C7- Ka Ora

        Ka ora means “'Tis life” Or “I may live”. Either way, the Maori phrase finds relevance in my day. Yes, I took it from the haka, and yes I remember I'm a Filipino-Australian-American not a New Zealander. It doesn't mean I can't admire their culture. Moving on.
        I woke up early again today, for no good reason. I ran into a couple of friends from the Photographers at Sea facebook group who were also up. Both of them with cameras at hand, they were getting ready to watch the sun rise.
        The attempt was interesting at least. The sky lit up in beautiful yellows, reds and blues, but the horizon was covered by distant clouds. Also it was as windy as it's been. And if you don't know, you should know how much I dislike the wind. It's up there with rain. @Alex Schwartz
We had a big midterm in Global Studies today. The one I was like, “I don't need to study! I've got this down. Who needs to look at their notes?” But quite frankly, I had way too much time on my hands between lunch and the test, I gave in and looked at them. I forget if anything was particularly helpful.
        That said, I killed that test. *head cut off motion* Conceptually it was exactly like I thought it would be- just primarily general questions, with a small increment of tough trivia. And even the trivial stuff wasn't tough. “Who wrote our textbook?” For real, that was a question. I know what I know and I don't what I don't. If you got it you got it if you don't you don't. Truth is self-evident.
        I talked to a couple of students from UVA right after, some of whom I saw worrying in the morning. They felt like they did well as well, granted some put a lot more time in than I did. It matters a little more to them that they do well, because rather than transferring as Pass/Fail like it would for me, it goes directly to attack their GPA if they screw up. High reachers and achievers, these ones are. As for me, even if I didn't do as well as I thought, I know the sky doesn't fall. I just need above a C- no matter what. C'est la vie. See what I did there?
        After class I went out to see the Strait of Gibraltar, where to the north is Europe and to the south is Africa. I have seen Africa, and it is kind of foggy. Well, Europe was too. That was somewhat disappointing, but I will get another shot at it on our way to Casablanca. I got nice pictures of boats and ships either way.
        We made our way into port now, and the Rock of Gibraltar is visible from the boat. I have a couple pictures in front of it, one will be my profile picture at some point. But until then, reading these posts is the closest you'll get to seeing my face.

Contact: afrancisco@semesteratsea.net