a day in the life

For those of you pondering what a day in the life of a student at sea is like.... I wake up, go to one or two classes depending on what day it is, have lunch, lay out by the pool, have another class, then dinner, and then just hang out with friends for the night. Typically at night we'll hang out on the top deck and play games while drinking our allotted 3 glasses of wine or beer for the night (this is what the ship likes to call "pub night", at IU, pub night def. involves more than 3 drinks!). We only have classes when we're at sea, and when we're at port (usually for about 5 days) we are free to travel and sight see. It's like having spring break every other week :). Right now we are in Japan and I'm sooo happy to be on non moving ground! We were at sea for 11 days! In other news: the captain told us we had diverted 190 nautical miles during our 11 day journey(anyone know how many miles is in a nautical mile?) because of a storm. We were also told to secure our belongings because the seas would be REALLY rough for 24 hours! those were def. the roughest seas yet! It was like the scene in Along Came Polly when they're sailing through a huge storm and the waves are just crashing uncontrollably and shaking the ship like crazy! Also for your information: we crossed the international date line on our way to Japan and we are now a 15 hour difference from Nashville. Hope all is well and I miss and love you all lots!! More to come in few days after Japan!