I'm not sure what "dens" are for, we aren't bears.

It’s incredible how attached to the ocean I’ve gotten.  I’ve always loved the sea – I have an anchor tattooed on my foot, after all – but trying to find balance when these incredible waves are rocking your 25,000-pound ship around like it’s a rag doll…well, it’s just renewed my fascination with it.  I don’t think it will ever stop surprising me when a particularly huge wave moves all of the people on the deck at least three feet.  Last night Carly and I woke up twice to the sound of our dresser falling over and our front door opening and slamming shut until we locked it.  Some people have had their closet doors open and shut repeatedly, and I’ve also heard some reports of televisions smashing.  I guess California is facing a storm with “hurricane winds,” which would explain the 20 foot waves out here – but it’s still insane that we’re 1,000+ miles from Mexico and a storm in San Diego is messing with us.  It’s so cool how interconnected everything is.

Maybe I’ve been listening to too much Pelican.

The other night I dreamt that we saw another ship in the middle of the Pacific, and we all cheered, but then found out it was an oil tanker.  I woke up thinking it was real until I thought about how unbelievably alone we are out here.  It would be terrifying if there weren’t 500+ students and who knows how many crew/faculty on board.  I can’t imagine being Magellan or any other explorer, powered by wind and trying to find some sort of undiscovered territory (or at least a new place to claim for Spain or Portugal) without any REAL sense of where they were going.  So surreal.  Other people have been having dreams about using up their internet, or not getting back to the ship on time, which I think is really funny.

Okay, enough waxing poetic.  I had a meeting for my improv troupe and 23 people signed up!  The interest is cool, but hopefully only 6 to 8 people show up, otherwise we may not have time to actually get anything done.  Plus, the drama teacher approached the field organizer lady instead of myself, which is nice because now all I have to do is email everyone and figure out a time, instead of first finding a faculty member and going from there.

I’m also busy forming a group for my global studies class.  We’re doing our project on a combination of sustainable / environmentally-friendly architecture and incorporating urban farming into it.  I think I already wrote about this, but I’m getting excited. So far we have a team of four.

I can’t stress how weird being on this ship is socially.  There’s so many people that I’ve been casually hanging out with that are so unbelievably unlike myself (and don’t share my values, if you know what I mean).  I guess I should have expected that, but it’s weird to be a junior in college and hanging out with my first real set of bro’s.  I’ve also been intensely non-judgmental, despite my commentary on the pseudo-Greeks aboard the ship, and have really enjoyed not saying a single mean word about anyone.  Given, I’m not constantly talking about other people at home or anything, but I do share my opinions – those of you who know me well know this (I can’t shake the feeling that this is giving a bad impression, but so be it!).  Here I’m practicing a new thing called “patience” and “understanding differences,” which doesn’t only apply to the cultures I’m visiting, but to the people aboard the ship as well.  I feel so positive and light, and even when I think something negative I combat it with “they’re doing the best they can.”  I feel like this is a super elementary lesson, but I think it’s really difficult for most people (myself included) to give up the idea that they’re different and inherently more “special” than other people.  It’s so hard to explain.  I feel like this entry is super douche-y and worry I sound like a 13-year old who just discovered Bright Eyes, and that some of my obvious sarcasm isn’t coming through very clearly.  I mean, don’t worry, I’m still snarky.  I called God a dick today in front of a few people holding Bibles.  We had to read the story of Job in my philosophy of literature class and God was, in my defense, being a dick.  I don’t think they appreciated it, and thus apologized profusely.  Baby steps, y’all.

In terms of this summer, someone from the department in charge of internships with HBO emailed me!  He told me to let him know when we can get in touch, so I am officially going to speak with him on January 26th, while I’m in Hawaii.  I’m SO EXCITED and really nervous – at home I made a list of things I wanted to discuss with him, which of course I do not have with me.  Hopefully the interview will go well and I’ll be living in New York for a few months.  EEK!  The best part is, aside from the internship in general and the school credit and the experience and the connections and the living with Nicola and the ability to see my uncle, grandma, and cousins regularly, I’ll be able to take an intensive course with the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater!  And go to shows!  And stalk David Cross!  No, but really, I’m so excited.  I want this so badly.  I hope it pans out, and if “it’s meant to be, it’ll be.”  Ugh, really, listening to too much Pelican.

Shout out to Nicola Fumo for emailing me text messages, as well as setting up this blog-email-account thing for me.  Now I’ll be able to blog effectively without using internet time!  Hurray!  Unfortunately, they will be mostly picture-less, which is arguably pretty dull, but I’ll try my best to upload the best photos every few weeks or so.  Everyone please continue to email me – even if it’s a short message or something you’d normally write on facebook, I look forward to hearing from people.  Write to me instead of your livejournals!  Vent to me!  Send hate mail - if you need help coming up with something to hate on aside from my generally grating personality, try thinking about how cold it is in Chicago or wherever you are located, and then think about how it’s 78 degrees and sunny where I am.  I even have a sunburned nose.  TAKE THAT, WINTER!