Barcelona,

When we got in the city was so beautiful, colour full buildings, filled with buzzing people and there was also the Christopher Columbus statue that was shining with a rim of gold. We docked right near a mall which was fantastic because we had quick access to internet and food and basically everything we needed. The day we docked was Thanksgiving Day so we were not allowed off the ship because we had a delicious thanksgiving dinner.  That night we went out and had some ice cream and a look around. There were palm trees everywhere and the city was just buzzing. By that time our ice cream was depleted and we decided to go to the mall even though it was 9:00pm it was still open.  The mall was HUGE, everything you could ever imagine was there and the cool thing was that there were no walls in some places so it was a type of “outside mall”. The next day we had shore leave; Jane, Maria, Kim and I wanted to get some clothes for the warmer countries we were going to visit. We spent a solid 4 hours in the mall and my wardrobe was set for the Caribbean. Clothes there were not too expensive so that was a good thing. In Porto, Miss Bourque my History found out that “train” was playing while we were there. Tickets cost 25 euro’s and the concert was not a huge one it was small-ish roughly 300 people were there and it was in a quiet venue. Anyways, I went to the concert and it was so much fun we all got dressed up and took the metro to go to the concert. The concert was really nice, train was a really good entertainer and some of us even got pictures with him. Our first port program: Park Gael, he is a famous architect for all of his crazy architecture. When we entered the park you felt like you had entered a dream , it was so crazy there were vendors everywhere and music playing : it was just a nice place to be.  Our next port program was visiting an old abbey on top of a mountain named “Mont Serrate”.( The serrated mountains) These were the most particular rock formations I have ever seen , they looked like giant columns softened with the slightest touch of a sander.  They were all natural and pure. The view we had when we walked up it was just breath taking: the smell of pure air was really refreshing. Spain was a great place and I hope someday be able to go back and explore a lot more. 

More on Barcelona

soon to come ...

Africa right\ Europe left.

Going to barcelona we went through the strait of Gibraltar , it was a beautiful day when we went , seeing africa for the first time a mesmerizing experience . we were followed by daulphins and small whales it was a fantastic day! Later on that day there was absolulty no wind what so ever and we just were sitting there so the staff decided to have a swim call! Everybody was super stoked , we were going to swim in this beautiful blue Mediterranean . The water was at 22degrees celcius . That night though we passed through a thunder storm i have never seen this much lightning in my life we were surrounded by diffrent storms . We arrived in barcelona a day early , nobody complained though because we had an extra day of free time.

LAND,SEA ,LAND,SEA ans SEA

I have not written in a very long time but dont worry i will keep you updated ,
PORTO ,
My frist impressions of porto were not the best because as we entred the port itwas very industrial and the water had lots of garbadge in it, but then we found out that we were not in the city of porto but on the outside of porto and we could take a 25mmin train ride to the city of porto. The first night of free time we had kim,sarah N, morgan, Brynn , Jane and I all went to porto to go have dinner and find an internet cafe . at first we were confused with how the subway worked but we made it to porto;) we found an internet cafe and spent a solid 2 hours there because we had to do homework and talk to people. Sarah asked a local were a good restaurent would be and he sent us to this non-touristic place and apperently it was a very popular reaturent because it was fully booked that night luckly someone canceled their reservations ! The place was called chien qui fume it is a french name i am not really sure why that is. The next few days we went to a mediavel city and had the day all to our selves and i had a very interesting meal. It was not my favourite but a new thing of mine is to order something completely out of the ordinary , i have taken a liking to ordering random meals. The people though personaly were not to friendly the were very snapy and they sometimes treated us like we were "dumb" but when you went to the city it was better. I truly enjoye my stay in porto i am ready to go to spain now though.

September 23/10

Tomorrow we are leaving for Porto Portugal. We were supposed to leave today but we were held back because there was a national strike today. So we are leaving tomorrow, i apologize to everybody if i have not talked to them; it’s so hard to find internet that actually works, for example on the boat when we were in France we managed to find internet but it would go on and off and i could not even manage to upload pictures to my blog or facebook. France had been amazing, the food has been delicious and the sights beautiful. We went to Mont st Michel and we went to some of the d-day beaches notably Juno beach. We also went to an aquarium. All in all France was incredible; though i am sad to see France go i am excited to see Portugal .

September 24^th/10 – Realizations

For the past few weeks i have realized many things .

1)      You really don’t need 30 min showers , On the boat we get three pushes a day and each push last for roughly 20 -45 seconds and so if you have a shower every 2 days you get 6 pushes which is plenty to shampoo , wash and rinse and even shave your legs .

2)      Sleep- YOU NEED YOUR sleep !!! Lights out are at 10 , but you don’t have to go to bed , so lots of people don’t and they make so much noise so then you don’t get to bed.  And also we have night watches were we , a) drive the boat b) do fire watch c) drive the boat ( called helming) d) help the ‘helms man’ drive the boat e) you are on standby if the pro crew need help with anything. My watch is from 6-9 am and i have to be on deck at 5:55 and we get woken up at 5:40am. At the end of three weeks we change and my group will be on the 8-10pm watch which is the best because you get a full nights rest ( the other watches are form 10-12pm, 12-2am , 2-4, 4-6am) Anyways sleep is important or else what you do is eat sleep go to class and go to watch.

