Location: Civitavecchia, Italy
Hustling down a companionway into the galley last night, I felt a warm sense of belonging. Familiar faces surrounded me, singing and dancing while they cleaned up after dinner. That night, I no longer felt the need to journal about how strange the day was, and when I was rocked gently to sleep, I had my first Argo-themed dream. I awoke and realized that this cramped, transient, unpredictable hunk of metal was home. This random, rambunctious group of sailors is my family. I felt happy and secure in a way I haven’t since I left home, and everyone I spoke to felt the same way I did. Don’t worry, Mom; I still miss and love you, and I haven’t started taking for granted the awesome beauty seen from the marathon four-hour bow watch that I did today or the thrilling opportunity to visit Rome tomorrow. It’s just that I feel happy and secure on this ship and with these people who have become my family.
And like any family of 27, food is essential. Today, I got the chance to go “provisioning” or extreme grocery shopping with the lovely Becca, who is the coolest person I have ever hung out with in my life, and I feel very lucky to have hung out with her for 4 hours. It was a unique and hilarious experience trying to find 1100 slices of bread and 150 chicken breasts. We cleaned out entire areas of the store and filled up nine grocery carts. Even more amazing is that that amount of food is only projected to last “seven or eight days.” Arrivederci, for now, is a delightful reader of the blog.