Semester at sea

This story written by my wife about two real incidents that happened around the same time in the fall of 1989. We’ve kept it as real as she can remember. It has not been altered. It is broken into 2 parts We hope you enjoy them.

Part 1.

I started college in the fall of 1986 By the fall of 1989, I had the opportunity to study at sea on ship that would take us to 11 countries, 12 cities and 3 continents over the course of. 105 days. I convinced my roommate Dawn to join me on this adventure

Our boat was departing from France. It would take us from France, to Spain,Morocco, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Vietnam, and ending in Hong Kong.

We decided to fly to France a week before the ship set sail for a mini vacation. While in France, we found people were very rude to us. We asked the consigliere at the hotel why people seemed so rude. She told us we were too American, with our teased high, blonde hair, and designer jeans. We realized for the remainder of our journey, we would be stereotyped for the two 20 year old girls from New Jersey that we were. We knew we had to make a change.

On the advice of the consigliere, we went to a salon outside of the city. It was there that we met with Yvette, the salon owner. We explained to Yvette how we were about to embark on a world tour and needed to shed our American tourist look. She asked us if we were open to a total Parisian makeover. I found it exciting, but Dawn needed some coaxing. In the end, we opted to agree to the makeovers. Speaking in French, Yvette then instructed 2 stylists on what to do.

Dawn and I were brought to sinks where our stylists washed the hairspray out of our hair. After we were washed, we were taken to chairs on opposite sides of a wall.  I was excited to get my makeover. I felt a new look was a great way to start a new adventure. Dawn was a little more apprehensive.

As my stylist began cutting my hair, I was a little nervous because I couldn’t tell exactly how much was coming off. The chair I sat in had the mirror covered by a sheet, so I couldn’t see what was being done to me, but I did see hair falling to the cape. At one point, the scissors glided across my forehead. I knew then I was getting bangs.

Once the cutting had stopped, I felt and smelt dye was being applied to my head. While it was being applied, I heard Dawn call out, “Are they dying your hair?”  Hearing this, I felt more at ease knowing she was getting the same treatment as I was.

After my hair was rinsed, it was quickly dried and styled. The stylist declared she was “Fini” and removed the sheet covering the mirror. I was shocked to see my previously teased blonde shoulder length hair was now brunette, cut into a Dorothy Hamill style halo bob, similar to the same haircut I had when I was 8 years old. As I leaned in closer to the mirror to get good look, I heard Dawn call out “Oh my God!”

I got up from my chair and turned the corner to see Dawn standing in front of the mirror with her mouth wide open. Like me, her hair looked nothing like it did when we walked in. Her hair was now black, in a french helmet bob style cut up to her ears. Upon seeing her, I said “Wow! Your hair is so short!” She replied with, “And yours is so…round”

While we were not thrilled with our new looks we did notice that when we returned to the hotel, we were treated much nicer.

Part 2

Our stay in Paris was short lived, as we were due to set sail for our semester at sea. Studying on a ship was an amazing experience. It gave me a unique opportunity to travel the world, discover new cultures and take part in the adventure of a lifetime. One of the biggest adventures was the day we crossed the Equator, also known as Neptune Day.

The day started with “King Neptune” getting on the loud speaker and waking everybody up at 07:30 am for an early breakfast. We were then ordered to convene in our bathing suits at the pool at 09:00. It was announced over the loud speaker that we would all go through an initiation ceremony of sorts on the pool.

We all lined up in front of the pool. I was standing next to Dawn, when all of a sudden, a bucket of green slime, which contained fish heads, scales and guts galore got dumped on our heads. It had to be the most disgusting thing I ever endured. Once we all got slimed with fish guts, we were allowed to jump in the pool to wash off. The water literally turned green from all the slime.

When we climbed out of the water,  we had to do three things:

1) Kiss a dead fish.

2) Kiss Neptune’s ring.

3) Get officially dubbed a shellback

Kissing a dead fish on its lips was gross also, but at least it was over quick.

The last part of the initiation process/tradition, for those who chose, was to shave your head.

As people started signing up to do it, Dawn suggested we rid ourselves of our French hairstyles and start over. In all, 10 girls and more than 50 guys opted to get their heads shaved. I was too chicken to actually do it, but Dawn did.

The actual head shaving was truly one of the craziest experiences of this trip and maybe our lives. When it was her turn, Dawn sat down in a chair on the deck surrounded by at least 60-70 people. So many people had their camera on her, as she was one of the few girls on the boat doing it. Since we were crossing the equator, the temperature was over 100degrees, so the environment was super intense. I held her hand as the ships hairdresser, who coincidentally was the same person that was insistent on keeping me in my mushroom cut, began shearing off the box bob that she also kept Dawn in.

Dawn was euphoric as her head was being shaved. The crowd was cheering and I even helped cut hair off. Admittedly, it was all very exciting, and for a brief moment I contemplated doing it, but I just couldn’t get the courage to actually go through with it.

The whole thing took 15-20 minutes. Most of the time, Dawn was pretty calm but there were a couple moments where she started freaking out, for even though she really wanted to do it, the process was still scary.

People were cheering and snapping pictures. Since I was standing next to her, I heard shouts of “Shave her friend!” But I resisted their urges. Instead, I stood by Dawn’s side until every last hair was cut off. When it was over, she stood up from the chair triumphantly.

The crowd went wild as we walked off the stage like a celebrity and her assistant. For the rest of the day, people were high five-ing Dawn, and telling me I should have done it.

Admittedly in the days that passed, I was sort of jealous of how quickly Dawn was able to get ready in the morning now without a head of hair to wash, dry and style. By the time we left the ship, she had a short pixie cut, and I still had my Parisian halo.

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