The World at Your Fingertips

Semester at Sea is an incredible, global comparative study abroad program that allows participants the ability to interact and experience many different countries and cultures all within one semester. While the voyages change a bit each semester, many of the same countries are visited, allowing for feedback and tips from alumni and program staff. For example, my voyage in Spring 2012 left from the Bahamas, then traveled to Dominica, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Singapore, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Japan (Kobe and Yokohama), Hawaii, and ended in San Diego. We spent 1 to 7 days in each country. Students take classes on board the ship while at sea, but have great freedom within each country to explore and do independent travel. This freedom allows you to create your own unique semester at sea experience. While some of the major highlights of each voyage involve the incredible sight-seeing, the truly amazing aspect of this program is being able to interact with different cultures and people all around the world. You also form life-long bonds with your fellow voyagers and develop better friendships than you may have ever had with people back home. The food on the ship can get monotonous, but I always found it perfectly fine (lots of potatoes, pasta, and pork). One other major criticism for the program is the fact that you don't really IMMERSE yourself into any particular country or culture, due to the short duration of time spent in each place. However, this is not the intent of the program; rather, the program puts a higher emphasis on the global comparisons and helping to expand students' minds to think as global citizens. So, if you really only want to focus on one country or culture, this program isn't for you, but if you love to have incredible experiences, see the world and travel, and see multiple countries in one semester, you should sign up! My voyage was truly life-changing and has somewhat defined who I am going forward in my life. My Semester at Sea experience almost always comes up at some point in conversation with new people. It helps make me more marketable in any area of life I choose to pursue, as I have demonstrated that I have an understanding of other cultures from my own and have experienced different ways of thinking only possible through the first-hand interactions that are part of the Semester at Sea program. If you are able to go on a Semester at Sea, the world will truly be at your fingertips.