Sea The World - Spring 2009

"I love to travel, but I hate to arrive." – Albert Einstein

2009-05-05T18:12:00.005-04:00

Many of us aboard the MV Explorer are feeling like this right now. Our journey, which began in Nassau 107 days ago will be coming to a close tomorrow morning. It has been the experience of a lifetime and one for which there are truly no words to describe it with. During the course of our time together, we have bonded as a community. At one point or another, we all found ourselves calling the MV Explorer home and we looked forward to getting back on board the ship and being with our new family just as much as we anticipated arriving at our next port of call. The experiences that we shared together will be forever ingrained in our minds as well as our hearts.

For those of you back home anxiously awaiting the arrival of friends and family (there are probably even a few of you staked out right now in the port in Ft. Lauderdale), you should know that we are not the same people that left you in January. We have all changed. Our perceptions of the world have changed, our knowledge has grown, and we may view our lives back home through a new set of lenses. The voyagers who will be disembarking in Florida tomorrow will carry with them a greater appreciation for the freedoms and comforts that we enjoy so casually at home. When we spend $4.00 on a drink at Starbucks, we may catch ourselves thinking about how many days that would have fed a family in India for. When we go back to our neighborhoods, we might stop to compare them to the impoverished townships in South Africa that are home to millions. When we see a confused traveler in our hometowns, we will remember the countless people around the globe who came to our assistance. There were those who may have done something as small as take five minutes to walk us to a destination we could not find to others who were kind enough to provide us with a place to sleep.

We will all walk away from this journey knowing more about ourselves and the world. Here is how Semester at Sea has changed us:

Kathryn Cammack, Metropolitan State College

“Semester at Sea has proved and disproved stereotypes that I held before this journey about both people at home and of different cultures around the world.” Kat told me how much both her immersion in different cultures and being a part of the shipboard community has meant to her.

Meriel Colglazier, University of Virginia

“Before this journey, I didn’t know about the world. I only knew what I had seen for myself and outside of the United States, I had only been to Europe. Seeing all of these cultures made me more aware of what is out there and I am looking forward to bringing my experiences home and sharing them with others.”

Alexandra Bosee, Stetson University

“Before going on Semester at Sea, I felt like the world was a lot bigger. I saw the world through what I was told to believe through textbooks. Now my perceptions shape the world that I live in."

Amanda Barbara, University of Miami

“Semester at Sea made me want to see as many places as I possibly can and share them with others. We have seen cultures around the world and now I can apply them to my own life. It makes me appreciate the simple things and not take anything for granted.”

Julius Schwerin, Citadel Military College

“It made the world seem a lot smaller and put everything within my reach. Being on Semester at Sea also taught me to rely on people more than I ever have before. The kindness that greeted us everywhere we went was inspiring.”

Robert Perry, San Diego State University

“I have been around the world. I have everything seen from the Southern Cross in the sky to the lava flowing volcanoes of Guatemala. I’ve made connections with people halfway around the world when we could barely speak to one another and it showed me the similarities and cultures of people around the globe”

Naazaneen Hodjat, University of Washington

“It was really interesting to see different cultures mixing and see how people fulfill their needs. People are the same all over the world, they are just trying to live and their main priorities are just to be able to do the basics, like providing food and shelter for their family.”

Gavin Booth, University of Arizona

“Reflecting now on Semester at Sea, I have made the best friends and connections of my life. I have been able to see the entire world and as a business student, every aspect of the world has changed. I’m thinking more globally than I ever did before.”

Jie Chen, Shantou University (China)

“I saw that visiting China changed the way people viewed my own country. They learned more about life in China and how our country works. Being with students in this community also changed my life. It gave me a feeling that everything is going to be okay in the future. They taught me to be confident. My attitudes towards life have changed a lot.

Robert Arnot, Pepperdine University

“Once you see things for yourself, they really have meaning in your life. After seeing the grandeur of the Taj Mahal and the other magnificent places that we had the opportunity to go to compared in stark contrast with the poverty of the common people in India and others around the world that I saw for myself, I am beginning to develop a new perspective on people and society in general. You also always hear people talk about what is wrong with society. Well, now I have seen the world and I have seen for myself how beautiful it really is.”

Miguel Castillo, Emmanuel College

“I was shocked by how similar people were. We went to all of these different countries all over the world and we got to see all of the different cultures and had incredibly unique experiences in all of the countries but in the end, I discovered that everyone, that all people are essentially the same.”

