Saying hello to the Atlantic ocean

When I woke up today I felt excited but also nervous – finally, after many days being stuck in Cabo Verde, we were in the Atlantic ocean, on our way to Grenada. I started the day with breakfast: egg and bacon along with a gluten free toast, since I am gluten intolerant. With my stomach filled with some tasty food and my skin covered with sunscreen
it was time for my watch.

Today I got to steer the ship, which I found very amusing. Then
unfortunately it was time to do something less funny: I had to be a
lifeguard. In my opinion being a lifeguard is kind of scary since I feel
like other people’s safety lies in my hands, which terrifies me a lot.
After four long hours the watch had finally ended.

Since this was the first day at sea and a lot of people tend to be
seasick because of that, we hade a day free of lessons, but I still
worked a lot on my assignments, especially my assignment in Swedish
where we are supposed to write a short novel about someone we met or saw
in Cabo Verde. After one and a half hour of studying I felt very hungry,
which was good since it was time for dinner. This day a delicious pasta
with sauce was served and I ate three portions of it since it tasted so
good.

After dinner I worked on my history assignment about colonialism and
imperialism in Senegal, but I got tired, so I decided to take a nap
before our night watch. Sadly our cabin was very hot and I woke up after
just five minutes of sleep in a puddle of water. Covered in sweat I took
an ice cold shower, then I went back to my bed to try to sleep again,
but the shower had taken away the grogginess of sleep so instead I
brought my phone up and watched a movie I had downloaded at an internet
café in Mindelo. The movie, Interstellar, was very good, but I couldn’t
finish it since it was time for my nightwatch.

I went out of bed, brushed my teeth and put on my work clothes, then I
went out on deck, where the moon shined over my head and turned the
ocean into a mirror of light. Just like during the day watch I steered
the ship and was a lifeguard. The weather was colder than I had expected
and I felt how the wind gave me goosebumps all over my body, but after
two hours on deck it was finally time for Swedish fika, which contained
hot blueberry soup that warmed my body up.

At four o’clock the watch was finally over and I felt very sleepy. As
soon as I went to bed I felt sleep cloud my vision and my head filled
with dreams about the following days in the Atlantic ocean.

Sara Holmner