Ahoy from the MV Explorer!

Ahoy from the MV Explorer! Today my friends and I went on a tour of the bridge of our ship. It was so cool to see everything up there – and I even sat in the captain’s chair and wore his hat (pictures to come in port - South Africa). Come to find out, the captain stays in his cabin most of the time… I suppose I will have to meet him another time  Yesterday was Neptune Day here on the ship. We celebrated by being woken up at 0715 hours by people running up and down the halls with pots, pans, and whistles. As you can imagine, all the students were SO thankful for that… I ended up getting up and eating breakfast around 0830 and then went up to the 7th deck to watch the “festivities” take place. They start out by pouring some concoction on everyone’s heads - and I you were wondering it didn’t smell very pleasant. Then those people jumped into the pool and proceeded out the other side to kiss a dead fish. After that they had to kneel in front of King Neptune and kiss his ring. For those of you who are curios to know if I took part – I did not. I know, I know, I’m lame! However, I’m sure everyone on the ship is thankful that I didn’t because I think I would have blown some serious chunkage having that stuff all over me… I did get some good video of it so I will have to share that with everyone once I’m back in the states. Following that, people were given the opportunity to shave their heads and there was a surprising response to the offer. I believe close to 40 girls shaved their heads and a few less guys – and no, I didn’t shave my head either. After the morning events I was pretty much I my room studying or napping  Ah, the beauty of no class days! After dinner, I went to my friend’s cabin and chatted for a bit there. She is housing the inter-port student from South Africa so it was really cool to get to talk with her about a lot of stuff. She made me even more excited to see the sights in Cape Town! Other than that life is cool. The ship has been very rocky these past few days. So much so, we had to duck tape our drawers shut so they didn’t fly open in the middle of the night or any other time of day! I must say, seeing everyone, including myself, walk around the ship last night was pretty hysterical – it never gets old! Only 3 full days until Cape Town! Can’t wait! I hope this update finds you well! love love love Cherie