One Mother of a Blog

Oh how I love technology. My laptop charger sparked up at an internet café in Estonia. I’ve ordered a new one, but now that I think of it in my mad rush to order something before my laptop battery died for good, I may have ordered the wrong part. This means much less internet time and no uploading pictures until I return to the States - unless I can find a working charger for a 7 year old Dell.

This, plus a snafoo with crew passes (such a long story) I haven’t had proper internet access for about two weeks now, and there’s no end in sight.

I realize it has only been about 10 days, but you have no idea how much can happen in 10 days on a ship. In 10 days onboard an isolated ship you can live out an entire semester’s worth of dramas, emotions, and days. I lose track of days out here. I take long naps and wake up thinking things I shot in the morning was actually the day before. It doesn’t help that we refer to everything around here as “Russia Day,” “Copenhagen Day,” “Sea Day,” etc. Even in our memos and e-mails. It makes it feel like Russia was forever ago, when it’s really only been 10 days.

Speaking of Russia! That’s where I left off. I was on a magnificent tour of Peterhoef – the Versailles of St. Petersburg. It was the first day of September and the first day of school for the little Russians. There were adorable girls in their uniforms donning bows as large as their heads in their hair running round the parks. It reminded me of those God-awful bows I used to beg my mom to put on my ponytail on the tippy-top of my head. It also reminded me that for the first time in my memorable life I was not going to have a first day of school. It was an odd thought, since it still doesn’t feel like that. I simply feel like I’m on a study abroad internship.

The gardens of Peterhoef rushed my mind back to France. At one point as I walked down a path lined with square-cut trees if I hadn’t known better I would have sworn I was in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. We saw the most adorable red squirrels climbing trees and I wanted one. No offense to Elon’s little guys, but these were the most awesome squirrels ever.

I still believe the Baltic States were doing all they could to leave this crew wanting to come back. I had a fantastic day out in Copenhagen with my friend Christina. I have dubbed her “Nina” and I always smile when she calls me “Macka.” When we got back to the Century she had to rush to work and I still had more time. Let’s see, Mackenzie alone in Copenhagen, where would she go? The little mermaid, of course! I walked under the grey sky with the wind wrapping in a tight hug the whole way. I found her perched on her rock, so I set myself on my own rock and popped on my headphones. The sounds of Adelle and John Mayer had me completely relaxed as I watched my mermaid and the water behind her. I sat there for 20 minutes letting my mind wander to various things, but mostly home. I looked at my clock and grinned as I thought all those I love are fast asleep as I make a connection with a statue.

Then the night we’d all been waiting for. We finally got our overnight in Amsterdam! Val and I left almost as soon as I was done with work around 11:45 p.m. In typical ship life fashion, we end up finding the biggest group of crew at the tiniest pub in Holland. The bartender at De Ooievaar gave us drinks and ample entertainment letting Eef jump on his back and taking our photos. It was a great time, and once Julien started doing his special impressions, there was no stopping our loud and obnoxious laughter. I must admit, there’s nothing like walking into a bar and having a large table of people yell out, “Mackenzie!” Our next stop was a stroll along the Red Light District. Wow. I’ll just say, there’s certainly something for everyone there.

Val and I eventually split from the group in search of another bar. Where we ended up was a sports pub with another friendly bartender. He tells us the guys next to us were working on our ship that day, so the two come to talk to us as the bartender gives them a wink. My jaw nearly dropped when one of them turned and was wearing a “Greensboro Grasshoppers” shirt. What a small, small world. I told him I knew of the Grasshoppers and that I had gone to Elon. They told me they were just at Elon two days before! We talked about local stuff and Val was a little scared at how quickly my southern accent came back. It was funny to be in the middle of Amsterdam with two Carolina boys.

After another stroll along the Red Light District, Val and I headed back to the ship pleased with the overnight we’d waited so long for.

The next day was Antwerp, Belgium. Valerie had to work at 2 so she had me get up at the crack of dawn to look around this city. I’m glad we did. It was really peaceful with only a few tourists around. We saw all the big stuff, walked over every inch of the town and had Belgian waffles. We ordered waffles with whipped cream and chocolate. Now I didn’t really think these were going to taste any different from any other ordinary waffle. Oh I was wrong. They were just the right crunchy versus soft ratio. Crispy edges with soft centers, topped with powdered sugar. The whipped cream sat off to the side to be used at our discretion, which was perfect s it didn’t get the waffle all soggy as I devoured it. The best part? The saucer of melted chocolate we drizzled over top of it. Oh these Belgians know their waffles. We did a bit of shopping for chocolate to take home in Grote Park and took photos of the Hand Fountain in the City hall Square. There was one said part to being in Belgium, though. Eef signed off and went home in Belgium. I’m glad she’s decided to go back to school, but I have missed her so much since she left. It was always one of my favorite parts of the day, shooting the International Daily with her. Well, there’s always Facebook.

The NEXT day (yes, there’s another day) was Dover, England. Valerie begged me to go to London with her. Twist my arm, I thought, I’ll spend an afternoon in London. Val had never been, so her face when I first pointed out Big Ben was worth the 2 hour train ride. I knew we weren’t going to fit everything in, but we sure tried. We had the most beautiful walk to Buckingham Palace. The leaves were falling, painting the sidewalk the best browns and yellows as John and Mischa kept Val and I laughing with there obsession with finding a KFC. There was no changing of the guard, but we were entertained by some tourist fishing his sunglasses out of the fountain. While we sat there I took out my “Sense and Sensibility” to read. I couldn’t help but smile as I saw myself sitting at Buckingham Palace with my little novel in hand. I really felt like me, and I loved it. I was doing something I’d dreamed of as a girl. I just felt accomplished even if only for a few moments before John called me an anti-social, nerd. Oh, Johnny.

We found Trafalgar Square and my friends climbed the lions. I took the photos and recalled climbing the same lions just one year ago. I thought of Bernadette, Claire, Chelsey and Katie and how much fun we had struggling for that perfect picture. As we walked down to the Thames to get a better view of Big Ben, I felt the energy of London. There’s absolutely nothing like the rush you get from walking the sidewalks of a big city. It wakes me up and makes me feel alive. We had a pretty great, albeit not typical British, lunch and I got to meet up with Tristan from Elon. It was nice to see a face from home.

The day in London made me so reminiscent of when I studied abroad that Valerie probably never wants to hear the word “Ireland” ever again. I couldn’t help it. Between the candies and cider I hadn’t tasted in a year, the sites I’d photographed with my Elon friends and just being in Europe, who couldn’t help but be a little nostalgic. Especially me – the Queen of Nostalgia.