The day has come - Voyage 129

This day has actually been so surreal. I am about to have the time of my life living on a boat for the next four months!!

So many emotions today. I was so nervous this morning for testing negative. I was really scared but at the same time so excited. Once we arrived at the cruise ship terminal the SAS staff met us outside and walked us through the next moments. The informed us that if we tested positive that the Italian government would be in charge of the quarantine. The quarantine could be between 10 and 24 days. So they recommended we all get tested again before entering the terminal. I did not, I was too excited and anxious.

Once we got through the terminal we where directed to another greeting area. This is where we checked in our bags and got our covid tests. The covid test was the longest ten minutes. Don’t fret though the test was negative!

After we got our covid test results we headed to another check in. Here we got our ID badges. We could then make our way onto the ship!! I got goosebumps when I first was the ship. It was such an amazing moment. All the students on this ship have had to deal with lots of obstacles to get on today. I could not stop smiling under my mask. Once on the ship we then had two more check in spots. After those check in spots we got our room keys and roommates assignments! Since my original roommate dropped out, I didn’t know what to expect. However, the amazing SAS student assistants saw my request I sent in two days ago and I will be rooming with the girl I met in Rome. So excited and happy!!!

Walking into the room was such a cool moment. Seeing the place I get to live for the best four months of my life. My roommate (Mariah) and I got lucky and received the bigger of the two double rooms!!

After I set my bags down I headed up to the lunch spot to get some food. I met up with some girls I met earlier to eat lunch. After lunch, I explored the ship. It is so fancy. I cannot wait to see more of it. After we walked around for a while, we headed back to unpack. Unpacking was actually so fun. I’m so happy to not have all those bags anymore. Mariah and I even had a dance party because of all the excitement!

After we unpacked, we headed off to see some more of the ship. We met some more people walking around while trying to find a water fountain. Then stopped at the smoothie bar, kinda let down. Then we headed to a lounge to hang and play some games.

We sat in the lounge for a while and chilled until dinner. When dinner was ready, we went right away as we were so hungry. The Covid protocol for the ship kinda sucks, hopefully they let it go a little. The dinner was ship food, nothing special.

After dinner we headed down to Hannah’s room and just got to know each other more and laughed at the mems from Rome and Pompeii.

I left to shower and organize myself. Then when I got to my room I was trying to book a flight for in port in Greece and my computer wouldn’t charge. With the stress of the entire day, I had a slight mental breakdown when my technology wouldn’t work. A problem for tomorrow. After that, I just waited around for the orientation meeting.

Early morning tomorrow. I won’t be posting while at sea. Taking time away from media.