Big Girl Clothes

Yes, yes, yes, I haven't updated...

There is a legitimate reason, I've been busy trying out this grown up thing. More on that momentarily.

The Eclipse is amazing. I did the Baltic run again. Glad to see it's still as lovely as I left it. Warnemunde still makes me smile. Such a charming little German port. I got off the ship thinking we had had to dock in neighboring Rostock as our ship is so enormous. Imagine my surprise to find that I was in fact in Warnemunde! I walked around with my ipod and enjoyed the little street market. I had a beer at the choo-choo bar. Yes, choo-choo bar. It's this little outdoor bar off the ship with a little train that rides around the awning. I'll have to post pictures.

In Tallinn, Estonia I went with two of my best friends from my former ship, Flo and Sara, to have honey beer and lunch at the Beer House. This place was so cheesy German that it was almost like being at Epcot. I loved it. The girls were dressed as wenches and the honey beer was delicious. The mugs were as big as my head, so just one was plenty with our German fried cheese.

Copenhagen was the loveliest day. I have been rather stressed at the job lately (again, more later), but Copenhagen was perfect for relighting my spark. I went with my new buddies Jenn, Franklin, and Scott to Tivoli Gardens. This is the place where Walt Disney got his idea for Disney World. It was adorable. The tulips were blooming, the ducks were quacking, and the wine was amazing. The four of us sat at this little restaurant next to the pond, watching people spin upside down and all over, and we laughed harder than I have in a long time.

The funny thing about returning to the same place as I was last summer is having the memories rush back at me. I couldn't walk along in Warnemunde without slightly missing Val and Marc. If I'm being honest, Most every port in the Baltic had me thinking of Val and Anna. It's just weird to be here without them.

The Canary Islands are lovely. They have the fun and sun of the Caribbean, yet the beauty of Spain. In Funchal, Madeira I went out with Franklin and Jenn again. We found some delicious sangria with a great Portuguese steak for lunch. Then the best part. We took the cable car to the top of the mountain, which was just a stunning view. Our ship looked so small! Now in Madeira there is a little tradition that has turned into a tourist must. Apparently back in the day (yes, I just said back in the day) the royals and rich of the island found that the quickest way to get down to the bottom of the island from their mansions above, was to have two servants pull them down and they would speed along in a toboggan down the mountain. So of course the three of us simply had to try this out! It was crazy! We did speed along down the mountain with the wind whipping us all around. We threw our hands up like we were on a roller coaster and laughed the whole way down.

In Vigo, Spain my friend Tim was celebrating his 30th birthday. So a big group of us planned to spend the day showing him how much he means to us. So we began the day with some morning orange juice in the staff bar and led him out to port with an itinerary Jenn wrote out on construction paper. We had lunch at a hotel where they were actually boiling octopus behind us, and then found a nice sidewalk cafe with a grassy area perfect for Tim to write in his journal and Nate and Galen to play frisbee. We had more sangria, felt the sun and I captured some great action shots of frisbee (to be posted to facebook asap). That evening we went to the Italian steakhouse onboard, Tuscan, for dinner. We capped off the night with a special corner of the crew bar decorated for Tim. It was such a great day.

Ok, now for the growing up thing. I am being promoted to Broadcast Manager of the Eclipse on June 26. This does mean I'll be here until September 4, but what an honor, right? I'll be the first female manager in ten years. Not only will I be the only female BCCM in the fleet, but I'll also be the youngest as of right now. Exciting stuff right? Pay raise, solo cabin, etc. Along with that has been lots of training and lots of pressure. My first contract as a manager will be with the most demanding Cruise Director - Hotel Director duo in the fleet. It will be a challenge, but I'm slowly putting on the big girl clothes. I know I can do it. I'll be fine and it's only a couple months, but what pressure! Manager of the flag ship!

That's not the only thing forcing me to evaluate things in my life. It's strange, right now the majority of my friends are older than I am. They're mostly 27, 30, 33, etc. I find myself relating to them more easily than those closer to my age. It's having me evaluate my maturity. I do get along better with them, but being a part of a group of older people who have such rich life experiences points out my own immature moments. Not just points them out, magnifies them. I catch when I'm being 23 almost instantaneously. I can't assess whether or not this is a good or bad thing. I'm thankful for the chance to grow and mature from those around me, but am I skipping something in not letting myself have those moments of early twenties immaturity? There are sometimes I do feel that I am in my right to have a 23 year old girl moment. I'm just alone in them, being the youngest of my friends. There, now I'm over-analyzing - there's my 23 year old immaturity. Putting on the big girl clothes and heading back to work. :)