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The sounds of drums are beating beyond our cabin door in the distant halls. King Neptune’s Royal Court is marching through the enclosed hallways, clanking pots and pans, and banging on doorways to announce that the day has officially come. "Siana! Siana! Wake up!" my roommate Lexi yells from beneath me as if I haven’t already been lying awake. Without my feet touching the ladder, I hop off of my top bunk and our squeals reach a pitch as loud as a child’s on Christmas morning. “Happy Neptune Day!” we exclaim to each other. We run to the door, spring it open, but no one is in sight. So, we run back into our cabin to get my GoPro. By the time we get to the door, a parade of people are dressed in white drapes and gold crowns, celebrating down our hall, banging drums, chanting songs, and resembling mermaids and mermen of the sea. “The time has come,” blares a voice through the loud speaker, “for voyagers to transition from slimy Pollywogs to Shellbacks anew.” Known as the Line-Crossing Ceremony elsewhere, this initiation rite commemorates a person’s first crossing of the Equator. However, as a voyager aboard the MV World Odyssey, on a study abroad program known as Semester at Sea, I crossed the Equator for the first time and took part in their traditional celebration known as Neptune Day. We are about to cross the Equator and pass the Prime Meridian and circle the buoy that signals zero degrees’ longitude and zero degrees’ latitude. This is a reason for a celebration! With a rush of excitement racing through us, we brush our teeth and make our way to the Berlin Dining Hall. As I bite into my golden scrambled eggs, the Royal Court continues their chant and marches around the buffet line with a now bodied green seaman, our dean, King Neptune, along with five students dressed in honorary cloth, who have sailed before and have the honor of being Emerald Shellbacks. Almost the whole shipboard community is present on the top of the ninth deck. The skies are grey and eerie and the wooden planks beneath our feet are wet from a storm the night before, as if King Neptune has been awaiting our presence. The Royal Court and Goddesses are being introduced one by one, and then we declare our pledge aloud. Echoes blare through the air that wraps only around us, as we are the only mass of human life for miles within the ocean. We have all been waiting for this day. Lexi and I halt at the ledge of the slime filled pool and answer a series of questions on whether we are worthy to leave behind the foul name of Pollywogs. “Do you promise to forever honor King Neptune every time you make way cross his seas?” asks a seaman of the Royal Court. “Aye,” Lexi and I cheerfully respond. "Fish guts" are poured onto us Pollywogs and we take the jump into the pool, hand in hand, to become Shellbacks. Everyone around us is cheering and as we climb the ladder to get out, a large fish awaits us for a kiss. I persevere, kiss the fish, then cross the mini walking bridge where I am greeted by King Neptune and his Queen. One by one, we kiss Neptune’s almighty ring and head down the steps to be welcomed as Shellbacks. The deck is now our dance floor. Hips are swaying, smiles are stretching, and laughs and hugs are being shared. Around the corner are hair dressers shaving off all the hair of those willing. I salute my fellow Shellbacks for their action, as they bring honor to us all. As we round the buoy that signals zero degrees’ longitude and zero degrees’ latitude, the ship blasts its horn into the now blue skies and cheers echo throughout the air. We are officially Shellbacks! Having a tradition such as Neptune Day on Semester at Sea brings together a shipboard community of over 500 voyagers, students, and staff alike. May all hail King Neptune and the oceans that we sail on!