Friends Forever International (Last Day!)

Boston, MA

August 25th, 2023

To those at home,

I would say it’s bright and early to be writing this letter, but it is too early to even begin to be bright out. In the time since I’ve last written much has happened. Just yesterday we took a shore excursion to Great Misery Island where we meditated, and decided who would be best to send on a ship, in case of our own earth no longer functioning. Only two of the original fifteen of us students would survive. We bathed off the island, and I collected so much sea-glass I can share with you at home.

When we arrived back aboard the ship, we are a hearty lunch and took turns climbing aloft. Looking down upon the ship reminded me of a Wes Anderson film; it was the symmetry of the port and starboard sides with only slight differences in placement and peoples locations. We completed our almanacs as well today. I, and the rest of b-watch put work into a creature-feature on the common seagulls. We included during that time a mini lesson in sustainability and conservation of the ocean.

For the first time as students, we hauled anchor alone. It was a success but it took three rotations on the crank, my group being the last. We set sail, rounded several islands, now back in Boston Harbor, preparing for weather approaching tomorrow. After arriving back here, we ate dinner, then had galley cleanup. All students participated in deckhand Olympics, tasked with completing various coils, speeding to put a life jacket on a other student, finding locations of the boat, and finally trivia. B watch tied for second.

Anchor watch calls, and I must pause my writing. I miss and love those at home.

-FFI student from B watch

Dear anyone,

This morning marks our last full day aboard and that makes me very sad. I have had a lot of fun on this ship. Except maybe anchor watch in the rain but everything has its unpleasant moments.

I have really w hours working in my watch group and I feel like we have all bonded a lot more over the past few days. Cleaning the galley is more fun and we support each other through the difficulties of learning so much information. I am very grateful to Adam, Jordan, and the rest of the crew for answering so many questions even if it was like the third time I was asking the same question. I feel very much at home on this boat and have not once questioned why I signed up for something so different compared to my usual life.

I really wish I could spend more time with this group on this boat but unfortunately, our time is coming to an end. I do miss some things from home such as my friends, a hot shower, my family and my cats. I honestly don’t miss my phone as much as I was expecting. I hope that when I get home I can limit how much time I spend looking at it because playing a game on my phone does not bring me nearly as much joy as actually working with my hands and learning new things.

My biggest worry about coming on this trip was how everyone would get along. 30 people on a boat is a lot but there have been very few issues or conflicts. We all seemed to form one group that loves to laugh and joke making me feel at home with people I just met. I want to write about my favorite experience onboard but I don’t think there really is just one. Deckhand Olympics made everyone laugh and have fun, leaning the different sails made me feel accomplished, and even cleaning the galley with my watch made me grateful for such a great team. I really hope I am able to keep up my knowledge of sailing and do something like this in the future because I just had so much fun. My friends are probably going to be sick of me talking about it but I don’t think that will stop me. Thank you so much for an amazing trip.

-FFI student in A watch

P.S.

During deckhand Olympics it was amazing to see that Adam was proud of us even when we were not doing so great. Him and Jordan have put in so much time with A watch making sure that we were learning new things. I will forever be grateful for how they approached our group and supported us no matter what.