Braxton Henderson, University of Pittsburgh

“I used to think that I would never go to all of these places, that they were too far. Even when I was actually in all of these countries, I didn’t really believe that I was there. I had to step back on reflect on the incredible journey that I was on. I found that we all live in the same world, we’re all human…everyone wants the same things from life. They just want to be treated with respect, to be able to be happy and live with their families. The differences between us all are not so big…we shouldn’t allow them to become barriers. Semester at Sea has exposed me to people around the world and the differences I saw just made me want to learn more about them.”

These are just a small representation of what we will all walk away with tomorrow. No voyager has had the exact same journey and we will all take something different from our experiences. I want to thank all of you who have followed this blog throughout the semester. We’ll be seeing you soon!

Samples of Academic Work

2009-05-05T01:49:00.002-04:00

I received some requests following yesterday's post so see some of the work that was mentioned so below are copies of the papers submitted by Grace Dixon and Natalie Elghossain. Enjoy!

Grace Nixon
April 13, 2009
Demography, Dr. Grindstaff
2nd Port Report
Death and Dying in Asia

While death and dying is certainly a universal topic, perhaps no region of the world has more varied beliefs and traditions from our western approach to the subject than Asia. Many of the countries that spanned the first half of this Semester at Sea voyage were greatly influenced by Islam and Christianity – two religions that indubitably have substantial histories, but which could be considered relatively “new” when viewed in comparison to Asian religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism. These ancient religions provide a sociological playground when examining rituals and traditions associated with death. With histories that span millennia, the countries of India, Vietnam, China, and Japan provide fascinating views into the means by which many Asians deal with the universal experience of death.

I. India

The Hindu religion influences much of the country of India and thus guides most of the traditions surrounding death in this area of the world. The layers of Hinduism could fill multiple books – indeed, they have. As such, it would be impossible to use a few short paragraphs to fully cover all that is involved when a person of the Hindu religion dies – however, an overview can certainly be attempted.

According to Shaid, an undergraduate student from Chennai, a body is generally cremated upon death if the person belongs to a higher caste. However, burial is also accepted within Hinduism, particularly among those of lower castes in southern India. When someone dies, all the relatives are called and the body is taken from the house. Daughters are not allowed to see the corpse or the burning of the body once it leaves the home and is taken for cremation.

The cremation ceremony begins with a one rupee coin being placed on the middle of the deceased person’s forehead. The chief mourner, generally the eldest son, circles around the body three times. The son carries a bottle of water over his shoulder and every time he circles the body a hole is punctured in the bottle. On the third circling, the bottle is broken and the fire is lit. Bathing by the people in attendance must take place, along with the shaving of the men. Later, there is a gifting of a cow which may be symbolic or actual. If the body has been cremated and not buried, a bone-gathering ceremony takes place, the contents of which are eventually spread in a sacred river such as the Ganges.

The entire funereal process takes place over ten days – death and the crossover to ancestry is a tenuous transition and certain rituals must be performed in order to aid the soul in this journey. It is interesting to note that the belief in ancestors is held in conjunction with a belief in rebirth of the soul. As is noted by Religious Traditions of the World, there is a “sense that after three generations ancestors begin to dissolve into vaguer zones from which they are eventually reborn” (795). The many rites and rituals surrounding death in India almost serve as a mirror to the Hindu belief in the complex process that a soul undergoes as it transitions from life to death and into new life once again.

II. Vietnam

Whereas Hinduism is the religion of the majority of people living in India, Buddhism takes center stage in Vietnam and directs many of the beliefs and traditions surrounding death. While both Hinduism and Buddhism subscribe to the belief in reincarnation, there are significant differences when it comes to rituals that are performed around a person’s death and beliefs that the living hold about the afterlife.

According to Hiep, a a tour guide for Destination Asia, ancestors in Vietnam are buried in the rice paddies under tombstones that all face one direction. The family comes once a week to pray for the ancestors’ intercession in asking for good crops. Thus, while the soul is reincarnated, it can still hear the prayers of the family.

In the villages, the belief in reincarnation is certainly present and is passed along through stories that are shared amongst the villagers. According to Quan Nguyen-Huy, a Bangkok tour guide who lives in the Mekong Delta region, there are reports in his village of children telling their parents that they contain the soul of the parent’s best friend, brother, or sister. They demand that the parents treat them well or buy them nice things since they hold the soul of someone who was loved and has died. Quan said that these children are five or six years-old, not yet old enough to be of the age of reason and manipulate information about reincarnation to work to their advantage. As evidenced by these accounts, Buddhist beliefs regarding the afterlife and reincarnation are not simply contained within books outlining the tenants of Buddhism – they truly are held by the people.

