Post from Mediterranean

Many students have approached me over the past week asking what happened to the blog, since their parents read it and said it hasn't been updated since Denmark. I apologize to everyone for the delay in posting: I wrote the Belgium entry late and didn't submit it until last Friday. I used my internet minutes today to check on the blog and it still hasn't been updated - I'm sure the communications employees at S.A.S. have their hands full today with frantic parents calling in about the situation in Turkey, so it's likely you won't see this entry until after we've docked and the chaos that is probably ensuing in Charlottesville has subsided.

Regardless of what happens with Turkey, life on the Mediterranean is pretty sweet. We all had a global essay due today which put a bit of a damper on everyone's enjoyment of the beautiful weather, but I managed to catch a few hours of sun yesterday. We are passing the southern coast of Greece today. The gym on the ship is on the port side, so this morning I was on an elliptical and could faintly see Greek islands if I looked at the horizon hard enough. There are a lot of sailboats close to the shores of the islands we have been passing throughout the Mediterranean. Yesterday a lot of students saw sea turtles right alongside the ship. We are all having a good time- the water has been really calm since leaving Naples and the awful mysterious noise that had been on my side of the ship has stopped. The sun is shining full force (although it's not nearly as hot today as it was yesterday), there is a beautiful breeze and the water is so blue it makes you wonder if you've ever truly seen anything blue before. Decks four and seven are packed with students in swimsuits- some reading, most sleeping. It is certainly hot enough to go in the pool, but after 3 it is usually filled with the faculty's children throwing balls around and playing which is kind of inconvenient because that's when we all get out of class and it's not big enough to have college students in there too.

Regardless, life is good and other than our global studies paper and the fact that we have no clue what country we'll be in tomorrow, it's hard to find anything to complain about. I'm gonna go recharge my loaner laptop before my next class- I'll write about Italy later today J.