pick me, choose me, love me

Saturday, October 22, 2011 (8:21pm) - Straight of Malacca

so i'm pretty sure i speak for the entire shipboard community when i say that i'm starting to get homesick. and it's not so much that i miss "home"... it's just that we've been to so many crazy countries and been experiencing such different things, that we have no sense of normalcy anymore. there are big things that i miss about america, but there are a lot of little things that i miss that i used to take for granted. like not having to wear a money belt, being able to have ice in my drinks, not having to squat over a hole to use the bathroom... things that i would never think would be an issue in america. i mean obviously i miss my family, my dog, being home. i'm really starting to miss being at school and being with all my friends. i miss my soror and going to slp dinner with everyone before meeting on mondays. i'm in this middle ground where i can't wait to get home, but i don't want the voyage to end. i can't believe it's the end of october and we'll be in vietnam in a few days. where has the time gone!?

i'm just feeling a little left out of "real life." like today i read an article that listed the top 10 songs and albums on itunes for this week... i knew a total of one song on the entire list. just little things like that... or like how lars emailed me that she watched my favorite grey's anatomy episode the other day ("pick me, choose me, love me") and my only options on the tv are ridiculous "educational" movies nobody has ever heard of in their lives. like if i could lay on the couch and watch keeping up with the kardashians for 10 hours, i would be a happy girl. or even just drive my car around the block. just being in a different country every week and having to figure out the currency, the language, and the different customs is getting a little overwhelming.

and the food. maddy & i are strategically planning what we're eating when we get back to san diego. on the list: mexican food mexican food and more mexican food, any and all slp food, urbane, rose's donuts, in & out... so many good things. like, it's to the point that i would probably cry if you gave me some slavinsky's (in)famous chili cheese turkey hot dogs. like, this is getting ridiculous. the exotic and foreign food is awesome, don't get me wrong... but how often do you crave indian or ghanaian food? maybe once every so often.

so we'll see. it's just funny that pretty much the entire ship is feeling the exact same way at the same time. makes it a little easier to deal with. i never want this voyage to end, but if i was given the chance to go home tomorrow, i probably would. such a dilemma, i know. alden, maddy, martha, & i were talking at dinner tonight about how at least we're going home at christmas time... one of the happiest times in america. if we were on the spring voyage and coming home in may to nothing, that would totally suck. but believe me, i'm super excited for asia. can't believe we're in vietnam in a few days. then china and japan the two weeks after that. in my head, our voyage ends after japan... which is so depressing! but i know we still have hawaii, costa rica, and cuba (i'm not going to guatamala, i don't care what they say). cannot wait to get home, but i know once i'm home all i will want is to be back on the ship. such an issue.

in other news, today is founder's day... i think they said 47 or 48 years ago was semester at sea's first voyage. so we had cake at 3:30 in the dining halls to celebrate which was awesome. today we had our second global studies test, so we had the day off classes which i spent sleeping and being bored since i had nothing i needed to do for school. then i just had a birthday party for my extended family, the other librarian's extended family, and the work-study library staff. so more cake. such healthy choices, i know.

but i have work in ten minutes so i should probably get ready for that. or at least figure out what i'm going to do there. since i literally have no homework or anything that i have to do. oh well. and by no means does this post mean to stop emailing me about life at home... those stories keep me sane. i miss you all so much!

love love love.