I'm in Nassau!!...

...And I left my glasses, in their case, with my contact case.... On. My. Vanity. *smacks forehead repeatedly* Yeah. Whoops! We were so concerned that we had all our bags (we had ten including carry-on) and all the insulin and random bags packed full of fun things like sensors and sets that I completely forgot to grab them. Needless to say after almost 16 hours of travel and travel delays and it being windy and night when we got here so that we couldn't fully enjoy the BEAUTY of Nassau, I was less than pleased to figure that out.

HOWEVER.

Its beautiful here. The weather is nice (shorts and a tank top!) the food so far has been delicious and the people are super friendly. (There was about a half an hour when I walked from Paradise Island to Downtown Nassau and through it by myself where I got a little uncomfortable- but I got back to the wharf/buses and the hotel and everything just fine. :)

I even lost my first ceremonious three dollars on penny slots. The first machine a sat down on I won like 50 cents right off the bat. Then I proceeded to lost everything after that. haha but thats the nature of gambling and at least it was 3 dollars and not 30. It was fun though. My mom and I sat down and played the old ones where you still see the wheels spin and you have to pull the lever on the side to spin them. Its pretty fun. And LOUD. Every time you win, lose, print, spin all sorts of bells and whistles go off and lights blink. That part is annoying but I have to say, its nice not to have to stick to the stupid carpet paths anymore.

Tonight I'm going to Senor frogs to meet up with a bunch of people from the boat (most of them at staying at the Atlantis resort and I'm off that island to the west of Nassau). My parents are sippin' drinks and learning about what I'm going to be doing for the next three months on the ship as I type this out. My mom's text "were sitting here in this most deluxe union/theater eating sweet little snacks and drinking wine... you are soooo lucky! wait til you see it!" .. Thanks mom. Lets remind me how much they WON'T be serving those sweet little snacks while I'M aboard. Its like sudexo... its really good when it needs to be, but what they feed the students is a completely different story. But I'm not really complaining. I'm mostly just trying to find something to whine about, because from what I can tell... there isnt much and I'm thankin' my lucky stars for this experience.

Anyway. I love you all and tonight is my last night with internet for free and all that jazz (of COURSE facebook is down for repairs). I'll be emailing my updates to my blog so make sure you check it often. I'm going to try to write down things that make me think of all of you and write about them here. (For instance today at the Atlantis Aquarium I saw manta rays. It reminded me of Old Man and the Sea as well as Beach Music. Which made me think of Smailes' class and Ernest Hemingway which lead me to Jacque and her hatred of Hemingway as well as everyone in that class. Ahhhh You guys are everywhere! I take you all with me in my heart! hahahahaha I'm cheeeeesy.)

Anyway, Its really pretty outside and I should be sitting out there soaking it up. Maybe the lady is done cleaning my room now. If not, I might go buy an over priced starbucks in the casino next door.

Love you all.

3...2...1...

Alright. Here we go. This is it.

Hold your breath and Jump.
Holy cow I'm so excited.

Trips paid, bags.... kinda... packed, Diabetes managed,
everything has been delivered, new bags, camera, water bottle,
and about 200 granola bars. (Looking at my diabetes food bag is
like looking into the suitcase of a guilty kid at fat camp trying to
smuggle candy bars in. I feel a little silly :)

It's finally here, I've been waiting for it, and talking about it, and
dreaming and planning and finally.... in 2 days, I'll be headed to Nassau, Bahamas
to start my voyage.

I'm honestly thanking my lucky stars for this opportunity. I really am.

Dylan, Good luck in Africa. I love you. Thanks for the coffee :)

Final Countdown!

So I have 6 days until my parents and I leave for Nassau! I feel like
there is SO much to do still! I've paid for a couple independent trips
(one in Morocco and one in China) and I'm learning to keep a close eye on
my money. I think I might upload Quicken to take care of my money
spending!!

Speaking of money, I got my foreign cash today. Its so cool. Viet Nam's
bills have a watermarked plastic piece in them. A lot of the Asian
currency seem to have current leaders or at least leaders that aren't as
old as the ones we have on US bills. Also, It seems like the US is
different in that there is only one language on the bill. haha China has
several it seems like. South Africa has animals on theirs which I thought
was kinda cool. Mostly though, getting all these different currencies
makes it all the more real that I'm doing this, it makes it seem like its
going to happen a lot sooner that I think.

If anyone has anything they specifically want from someplace that isn't
huge or really expensive or hard to explain to customs let me know. (for
example, I'm not going to bring back any swords from Japan. Sorry.) I'm
going to keep a list and as long as its not unreasonable I'll try to get
it, or at least a picture :)

Love you all!