the eagle has landed

hiii! i'm a little upset right now because i just tried to post on here and it deleted it and i wrote the most sassy thing ever and now i have to redo it. wah. anywaysss, i have no idea when i last updated this because all the days are running together. so, sorry if i repeat myself. i'm pretty sure i already updated about my arrival in montreal. which was way better than expected. i didn't really have any expectations for montreal cus i was only in the city for less than 24 hours, but i would definitely return again if i could. it was kind of a mix of SF and NYC.  the shopping of new york with the architecture and safety of san fran. and SURPRISE… they speak french. i knew they spoke french in canada… but i didn’t know that their road signs and everything are in french. at least in san diego i can fake spanish. french... not so much. i'm going to get really good at sign language this voyage, or at least sign language that i make up.

so yesterday we woke up at 8 in the morning. i stayed in the hostel with two other USD girls (cassie galentine & molly mccluskey) and some random french girl. us minus the frenchie met up with some other SAS people and walked around to get breakfast. we went to this crepe place called paris crepe. it was delicious! after that, we all walked forever to old montreal. which was BEAUTIFUL! the architecture was gorgeous. lots of pretty old churches and cobble stone streets. but of course it started POURING on us. which kinda sucked cus i really wanted pictures of everything but i was more worried about not ruining my camera day one. so we stopped at a little pub called Paul's or Jared's or something for a little. two of the other girls were also work study, so we shared a cab back to the hostel to get our bags packed and situated.

there were about six of us that needed to get to the ship because us work study diva's got to board a day early! it was really convenient too because it took us roughly 2 seconds to get through security and another 5 minutes for us to get our bags. which was awesome because we got to unpack and get settled, and we also had time to explore the ship a little bit. i have a window, which is a godsend. the rooms on the inside are borderline unbearable. clausterphobia would definitely be an issue. we all had a meeting that evening, after eating dinner. the first meal on the ship was good! (give me a few weeks and i'll probably be writing about how much i can't deal with the food here). but until then, i was pleasantly surprised. but don't get me wrong, it was no SLP. the meeting was pretty pointless. but all 72 of us work study people had to go. then we were free! so michael (a guy i met the first night in montreal) got ready and went out to this pub night that someone set up. there were about 100 SAS people at this pub, which was really fun! i have a feeling that these next few days are going to be a lot like freshman year/sorority recruitment. "hi, i'm so and so... i'm from here but i go to this school... this is my major... and do you know this person from your school!?" such a blast, right!? michael and i stayed at the pub night the whole time cus it was his birthday (happy 22nd!) but we didn't end up going to the club after because we had to work in the morning. buzz kill.

so this morning i woke up at 6:05. not great. but i met michael and a couple other work study kids for breakfast. it was nice because that was the last hour before everybody else boarded the ship. then WORK. i worked all day long. best part. MADDY BREWER SHOWED UP!!!! um. real life. it kinda became more real when i saw my name on my door this morning and right next to mine was "madeline brewer". brewha and i conquer the world. more adventures to come. but back to working, i only got an hour break that i spent starring into maddy's eyes. cus i can't believe she's here. (didn't actually do that, but kinda). then i only got a 10 minute break for the rest of the day. so i ran up to the dining hall and sat with all the usd AXOs... which was beautiful. work was awesome though because i seriously had to check in every single person that came on the ship. and as my mom so nicely pointed out, it was prime time to scope out any potential boyfriends (or future husbands, as you warwick's staff are trying to marry me off every other day). but since i had a lanyard with my name on it & people recognized my face i got questions for the rest of the day.

after i got off work, i hung out with brewha in the room. thennn LIFEBOAT DRILL. what could be more fun than 450 students plus lifelong learners on the deck in... wait for it.... their life jackets. pictures to come. brew & i decided we need to incorporate lifejackets into everyday life in SD. next themed dance, life jackets will definitely be part of the costume. 80s yacht club repeat??

as of 5pm, we set sail! leaving montreal was a trip. we got escorted by the coast guard and we're on our way! michael, brewer, & i stood on the 6th deck forward and waved to all the people at the dock that we were leaving. it was awesome. just kept saying "is this real life?" every two seconds. conclusion: NO! i don't think so. totally surreal that we're on our way. montreal was fun, would totally go there again. but i can't wait to really start this voyage. we won't make it to open water until tomorrow. we have to get through some river first.

sorry this is so long, i've been doing so much and think you all should know.

so it's goodbye north america... hello morocco!

and ps happy move in day to my little sister marissa! GO LIONS!