Semester at Sea: Study Around the World

Semester at Sea was incredible. I went on the Summer 2010 voyage, and my only regret is that I did not go for a full semester! SAS is so unique, not only because you get to see the world and take courses on a ship, but there is also an amazing shipboard community. If you want to learn about and visit many different countries, enhance your global perspective, and form relationships that will last a lifetime, Semester at Sea is the program for you! On SAS, students take classes while the ship is at sea and are free to explore and travel while in the different ports. There are also faculty directed trips for course credit.

Semester at Sea is expensive – but completely worth every penny. SAS offers many different forms of financial aid. I was awarded a need based grant, and I had a work-study job on the ship, which I really enjoyed.

Semester at Sea was the best experience of my life. I have not only come away from SAS with a desire to learn more about the world and different cultures, but I have also gained lifelong friendships with people all over the world.

After traveling the world or going to study abroad, you consider doing more things in life than ever before. Starting with what is around you, friends and family. Being gone for 3 to 5 months did make me miss things back at home, but the friends that i made along the way or even the people that i met once or twice just might be a long life friend. It amazes me how people could not talk to each other even for a brief moment or those who are nervous now because what do you have to lose? I want to meet more people and make more friends. I mean what is the point of traveling the world if you do it alone or even living in your everyday life alone? Enjoy every minute and every breathe of it.

If you've got an adventurous spirit and like to experience new and unfamiliar things, than this is by far the best study abroad experience available. It may not be for everyone, but the times and encounters I had in the 3 months on the MV Explorer changed my outlook on life and the world forever. I attribute so much of who I am today to the places I went, the people I met, and the pieces of this great earth that I saw.

SAS was the perfect study abroad program for me. You could be entirely immersed into a culture for the day and come back to enjoy the comforts of the ship at night without having to worry about food, lodging, or security. Of course, spending the night away from the ship was always a plus and made for some fun adventures.

SAS gave me the opportunity to see not just one country like most study abroad programs, but rather gave me a glimpse of the entire world, literally! It was an amazing experience and I grew tremendously from the many adventures and mishaps I went through. The faculty and staff do a wonderful job not only with academics but also in making sure that you have the experience of a lifetime.

I spent months, years even, planning for and dreaming about my Semester at Sea experience. It ended up being my last semester as an undergraduate student, and boy was it a way to end my college career. No amount of space or time would be enough to capture my experience as a member of the Semester at Sea Spring 2011 voyage community, so what I will say will be as short and direct as I can make it. Semester at Sea will blow your mind, anyone's mind. No matter how many plans you make ahead of time or how many expectations of yourself and others you muster up and how many times they are fulfilled or disappointed, SAS will be a mind-blowing, eye-opening, and all around beautiful experience. I believe that everyone, and I mean everyone, should have the chance to travel and learn in the SAS way, so those of you who can actually make that happen for yourselves, embrace it and do not waste a moment of it. No matter what happens along the way, good, bad or otherwise, SAS will offer you glimpses of people and the world that few are lucky enough to have. Whatever you choose to be involved with aboard the ship, however you choose to travel while in port, and whoever you befriend along the way, you will not regret your experience, rather, when it ends, you will be begging to get back on the MV Explorer and see the world in reverse. Get ready for the experience of a lifetime and many days, weeks and months of wishing you could do it again once it ends.

Going on Semester at Sea was definitely one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. It's such an incredible experience to be able to see the world like this and you make some of the best friends you will ever have. One of the things that I did not like about SAS, however, was that it seemed like about 1/3 of the students on board thought they were on a party boat the whole time and didn't seem to be that open to experiencing the different cultures. Getting black out drunk in every single port (including the countries where drinking really isn't socially accepted) really isn't why I signed up for this program. But there are certainly people that do Semester at Sea that are not like that at all. Despite the not so good qualities.. I wholeheartedly recommend SAS as a study abroad program!

Let me start by saying that SAS isn't perfect for everyone. Alcohol is not allowed on the ship. You can buy a beverage voucher and they'll allow you to have up to two drinks (a glass of wine or a beer) on certain days. The program was perfect for me, and to be honest I wouldn't change anything about it.

Make sure you pick the right classes if you decide to go, as some of the classes are a joke and a lot of busy work. Go for classes that don't sound like BS classes, trust me- they're not what you think they'll be.

On SAS I met so many incredibly awesome people and got to see the world with them. I would definitely do it all over again if I could, and in fact I'm looking into sailing again Summer 2012 (I was on the Spring 2011 voyage).

Good luck.

I would wake up at 7:15 shower, head down to breakfast(meals get boring quickly but really good when there's french toast)....two classes in a row then lunch then usually movie/nap time then dinner catch up with friends which turns into take over Class room 1 or 2 and have a movie night until 2 or 3 in the morning usually with "How I met your mother"