We interrupt your typically scheduled Blog Post to bring you this special edition of My Semester at Sea…

ATTENTION ALL POLLYWOGS---iiiiiittttttttsssssss  NEPTUNE DAY!

                For all you land-lubbers who don't know what Neptune Day is let me explain.  Neptune Day is when you cross the equator while sailing, you turn from a pollywog into a shellback and are officially welcomed into Neptune's eternal kingdom.  Now the special thing about us is that we are now Emerald Shellbacks because we crossed at 0.0, 0.0 meaning we crossed the equator ON the prime meridian—yeah that's right.  I have officially been to the center of the world and been in all four hemispheres simultaneously (and yet I still haven't stood in four states simultaneously—go figure)!!! 

                The sacred rituals of Neptune Day are carried out by the shellbacks (those who have crossed the equator before) and King Neptune and Queen Minerva (aka Dean John and Dean Lisa).  All of the shellbacks dressed up and paraded through the ship playing drums and cymbals and banging on doors to wake up all of the unworthy pollywogs.  Then everyone gathered on Deck 7 by the pool where members of the crew were stirring up the fish guts in preparation.  Our assistant dean Randy started off the ceremony and the shellbacks paraded around the pool, leading the King and Queen to their thrones by the pool.  All of us pollywogs had to kneel before them and recite a pledge of honor to the King, claiming that we were worthy to join the ranks of shellbacks and praising him and his power. 

                Then all of the pollywogs formed a line (and a very long line I might add) and two-by –two stepped up to the splash zone of the pool.  There we had "fish guts" (aka Slime for all those '90s Nickelodeon fans out there) dumped on us by members of the crew and then jumped into the pool which was extremely rocky as we did not have the best weather today.  Immediately upon hoisting yourself out of the pool a dead fish was shoved in your face for a kiss!  Once the fish kissing was over and forever implanted into your worst nightmares, you kissed the hand of Queen Minerva and the ring of King Neptune before being sprinkled with salt to signify your being one with the sea and officially becoming a shellback.  Our Academic Dean as well as notable members of the staff and faculty had never crossed either and it was great fun to watch them got through the process as well.  There was also the option to have your head shaved; needless to say I opted out of that part of the ritual, though many participated including the little two-year-old which was adorable.  Once all of the participating pollywogs had gone they took a bucket of slime to the side of the deck for a slightly altered ceremony.  One of the students uses a wheelchair and he couldn't jump in the pool so the entire shipboard community gathered around and cheered/taunted as he was doused with double the amount of slime as the rest of us—it was hilarious and he loved it!

                That was it for the morning's ceremonies and all of us anxiously awaited the appointed hour when we would actually cross the equator.  As the time got closer they counted down on the loudspeaker and we gathered on the decks armed with cameras and signs proclaiming our feat of becoming Emerald Shellbacks and being at the center of the world.  We took pictures with everyone we could find, attempting to make the most of this small but amazingly rare moment.  As the horn blared and the official time of crossing was announced the people on the decks went wild and took pictures like crazy.  We took pics doing backbends so that one limb was in each hemisphere (or quadrant really)—sooo cool. 

                For the rest of the day everyone has been referring to us as Emerald Shellbacks (on the daily announcements and such) and we have all just been chilling and having fun as today was a no-class day so that everyone could participate.  We took the time to look up on Wikipedia (one of our very few free websites) too see what other honors can be bestowed to sailors for certain feats and I have decided that the following list is being added to my bucket list.

• The Order of the Blue Nose for sailors who have crossed the Arctic Circle.
• The Order of the Red Nose for sailors who have crossed the Antarctic Circle.
• The Order of the Golden Dragon for sailors who have crossed the International Date Line.
• The Order of the Ditch for sailors who have passed through the Panama Canal.
• The Order of the Rock for sailors who have transited the Strait of Gibraltar.
• The Safari to Suez for sailors who have passed through the Suez Canal.
• The Golden Shellback for sailors who have crossed the point where the Equator crosses the International Date Line.
• The Emerald Shellback or Royal Diamond Shellback for sailors who cross at 0 degrees off the coast of West Africa (where the Equator crosses the Prime Meridian)
• The Realm of the Czars for sailors who crossed into the Black Sea.
• The Order of Magellan for sailors who circumnavigated the earth.
• The Order of the Lakes for sailors who have sailed on all five Great Lakes.

So excited!

~Colleen