FINALS ARE OVER! I think they went pretty well. I woke up this morning nice and early for work. Once work was over and my small little cat nap, I snuck in some last minute studying (for 4 hours) and took my last two finals. The finals were not too bad, the first, Comparative Politics, 2 essays and 25 fill in the blank, the second, International Trade, 4 essays. My hand hurt pretty bad afterwards with all of those handwritten essays (18 cumulative handwritten pages), but I felt pretty confident that I will get my desired grades. I find out tomorrow. Also, I thought to myself as my hand was wrought with pain from writing so much that I will be happy to go home to my big U of A school that has too many students per class to do essays and it is just easy peasy mutiple choice scantron tests, which I have become a pro at taking with so much practice.
The finals lasted from 3pm to 5:30pm, which was unfortunate because our Alumni Ball Dinner, Program, and Dance started at 5:30pm. I quickly dressed up in shirt, tie, and some nice slacks (Jack in a nice dress) and we had a very nice meal with a good group of friends (my roommate and company). It was nice. Free champagne, appetizer, salad, soup, entrée (chicken or steak). Dessert was served after the program. I learned that when you are allowed champagne and two glasses of wine and you and your girlfriend dont drink. You can have a friend turn into your best friend. So between some of the friends at our table, we split up our wines and champagnes to them, to my roommate, Charlotte, and Patricks drunken delight. Haha.
After dinner, we head out to the central square where the captain was doing photos. I felt bad for the guy 700 kids wanting to take photos with him, so he just stood there like a cardboard cut out, but I obviously didnt feel that bad because I got my picture with him, gotta love the guy that took you around the world and is bringing you back home safely, deserving of a picture.
We had a program after that, which we didnt know what that meant, but they had fun games and showed a slideshow. The fun game was the Newlywed Game, which my roommate and I entered, haha. We got 2nd place. It was pretty funny. He was pretty drunk from dinner, so he didnt always have the best responses. What toothpaste does your roommate use? Uh, I dont know something with a C, like Crest, or like Colgate haha. The worst one was I was asked of him Most emabressing moment from this trip. I said that is was when he got pick-pocketed by prostitutes in Barcelona. He couldnt think of anything so he said, Probably when I go back to my room and he yells, Jack, put your shirt back on. Jack was more embarrassed than he was. I always say that joke, because he always freaks out, but Jack is always fully dressed and we are usually either watching a movie or doing homework, so it was funny to him and our group of friends that know that I say that, but not so much to Jack who got all red in the face. Shell laugh tomorrow. I hope.
After the program, we had dessert and a dance. Dessert looked better than it tasted. The dance was pretty fun. It is weird dancing when your comparative politics professor is getting down with his wife next to you, definitely different.
At the dance, we learned that our Shipboard Drive broke some serious records. 89% of the ship gave at least a $1 or more, which is okay, not great (other voyages have gotten 100%). The big deal is that between the shipboard donations drive and the auction we raised $53,847.15, which is more than $10,000 over the previous highest total and the donations drive raised over $24,000 on its own, which is more than double the second highest ever by any voyage (2nd place is $11,000). This was the first time any voyage ever had an idea emerge like Jack and mine about the study guide towards the shipboard drive donations It seemingly worked, as we have had plenty of proof from people and from the numbers when it was all said and done that it did. Semester at Sea has been going on for more than 45 years with 55,000 alumni. I am pretty proud that we were able to raise so much.
Today was a fun day, but a full one. I am exhausted, but glad I am done with school. Tomorrow, we have reflection day. I have only two more days of work. Two more full days on the ship. I am still working on my convocation speech. I will post it in two days. It is not that interesting. It is short and sweet, numbers based just like I like.
