Mauritius and Sea Olympics!

February 29, 2009

Mauritius is beautiful! We we’re only there for a day but I had a good day. I’ve been looking forward to this port because I got to go on a submarine dive! How cool is that!? The group of us that we’re going was picked up by the tour guide and taken to the Marine conservation building where we learned about the island and it beauties and how its slowly being destroyed and disappearing due to global warming which is the main concern for them. After the presentation we we’re given some free-time outside where we walked across to the beach which was absolutely gorgeous! There was every color of blue and green in the water and it looked so pretty against the white sand in the sun. Valeria and Katy we’re on my trip so it was nice to hang out with them for it. Because people there are on something called “island time”, time doesn’t really seem to be a big deal. Our trip ended up going over about three hours and we weren’t dropped back off at the ship so Val and I missed our other field trip to do a service visit at a children’s village. Hopefully the other people who we’re signed up for it we’re able to get there. Because we didn’t have a chance of making it we decided to walk around the shopping/restaurant area and get something to eat and shop if we could. I didn’t buy anything. To be honest, everything was way too incredibly expensive and most of it you could buy in the U.S. for A LOT cheaper. It was ridiculous. Mauritius was pretty and the beaches we’re pretty but from what the pre-port lecturer was saying about it, I expected more. I think if I did a more nature oriented trip I would have seen more of that side of the island which would have interested me more than overpriced commercial areas. Some of my friends did some sort of nature tours and loved it. If I had time after the submarine dive and there we’re trips like that that didn’t conflict then I would have done the other nature-type trips but you don’t know until you get here and do things, whats really best to do. It’s all an experience. But overall I enjoyed my time.


Sea Olympics

That night was the opening ceremony for the Sea Olympics. We had spent a lot of time organizing things for this event. The Sea Olympics is exactly how it sounds, a day of competition between the “seas”. The “seas” are the different floors and wings, you could say on the ship. My “sea” was called the Adriatic sea and our team color was pink, so we all had to wear pink. Other seas we’re called: Baltic, Arabian, Red, Mediterranean and Bering etc. All the seas we’re students and then there was the sea called the “Oddies-C” or the Odyssey is what it sounded like. They we’re made up of some staff, their families and kids and lifelong learners. It’s a really exciting time on the ship. We all dressed up in our colors and painted our faces and stuff as if it was a championship-sporting event. All the seas we’re cheering their cheers for their teams and everyone was so into it. I figured this would be the closest I got to the student section at a football game, which will never happen. Everyone had to get up and do a cheer for their sea, present a flag and a mascot, all which would be part of the competition and up for the point system. Our flag and mascot was good but the others we’re better I thought. We also messed up our cheer so I figured we didn’t have a good chance at winning. The next day was the official day the games began and their was so much excitement on the ship it made for a great day. I didn’t get up until 10 or so. I was still feeling sick from the previous few days. (The four days leading up to Mauritius I spent the time I wasn’t in class, in my bed. We left a day late for Mauritius and the ship needed to keep on time therefore we we’re sailing at abour 30 knots, the fastest we’ve gone and it was very bumpy. I never threw-up but I was feeling very sea-sick and was dehydrated).

I finally got all ready and went up to lunch because I needed to eat something, that was part of my problem of being sick is because I wasn’t eating a lot. I ended up having lunch with this guy I met named Spencer who was very nice. I was sitting outside eating and he joined me so we got to know each other better. Later on Holly joined and we talked about what we did in Mauritius and our thoughts on India which we we’re all a bit nervous about. Courtney and Nora ended up joining us at the table to. Turns out we all had just gotten up and gone outside.

An announcement was made about the update of the games from this morning that surprised me, turns our that Holly’s and I’s sea, the Adriatic sea was winning the Olympics thusfar. That was exciting. Once I heard that I got more into the spirit. After lunch I spent the day wondering around to the different events with friends. It was your basic competition games that can be awarded points; tug of war, volleyball, dodgeball, hula hoop contest, sudoku, work out relay (sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, wall sits), pictionary, human knot, paper boat competition, flippy cup (WITH WATER), poker and other things. I took pictures of the mashed potato sculpting contest which was very impressive! And the final event, the synchronized swimming contest was a lot of fun to watch. I wish now that I had signed up to be in it, it looked like a lot of fun and seemed very challenging considering the boat was rocking still which meant the water in the pool was swaying back and forth. Still groups put together some very entertaining performances. It wasn’t necessarily traditional synchronized swimming by any means but more of a skit, dance compilation set to music that took place in and around the side of the pool. It was a lot of fun! Closing ceremonies we’re that night and it turns our that the Adriatic sea won!!! That was very exciting! We we’re awarded our medals and the torch. We all jumped up and cheered, it was great! We had all worked hard together, participating in events together to advance our team and we won it! It was a great end to a fun day! I couldn’t help but think all day during all of the events, the excitement, how much fun everyone and I we’re having. How lucky I am to be on this program and how much I love it and that everyone if given the chance should do this. More specifically, I thought of my sister Meaghan, and how much she will be missing out if she doesn’t do this someday. You HAVE TO DO THIS!!!! ☺