III.China

Like Vietnam, the country of China is largely influenced by Buddhism. Much of the proceeding information regarding Chinese customs surrounding death, however, is not necessarily associated with any one religion but rather reflects the traditional, ancient Chinese belief systems.

Not surprisingly, many of these traditional Chinese rituals are conducted in the more rural areas of the country that have not been modernized to the same extent as most of China’s cities. When someone dies in rural China, at least 200 people gather at the family’s house. A monk says some prayers and then everyone eats. During this gathering, traditional Chinese music such as ancient Chinese opera is played or sung by performers who are brought into the home. This music may not be anything current-day or popular.

Following the meal, a procession to the burial ground takes place. There is a definite order to the procession – in the forefront ahead of the coffin are the people who chose the burial plot. The coffin is next in line, proceeded by the eldest son who carries a picture of the deceased. Next come the members of the close family to the deceased, all of whom wear large masks that cover their faces. These family members also carry walking sticks that are wrapped in beautiful white paper. They lean on these as they walk, symbolizing the fact that they are nearly immobilized by the immensity of their grief. In keeping with the great sadness that the family members have, they are supposed to weep loudly and cry out things such as, “Oh father, now that you are gone there is such a void in my life! How will I go on without you?” If a family member cannot bring himself or herself to weep, he or she will hire a professional mourner, a woman who can cry on command with great feeling.

Following the immediate family in the procession comes the rest of the people who have gathered for the funeral. Finally in the rear of all of the mourners comes a band of musicians playing sorrowful music. Everyone in the procession – from the people leading the throng to the person in the very rear – wears white which symbolized mourning in China.

Upon reaching the burial grounds, the body is buried and a group of people will bring small buckets of food to leave at the grave. This offering of food symbolizes the sustenance that the person will need in the next life. In addition to this custom at the time of death, there is also a yearly festival occurring in April in which offerings are made for the deceased. This festival, called the Cleaning of the Tombs, consists of families going to their ancestors’ tombs; here they leave three cups of water and wine along with other useful items and money. Oftentimes, the money will be folded and arranged into some type of object like a house. The money is placed on the grave and burned in hopes that the ancestors will witness the regard that the living family members still hold for them and bless the family with good fortune.

The day following the burial, the friends and family gather again to partake in another meal and a hearty celebration. Just as happens for the initial lunch, musicians are brought in – this time, however, a popular band from the city is brought in and joyful, popular melodies are played.

Despite much of China’s modernization, the ancient rituals applying to some of life’s most significant and weighty moments are still alive and well throughout the nation.

IV.Japan

While Japan is an incredibly modernized nation in many ways, its people still hold very traditional views that hearken back millennia. Interestingly though, according to Mayu Kanai, a college student from Tokyo, the Japanese’s rituals surrounding death are undergoing an interesting transition as they teeter between traditional practices and more western means of approaching death and dying.

Customarily, funerals in Japan occur within the home and are only intended for the close family. A Buddhist monk will come to the home and read prayers in front of the casket. Then each person present puts a flower into the casket before it is closed. The casket is then taken in a hearse to be cremated. This ceremony and the cremation occurs two days after the death. The bones are buried in the cemetery in the family tomb, underneath the family headstone. Wives are buried under the family stone of their husbands.

Forty days after the death, the family prays again because the soul must be sent up to heaven. Mayu mentioned that the Shinto religion (which, along with Buddhism, predominates in Japan despite the small numbers of people who actively subscribe to either) teaches the concept of heaven and hell. Mayu also mentioned that the Japanese traditionally believe that a soul behave differently depending on the type of death that a person underwent. If the person did not die a peaceful death, his or her ghost may remain on earth seeking revenge. In such a case, it would require the help of a mediator to send the soul up to heaven.

While traditional ideas surrounding death undeniably still exist in Japan, western means of approaching this event have started to take hold more and more. One such example can be seen in regards to the deceased being buried in the family tomb – Mayu explained that currently one would find only two or three generations being buried in the tomb with ancestors since people are gravitating towards being buried underneath their own stone. Similarly, while funerals were traditionally held in the home, the recent trend is for these ceremonies to take place in funeral homes. As is the case with living, breathing societies (particularly in our increasingly globalized world), traditions can morph and change as is evidenced through these trends in Japan.

V. Conclusion

The countries of India, Vietnam, China, and Japan each bring a wealth of traditions revolving around death and a rich complexity of ideas regarding the role of ancestors, reincarnation, and the afterlife. In delving into such material, one is not only able to better understand core beliefs held by the people of these countries, but is also able to better understand the general cultures themselves.

