Valentine's Day/Neptune Day in the Atlantic

What an interesting day. Again, a unique experience. Everyone on board was awakened at ~7:00 am with an improvised band marching in the halls playing instruments very loudly. This is Neptune Day! It's the celebration for crossing the equator (even though we had crossed several days earlier). I only experienced part of the day because I went back to sleep -- it was a half-work day for me because it was a 'no class day'(but the Dean's Memo still had to be published). Anyway, the big event was that the students had the opportunity to have their heads shaved -- along with many of their friends -- and one of the work students, Lindsay, who works in my office, had her head shaved (and so did quite a few girls). She had an amazing today; it was her 20th birthday birthday, Valentine's, Neptune Day and had her head shaved. I had dinner with Lindsay and her friends tonight and she was enjoying all the attention (she's usually pretty quiet). A special friend wired me flowers on our last day in Salvador so I had beautiful roses to enjoy for Valentine's Day. Others sent e-cards for Valentine's so I had a wonderful day.

Last night as we went to bed, I remarked that the ocean was very calm with very little movement of the ship. In the middle of the night, we were awakened by a lot of movement and things moving around in our room. Around noon the ship was rolling and pitching so much that it was very difficult to walk, chairs were moving around and the pitchers of iced tea and water were thrown from the tables. The rough waters are continuing tonight and it's a challenge to do much of anything. We've been told to expect more roughness tomorrow. I asked how to gauge today's rough water and was told that it is a 5 on the scale of 10.

I find myself in an active community with more things to do that I have time. On a daily basis while we are sea, there are three Community College Events -- all interesting topics presented by faculty and staff, a selection of 3-4 movies relative to the places we are visiting and/or some 'just for fun' on closed circuit in our rooms + many special interest groups. Soon everyone on the ship will have the opportunity to participate in Sea Olympics. The sections of the ship where the students rooms are located are all named after a sea; i.e., Agean, Red, etc. and the Faculty, Staff and Life Long Learners are designated as the Silver Sea.

I was encouraged when I heard the journalist who is traveling with us speak at a Community College Event because she says she doesn't believe in putting pictures with travel articles. She prefers that words convey places and experiences, so perhaps you can 'hang with me' even though I'm not able to download pictures. She says travel articles, blogs, etc. should entice the reader to get interested in the places the traveler is writing about. She, Evelyn Hammon, is a pioneer in writing travel articles for women who enjoy traveling. She has two websites: www.journeywoman.com and www.hermail.net where numerous women share their experiences.

One of tonight's movies is "Wonders of the African World", so I'm going to sign off and watch it. Later, I'll enjoy the ship rocking me to sleep. Good night!