occurs at the end of each semester, NEVER plays music on the same
night that they serve alcohol. SAS tries very hard to not have the
reputation of a "booze cruise" or really even a cruise for that matter…
and this is the reason they don't typically mix the two.
The thing is, alcohol was served tonight, but I'm willing
to bet only about 20% of the people actually bought drinks, and those
that did were limited to 3 drinks. So, without the "normal" amount of
alcohol that typically surrounds most college parties, I've discovered
tonight that SAS knows how to party without it.
Tonight was hands-down the most exciting night on the
ship thus far. At 9pm everyone made their way up to the top deck for
pub-night…the only difference was that this time, there was music
blasting. It's weird, I've spent a lot of time up on the 7th deck, but
just a little simple music changes the whole atmosphere. Some people
got drinks, but myself and some friends wasted no time (or money) and
started the dancing right away. At first I was just a small group of
us dancing, within 20 minutes the dance floor started to get packed
and it only got more and more packed.
I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before…okay, I
KNOWWWWW I've mentioned this before (sorry for being annoying), but
this community is SOOOO unique. At one point I was doing the cha-cha
slide with my Dean on one side and assistant Dean on the other side.
At many points throughout the night we formed circles where people
would go out in the center and do solo moves. Many times our world
religions professor named Adam Graves found himself in the middle of
the circle. To all of our surprise, this man knows HOW to dance. A
student named Anita was Adam's dance partner for the evening and
frequently joined him in the circle. There is only one way to describe
Anita's dancing—she OWNS the dance floor. Most of the professors and
Deans were out there dancing with us the whole night, having just as
good a time as all of us and continuing to break down the barriers
that usually keep authority and students at an arms length.
I've been to many dance parties before, but this was by
far the most interesting as well as full of energy. Try to imagine a
ship in the middle of the Indian ocean, currently sailing on the
outskirts of a cyclone, rocking back and forth like crazy, with the
back top deck full of students, professors, deans, life-long learners,
and crew-members, jumping up and down and dancing like there's no
tomorrow. The dancing was really fun because the entire group would
fall in one direction together many times throughout songs. I've never
almost fallen down so many times just from dancing. At one point, my
friend Adolfo from Mexico danced the salsa with me. I told him that I
could now check dance the salsa with a Mexican off of my bucket list.
The area where we were dancing was next to the bar with a
covering over it. Towards the end of the night we noticed that on the
uncovered part it was raining. So, everyone bolted towards the un-
covered part and we all dancing and refreshed in the rain. Rihanna's
"We found love" closed out the night and it was the most intense
jumping, mosh-pit, dance session I have ever experienced.
The music finally stopped around 12, but that doesn't
mean that everyone left. Immediately people started a chant that was
to the tune of "we're not gonna take it" but the words were "we're not
going to Mauritius"! I was so happy to see everyone finally embracing
the reality of the situation and not feeling bitter or annoyed about
what can't be changed any longer. Then, we sang songs like "Sweet
Caroline", "All the Small Things", and "Don't stop believing".
Like I said, Mauritius day is off to quite the start. Now
it's time to go to sleep so I can see what the actual day has to
offer. Here is a list of the activities offered tomorrow:
Brunch!
Zumba
Soccer games
Family friendly movie (for kids and adults)
Improv club (called sock, porcupine, clock, toaster)
Dodge ball
Insanity
BBQ
Are you smarter than a dependent child? (The kids on board are all
referred to as dependent children…so this is a play on the game "Are
you smarter than a fifth grader")
Movie in the union
KARAOKE!
All of these activities sound enticing, and I will definitely
participating in more than one…as well as spending most of my day on
the top deck in a bathing suite. It might not be Mauritius…but like my
Dad's favorite clothing brand, Life is GOOD!
Lila Tov (good-night) everyone!
Steph
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