadcast the game. Also, the first 200 people to arrive would get free popcorn—a great incentive. The two friends I went with? Not exactly soccer fans, and the promise of popcorn was the only reason they showed up to the game. We were there early enough for popcorn, but not everyone was so lucky. One of the children on the ship asked me if I thought 200 people had come yet, and sadly I had to tell him that all the popcorn was gone. See, I felt bad about this, but not bad enough to give him my popcorn. I mentioned earlier that college students are very excited about free stuff—we are also very protective of it. I had gotten there early enough for popcorn, the kid did not. So I get to enjoy my popcorn, and hopefully he get over his popcornlessness quickly. Sitting comfortably and munching on popcorn, we were all ready for the game to start.

Since we are close to Spain, the game was broadcasted in Spanish. Tonight was one of the times I wish I had taken Spanish in high school and college instead of French. I usually like listening to commentary whenever I watch a sports game on television, but for tonight I was out of luck. The game itself was hard to follow, because while there were numerous television screens and a projected screen showing the game, it was very hard to see detail on them. The game would also pause randomly because of connection problems. That being said, the atmosphere was great. Students and other passengers alike were cheering for the USA team to score and holding their breath when Belgium took yet another shot on goal. Speaking of which, I have no idea how professional USA soccer players get paid, but the goalie for our team deserves a raise. He blocked shot after shot by the Belgium strikers because the USA defense couldn’t get their shit together. He more than earned his pay just in this game alone. My friends left a quarter of the way through the game as soon as they finished their popcorn. I stayed until the end of the second half before deciding that with all the rocking of the ship I might fall asleep in the union. So I’ll just have to look up the outcome to the game tomorrow morning. I would not be surprised if my dreams were full of painted fans screaming USA! USA!

Day 2:

Boil ‘Em, Mash ‘Em, Stick ‘Em In A Stew, Or, On The Subject of Potatoes

            Firstly, I woke up this morning to find out that the USA did not win. I can honestly say that I did not expect the team to get all the way to the finals, but I did hope they would at least make it into the Quarter Finals.

Now, back to your scheduled potatoes. 

           There are dining halls on Decks 5 and 6 and they prepare 3 meals a day for everyone on board. Breakfast is not a huge meal because many people are like me and find sleep more important than breakfast; but lunch and dinner are huge productions because of the amount of food that must be cooked to feed us all. There are potatoes with every lunch and dinner. I don't mind because I like potatoes and because they make them in different ways. But I am so curious. How large is their potato pantry? All I want to do is find the pantry and explore. I bet they have a whole room for potatoes. Stacks and stacks and mountains and more mountains of potatoes. 

Day 3:

            My friends and I finally started planning for Scotland today. Well, my friend Sidney at least. She has some very specific things she would like to see in Edinburgh so Emily and I told her that if she planned it, we would go along with it. Those little travel books that let you know what is in each country and how much they cost can be checked out in the library and oh my goodness they are so helpful. That is all. 

Day 4: The Curious Case of Diagonal Rain

            I’m up on Deck 7, the Helios Deck, and the sky is pouring buckets on rain down on us. If Helios the sun god was actually on the ship he would be sorely disappointed that there are less than 10 people on his deck and the sun is nowhere to be found. Oh, now it’s just me and the crew on Deck 7 and they went inside. I could die right now and no one would save me or know until they saw my dead body.

          HAPPY (VERY LATE) FOURTH OF JULY! YAY INDEPENDENCE! They surprised us with a huge cake for dessert and you know how I love my cake. It was also the pre-port for Scotland so we played their National Anthem. It was odd. But then the Life Long Learners (LLLs) did a flash mob and it was wonderful and it completely made up for the fact that it is our independence day but we are getting briefed on Scotland. I'm so excited for Scotland. I will finally be surrounded by people who are as pale as I am!