The Spring 2023 Sea Olympics
On every Semester at Sea voyage, the Sea Olympics are held. It’s a shipwide competition lasting all day over a series of games. The ship“sea groups” register people for events and compete for gold. I was a proud member of the Bering Sea (the best sea!). Other seas included the Adriatic Sea, the Red Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Aegean Sea (staff, faculty, ship kids, and lifelong learners encompassed this sea, the rest are students).
The events include synchronized swimming, the lipsync battle, tug-of-war, limbo, sea spirit battle, the frozen t-shirt competition, relay races, the balloon toss, the CrossFit competition, various sports, and more.
The day was filled with fun and exciting activities, and I had a blast competing with and against my friends.
Here’s how my day as an Olympian went
The day started bright and early with a safety drill. We do monthly safety drills to maintain the ship’s “seaworthiness.” At 8 a.m., we were lined up outside the lifeboats with life jackets on. But underneath our life jackets, students were completely decked out in their sea colors. Paint on faces, arms, and legs and adorned in brightly colored clothing. Many wore hats and overalls, and glitter. I wore my black Bering colors: leggings, our custom-made Bering t-shirt, mascara as eyeblack, sharpie, and sunglasses. I loved being in the black sea because I had all the needed clothes!
After the drill, we filed into the Union for the start of the Olympics and then the Sea Spirit competition. There was an eager energy in the air as everyone anticipated the day’s activities. In the sea spirit competition, each sea performed its sea chant and showed its sea spirit video. Judges voted on which they thought was the best. While our video was really good, our chant wasn’t quite as prepared, so we didn’t place in this event. It was still really cool to see everyone’s spirit though, especially the Aegean Sea, who placed first!
After this, people split off. Some were starting their events, and others were grabbing photos and checking out the shipwreck we passed. That’s what my friends and I did! We enjoyed taking many photos, and the shipwreck was surreal! Additionally, the weather was gorgeous that day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun was shining high overhead.
My first event was the tug-of-war. I participated in three rounds; unfortunately, we lost all three I participated in. However, it should be noted that the balance of guys on Bering (the smallest sea) versus the other seas was significant (just saying!). After this event, I watched my roommate Bella and good friend Charlie participate in CrossFit. Then, my friends and I grabbed lunch in Lido and sat outside.
Next came my favorite event: synchronized swimming. Synchronized swimming was one of the biggest events in the Sea Olympics, and I was proud to represent Bering with my girls! We devised our routine in two days and practiced it once in the actual pool before performance day.
However, I think we did a great job, even though we didn’t place because our team was disqualified for lacking a guy. I’m confident we would have placed in the top three had we not been DQed. Most importantly, we had the best time putting our routine together and performing. It was definitely my favorite part of Sea Olympics.
The Bering Sea Synchronized Swimming team and the team captain, Lissie (far right).
After synchronized swimming, I was done with events for the rest of the day, so I joined my sea in cheering for those still competing. We laughed and cheered as we watched the frozen t-shirt contest (in which Bering placed 2nd in!), the relay races, and the basketball tournament (in which Bering placed 1st in!).
Later that evening, after dinner, we returned to the Union to watch the final event of the day, the Lip Sync battle. Besides synchronized swimming, this was the event I enjoyed watching most. All the Lip Sync teams came up with an excellent number! They were also very different from one another, which made it more fun to watch! My good friends Abby and Mk performed in the Bering Sea number, which featured Pitbull and Chris Brown, and did an incredible job! My good friends, Karley in Yellow Sea and Trevor in Baltic Sea, were amazing and entertaining performers.
Although we had a few wins, Bering placed 7th in the Sea Olympics. But it’s okay because we still had much fun and sea spirit throughout the day. I loved cheering on my teammates, and we prided ourselves in our spirit. We joked that “7th was the new 1st.”
The Red Sea placed first, rightfully so, because they killed most of the events. Of course, Aegean followed closely behind in second.
One of the best things about Semester at Sea is activities such as this. Some may think this sounds childish, but amidst all the “grown-up things” we’re seeing, doing, and experiencing, it’s nice to have times when we feel like kids again. It also brings us closer together as friends and further builds our community on the ship. I’m so grateful to have gotten to experience this incredible day, and I’ll cherish the memories I made forever.
