This is a REALLY old post!!!

I'm so sorry I've been slacking on my blog updates!! This blog is from awhile ago, it's about cruises #4 and #5... which is the same one that my roommates parent's came on, haha! (And now I'm currently on cruise #8)! I'll post this since I took the time to write it, and I'm going to go write another and post it later =)

As much as I am loving Europe, and I am having a lot of fun, I’m almost ready to get back into the states so I can at least use my phone as much as I want every ten days. I’m going to look into my plan and see if I can get text messaging options while I’m in the Caribbean just because I use more texting that I do actual phone minutes. I’m not sure how well that is going to work out, but it’s something I can investigate. That’s why I’m also going to try to do an Alaskan cruise the next ship so I can at least keep my phone around longer. Not that I REALLY need my phone, but it gets hard sometimes to not be able to contact anyone whenever I feel like it, especially when I get homesick.

But anyways, as for the end of the last cruise, it went pretty well. Athens I stayed on the boat all day. I slept until 1pm (holy cow!) and then I tried to tan outside but it was actually pretty chilly and really cloudy. The weather has definitely started to cool down from when we first got to the Med, so it’s been really nice for going on tours and stuff. I don’t feel like I’m sweating all my layers of skin off anymore haha

After Athens was a sea day, so we had tech in the afternoon for our Vegas show and after that I taught the Foxtrot with Jacob. They were probably the best crowd I’ve taught yet. They all seemed to enjoy themselves and they were all really friendly. The shows in the evening went really well, no major mishaps. Riser 44 is still broken so we’re still running our modified show. (We use 4 risers in this show, and since is broken we can only use three. Hopefully it’s getting fixed by the next cruise).

The next day was Messina, and I went with Sarah and her parents to Taormina, which is a really pretty town. It reminded me a lot of Lucca. There wasn’t much to it; we saw the different style of cathedrals and the theatre that was there, and that was really all that there was. There were a lot of shops of course, and Sarah and I looked around, but all the shoes were super expensive, and I didn’t really look at a whole lot of clothes because I’m trying to reduce my spending haha.  We came back and had to get ready for the backstage event for the passengers, which is when we just do the two beginning numbers of Vegas in rehearsal clothes and they all get to ask questions after. Short and sweet, and I’m pretty sure that after that I went back to the room to take a nap because I was pooped from yesterday. In the evening, I got to go to dinner with Sarah and her parents to the Pinnacle (the onboard restaurant that costs extra to go to) and the food was AMAZING! I had French onion soup, Filet mignon with asparagus and mashed potatoes and dessert was coffee, vanilla, and chocolate flavored crème brule! SO yummy! I liked the different flavored butter that they gave with the bread in the beginning too. They had regular, garlic, and sun-dried tomato. The only bad thing though was that the service is REALLY slow. We had reservations at 8:30pm and wanted to make it to the 10pm show, but didn’t get there until almost 10:30pm… but we weren’t too upset because we all really didn’t care for the show afterwards anyways HAHA. After the show we had a midnight rehearsal for Walls, which went pretty quickly.

So that was the rest of Cruise #4, and now onto part of Cruise #5. On home port day, I got up early to go to breakfast to say goodbye to Sarah’s parents, and then came back to sleep for a few more hours because I headed out to my normal café for wifi time. I was planning on leaving around 11am, but we had a surprise fire drill at 10am so I was up earlier and headed off after the drill was over. I got my normal espresso and got to Skype with my mom! It was nice, but the videos were a little slow, but at least it was better than nothing. I also uploaded all of my photos, of course, and did my usual catch up day online. After that, I walked around with Sarah to see if we could find anything interesting, and we didn’t but we did end up getting some gelato. Mostly everything was closed anyways because it was Sunday. We got back on board, we did our traffic director drill, had our company meeting, did our tech for Luey, and did LUEY at 9:30pm.

Day 2 was Livorno, and I wanted to go to Florence this time, but I never ended up getting off the boat. First off, we had our Walls show this day instead of Day 3, so we had tech at 10am, and after wasn’t enough time to get to Florence and back (it’s about a 2.5 hour commute). I have IPM the next time we’re in Florence, so I probably won’t ever get to Florence, but that’s okay. Maybe another contract, and at least I got to get to Pisa! I don’t think I did much of anything during my break between tech and shows, but I think I went to the gym and had dinner and then just got ready for the shows. They were good, the second show had hardly ANY audience, but I bet it’s because everyone was so tired from their tours in Livorno. The first day after home port day is such a long port day for the guests… so they don’t really show up to the shows at the beginning of this cruise.

