Sea Olympics

The Sea Olympics is a tradition that Semester at Sea has been doing for years.  The ship is divided into seas by floor at the beginning of the voyage and each sea has an LLC (Living Learning Coordinator).  I am in the Aegean Sea and my LLC is Danielle.  Throughout the voyage we have sea socials, which are events with other members of our sea.  However, the Sea Olympics is the biggest event where all of the seas compete with each other for an entire day in various games and contests.  The best part is that we don’t have any classes!  Almost everyone on the ship participates, even if it is just by cheering on their teams.

It started with the opening ceremony the night before where each sea was introduced and had the opportunity to perform their chant and show their sea spirit.  The next morning started early with various events, such as “Hula” Hoop, World Cup of Crab Soccer (lying on your back and moving around like a crab while trying to kick a ball into a net), Extreme Musical Chairs (musical chairs with heavy metal music and people yelling and throwing things at you in order to distract you), and Limbo.  I participated in Limbo for my sea.  I did pretty well but it was hard considering I was competing with some of the kids who are not even 5 feet tall!  After lunch, events included Synchronized Swimming, Pirates Pull (tug of war), The “Gun” Show (pull up contest), Dress Your LLC, and lots more.  My favorite event of the day to watch was Singing SASers, which was a choreographed dance contest.  It was hilarious.

The day ended with a BBQ outside on the deck and everyone squeezing into the pool, followed by the closing ceremony where they announced the winner.  Although my sea didn’t win, (the Red Sea won and gets to be the first sea off the ship in Fort Lauderdale) we all had so much fun. Not to mention it was a BEAUTIFUL day.  It was also a great community building experience since it included all faculty, staff, children, and students.