ON A BOAT

The cruise was a blast—all napping, occasional visits to small charming towns, and swimming in cool clear Mediterranean water. Most of the time we could see the bottom, and I watched fish travel across the sea floor in mysterious caravans. The white (whiter) patches of my exposed skin sting a bit, and it looks like the sun attempted to color them in with a pink crayon, but I don't mind. At night, we slept on the deck under the stars, and saw the occasional one shoot across the sky and disappear. Our delicious meals were cooked by the captain's wife, and his sons caught fish with basket traps and with fishing wire that they held in their bare hands. The only hitch was bad weather on the second morning that caused the boat to rock like crazy and made some of us seasick (fortunately not me). To go to the bathroom, you had to go down to the cabins where you stood a good chance of getting thrown against a wall by all the rocking and pitching. Overall, though, I kind of enjoyed it. It reminded me of an amusement park ride, albeit one that refused to end.



Our companions on the cruise were all fun people, including one Englishman, a couple of teachers from Boston, and a bunch of Australian twentysomethings. Everyone was nice and a blast to spend time with. We bonded over things like Luna (a mysterious butter-like substance found nowhere in nature) and getting in trouble with a neighboring boat for blasting our music too loudly. I felt so relaxed on the boat that I would have gladly spent a few more days sailing.

Now, though, Dan and I are charging our laptops, phones, and iPods at the cruise company hotel. At midnight, a shuttle will take us to the station for a night bus to Aydin, where we will catch a connection to Didim (ancient Didyma). I'm excited—we're going to meet up with one of our professors and go on a marathon site visit.