Location: Atlantic Ocean
If you’ve been following along, you may think my day started at lunchtime, but for me, today started at 7:30! I had the 8-12, 8-12 double combo, meaning I actually got a “regular” night’s sleep last night. I came up on deck to a beautiful sunrise, and once again, I saw all my favorite colors. Turns out, my favorite color is the open ocean just before/after sunrise/sunset. Sounds super cheesy, but it’s the experience I keep having.
Then our watch absolutely flew by. Team two is currently entertaining ourselves by sharing our life stories and telling each other about our best friends. Did you know some people have twelve best friends? It hasn’t gotten to me yet, but I’ll give you a bit of a sneak peek at my answers:
My best friends are Bdog, Smash, and Laura. Way less than twelve. But they’re the best. Also, my mom. She’s hilarious. And we’re the dancing twins emoji.
Allie and I enjoyed some Ramen for breaky – and if you think Allie eats ramen like a sane person, you’re wrong. She pours all the broth out and puts the flavoring on her noodles dry.
For me, I have to go a bit rogue and make my own broth (gf probs), so today I went for gf soy sauce, ginger, lime, a touch of turmeric, and obviously garlic. It was delish.
Then came lunch, made by the fabulous chef Asa. Picture this – a bean salad, but with a zesty, homemade dressing. It was a win.
After lunch, it was the day we’d all been patiently waiting for, symposium day, round two!!! We tried to have symposium day a few days ago but got interrupted by a sneaky loose bolt on the main sail track as well as a fish on the lines. So today, at long last, we got to finish off the presentations everyone made of their lit review papers. As the Oceanography instructor, I personally love symposium day, as it’s a really cool way for everyone to get a taste of what scientific conferences can be like – everyone coming together, sharing really cool information, and just generally hanging out, nerding out, and learning. So many of my favorite things! Unfortunately, I was a terrible host and failed to provide the usual snacks and beverages that go along with real symposiums. But the group took it pretty well. Lindsay even offered to make everyone popcorn (thanks, Lindsay!). Though it was long and a little warm, it was so fun to see how everyone presented their different topics. There were A LOT of interactive demonstrations.
Then we went up on deck for dinner and a quick little rain storm (yay, Caribbean weather – squalls are quick and warm!), followed by possibly the most magical sunset we have seen yet. To me, the rain and clouds looked like they were putting on a live performance. And in the words of Rachel, part of the magic of live performance is that it can never be repeated in the same way again – every experience is unique. So that was beautiful.
Mom, the sky looked like the cloud photo in the dining room – like digitized and glowing and everything. It was so cool!!
Now I’m here. Next, I’ll probably grade some papers, write the scribe, or just go to bed. The world’s my oyster, and there’s no concept of time/ when I should or shouldn’t be awake.
Ashy, everyone misses you and was thrilled to hear your “what up, gang?”. But I miss you most. Also, I got the group selfie in a cool location – I chose the middle of the Atlantic. Hope that suits you. Alison and Owen missed it, so we’ll have to photoshop them in. But otherwise, it looks pretty stellar to me.
That’s all for now, folks, so I’ll leave you with my favorite sign-out –
l8 sk8rs