VIDEO: Crossing the Equator, Singing Kesha

I don’t know about you guys, but if I were reading a in the middle of the ocean, I would wonder what she was doing to stay occupied (other than working very diligently on her homework and making friends with teachers, of course).

I realize that’s just me, but I think it would be nice for you to learn a bit about some of the other talented, motivated students that chose to venture outside their comfort zones on this and see what we do between ports.

Between Brazil and Ghana specifically, we celebrated Neptune Day.

Neptune Day is traditionally celebrated when a ship crosses the equator. It’s also used as an excuse to haze the onboard community by soaking them in fish guts and shaving off all of their hair.

Luckily, on board the MV Explorer, both of these activities are optional, though the crew did parade through the halls at 7 in the morning (on our day to sleep in, mind you) banging drums, blowing whistles, and yelling, “Get up! Get up! King Neptune is angry with you!!!”

King Neptune is supposedly angry because we didn’t ask his permission to sail on the southern seas. In order to be placed back in his good graces, you must allow the crew to pour fish guts (not real, thankfully) on you, shave your head, or both.

I didn’t shave my head, though at least 6 fierce, inspirational girls dared to defy our silly beauty stereotypes, which I found unbelievably amazing.

People I’ve met on board are some of the most impressive people I’ve ever encountered. They’re students with a genuine concern for the wellbeing of the world and the way we perceive it. Some of the gap year students are planning to attend Stanford University, Harvard, and Oxford. My poetry professor, Paul Muldoon, has had his verses taught in college courses around the globe and is extremely well-known in Ireland (his homeland) and the whole of the United Kingdom. My business professor teaches Master’s level courses around the world and if that wasn’t enough, there are over 30 dependent children (children of faculty, staff, etc.) on board, some of whom are writing their own novels, plays, or comic books.

To keep myself occupied, I volunteered to work as a student tutor at the Writing Center. I work for 2 hours a day helping students proofread, edit, and polish their essays, blog entries, personal writing projects, etc.

I’ve also been lucky enough to be invited to help some of the 11 Chinese students on board with their writing. They formed their very own writing center and we meet roughly once a week to answer any questions they have about portraying ideas, grammatical structures, or cohesive thoughts in English.

When I’m not working with other students, I get to hang out with some of the kids and help them with their work, including a play entitled The Revenge of the MV Explorer, written by my business professor’s daughter, Cricket, and her friend Gretchen. I’ll also be performing the role of "Narrator 1" in this play, so I’ll let you know how that pans out.

Board and card games are extremely popular in the evenings. We have a lounge on one of the upper decks with a piano where many of the students meet to study, play games, and enjoy candy (I should cut back on that one). The many musically-inclined students take turns playing piano while we all sing along.

One musically-inclined voyager resides just down the hall from me. He is an awesome guitarist and we’ve spent a lot of time singing together while he plays.

To give you all a taste of our musical endeavors, my lovely guitarist and Pennsylvania-native hall-mate, Christian, and I put together a little video for you.

He and I realized that the only song we both know entirely is Ke$ha’s “Your Love is My Drug,” so this is our rendition, filmed by my film major friend (), Travis Carlson. Enjoy!

Download the movie