Bingo on the Baltic

The past two days I have been at sea so unfortunately I couldn't post those nights, but now we're gonna catch up!

This year the study abroad programmers decided to try something new for New Years Eve, so we got to take a mini cruise to Stockholm, Sweden.

The morning before we embarked on our journey we had some time so we went to the sea and air museum by the docs! It was a great museum, probably my favorite so far. It was so interactive, we got to board an old Estonian submarine and check out how the crew lived, we could jump down emergency rope chutes, there was helicopters to climb in, life vests to model, VR piloting simulations, and sea and rescue missions!

The building was an old sea plane hangar and could fit three Boeing 737s with room. Three domes served as the ceiling which was incredible architecturally, the tour guide's voice echoed as he told us all about the exhibits.

Next we boarded our boat: The Baltic Queen. For the next two nights she would be our home as we sailed to and from Sweden. We had free range on the ship, so naturally when I saw that there was going to be a game of Bingo in the Starlight Lounge at 8 I cleared my schedule to make room. I love Bingo. Honestly, I thought I would be playing alone, because compared to the Casino and the arcade and the many bars and clubs on deck I figured most of my classmates would consider Bingo to be boring. I was so glad to be wrong. Out of the 21 of us 7 went to Bingo with me and it was so much fun! None of us won Bingo, but afterwards they took our tickets for a second-chance-win raffle and a girl from our group won a chocolate bar!

The next day was New Years Eve and our outing to Stockholm! I absolutely need to go back because 4 hours wasn't enough time in that city! We got to explore Old Town Stockholm and do some shopping, but there's still so much that I want to see and explore!

New Year's Eve on the ship was unlike any other New Year's Eve I've ever had! The boat celebrated it three times, one for the Russian time zone, one for the Estonian time zone, and one for the Swedish time zone. So the boat went crazy at 11:00, 12:00, AND 1:00. We all dressed up for the evening so we tried to take a group photo but we're missing three people in the shot.

I am by far and away the youngest person on this trip, but everyone here is fun to talk to and easy-going. The nickname I have assumed on this trip is Sasha as it's the Russian (and Serbian) nickname for Alexandra. It's and eclectic group, some ISCOR majors, some not, a wide variety of ages and one graduate student. Fun fact though, I met my 6th cousin on this trip, Colin is the second from the left in the second row. His great grandfather and my great grandmother came from the same village in Montenegro.

Now we're back in Estonia and there's a fresh layer of snow on the ground. We're exhausted but excited for tomorrow's journey to St. Petersburg! We have an 8 hour bus ride ahead of us, but our professor from the university in Tallinn who has been guiding us promises wifi! So tonight I plan to load up on snacks from the supermarket and sleep well!