Learning in the Bahamas

This past Christmas was one of the best gifts I could have imagined getting. My mother announced one day that instead of hanging out with the family at home for Christmas, we were going on a cruise. My grandmother, my grandfather, my mother, and I were going to the Bahamas. This trip was well planned and very fun and also educational. This trip started with me and my mother heading down with my grandfather to my grandmother’s house in Florida. After staying there for a few days we headed down all together to Jacksonville Florida to board our ship. We got VIP passes so we didn’t have to wait in a long line and we could just board the ship and look around. Once we got on the ship my mother told me there was a big surprise at the end but I couldn’t know until the very last day. This immediately made me wonder about the surprise nonstop. The first day was a little hectic and everyone aboard the ship was in a mad rush to do everything they could before the ship even left port. The lines to all of the food lines and buffets were overcrowded, there were hundreds of people swarming the pools and Jacuzzi’s, the bars and casino had hundreds of people all over the place; just overall the people were freaking out about everything they could before the ship even got a chance to get out into the open sea. This gave me an idea that turned out to be a very good one indeed. Instead of going with the flow and checking out all of the major tourist attractions right away, traverse the ship. Get to know every nook and cranny but don’t do anything. Just walk the ship and all of its little passages and rooms. This gets you to memorize many things. You can memorize where the elevators are, the stairs, the entertainment places, the setup of the rooms, the dining rooms, the bathrooms, the pools, and whatever other attractions are. This way whenever everyone else is confused and lost, you will know where to go and how to get to those tourist attractions that you wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the first day.  Another lesson that I learned on this trip is how to make friends. Don’t be shy because you have nothing to lose. The people you meet on this ship don’t really matter. If they like you then that is great; you’ll have a new friend you can talk to. But if they don’t like you then why does it matter? The most that you are going to see them is four to seven days on the cruise ship. But there are several programs to put like minded people together. I know I met so many new friends on this ship even though I boarded as one of the shyest people I knew.  The place that I went to was called Club O2 and it put together minors that were fifteen to seventeen years old.  There was a specific room we could meet at with games, a little alcove for chatting, and a little bar of soda and snacks. There was an optional schedule of activities that we could do and there was a chaperone in the little room we could meet at. So overall this trip was a great learning experience for not only cruise ships but for life. I am a less shy person than I started as and I have many friends that I still talk to on an almost daily basis.