Happy Hour - 26 October

It’s been a productive day although it doesn’t necessarily translate into an interesting blog. Students are studying again after a day of tanning, the dining hall is serving the usual craptastic food, and our student employees are back at work in the library.

Eileen and I have decided to start partaking of happy hour in the faculty lounge to give ourselves a pick-me-up. We aren’t going there for the drinks but for the potato chips. We are both addicted to the snack now. We gathered there this evening for a round of potato chips and talked to others who are going through there own mid-voyage slump. The faculty lounge has never been so crowded. I think everyone needs a little extra company right now as we pass the mid-point of the trip.

Eileen and I gave ourselves a break from the dining hall and met at the 7^th deck grill for hotdogs at 8:00. It was wonderful – not as wonderful as our dinner last night but still - we are grateful for the break from the institutional food that is our usual option.

I was talking with the Academic Dean this evening (during Potato Chip Happy Hour) and he had been having a particularly bad day because of disciplinary action that is being taken against students who have committed stupid acts of vandalism and idiocy due to drinking. I’m not privy to even a fraction of the dumb behavior that occurs on the ship but I what I do hear isn’t pretty. I think everybody is fed up with the few students who act like morons. It certainly dominates conversations at gatherings. There are times when I need to remind myself that there are many wonderful students on this ship when it’s the weenies, lacking a critical mass of brain cells, who get the majority of the attention.

We have four more days at sea until we reach Egypt and I think everyone is more than ready to be in port again. This has been a very long stretch between countries!