Hello from the depths of the sea somewhere between Ensenada, Mexico and Honolulu, Hawaii. I have only just begun this journey but there is already so much that has happened.

As we walked up to the MV World Odyssey I could only think of how many memories we were about to make on this very vessel. The crew greeted us with smiling faces and open arms. As soon as our bags arrived to our room we began to unpack in our quant outside triple; by quant quarters I mean extremely small. Not shockingly, I am rooming with Paige. But I since I am in a triple we are rooming with another girl as well, she is super hilarious and it is definitely going to be a good time. Our room is incredible and extremely fancy for a college student. Paige and I have the “bunk beds” which aren’t really bunk beds because they are very spacious and don’t seem to be in the way of one another. We can look out into the gorgeous ocean through a cute little window, which is actually really awesome. We have a television and a mini refrigerator in the cabin as well. Our bathrooms are something else though. They are tiled to perfection and even have a mosaic mural in the tile of the shower. The knobs are fancy and the temperatures are not in English, but it is so cool. I wish all college living arrangements were this luxurious.

Once we unpacked we didn’t have anything on our schedules for a couple of hours so we decided to explore around some, that was a really great choice. We became semi-familiar with our new home as we found the sauna/fitness center, the “classrooms,” the “student union,” the pool, the bar, and most importantly, the restaurants. Those are only to name a few. Since this is a ship and used to belong to a German cruise line, the “classrooms” and the “student union” are not what you would typically expect from a college. The “classrooms” are a mixture of the old Cinema Theatre, a giant restaurant booth, along with both outside and inside terraces. Our “student union” seems to be the old bar and casino area of the ship. It is now filled with a large amount of luxury chairs, a giant chandelier, murals on the ceilings, and giant floor-to-ceiling windows that provide an amazing view to the ocean on both sides. After some exploration of the ship (never to be called a boat) we did a lifeboat drill that supposedly prepares us in the case of an emergency but lets hope that we never have to put those drills to the test. Shortly after, we departed for Honolulu, which was very exciting. While waiting to disembark we met some really awesome people. I have been able to connect with all different types of people from all over.

Many people have been getting seasick and needing to take an array of medication and wear those nausea patches behind their ears. I probably should have been one of those people taking the medicine or wearing the patches, however, as many people know, I am a little stubborn. I was convinced that I was not going to get seasick and that I could survive without any form of medicine. Getting used to the waves and motions of the ship have been a slight challenge. It also doesn’t help that there was a storm on our first night making the seas incredible high. I can finally say that I think I’m over the seasickness stage and I am really enjoying being in the middle of the Pacific right now