You Had Me at Fried Chicken

            What I thought would a remarkably unexciting day actually turned into the best day I’ve had on the ship. I slept in til 11, which is very late for some people (Mom), but is still earlier than I wake up at school some weekends. Many great days begin with me sleeping in (arguably many good days also start with me waking up early, but I’m going to ignore that for now). The reason I was able to sleep in was that, since we are doing two ports in one country, people, many, many people, chose to go from Bergen to Oslo overland as opposed to getting back on the ship. Sidney and I had originally wanted to do some research and see how we could make the trip and how expensive it would be in the most expensive country we are visiting, but, we never got around to it. Some students and professors are going overland with a field program (like my roommate), but many are just doing their own thing. This means that there are very few people actually on the ship and that we don’t have class today! Yay!
            I went to lunch at 11:30 and met up with Sidney where we heard the exciting announcement that everyone on the ship would be having a sit down dinner in which we would be served by the dining staff instead of buffet style like most days. Today was already great because I slept in, but lunch included French fries and fried chicken and this made the day better! These wonderful foods so easy to come by at home are only accessible on Deck 7 for a price, so it was a nice surprise for us. Over the next 5 hours Emily and I got comfortable on the starboard side of Deck 7 and did homework and napped. I did not get as much homework done as I had intended. Oh. Wow. That sounds so much like my existence at NAU that I’m getting flashbacks. I also spent some of this time looking over the railing for marine life since I have seen exactly ZERO sea creatures. But guess what guys? I FINALLY SAW SOME MARINE LIFE AND I COULD DIE HAPPY RIGHT NOW! I kept seeing some yellow-green fish that were using the ship’s wake to their advantage.
            Obviously this day was super stressful, so it was nice to have a sit-down dinner. Emily, Sidney, and I were sitting with three other girls—one of them from my extended family—and as great as dinner was, because it was, the real highlight was the conversation. One of the girls is a biomed major and has been in the observation room of a good number of surgeries. The other girl has had a breast reduction, so the amount of surgical information I now know is more than I ever learned on Grey’s Anatomy. I heard stories about breast reductions, tummy tucks, broken arms and noses, and hernias so I certainly feel that the conversation was enlightening.

            The best way to end this amazing day was by watching Frozen! I don’t care how old you are, Frozen is a great movie and a ton of people showed up to see it in the Union. Sidney and I had a great time, and it was funny to hear a low chorus of college students every time a song came up in the film. I’m glad Anna is an awkward Disney princess because it’s extremely realistic, but I’d much rather has super cool ice powers like Elsa than be the quirky heroine. Just saying. I also forgot how many good songs Frozen has. I need to buy that movie and you all need to listen to the soundtrack. 

The view leaving Bergen

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