A Fond Farewell

12.6.12

So this is it...my last few hours here on the MV Explorer...at least for
this voyage. It's been like high school again, running around trying to
get those last few people to sign journals/maps/cards/whatever you
brought for this moment in time. Most people are writing down e-mail
addresses before phone numbers, a reminder that e-mail has been our
primary contact since August, and there is such a thing where we can
dial a number and be able to talk to friends in a few short seconds...do
I even remember how to text? (It took me a minute to remember my phone
number too!) In some ways, the voyage is ending far too soon, but in
others, just the right moment to be back. All the suitcases are tucked
safely away for customs tomorrow, when before they were sprawled out
under beds, collecting dust until this fateful day.

I know that the friendships made on this voyage are everlasting, and
we're all going to still keep in contact, but it won't be as good as
seeing each others smiling faces every day, or hearing everyone groan
when the Bing Bong comes on and it's time for Randy's Bridge Noon
Report. I'll admit, as annoying as that sometimes was, it'll be a
moment missed when back home.

Mine and D's room looks so bare now that we've had to take everything
off the walls and out of the closet. Crazy to think what I have left is
a backpack full of clothes needed in Florida and a bunch of souvenirs
that I couldn't fit in my suitcase. And memories. Lots of memories
that will not soon be forgotten, but reminisced more often than not
while back home. I think I'll finally learn the lesson of 'pack
lightly' because it sucks trying to walk through the halls with
everything in one trip!

Our final pre-port is tonight; shocking that we have one for
Florida...but at the same time, it's going to be needed, because none of
us have seen the United States in over 3 months. In a few ways, we're
actually going to be foreigners to our own land; we have to readjust to
life back in the States. We've all made jokes about, "What's the
currency rate there?" Or going back to campus and not knowing where
everything is, "Quick, let's call DJ! He'll know what to do!" Not to
mention when we go somewhere new and NOT have a green sheet for
once...how strange! It's funny to think about what has become normalcy
and what remains foreign to us. To think, when we first embarked in
Halifax, everyone was strangers, people got lost on the ship... I don't
know what point during the voyage where this turned into everyday,
expected life. Strangers became best friends, the ship became home.
There have been several times in port where I have been overjoyed at
coming back to the ship, my home, after a long day, where climbing back
into my bed in my cabin was the best feeling in the world.

It's definitely not all bad...I am excited to go home, see all my
friends and family, spend the holidays with those I care most about.
But a part of me will always want to come back to this home, here on the
MV Explorer, and I know for a fact it won't be my last voyage with
SAS...I will return, I'm going to make sure of that! So here's to a
fond farewell to the ship I have called my home for the past 3 and a
half months! I'll miss it like crazy, but it will always stay with me
forever!

SH