A Shrinking Crew

Drama. Two more kids left the program today. One because he had acquired mono and could not afford to be so far from any help while we crossed the Atlantic and another because of a foolish mistake. Class Afloat has a binding contract that if broken serves some major penalties. Prior to the program it is made clear that there is a zero tolerance policy for drinking. The consequence: expulsion. Of course, teenagers never really follow the rules and so all through the year people have become more and more careless. Last night, however, things got out of hand, and one of my friends came back to the ship intoxicated. She could barely walk and vomited profusely. They rushed her to the hospital and today she was given one hour to pack her bags and leave. It was sad to see her go because of a single mistake, but this woke everyone up. We are now paying more attention to the rules and are much more aware of where the boundaries lie. Our crew is down to a mere 33. This is barely enough to handle an Atlantic crossing and many more hours on deck are going to be expected of us. I think and I hope that I’m ready for it. 24 days of desolate seas, here I come!