The Future Is Limitless!

I know I haven't posted in a few days, but I've gotten pretty busy
between work, classes, and honestly just being tired. (I've never seen
as many college students take naps before as I do here, since the boat
literally rocks you to sleep!) A few things that have happened since my
last post:

A couple nights ago we had another cultural pre-port of London, but
right after that, we had a showing of The Hunger Games! The Union has
only been that packed once before-the first day of Global Studies haha.
Last night the cultural pre-port was about Belgium, and it was pretty
interesting! I plan on having some Belgian chocolate while there, and
of course, a waffle! :)

During our class Global Studies (everyone has to take this class) we
have one major group project in which we have to connect a topic across
all 4 continents that we are going to. My group is doing food and plan
to find the connections between different countries and how they view
mealtimes, what is the most important meal, etc. (This should be very
helpful for you, Mr. Eppley! :] )

Then there's work. Our work study office will have the first 10 minutes
or so of every logistical pre-port to promote some of the projects we're
working on (such as the ship board auction, the ship board drive, and
the Alumni Ball!) We are doing trivia questions about SAS history, and
then going into what we're doing. Later, I'll be posting a link to
where everyone can donate for us-we're asking a $12 donation (or
multiples of 12) in honor of the Fall 2012 voyage!

Yesterday we had a fascinating talk from Dr. Kathy Thorton. For those
of you who don't know, Dr. Thorton teaches at UVa, but she is also a
retired astronaut! She has been on the shuttle Discovery, Columbia, and
a few others! She has rotated around the Earth over 250 times!! I wish
I could post a picture of everything, but that will wait until port
(sorry everyone!) She showed us a picture of a lit birthday candle in
space, and it doesn't have a stretched out shape like it does on Earth,
it literally is in a perfect sphere shape! At the end of her talk, she
played a slide show of pictures to tunes that were parodies of famous
songs (ie: Get Around by the Beach Boys, Fun Fun Fun by the Beach Boys,
etc. They weren't all Beach Boys songs, but those were the ones I knew
the best because I really like that band haha).

Dr. Thorton had so many of us captivated for over an hour and a half
(it's hard to get anyone to stay seated for more than an hour during
class without falling asleep...constant rocking does that to you!) but
she also said the words, "The future is limitless." To which I
completely agree with, wholeheartedly. I never knew that I would really
be able to go on this voyage, writing my blog via e-mails to myself,
since it seemed such a daunting task to raise the money, but with hard
work and determination, the future really is limitless. I want to
encourage everyone to follow their dreams, because where there is a
will, there will be a way to get there. I was able to go for mine, and
after I get back from this voyage, I know that nothing is impossible,
and to say again, the future is limitless for those who have the
creativity and the heart to follow their dreams.

All for now!
SH Me and my friend Ainsley with Dr. Kathy Thorton