The first 48 hours

After hugs and tears at Ica Maxi’s parking lot at 4.10 am we went off on our first trip with Öckerö Seglande Gymnasieskola. It was now time to do maybe our lives’ most adventurous journey, to sail over the Atlantic ocean. It’s been so hard to believe that this is actually going to happen, not even now when I’m here, laying in my bed, I can’t believe that this is reality.

When we first arrived to Aeropuerto de Gran Canaria our bus driver drove us to the police station where we turned in our passports for control. Then we returned to the bus with barely no AC and when we finally saw T/S Gunilla, everybody cheered.

The first thing that happened on T/S Gunilla was that our captain, Leo, held our first meeting with the whole crew. After the meeting we got our bags and changed our clothes because it was time to learn about the ship. It quickly got dark and everybody was still tired after the flight. I can’t even count how many times I yawned…

I think everybody had a good night sleep. Our first day at Gunilla began with a breakfast in the big mess hall and we got ready for the first full scheduled day. In the afternoon my watch, the mid-ship-watch, and the starboard watch got some free time. We went off to the big shopping mall and bought some snacks and went to see the city on our way to the beach to wash off all the sweat and dirt from the day’s work.

When we had eaten dinner we heard loud music from the city. We got curios and down town there was a festival with Spanish music and a market that brought many tourists, even us.

It’s 26 degrees in the air and 24 in the water. The air is like breathing in a sauna! The only thing I can complain about is the sand in my hair, otherwise everything is great!

Rebecca Borg