We're Back!

Well y’all it’s been awhile! March saw the beginning of the end for my essays meaning that if I was writing anything while at my computer it had to be long intelligent analyses of evolutionary principles and their implications – or else emails to my family to let them know I was alive and well and not going (too) crazy! Meaning that while I am still very much abroad, and ever oblivious I didn’t quite get the chance to write about it! But I’m back. Essays are in, and dissertation things are just getting started, but really no need to worry about that yet!



In fact I spent last week not worrying at all. Allie just finished her semester and so we decided that as a celebration we should go travelling. Somewhere with a beach and sunshine seemed the best option. Then my roommate Aheli informed us that under no circumstances were we going anywhere without her so with the Travelling Trifecta established we finally settled on a cruise starting in Venice and stopping in Croatia and the Greek Isles. Anyone who has known me for more than five minutes will be aware of my love of cruises and while I will be the first to admit that one day in every port is not nearly enough, they do offer a chance to see a lot of places in a short amount of time, and with only a spare week in between work, this was perfect.



Aheli and I flew into Venice where we met Allie and then boarded the Norwegian Gem, the biggest ship I have ever been on. It’s of the rock wall, waterslide, bowling alley, thirteen restaurant, private villas variety of big. Our room was right below the buffet, perfect for bonding with a large number of servers, and the perfect location for afternoon cookie runs. It did not take long at all for the three of us to achieve a sort of celeb status on board. Sure this could have been due to the fact that because it was between Spring break and Summer vacation that we were three of approximately 6 people on board below the age of 40, but who am I to complain when the entertainment staff is calling us the “Magic Girls from Near Boston”, the managers ALWAYS come to say hello at dinner, people stop us in the elevators asking what we’ll be singing or where we’ll be dancing next and the photography staff is volunteering to hide us in their cabins so we don’t have to get off the boat? OK that last one was a little creepy, but still.



Actually I think the crowning moment of the trip was when at the nightclub we moved onto the dance floor and were followed by the entire club. Then a song we did not love came on so we left and the dance floor cleared. This happened at least 3 times. Then there was the time we started a conga line and got the entire club to join. Or I guess the time we danced Cotton Eyed Joe on the pool deck and got a shout out from the band was pretty cool too…

This sounds like we just ran wild, 3 girls on spring break around Europe, but don’t be fooled. This is the magic of cruises. We had a place where we could just relax, dance, and eat while sitting in the sun, but then the boat would dock and we could explore the canals of Venice, ruins of Croatian Palaces, see sunset from the top of Santorini, and explore the labyrinth of streets in Mykonos, designed to confuse pirates, and now it seems tourists as well. This trip offered a mix of culture and pure relaxation with plenty of chances to act like absolute children, which for anyone who has followed our previous adventures or heard any of the stories from The Semester Abroad, is how we tend to operate.

Of course there is plenty more to say about the week, and now that I’ve got a little more time on my hands I’ll try to post some of the key stories soon, but for now, this is where we’ve been. And I would go back in a heartbeat.