KRISTIANSAND, NORWAY PT 2
August 18th- Boat day!
On the way to Kristiansand from the airport we saw quite a few people carrying 70L Helly Hansen bags… even in the airport, we kept seeing tons of people in the elevator, lobby, on the streets or in restaurants that were former students, crew members or people that looked like potential current students. it’s crazy how we’ve passed so many people who I’ll be living with for the next year and neither of us even know.
The plane ride was very short and the whole time all I could think about was this next year. Grammie sat by a girl who looked like she was going to be at a plus this year, but, she didn’t talk to her because she had her earbuds in. I realize I sound kind of creepy talking about all the new students like this, but it’s so crazy to see the kids you know will be one of the biggest parts of your life and not talk to them.
One night on the way to dinner we went down to the dock to see the ship in person and the pictures can’t even capture how amazing it is. while we were there some of the teachers came off the boat and were going out to celebrate a birthday but we got to talk to them for a little bit before they had to leave. they seemed really excited to have new students and it made me even more excited the I was before.
If you look back at one of my first posts you can see all I had set aside to pack (not including foul weather gear, boots, my ukulele and some other random things that were being packed in a different bag) mom has nicknamed this bag “dead body” and if you’ve ever tried to move it, you would see why that name fits. Grammie also brought two bags, big black and little black, so, at this point of packing and preparing to leave apparently we’ve reached the stage of crazy where we’ve started naming the luggage. As we carried dead body around kristansand we realized that it probably wouldn’t be able to be carried up the gangway and onto the boat. Soooo, once again, we repacked my bags into two smaller ones. But, seriously, how much packing and repacking can we do for one trip…
the night before we left I stayed up late talking to people, which was really dumb, but honestly I’d rather be sleep deprived if it means I can talk to my friends. earlyish in the morning we got up, ate, and then headed to the boat for departure. There were so many crying family members and friends and a lot of people brought their dogs which was fun. a lot of the past year students were there and before we got on board they gave us some last minute tips and advice and a few of them were crying and hugging the new students and they were all really excited for us. A few people left this year with a boyfriend or girlfriend and it was sad to see them leaving them, but I know they will have an amazing year.
Once all the students were on board we had time to go below deck and unpack and get organized, then, after about an hour or so, the parents could come back and tour the ship with us. After two hours or so of this, everyone but the students and crew got off, we had a muster and the owner of the ship came and gave a departure speech. as soon as she finished, she left, the gangway was taken up, and we left.