Sea Olympics!


Yesterday was a great day. We woke up early to have breakfast and get ready for Sea Olympics. The first thing we noticed when we got to the Garden Lounge to eat was the the stillness of the water. It was erie how calm it was, there was hardly any ripples. We all figured that to be this calm and serene for the whole day there has to be something bad coming like a storm, but sure enough it never came. The water is still glassy and it's the next day. After breakfast, my sea had to collaborate.

The Sea Olympics consisted of 9 groups of people broken into groups named for a sea that we have come or will come close to on our journey. The groups were broken off by halls except or one group that consisted of the Life Long Learners (WOWs- waves of wisdom) and the staff and there families. They named this the "Nearly" Dead Sea. My sea w is one of the biggest groups on the ship because I live in one of the biggest an most used hallways. Our sea is call the Andaman sea which is located off the coast of Myanmar and Thailand. We will be passing through it after India on our way to Vietnam. The size of our group gave us the upper hand and the whole day we were the ones to beat.

The festivities started off in the union. Every sea paraded through the ship chanting and getting pumped for the competition. When we got there we got the rules and basis of the day described to us and then each sea was announced one at a time. This gave each sea a chance to present their torch (which we made and which were judged on for a points which were added to our overall score for the day). It also gave the chance for each sea to show the others what we were all about by sining our sea songs which we put together and were also judged. Our song won the competition and I think it was because it was so epic.

Our song began much like the song from Remember The Titans, "Everywhere we go! People want to know!..." In the end we added our own personal touch to the lyrics pretty much saying that we were going to triumph so beware. It also had some fun moves at the end. We did the roller coaster gig where one person is in front with their hands in the air and screaming. They move to one side as if the roller coaster is changing direction and the whole crowd does the same thing because we are following him. We are all screaming too so it has a good affect. He moves to every side and the very last time the leader has his hands forward and bends down and begins to scream very quietly. As he raises is hands we follow him slowly getting higher and higher and higher, louder and louder until we can't go any further and every one scream, "Andaman!!!" It was a good way to get the spirit going for the day. Like many of the games for the day we rocked this one and got first place.

There were many games and they were all judged. All the games had a first, second, third and fourth place except for the chin-up competition. In the chin-up competition the number of chin-ups achieved were the points you received. For all the other games first place got twenty points, second place got fifteen points, third place got ten points and fourth place got five points. The games included Olympic-esque activities- popcorn eating contest, synchronized swimming, chin-ups, spelling bee, dodge ball, trivia, simon says... (renamed Dean Byron Says... after our dean of students), and many other interesting twists to the olympics.

The day was beautiful throughout. The sun was shining, the temperature was high, the moisture was low, the sky was clear except for punctuating clouds, and everyone was in the spirit of the day. The games ended in time to have a BBQ and we all watched the sun set. I can't count how many times I heard positive comments on the sunset. Most people agreed that they have never seen one so beautiful. I got it on film and took pictures but it hardly justifies what we saw. It was a great day off from classes and to top it off the Andaman Sea got first place!!!! The reward is that our sea gets to be the first off the ship in San Diego. Really, the reward became a double-edged sword because after a day like that with all the people here I don't know that I will be so anxious to leave them when we get to San Diego.