Carribean Cruise

Last week, my family and I went on a week-long cruise in the Carribean to celebrate my dad becoming a realtor, my brother's Spring Break, and me finishing my time in Florida. I had my doubts about cruises, since I had heard both really spectacular and really awful reviews about them. Our experience was amazing and I would certainly mark it as one of my favorite vacations ever.

The first day on the ship was just figuring out what was going on. We explored the restaurants, shops, and events on-board and even attended an art auction. We learned about the different ports we were visiting and about the different things we could do and see on sea-days. Overall, a relaxing, but pretty uneventful day.

The next day was our first port in Ocho Rios, Jamiaca. Our shore excursion for the day was to do glass-bottom kayaking and climb Dunn's River Falls. When we booked it, the excursion looked like a nice, calm river kayaking experience. We joined our group and were led to a beach with ocean kayaks. The water was extremely rough coming out of the cove (our parents' kayak capsized and they were boated to the Falls). Matty and I had a kayak that continued to fill up with water, so we had to jump out of it into the ocean, dump it out and jump back in. The rest of the trip was not so bad and got to the Falls just fine.

Only my dad and I opted to climb the Falls. It was 600 feet over a series of smaller waterfalls. It was a lot of fun and I am amazed that I made it the entire way up!

 

Our next day was another sea day with another auction (I bought a painting this time around!). There was also an arts and crafts that my mom and I did and we saw a music impersonators show (which was fantastic!).

We arrived at Costa Maya, Mexico the next day and traveled by bus to the ruins as Chacchoban. It was amazing to visit this site as it is a part of history that I find very interesting but that is not often covered. We learned a lot and had a great time exploring the area.

Another sea day and we were at Cozumel, Mexico. This was absolutely my favorite port. As my dad and brother went ziplining, my mom and I went to go swim with dolphins. My mom had hurt herself the night before, so she opted out as an observer (and took awesome photos and video). My dolphin swim was so much fun and it felt like it went by much faster than it did. I could have spent all day playing with Elena. It was an amazing experience!

I also went snorkeling with some MASSIVE stingrays. It was scary, but I would have totally regretted not doing it.

We had one more sea day to head back to Miami. We played Bingo, did another arts and crafts, and had a Cirque de Soleil style dinner.

Overall, this was a pretty fantastic vacation. I would definitely cruise again and urge others to try it :)

Have you ever gone on a cruise?

 

Out of Florida

I am writing this about two weeks after I finished work (back-logging), but I still want to talk about the experience I had, both at work and at home, in Florida.

I spent six months working in Florida, from September to February. I was fortunate enough to be hired for a position at my mom's company, which made lunch and transit a lot of fun. All of my coworkers were extremely kind and helpful and truly made me feel at home.

The position itself also provided great experience. I learned so much about database management and environmental regulation. I would probably never have been exposed to these aspects of my field and I now feel that I can offer a wider range of knowledge and experience as I apply for new positions in D.C.

While this was certainly an unexpected role and caused a six month separation from my fiancé, it was extremely valuable experience. It bridged the gap between my work at Virginia Tech and Matt's graduation. It allowed me to earn enough money to allow us to pick a fantastic apartment in Alexandria. It exposed me to topics and skills that are truly valuable in my field. While my time at Titan was short, it certainly was worth it and I'm not sure I could have made any better decision than to work there.

Next week my family and I will be in the Carribean as a sort of "last hurrah" before I leave for Virginia and to celebrate my dad becoming a realtor. Bon Voyage!