Today, we left what was for sure one of everybody’s favourite islands: Faial. And that means that our trip is ending. The Azorean Islands were our last destiny before coming back to Holland.
It was also today that Kika, Carolina, Nikki, Marit and Alexander finished our amazing painting in the harbor, from School At Sea, 2016-2017. They did a very, very nice job. When they called everybody to look at the painting, we were asked to take a picture with our School At Sea jackets, with the whole group. Everybody was admiring the painting, that has the names of everyone that was part of this amazing year, along with a beautiful painting of the ship and, also, from the Whale that we gave to Sam on his birthday, as it’s always with us during our Watches. The painting represents very well the group and how incredible those five months have been. I felt very nostalgic, looking at the names and thinking about all those people that made me the person I am now. But, suddenly, Carolina’s dog stepped in the painting, that was not yet dry from the painting process, and we all started screaming “NOOOO…”. The dog looked so confused, and we were all laughing. But nothing happened to the painting!
It was very touching to see Carolina, Jorge and Emília hugging their families goodbye. Not only because I love all of them very much, and was happy because they got to see the people they love the most again before spending two weeks at sea; but also because I looked at them, I saw the tears in their eyes, and saw they were happy and sad at the same time, and I knew that in less than three weeks, me and everybody on board is going to feel the same: we will be extremely happy to see our families again, and extremely sad because those amazing six months are over.
When the ship was going to leave the harbor, somebody rang the bell. I was cleaning the dishes with kitchen duty, but we all stopped to support our loved Portuguese friends, when they were saying goodbye. And at some point, I looked at my friends on board. And I could tell, they all felt like crying. Because they knew. I knew. Everybody knew: this was the beginning of the end.
All I could think about this day was how much I love the life full of adventure I have now. And how amazing it is to learn something new and exciting every single day. And how beautiful the sunsets are when we are at sea. And how much I love my roommates. And that I should probably take a seasick pill as soon as possible.
Ellen