It’s the first of May and our first full day on Gunilla

Yesterday we flew to the Azores, arriving at Ponta Delgada on the island Sao Miguel. It’s been a really great day!

We woke up at around 7 AM and ate breakfast. When we came to the mess hall, our big meeting and dining room, the breakfast was already done and put up on the tables. It felt luxurious. At 7:55 we had to line-up on the main deck and after that we began the familiarization-process. We learned about safety drills in case of a fire and how to pump water out of the ship. Later in the afternoon we learned how to climb on the rig and the mast. My favorite part of the day was definiently when we climbed the 35 meter long mast, it was a little scary but really fun. The day has been full of new experiences and a lot of learning, we are all pretty tired. But being tired is not a good enough excuse to not go out and discover the city. We rounded off the lessons at around 5 PM, me and some friends left the ship to explore the city. Packing our swimsuits, we walked to the nearest place to swim. The water was cold, but refreshing, and drying off we began to look for places to eat. Eventually we decided on a restaurant, and ate what we assumed was a classic Azores meal. It was something I’ve never seen before and I got to admit, it wasn’t my favorite kind of food. When we were done eating we went to a shop where we found all kinds of fun “tourist things”. Almost everyone in the group bought something, I bought a really cool t-shirt. The store owner was really kind and suggested that we take a picture with their real-size cow, so we did! Something I noticed today was that the locals really love cows. According to the store owner there are twice as many cows as humans on the island! At 9:30 AM we got back to the ship. Tomorrow we will continue learning about routines on the ship and in the afternoon I will have my first watch. I’m exited! But now I will go to bed. Goodnight!

Greetings from Adam!