Just before Mauritius

MAR 14

Okay, so I WOULD be totally pumped about arriving in Mauritius tomorrow morning, but right now I’m sitting in my Women’s Studies class just about to write an open book exam. Okay, so open book isn’t that bad, but we just found out that it was going to open book this morning after another professor looked at her test and told her there was no way we could write the test unless it was open book!!! AHHHH!! This is already my least favourite class…even below economics.

Oh, and speaking of macroeconomics, I wrote my exam for that class two days ago; I think it went pretty well. I have to admit, could have done better if I’d actually studied a little more, but after learning that same material three times, I felt pretty confident walking into the midterm.

After the exam:

Wow, I just found out that due to rough seas we won’t be docking into Port Louis until ~4 pm tomorrow. Basically, this means we lose one of our three days in port. I’m lucky in that I didn’t make any plans…no tours, no expectations, no having to decide between activities, no disappointment. Why such unexpected waves? I guess there’s some big storm quite a distance away, but we still feel some of the effects. No, nothing major – actually these are just like the conditions from our ‘roughest day at sea’. I feel bad for those plagued with seasickness, but I’m quite fortunate in that I have yet to experience the slightest upset.

Now that’s out there…back to the exam I’ve just written. I think I did surprisingly well! I mean, not that I don’t expect to do well on tests I write, but the whole reason for it being open book scared me just a smidgen. Even though I hadn’t prepared much for lack of knowing what to study, I did what I could and that seems to have been enough since I didn’t even really NEED my texts. Actually, the test was unnervingly easy…either the professors seriously underestimate our test-writing abilities, I’m really smart, or I completely missed the point on the three essay questions and failed the test.

And since I’m on the topic of exams, I just wrote our second Global Studies test yesterday and got an 84%. This isn’t as good as the 94% from the first one, but an average of 88% in the class rumored to be the hardest I’ll ever take in my undergrad career…I’m pretty okay with it! (It might help to know the format for each of these four Core tests is 50 multiple choice questions – m/c and I are generally NOT friends. At all.)

In case you haven’t been able to tell with the lightheartedness and positivity of what I’ve written post-exam, I’m in a really good mood right now. I have a pretty good feeling that has something to do with getting those three major tests and a major paper out of the way, as well as knowing my weekend starts tomorrow…or after my next class that will end in just under two hours (3:30pm). :D

FYI: I’m currently in the GMT +4 time zone…this makes me 10 hours ahead of everyone in Regina. So…when I finish my class, it will only be 5:30am at home!

Really, that’s all there is to tell for now. I’ll try to keep what I tell you guys to the more interesting facts…just so happens school has been my life for the past 6 days and that’s really the most interesting bit of information to tell you.

Oh! There IS something else. Have I ever told you guys about birthdays on the ship? For a surprisingly appropriate price we can order cakes from the kitchen so we can celebrate people’s birthdays. Yesterday was Angela’s birthday (friend), so I had some pistachio ice cream cake. Mmmm. And four days ago was Ericka’s birthday (coworker in the library)…more ice cream cake. And sometime between Puerto Rico and Brazil was Erika’s birthday (the 2nd of three work study students…this one also in the library), and for this one we had some layered jam cake. (Mom: this is the vegetarian Erika who loves Indian food and was at the Towne Hotel).

Salut!
Lindsay

P.S. Update at 10pm: we’re to arrive in Port Louis tomorrow at noon with the help of improved waters.



MAR 15

Just thought I'd say hi before I post...I'm sooo excited to speak French with everyone in just a couple of hours!!!!

A dimanche!
Lindsay