Hello from the Atlantic Ocean!

Hi Everybody!

We are currently about 500 miles off the coast of Florida. We still have a little over 3,000 miles to go before we reach Spain on the 28th. We've been getting settled in and getting used to everything, and this is the first chance I've gotten to update this. I'll give you a short play-by-play of the past couple days.

Monday, Kate and I got to the ship around 7:30 am to start helping with check in. Seven hours and 700 students later, we were done! We then had to say goodbye to Mom, Dad, and Kathy, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Everyone was standing near the port fence crying and hugging, but everyone was really excited, also, so that helped! After saying our goodbyes, we got on the ship and left land for the last time in 9 days. Then the whole ship (not boat) had a lifeboat drill and we had to stand outside for over an hour with long-sleeves and long pants. It was fun. Or not. When it was finally over, we ran downstairs to get the cameras and sprinted back upstairs to get a good spot by the railing. We saw all the parents, including ours, down on the dock, some crying, others cheering, and a few holding signs saying "We love you", "Be Safe", and "Please call home soon". haha. It was great. Then (drum roll please)....they unhooked the ropes holding us to the dock and off we went! It was really strange to be slowly floating away from Mom, Dad, and Kathy (and land)...not being able to call and say "wait! i forgot this!" or "hey i still see you". We stood there for the longest time with the other students until we couldn't even see the pier anymore. The sun went down and it was beautiful, and I got pictures (first sunset!). After the excitement of leaving, we had a mandatory orientation meeting and then our sea meetings (each hallway on the ship is given a name, kind of like a dorm, and they are all sea names). We are the Bering Sea, and our room is located in the forward part of the 4th deck on the port side. Our room is wonderful! There's more than enough room to store things, the beds are super comfortable, and the stewards come and clean it and make our beds for us (they also clean up after us at meals and bring us drinks...it's hard getting used to...lol).

Anyway, back to yesterday...we woke up and had meetings starting at 9 am. They were mostly boring and information I've already heard, so I almost fell asleep. Not to mention, the rocking of the boat makes you want to sleep a lot!. At 11:30, we all got to watch the inauguration ceremony through satellite in the union! It was amazing! Everyone was taking pictures and cheering every time they saw Obama! It was a great moment! And the cool thing about it that our Dean of Students said was that we are embarking on an amazing journey around the world while America is also starting a new journey. I am really excited to see how we are treated (as Americans) in other countries now that Obama is President. It should be interesting! Anyway, after a few more meetings, we got a break and played cards and Sorry with some girls we met. At 9:15, the crew surprised us and we had a celebration in the union for the inauguration, complete with champagne and cakes with little American flags in them! The crew is awesome here and they deserve a huge thank you for putting all that together on such short notice!

Today we started classes and work, except Kate and I don't have any of our classes (except Global Studies) today, so we're just relaxing and napping. The ship rocks so much that people look like they're drunk all day long. It's not uncommon to fall down the stairs or run into someone. I hope we get used to it soon! We also have an activities fair tonight where we can sign up for clubs and stuff, so I'll let you know which ones we picked!

That's all for now. I'll post more later when things are more interesting. Miss you all! Hope you're week is going well!

*Kate and Sarah*

p.s.- Mom and Kathy...did you get my e-mails? Because I haven't heard back and wanted to make sure you got home okay. If you sent me one, I didn't get it, so resend it. Thanks! Love you!