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On Sunday, May 3rd we transited the Panama Canal and the celebrated the end of the academic semester for the students and faculty. It was the first day after final exams and also the first of our three days to have our last meetings and say our goodbyes.
The process of transiting the canal took about five hours making our way through the different "locks" of the canal before breaking into the open waters of the Caribbean Sea. It was weird, because the Canal marked our last stop and our last adventure. It marked the beginning of our home stretch and the only thing left, was arriving home to the United States.
Being in the Panama Canal was a pretty cool feeling. Observing and learning more about this immaculate engineering phenomenon was neat. Many of us passengers tried to locate the webcams so we could be seen by our friends and family that were trying to sneak a peak of the ship and our faces.
That morning, SCF held its final church service of the voyage. We heard from a few students share about how this voyage impacted their faith and how God used the past four months to grow them. Some others came up and share as they felt led about how they were impacted. For me, it was a great encouragement to hear how many of the students appreciated having these worship services and valued having a space to both explore and grow in their faith (check out the group picture in the photo album!)
We celebrated, as each voyage does, with the Ambassador's Ball to bring a close to the voyage. All 800 passengers dress up and enjoy a four course meal which then caps off, of course, with a dance to end the evening. It was fun to see everyone dress up into their fanciest outfits, some rocking international outfits found around the world.
One of the many unique pieces of this voyage is how close the shipboard community becomes. You know how you get to know someone so much better if you live with them? Well, the shipboard community has lived together on this 700 ft. ship for four months, so we've become quite close. I am definitely going to miss seeing all of the same faces over and over each day and having such a close community at my fingertips.
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