Location: Riding the Waves, Pacific Ocean
Well, well, well, we’ve arrived at my last blog! As you all know, we’ve been on passage for a while. I’ve actually lost count on the days. My equatorial haircut growing out is all that can quantify the many days that have now fallen away. Same for Alexis and Lexi, whose hair has grown out to a length that Smash likens to a tennis ball. The docket today consisted of an oceanography review session and one last marine bio lecture. The oceanography class got quite heated, which is ironic because we had the A/C on. We played a Vela version of Jeopardy which brought out everyone’s competitive sides and reminded us just how badly we needed to study.
Steph (and I, for that matter) were quite surprised to find out that a few students had no clue what Jeopardy is. We came to find out that Jeopardy isn’t such a big thing outside of America, which leads me to wonder what kind of game shows they have in other countries. If what Carla has said thus far about Greenland is any indication, I’d expect Greenlandic game shows to be absolutely insane. I feel quite lucky to have friends from all over the world. I now have excuses to go to Austria, Greenland, Germany, England, and Switzerland. Many of us American students are already planning our European tours to go visit everyone, with some stops in America too! I can’t wait to show them the wonders of Minnesota, including our 12-day State Fair, in which you can get pretty much any kind of fried food you can dream up (I’m a big fan of the fried fruit).
Speaking of food, we once again had some stellar meals from Galley Goddess Alexis. Today it was Quinoa salad complete with roasted nuts, dijon mustard dressing, cranberries, and more. The most exciting part was the surprise star of the meal; apple crumble. We decided that the meal was a very autumnal ensemble. For dinner, it was Greek chicken and Naan with some crazy sauce made from coconut milk. The sauce was actually so good that when I went for my second piece of Naan, I drowned it in the sauce (this only slightly horrified Allie). So, once again, Alexis knocked it out of the park and further confirmed my suspicions that she was some kind of cooking wizard. For my grand old squeeze question, it was, “What is a weird superstition you have or had?”. My answer was when I get on an airplane, I always have to give my full attention to the flight attendant’s safety demonstration, or else I think the plane will crash. For some reason, I’m convinced that the one time I don’t take off my headphones and look right at the attendant in front of me, the plane is going to nosedive, and I won’t have a clue about what to do because I didn’t listen. Magda shared a similar sentiment in that she needs to always touch the outside of the plane before getting on it. However, the weirdest superstition was definitely Sammy’s, who told us that we absolutely could not drive over a specific road in Hawaii if we had pork in our car. I hadn’t been considering doing so before, but now I’m a little curious about what would happen. Perhaps a trip to Hawaii is in order…
Alas, that wraps up our day, one of the last we will have aboard our home away from home. I’d regret it if I didn’t take a little time to appreciate all that the last 80 days have brought me. It had brought me the adventure of a lifetime, going to places I’d never heard of and doing things I’d never done before, all with people I had never met before February. But now? These people and I are linked for life because, in them, I have found another family. We have shared the best times and even some not-so-good times, but I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. I can’t believe that in just a bit over a week, I’ll have to say goodbye. These people, this ship, these rolling blue waters have been my life for the past three months, and I will miss them more than I ever thought possible. So, thank you, Vela, thank you, crew, thank you, friends, thank you, family. Signing off one last time, Elise 🙂
P.s. Allie dropped the food waste bucket in the ocean, lol. R.I.P Food Waste Bin. (EDITORS NOTE: it was a non-employed Tupperware, sad nonetheless)
P.P.S. Hey, Minnesota Family! hope you are all doing well, and hope the snow is finally beginning to clear. Love you all!
To Mom and Dad, sending you tons of hugs and love! I hope Beignet isn’t giving you too much trouble, give him, Grim, Hunter, and Milo kisses for me!