Bridge Tour and Sea Olympics

After global studies, I went on a tour of the bridge. The bridge is the area on the ship where the crew steers the ship. When I got there, the ship was on auto-pilot! It was so neat to be able to look out the front of the bridge and see the ocean sprawled out in front of me.  While the crew explained the control panel, a school  of dolphins swam by! SO COOL. There’s a lot more to steering a ship than I initially thought! I was overwhelming to see so many dials, buttons, and compasses. 

And now for the exciting news!!! Drum roll please……..

MY TEAM WON SEMESTER AT SEA ‘S AMAZING RACE!!!

All eight of us finished in 50 minutes! Unheard of! We beat 472 people!!! It took 20 minutes after we finished for the next team to arrive at the finish line. The race consisted of riddles, codes, and lots of clues about different areas on the ship. Once a clue was figured out, your whole team had to make it to that specific check point and receive a signature.  I have to give extra credit to Sammi from UVA, she is insanely gifted at cracking random codes! Thank goodness she went to spy camp as a kid!

Our team consisted of eight students:
-Karen (my room mate and fellow Blugold)
-Sammi (UVA)
-Emily (UVA)
-Emily (Canada)
-Drew (Auburn)
-Tina (UVA)
-Whitney (UVA)
-and me :)

We all agreed to spend our first hours grabbing breakfast together at a café enjoying chocolate churros and café leche…both which were mentioned in a presentation last night about dining out in Barcelona. After breakfast, Drew, Karen, Emily and I have an FDP in Monserrat and then we will all meet up with the rest of our dream team for dinner around 10pm.

Last night I attended a Big Explorer Seminar about dining out in Spain. I am so overly excited to try some great food..especially since our food on the boat is becoming overly repetitive.  The presenter was a professor from UVA who has traveled to Spain multiple times. He gave us the inside scoop on what to order, where to order, and what to stay away from.

Some food he suggested: churros with chocolate, café leche, paella, and tapas. 

Tonight I forfeit another hour of sleep. I’m so sick of having 23 hour days!!! I need more sleep.