Royal Diamond Shellback

I am officially a Royal Diamond Shellback. Do I look different? (I'm making a 0, not doing ballet)

Yesterday we crossed the Equator at the Prime Meridian. Captain Roman is the best! He changed the course of the ship so that we could cross at the Prime Meridian AND he then sailed along the PM for 15 minutes so people could straddle hemispheres if they wanted. He even sounded the Explorer's horn the second we crossed around 1230.

It was such an exciting moment! There were tons of people on deck 7 and the videographer was taking some footage while the photographer was lining people up for photos. A lot of people made signs to take pictures with. Everyone was cheering and hugging and taking pictures. Until this point, I've refused to think about this voyage as a "once in a lifetime" opportunity because I don't want to limit myself or feel pressure of making every second perfect. But, I will admit, that yesterday was a once in a lifetime experience. There are many faculty and staff onboard who have sailed a number of times, and none of them have crossed the Equator at the Prime Meridian and stood at absolute 00' 000'. It was amazing.

Those who have not crossed the equator on a ship are called Polywogs. Those who have are called Shellbacks. The rarest form of Shellback is a Royal Diamond Shellback: someone who has crossed at the Prime Meridian. So there you have it!

I've mentioned a few times now that there will be the Neptune Day celebration tomorrow (Tuesday). Everyone must be initiated into King Neptune's court to become a son or daughter of Neptune. (It's basically a maritime tradition that closely resembles hazing...). I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Yesterday was otherwise pretty standard. Back to work - a long day of work, actually. I did an Explorer Seminar last night on test preparation and test taking strategies. Not a huge turnout (I was "competing" with a session on travel photography, which I actually did intentionally because I wanted a smaller group) but it went very, very well. That first day back at sea after a port is tough.

I also tried to gather a picture of my days in South Africa. So far it looks like Day 1 is the Township Visit (I'm the trip leader), Day 3 I'm going to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years) with Tara (we just got our tickets last week - they must be purchased in advance!), Day 5 I will be leading the Habitat for Humanity project, and Day 6 I will be touring the efforts of the Operation Hunger NGO. On Days 2, 4 and morning of 3, Im hoping to get to Cape Point & Boulder Beach as well as the top of Table Mountain. It's going to be great!

But a lot must happen before then. Today is a typical work day, and then tonight we have a couple great Explorer Seminars and I have a meeting about exam proctoring. (Tomorrow is the big Global Studies exam - students are getting very very anxious).

Happy Monday - Go Packers :)

PS - Shout out to uh-lise! Good luck on your first round of tests gurl!