Day 3 was Monte Carlo, and I GOT TO GO TO FRANCE! I went to see Nice and Eze, two really pretty towns in southern France. I got a bunch of silly souvenirs because they were from France (like Paris magnets… LOL) Nice had a flower market which was really cool, and the beach was really pretty there. It was rocky, but the water is such a gorgeous blue that it makes up for it haha! I also ended up getting a cute simple grey dress because I was determined to buy at least one article of clothing from France ;) After an hour of free time, we drove to Eze (and we saw Elton John’s house on the way!), which is a super tiny medieval town up on a cliff of a mountain. I didn’t get anything there, just enjoyed the beautiful surroundings and an espresso… had to try it from France! After the tour was over, we got dropped back at the ship, but Sarah and I went to walk to see the famous casino that Monte Carlo is known for.  We didn’t go inside, but we took pictures outside and also took pictures of the Hotel de Paris =) After we took pictures, we walked around in search of food (and shopped at the Zara we found) and ended up just getting a pizza by the slice on the way back because we didn’t find much of anything. The two outside pizza places we went to, no one came up to us to serve so we left lol The pizza I had was okay, I still think Italy’s is better! We made it back on the ship and then just relaxed the rest of the evening.

Day 4 was Barcelona (Day 1) and we did a bike tour!! We rode 14 miles around the city and got to see some things I hadn’t seen before. We had a few accidents, but nothing extremely serious, but I really think people should be super confident in controlling a bike in small spaces and crowds… just saying. Jordy was another guy that worked for the company and he rode at the end of the line with us, and hopefully all of us will get to meet up in Barcelona next time and hang out! We finished the tour kind of late for various reasons, and then Sarah and I got some groceries and went to the post office to mail some postcards! (So yes, some postcards are in transit! I have many more to send, but I only sent six this time because I was afraid of them never making it to the states, so I figured losing six instead 30 was a better risk to take… lol) If they’re received by the next time I go to Barcelona, I’ll make the rest out in 20 days! =) After that, we walked back to the ship to change because we were going to dinner! We finally ventured off after 8pm, and had a really ridiculous situation to deal with (if you want to know about it, message me and I’ll let you know. I won’t put the details up here because I don’t know who all sees this, so I’ll inform you on a private basis lol). But after we made our escape to a Starbucks, we finally landed at a restaurant recommended by our tour guide earlier that day and had the most amazing tapas! I had veggies and gnocchi, and a glass of rose wine, and Sarah had a hummus, babaganush, and guacamole dish, sushi and a cab sav. It was excellent! I took my menu (because it was a paper one) for a keepsake! After that we walked around for a little, got amazing gelato and got bombarded by people trying to get us to go to the clubs. We almost did, but we had to be up early for the next day’s tour, but we might try to go next time just for the experience. We’ll see.

Day 2 was good too! I did a Guadi tour and got to go inside La Sagrada Familia, that amazing church I mentioned last time. The inside is just as stunning. I can’t wait to see what the complete project will look like. I actually want to come back in 15 years to see its completion; it’s on my bucket list! I ended up buying a book about it because I’m so curious about it, its symbolism, and how it’s built. I think I just love that it’s still a work-in-progress and that I get to be alive during the time it’s making history…. Cool!! After the tour, I tried to wait for Sarah to get back, but I think she was way later than I was, so I walked back to the ship by myself and slept until she got home, since I was tired again lol (I have a bad habit of staying up late when I need to get up early lol). She got back and we both napped until dinner, and after dinner we got some coffee and played scrabble and card games in the library haha it was fun. We came back to the room to watch movies and both passed our pretty early.

Today we are in Palma de Mallorca, and I have IPM, so I got to sleep in today! And boy did I, I slept until almost 2pm! I never sleep like this! It’s so weird to me, but I guess it’s just because I’m always on the go helping out with ShoreEx and then doing all the shows/techs/rehearsals that I’ve barely given myself downtime. So today has been a day of sleeping, and I haven’t done much since I woke up. Just been watching tv and updating my blogs :)

So tomorrow is a sea day, so we have our Ballroom show. The next day is Africa, and we’re hopefully going to Carthage that day, and I’m hoping to catch up with the internet then with pictures afterwards as well. The day after that is Palermo, and the last day is Naples. I’m hoping to go to Capri when we’re in Naples, I heard it’s stunning!! =) So that’s about it for the latest news… I miss everyone from home so much! Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here forever, but when I look at the dates, it’s only been a month and a half =(  It’s my lazy days that make me homesick… I have more time to think about everything. If I keep myself busy, it keeps my brain occupied and makes time fly. Six and a half months and I’ll be home! Love you all and miss you tons!!!