Monday, February 12 (i need to start being creative with my titles)

Monday, February 12^th

It’s been really rocky the whole day. It’s 11:30pm right now and we’re not allowed out on the deck since the wind is so strong. The clouds started to get thick around dinner time and it’s been windy and rainy since then. Our first storm.

I just got back from working out in the gym and it was great. I really do miss playing sports.

So I’ve reorganized the syllabus for each class and am kind of freaking out about the intense studying that lies ahead. Saturday morning we dock in Salvador, and up until then I have a hellish ordeal to get through. I need to read over 400pages total, take 2 tests, and write 2 papers. YIKES. I can’t even think about being seasick. Gotta tough it out. I was actually really nauseous after dinner, but I kind of ignored and read. It got worse but I ignored it even more and went to work out. Now I feel fine. Ah, the human body and its wonders. Haha

Highlights of today would be having lunch with Ryan and Tim. Ryan’s the one I’ll be leading the Gay-Straight Alliance with, and he’s also in my Gender, Class, Race, Ethnicity and Social Change class. He’s great. I’m definitely excited to work with him. Then there’s Tim, who I met briefly but talked to for the first time today. I definitely had a good impression of him automatically just because he’s really chill with Ryan, who’s gay. Any guy that’s not homophobic always gets my attention. Anyway, Tim is a really nice guy and was pretty excited for Japan and the food. We all had a good conversation about random things: the awesome opportunity we’re having, how we really want to learn, about education, Japan… Sweet. I’m finally finding people who can hold a good conversation.

On top of it all, clubs and organizations start tomorrow so I’m super pumped. Who cares if I have a crap load of work to do? Once I whip out my planner and it fills up, the motivation for studying spurs too. Hooray for Miss LFC at sea J