September  28^th – 100% of my sea legs

Tomorrow we arrive in PORTO Portugal, this sail has seemed really short , i don’t  really know why but it’s just has flown by . The weather has been splendid, We saw whales and many many dolphins . They would just come up beside the ship and jump around. I have never seen such beautiful sunrises and sunsets, they looked like the sky had just been painted!!!! The intense oranges and pinks and blues were just mesmerizing. School has picked up pace and I find myself not liking semester system because everything is worth an incredible amount and everything is so compact. But on the up side I do get to have my chemistry class outside in the nice sunshine with a little marine breeze. I have a very busy schedule, in runs by days and i have 5 days ; so for example,  I had my night watch from 6-9am and then you either have day watch or a class or a break , but i had another 2 hours of day watch ( so that’s 5 hours of day watch) Followed by 1hour of Canadian History followed by lunch than 1 hour of chem., followed by a break, followed by 2hours of Oceans 11 , followed by dinner !!!! That’s my day one. So basically i have been up since 5:40am!! oh and i still have not done my load of homework  , but don’t get me wrong i am not complaining because when the sunrises and dolphins are jumping across that sunrise I am so grateful  I have come here . Thank you mom and dad i hope you don’t think i am complaining i was just explaining: P

Three new posts

Day 3 – New faces

- So I have now we have spent three days on the sorlandet. Last night was not my best night, because I might have had too much coffee (note to self: don’t drink 5 cups of coffee at dinner). David our cook has been very generous with our meals; they have been quite delicious so far. I am told though that when we start off at sea we have less and less fresh fruit and vegetables. I guess that is understandable. Yesterday we had our first day of sail training and we got to climb aloft. I managed to do my chin up and so I climbed up onto the first part of the sail and at one point when you are crossing over form the rigging to the sail you are not attached and you are only one a line and that’s it. You have things to hold onto but you have to reach to get to the lines you can hold onto. 

Day 10- I have been sea sick for the past 5 days , that is why i have not written day 4 to 9 . Sea sickness not fun . Well anyways, the first night we set sail it was a nice day but that night mostly everybody  was sea sick . I can’t recall how many times i threw up. Today was the first time i had a meal in three days because i just could not eat. What actually made me feel better was the sea sick medicine that my parents gave me , they say that you should not take sea sick medicine but i could not stand not eating and feelg terrible for three days strait. Yesterday we did not have class , we had a “ snow day’’ because we were passing through a storm and the boat was rocking like crazy.  The waves were 7-8 meters high and the boat was on a forty five degree angle.  It was extremely scary but i guess its better to go through the worst in the beginning. What was really interesting is that everybody pulled together to have a fun tim , it sounds corny but its true. The people that were sick were taken care of , the people that were scared were taken care of and so on and so forth.  That night the storm was still raging on , i did however managed to get a couple hours of sleep before i had to get up at 5:40 to be on watch at 6:00. That morning i got to drive the Sorlandet. It was just like out of a movie the storm in the background, the raging gray –blue  waters the  wind , the splash of the ocean it felt quite unreal.  I cant wait to get to France ,if the weather hold up we will be able to make on time but if not , that s just to bad. We still have 500miles to go and to get there on time we need to keep an average speed of 7 knots. I hope we can do that , until next time ,

Ines Receveaux

Day 12 -FEELING 100%

We are only one day away from France; there is quite the excitement in the air!!! We have been sailing for 6 days now and it’s been interesting. There were the ups and downs but, mostly sea-sickness is what happened. Although the first sail was hard and many of us were sick , i am happy to say that everybody is up and about againJ . Last night we had a movie night , we watched the lion king , everybody gathered in the banjer ( that were we sleep, eat , and have class) and we put up the projector and everyone cuddled up in their sleeping bags on the floor , it was a nice treat. Yesterday I had my first full meal of the day, I WAS SO HUNGRY. My bunk mate Maria makes fun of me because i talk about food all day ; what can you say , foods delicious.  

Day 1 – A new beginning

-          One rainy day in Scotland I awaited my plane that would take me to a destination of new beginnings.  As I boarded the plane I had many thoughts rushing through my head; what to expect, what to expect? Anyways, I landed in Copenhagen to take a connecting flight to Kristiansand and there I met a few of my fellow floaties, it was quite exciting. We all boarded the plane with smiles and excitement.  When we landed we were greeted with class a float staff and then we were off to the sorlandet where we spent our first and one of many sleeps on the spectacular tall ship.

Day 3 – New faces- So I have now we have spent three days on the sorlandet. Last night was not my best night, because I might have had too much coffee (note to self: don’t drink 5 cups of coffee at dinner). David our cook has been very generous with our meals; they have been quite delicious so far. I am told though that when we start off at sea we have less and less fresh fruit and vegetables. I guess that is understandable. Yesterday we had our first day of sail training and we got to climb aloft. I managed to do my chin up and so I climbed up onto the first part of the sail and at one point when you are crossing over form the rigging to the sail you are not attached and you are only one a line and that’s it. You have things to hold onto but you have to reach to get to the lines you can hold onto.  

The start of something new

A trip of a life time does not come around very often so when the opportunity presents its self take it ! My mom and dad have always been the people to take every little opportunity even when they were not sure it would work out in the end. Anyways what i am trying to get at is that my time to take a chance. This year i am embarking on a sail ship for one year. I am going to do all of my grade eleven year on it.