On my way to the end....

I never was able to say Aloha in my last blog, so here it is!!! ALOHA! We are definitely way passed Hawaii as our boat is going very fast now! We are probably at around 23 or 24 knots. I last saw our route on the TV going from Honolulu to Port Caldera? If you know where that is let me know! Most likely we are stopping there to fuel the boat before we arrive in Costa Rica.
        I now only have two class days left! We are just reviewing and filling out course evaluations though. This means all I have is four finals! I have one on December 2, two on December 4, and one on December 6. Currently I am trying to get all my notes and materials ready to study for the next couple of days. Sleep is also a needed thing on this boat because of our constant time changes. After tonight, only four more.
        This is such a bittersweet part in my voyage! Of course I want to get home, but the more I think about myself being at home with these new experiences it freaks me out. I apologize because this is not making much sense. Let me talk about something else.

        Today I donated money to the alumni fund, which enables the Institute of Shipboard Education to give money to future students for scholarships. Also, it gives money to this new foundation in memory of Kurt Leswing. I could pick a number of different foundations where I wanted the money to go, but since Kurt was on my voyage and I knew him, I felt it appropriate to give to that foundation. I not only gave Semester At Sea money, I also wrote my name down on the list of people that will be contacted to recruit at home universities. I thought this was a neat idea and any college student should have this incredible opportunity like I did.

What else what else! All my friends are great and are working just as hard as I am for final exams and papers. It is quite funny to hear people’s conversations of how they are getting certain items that they bought home. My roommate bought this crazy Brazilian instrument that is absolutely huge. No idea how she is getting it home, but it is definitely not staying in the corner of our room! I don’t think it would even fit in the overhead compartment on the plane =)
You will be happy to know that our room is decorated with all Christmas decorations and there are even candy canes hanging from the ceiling! We are very festive in room 4038.
Yeah Christmas Time! Let the shopping begin!!

Love,

Kristen X0X0