Land!

It has seem like forever since we have seen any signs of land, but a couple of days ago we saw birds! Albatross I believe they were called. They were following our boat wait for our boat to scare a few flying fish so they could dive down and eat them. Then today was our second sign of civilization, a cargo ship! It has seem like forever since we have seen any signs of civilization! We have seen nothing but miles and miles of blue ocean. Then came new types of birds, the likes of I have never seen before. And then whales! Yes thats right, I saw whales! I was reading my book that I need to read for one of my classes (Typee by Herman Melville) and I was reading it on the deck when in the faint distance you could see 3 whale spouts. I could not actually see the whale, but the whales spouts at a distance was a nice refresher that we were getting close to land. And as soon as there was few moments of sunlight, a mountain appeared on the horizon, it was Hawaii! The atmosphere about this boat is completely different as us college students try and figure out what we are going to do once we get to port. I signed up to do some scuba diving with some of my friends I made on this boat, and we are going to a black sand beach and hopefully see an active volcano. Unfortunately, we are in Hilo for only one night, and then we are off to Honolulu. I can't wait to set foot on solid ground! The seas are calmer finally.

In other news, my work study is not at all what I expected it to be. It looks like my duties as a programming assistant in academic success keep expanding and each day I have to be more and more flexible and I am constantly adapting to what they keep telling me I have to do. I now am in charge of the port events committee, which means I have to record and broadcast a short news broadcast in the boat. I have no film experience and no video editing experience so I am going to have to quickly learn. I didn't expect this to suddenly be part of my duties, but I guess I have to learn. The work is definitely doible and they aren't overworking me so I have no complaints, I am just hoping my committee and I can make this program work and work well too.

I am also surprised at the talent on this boat. They held a coffee house last night with an open mic, I expected nothing of it. I was actually heading up to pub night with some of my friends because that is where everyone hangs out at night, but to get to the deck where pub night was being held we walked by the open mic and what I witnessed was truly spectacular. This girl played guitar and it was amazing! She wrote her own songs and had a really amazing voice. I took a video of one of her songs, can't wait to show it. Then one of the professor's daughters, who had to be at least 13, read some of the best poetry that I have ever heard, and I don't even like poetry! They were all her own work. Then these two students played my favorite song from "The Flight of the Conchords" about the most attractive girl in the room, it was hilarious! There were some more great singers and pianist and guitarist as well, I was truly amazed. I didn't even make it to pub night!

We haven't even reached land yet and I am already starting to feel like I am a changed person. I have met some truly amazing people and have made some friends that I know that I will have for life.

Hilo, Hawaii tomorrow! Honolulu the next day!