Niklas‘ birthday

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: March 25, 2025
Position: Horta, Azoren
Geographical Position: 38°31.946‘N 028°37.494‘W
Etmal: 0 nm
Total: 10,966 nm

Today was a special day: Niklas‘ birthday!

In the morning, we only saw him briefly after getting up and then he was already gone! Without any clue where he had disappeared to, we decided to prepare a little surprise for him – a cake based on the principle of self-responsibility. You see, this happens to be Niklas‘ favorite strategy for avoiding work.

For math, we had to work in groups, independently learning different topics and then teaching them to each other. Everything relevant to the lessons at home was entirely up to the students to figure out and share among themselves.

So, following this principle, we placed eggs, flour and all the other ingredients for his cake on the table – after all, it was his responsibility to put it together!

After that, we had geography and history classes in turns. However, things didn’t go quite as expected. The afternoon class started with history, working outside at the tables. But just as they finished, it started raining, meaning all further lessons had to be held indoors.

As a result, the morning class missed out on history altogether.

Both subjects were actually quite interesting: In geography, we presented our group projects, which had to be based on either sustainability or nature. I gave my presentation on jet streams together with Franz and Sonja.

In history, we reviewed everything we had covered so far. Our task was to draw a world map and place terms where they belonged, showing how they were connected. In a few days, there will be an optional test on this material, giving us a chance to improve our grades.

At midday, we all had free shore time, which we made the most of. The Azores are truly beautiful and there’s so much to explore here.

Later, we held our first discussions about the ship’s logbook, which we’ve already started preparing. This logbook will serve as a kind of yearbook, collecting all our daily reports along with some photos and memories.

In the evening, Niklas finally returned, only to be surprised not just by our cake but also by a rewritten song from Marie and Anna.

Over the past few days, they had taken the song Santa Maria, which Niklas had annoyed us with often enough and transformed it into a very critical yet humorous piece, reminding him that turning 30 might not be all that great. Lines like „Your old bones can barely move anymore“ made it clear that the song was meant to be playful and fun.

Afterward, we continued singing, with Niklas putting on a video of a fire, recreating the atmosphere of his holiday camp tradition. We gathered around, singing songs like Country Roads, Riptide and Halo.

All in all, it was an amazing day!