Natalie Elghossain
Migration Around the World
Field Report #1
3/2/09
People Following Jobs

Migration, particularly at the international level, is undoubtedly a prevalent and pressing issue in today’s globalized world. Due to the significant impacts that migration has on both sending and receiving nations, it is important to understand the root causes of such frequent, widespread migration around the world. The push-pull theory characterizes the general dynamics of migration, whereby some people move because they are pushed out of their previous residence while others move because they are pulled or attracted elsewhere. Potential migrants tend to develop a cost-benefit analysis to help determine whether or not moving is the most advantageous decision. Research has shown that the desire to get ahead, particularly economically, has served as a significant and beneficial pull factor for many migrants, one that outweighs many of the costs associated with migration. Indeed, "if it is assumed that people spend much of their life pursuing various goals, then migration may be seen as a possible means--an implementing strategy--whereby a goal (such as more education, a better job, a nicer house, a more pleasant environment, and so on) might be attained" (Weeks Chapter 7, pg. 11).
From my own personal observations in Spain, Morocco, Namibia, and South Africa, it is apparent that a significant pull factor for many migrants is a job opportunity, one that is typically more desirable and more economically prosperous than what is being offered by the potential migrants’ current location. These observations are consistent with the Dual Labor Market Theory of International Migration, which separates the labor market into primary and secondary sectors. The following observations involve people in the secondary labor market, which is characterized by low wages, unstable working conditions, and lack of reasonable prospects for advancement. It appears that the people involved have been recruited passively into their jobs, through the diffusion of information that jobs are available. It can be argued, then, that "the flow of labor ought to be explained by a simple supply-and-demand model, with people moving from places where there aren’t enough jobs to places where there are jobs" (Weeks Chapter 7, pg. 22).

Although Spain has one of the largest immigrant populations in Europe, I did not come across any international migrants. In both the cities of Granada and Barcelona, I stumbled upon many international students who temporarily reside in Spain while they study abroad in the country, but because they have not permanently changed their place of residence, they represent mobility but not migration. I did, however, learn that Gorca, my walking tour guide in Barcelona, is an internal migrant of Spain. Gorca leads walking tours around the major metropolitan city of Barcelona multiple times a day and almost every day of the week. He originally comes from a small town outside of Barcelona but moved to the city about five years ago. He is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about the history and culture of Barcelona and found that he could share his knowledge with tourists in Barcelona where tourism is particularly fruitful. In this case, Gorca serves as an example of migration evolution, whereby the populations in many developed countries are largely urban based, and people are increasingly moving between and within urban places where jobs are plentiful.

Additionally, in Morocco, I found that I was unlikely to come across people who have immigrated into the country. Indeed, there is a large population of Moroccans who have emigrated from the country and have settled in Spain, and many people from Southern Africa travel through Morocco in order to ultimately reside in Spain. However, I did not meet a single person who was not a native of Morocco. Additionally, according to Nadia, a middle-aged Moroccan woman whom I stumbled upon at the train station in Casablanca, only a small number of Moroccans have traveled outside of the country. According to her, few in Morocco have the means or the opportunity to travel a significant distance within the country let alone outside of the country. Like Gorca, Nadia is a follower of the tourist industry, as she is a full-time tour guide for French and English tourists. The day I met her she was traveling to Marrakesh to conduct a pre-scheduled tour in the city, but she travels all over the country constantly, wherever her company sends her, in order to conduct tours. Although she symbolizes mobility only and not migration, her story is representative of the significant pull that a job can have on a person and, also, that the benefits of having a job, particularly for those in the secondary sector of the labor market, are very much worth the costs associated with travel.

Despite the relatively small, young population of Namibia, I met a handful of locals in Swakopmund who had immigrated to the country, all of whom migrated with the intention of obtaining a specific, more prosperous job. All of them had chosen Namibia because its gorgeous landscape attracts a growing amount of tourists, making it easier and more conducive for their particular lines of work. All three of my sand boarding instructors, Jay, Clayton and Heini, came to Namibia with the intention of teaching sand boarding on the largest sand dunes in the world. Clayton emigrated from neighboring South Africa, but Jay made the move all the way from Northern California in the United States, symbolizing a drastic, permanent change in residence for the sake of a desired job opportunity. Heini, a native of Namibia, moved to Kenya for a while to work in the sporting industry (other than sand boarding), but was recently pulled back into Namibia when a friend told him about the good money that can be made as a sand boarding instructor in Namibia. Similarly, when I asked Lawrence, our hot air balloon conductor who is originally from Kenya, “What brought you to Namibia?” he replied explicitly, “Hot air ballooning.” Lawrence has been an international migrant for much of his life, as he has lived in Kenya, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Germany, the U.S., and, finally, Namibia. He received his licenses as a pilot and as a hot air balloon conductor in California, where he worked for a few years as a pilot. He later developed a passion for hot air balloons, and once he discovered how wonderful hot air ballooning can be in Namibia, particularly in Swakopmund where he monopolizes the industry, he moved to Namibia and brought his wife along with him. Therefore, Lawrence also clearly demonstrates the concept that "people migrate for job-related reasons and then, very often, their family members follow them in a pattern of chain migration that involves family reunification" (Weeks Chapter 7, pg 22).

