Day 37, 38

Friday February 29th, 2008

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but we may be staying in Hawaii an extra night. 'Word on the street' is that they put in an extra day in case we hit some bad weather. They deny this rumor of course, but past voyages have confirmed that they docked earlier than originally planned in Hawaii. I'll have my cell phone back once we get there. Surprisingly, I don't miss having my phone as much as I thought I would. It would be really nice to have in port just so we can contact other people and find out where they're at, but it's not that big of a deal. Some people who brought their phones have talked about outrageous phone bills at the end of one month, like $800 and more. However, people who brought their BlackBerries can access unlimited Internet on their phone. If I would have known that, I would have probably gotten one.

Yesterday was full of studying for my two exams that I finished a couple of hours ago. Studying sucks, it's a good thing that we get a vacation every other week :)

Both exams went relatively well. The Global Studies one was full of stupid questions, per usual, but I'm pretty sure I ace'd the philosophy exam. That still doesn't change my feelings towards philosophy however.

Last night we had a really quick cultural pre-port on Mauritius. Quick because it is such a small island there's not a whole lot to talk about. Most everyone is getting a villa or hotel on the beach and just staying there the whole time. I also want to try surfing for the first time, go scuba diving at least twice (apparently it's really cheap and they have some of the best diving sites in the world), and go jetskiing. Para sailing would be awesome as well if the chance came up.

The mood on the ship definitely picks up the day before port because everyone's done with their classes and ready to explore a new country. In addition to the activities I talked about above, I also plan on uploading all of my pictures, downloading and installing the programs that are still missing from my computer and planning/booking our trips for India and Hong Kong/China.

Tonight's our political pre-port as usual, then just hanging out in anticipation for tomorrow. We passed Madagascar yesterday, and looking at our ship's itinerary, we'll be passing Reunion in a couple hours. It looks like we get really close so hopefully there will be a cool view around dinner time.