As we travelled from India to Mauritius, our ship crossed the equator for the first time, which meant only one thing: Neptune Day! According to tradition, when sailors on a ship cross the equator, they shave their heads and cover themselves in fish guts as a tribute to King Neptune, God of water.Obviously, Semester at Sea was required to follow this tradition as well, or else face the wrath of Neptune, so unfortunately, we had to take a day away from classes to pay our tribute.
The day started off around 7:30 in the morning, when I woke up to the sound of drums and whistles. My roommate and I jumped out of bed and ran to our door to find members of the crew dressed up in togas and face paint, banging on people's doors as they marched down our hall. After seeing that, we were fully awake and curious to find out what would be going on next, so we quickly got ready and headed out.
After breakfast, the festivities began by the pool on deck 7. Deans and professors were also dressed up in togas and facepaint, and Dean Crabtree was King Neptune himself. Students who wished to complete the traditional right of passage jumped into the pool on one side, climbed out one by one to kiss a fish held out by one of the professors, and then had fish guts dumped on them, thus transforming from a polywog to a a shellback. In this case, the fish guts wereen't real, but regardless, it still smelled absolutely horrible. I'm not sorry to say that I skipped the "initiation." Don't tell King Neptune.
Then, of course, came the other part of the ceremony in which people had their heads shaved. Set up by the bar on deck 7 were several chairs, as well as several LLCs armed with hair-cutting shears and electric razors. I was absolutely shocked at the number of people who stepped forward to shave their head. Of course their were plenty of guys with already short hair who were willing to sit in the chair, but I'd say as many as 30 women, Lifelong Learners and students alike, who stepped up to the chopping block. Women were not only getting cueballed, but some with hair that was long enough were putting it up in ponytails and getting them chopped off to donate, and some girls even got mohawks. I spent a good half hour that morning helping my friend Yensi spike her hair up after her mohawk haircut. When my hair gel and spray didn't work, I broke out the Elmer's glue from my art kit, which seemed to work pretty well!
Now here's where I drop the bomb. I was one of the girls to shave their head. Believe me when I say that I hadn't even considered doing it at all, I was dead set on just taking pictures of everyone else who decided to shave their heads. But as I stood there watching girl after girl go up fearlessly and watch their hair drop to the ground in front of them, I felt more and more that I wanted to have that experience. I wanted to break that standard of beauty and just rid myself of my hair! I quickly jumped into the chair before I had a chance to change my mind. I didn't even tell any of my friends, although a few of them were there to witness my moment of insanity. As I felt the shears cutting roughly at my ponytail, I knew there was no going back. Suddenly my head felt much lighter than it did a second ago, and Danielle, an LLC, was dangling my ponytail in front of my face. I looked at it and couldn't help but smile: No going back now, is there? I lifted my hands to my head and felt something I never had before. Nothing.
At that point I just wanted them to shave my head and get it over with, and a moment later, I heard the buzz of the razor in my ear, felt it travelling against my head, front to back, front to back. I watched my hair drop away, felt a sudden coldness on my bare scalp, and the next moment Danielle was saying "Alright, you're done." Again I brought my hands to my head, felt the leathery skin that had never before seen the light of day. I stood and saw my friends smiling faces. Smiling in shock, most likely, as they all reached out to rub my newly bald head. I looked at one friends and the first thing I could think to say was, "I'm cold!"
I walked around in a daze for most of that day, with a million thoughts running through my head. Did I really just do that? Was this a really bad decision? Will people look at me differently now? Will they treat me differently? How the hell am I going to tell my family and friends from home about this? I know you're probably thinking that this isn't as big a deal as I'm making it out to be, but if you know me at all, you know that I have always been the kind of person who spent an obscene amount of time on her hair, washing it, blow drying it, straightening it, and dyeing it every color of the rainbow. To have no hair, for me, is to change everything about the way I saw myself. Believe me, this was a big deal to me.
Moving on, the day ended with an amazing two-hour talent show, and I could not believe the incredible musical talent of some of the other students on SAS. Here were some of the best singers, best dancers, funniest and most creative people I've ever met in my life, and I had no idea until I saw them perform that night. I was totally taken aback by them, and as I sat and cheered them on, I was so grateful to know these amazing people.
So there you have it! Besides the Sea Olympics, Neptune Day has been one of my most memorable days at sea. Oh, by the way, that whole thing about me shaving my head...yeah. I was kidding. Good story though, right?
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