🛳️ On Cruise with the SCHOOL (2013-2014) 📖

It is not easy to find the right words to describe the experience of the graduation cruise, especially because in my case it was doubly special: I was "lucky" enough to participate in two cruises: one with my former classmates after failing in fourth grade, and the other the following year, with my new fifth grade classmates.

Two different groups, two different atmospheres, yet the same enthusiasm shared by those about to say goodbye to school and face their future at university or work. Even if, in my case, the first cruise was more of a consolation after the failure, it still became an unforgettable memory.

Those two cruises were my first real experiences on board a ship, and when I think about them today, they make me smile. I remember how differently I experienced them compared to how I would face things now.

I attended a high school composed almost entirely of men, so we found ourselves, in the winter (March-April) on a ship populated almost exclusively by boys, with very few girls and we could not go to the casino or drink alcohol.

Yet, precisely this simplicity, this lack of "distractions" and high expectations, made everything even more genuine.

I remember perfectly how little we needed  to have fun: it was enough to be together, invent games in the corridors, laugh for hours, tell each other secrets and live every moment as if it were something unique and unrepeatable.

There were also unforgettable moments, like that evening when the sea was particularly rough: while almost everyone preferred to stay in their cabins, transforming the ship into a kind of ghost ship, a few of us remain on deck enjoying the surreal atmosphere.

One of my classmates got seasick, but even that became a funny story we told for years.

And then there were those little "goods" that make every trip memorable like the unexplained disappearance of my friend's money: he had left his wallet in the safe, sure that no one could touch it, yet at a certain point he found himself almost out of money.

A thousand hypotheses were unleashed: some said that he had spent it without realizing it, others that it had been a theft, but the safe was locked and no suspicious access had been recorded, so the truth never came out.

Thinking back on those cruises today I realize how much the real treasure of those days was the company and the carefree spirit: just being together was enough to feel invincible, without thoughts or anxieties for the future. Precisely for this reason, those experiences remain among the most beautiful and authentic memories of my life.

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