Midterms... now MAURITIUS!!

Sorry for not updating all that much especially in the previous week. After leaving South Africa I was getting into midterm mode. Well I’ll update you what I did this week. We had a sea meeting for SEA OLYMPICS that will take place after Mauritius. We are a small sea; I mean not many of us in my hallway so a lot of participation is going to be required of us. There have been events set up for the entire day and we compete against other “seas” in a variety of events. Apparently from previously voyages it’s ranged from jeopardy, scrabble, to athletic events. At the end there is a barbeque so, all in all it sounds like a really great day. That will take place in exactly a week from today. Also, in previous years the winners of Sea Olympics are the first ones to depart the ship in San Diego. There has been no confirmation of that yet, but we all wonder what really is the prize. Lola did turn 11 months this past week and I am very sad that I’m not there. I really do miss her! On Sunday I watched a movie called Milk in the Union which is the main “classroom” where global studies takes place. It was about the rise of a gay rights politician and what it took for him to gain a seat as city supervisor. The end of his reign came about when he and the mayor were both assassinated. it was filled with great insight and understanding of growing up in California and fighting for equal rights for gays. It was an excellent movie and I happy to have had the opportunity to see it. Tonight I had a meeting for my India trip and met a bunch of people that will be going with me. It seems like a fun of bunch of people about 30 of us in total. It will be my frist independent trip and from the looks it will be an experience within itself. Flights, overnight trains, and hotels in India. Haha But, we do get to see some cool places which I will go into detail after Mauritius. Other than these few things I have been studying for a few midterms and watching movies on the movie channels. I had Sociology of Marriage and Family on Monday and I did excellent on that exam. Today I had Global Studies this morning and Globalization and International Law in the afternoon. Global Studies was an absolute nightmare he pretty much lied about a good chunk of what was on the exam, so everyone is pretty much miserable right now. Then, I had my international law exam this afternoon which I think I did well in. The upside of all of this is MAURITIUS tomorrow!!! It is called by many the “British Hawaii.” Many of us are taking it as our spring break and relaxing in this port. They apparently have good rum and beer and the food is safe to eat. What more could I ask for? I have a Hike in the Mountains and Beach planned for tomorrow so I’ll be doing some hiking and then we go to a beach for the afternoon. The next day I have a service visit to a children’s center who have been neglected or abused by families. The last day I do have a scheduled trip to go zip lining, but I may just skip it and explore the port city of Port Louis. We will see how it all works out. Yesterday we had cultural pre-port which is always helpful. We learned they do speak English which makes it that much easier. Apparently Mauritius is good for buying clothes, so I hope to add some new things to my closet.  We had some recommendations of bars to go to so that helps too haha. Tonight was logistical pre-port and it went well. We learned that the crime is pretty much only petty crimes, food and water are safe to eat/drink for the most part, malaria is not a problem, and water taxis are the way to get to the port city from where we are docked. I am really excited for tomorrow and cannot wait to experience Mauritius. I am sad that we are only going to be there three days, but I plan to make the best of it. I miss you all at home!