Welcome to the Semester at Sea Voyage Blog!

I’d like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Mark Lazaroff and I will be the Communications Coordinator aboard the Spring 2009 Voyage of Semester at Sea. In addition to providing you with updates on our travels, which will include 12 port stops in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Central America over 108 days (please see http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2009/itinerary.php for the full itinerary) my hope is that this blog will provide you with a new perspective of life aboard the MV Explorer and the incredible experiences that happen here. This is my first voyage with Semester at Sea as well as my first time out on the ocean, so I’m sure that when I arrived in the Miami Seaport on Thursday afternoon, I was having lot of the same feelings that the student participants will most likely have when they board the ship in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday. After months of anticipation, I was extremely excited to finally be here, but at the same time, I was nervous about being out in the open seas and apprehensive about coming aboard without knowing anyone else. However, now that I’ve got about four days under my belt, I can tell you that my excitement has grown exponentially while my anxiety has been completely relieved thanks to the wonderful crew and my fellow staff and faculty. We have all spent the past few days vigorously preparing for the arrival of the Spring 2009 participants and are just as excited as they must be to begin our voyage together!