Although South Africa is often referred to as “the world in one country” because of its vastly diverse population, a large amount of whom are immigrants, South Africa is also currently suffering from the so-called “brain drain.” During my FDP with Professor Strouse to Plumstead High School in Cape Town, I talked with a math teacher, whose name I have regrettably forgotten, who had only recently returned to Cape Town to teach after many years of teaching in Kuwait. She is a native of Cape Town, where she originally began teaching, but she was lured many years ago to teach in Kuwait where teachers are better compensated. According to her, she has returned to Cape Town because of family issues, but she made it seem as though she would have stayed in Kuwait otherwise because the socioeconomic opportunities for teachers are greater. She noted that there is a common problem in South Africa with many other well-educated teachers leaving the country because they are not nearly as valued or as compensated as they should be or as teachers are in other places around the world. In this case, emigration of well-educated South Africans is detrimental to society, particularly when it includes teachers because they are responsible for educating the rest of the population.

In conclusion, these several cases based on informal observations all exemplify the significance of the job market as a pull factor for both internal and international migration.

Crossing the Panama Canal

2009-05-03T19:06:00.011-04:00

After a long day of crossing the Panama Canal, we are finally through and back out on the open seas. I’m not sure any of us really grasped the scale of the canal itself before we saw it with our own eyes. The locking system that was dreamed up by brilliant engineers over 100 years ago is astounding.

For those of you who are not familiar with how the canal system works, here is the simple explanation. The Panama Canal is not at sea level and in order to make it across, ships must be elevated through a series of locks. These are basically compartments where the water level can be raised to elevate ships or lowered to bring them back down. Once a ship is in the lock, its gates will be sealed and the water level will be adjusted to bring the ship to its appropriate height. Engines running along the side of the canal on tracks then pull the ship through the lock until it is back in open water. There are three locking systems that ships must pass through in addition to a number of both natural and man-made waterways that carry ships most of the way through.

Altogether, the Panama Canal is about 48 miles in length but that is nothing compared to the 14,000 mile journey around the Cape Horn that it replaced. We entered around 8:30am this morning and we were probably out by about 4:45pm. It is estimated that about 14,000 ships pass through a year and there were quite a few out there with us today.

There has also been a lot going on aboard the ship. Yesterday marked the last day of finals and there was one exam in particular that caught the shipboard community’s attention. All semester long, Aniseh Burtner’s World Dance class has been studying and learning different styles of dance from around the globe. For the final exam, students prepared their own dances and performed in the Union for all of us. There were performances based on styles from all of the countries that we visited over the past three and half months.

This afternoon, there was also an Academic Gallery to showcase exemplary work during the semester. Faculty were given the opportunity to nominate students from their classes, who were then recognized during a brief ceremony that was followed by presentations from the students themselves that gave us a chance to see what they have been working on.

Grace Nixon, a student from Santa Clara University, has been conducting interviews with locals in every port for a project for her geography class. The assignment was to choose a topic in sociology to research and Grace chose to compare the different views on death and dying around the world. “It was fascinating to see different views around the world,” Grace remarked. Natalie Elghossain of Cranbury, NJ has been studying immigration issues as she traveled around the world with Semester at Sea. The focus of her research has been the main factors that cause people to emigrate.

Visual art was on display as well. Rebecca Braun of Tenafly, NJ and a student at the University of Michigan has been enrolled in an arts class aboard the MV Explorer. Her sketches and drawings combined with a written journal captured the spirit of our journey and of the people and places that we visited. Elyssa Tanenbaum, a student at the University of Florida chose to show us some pieces that she created for her digital photography class. There was some amazing work on display and all of the students aboard the ship have a lot to be proud of.

Photos #2, 4, and 5 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Providing Safe Passge

2009-05-02T01:08:00.003-04:00

In 1997, a schoolteacher in North Carolina named Hanley Denning decided to spend a year in Guatemala to work on her Spanish so that she could communicate better with her Spanish-speaking students. Somehow, one year turned into two but after that, she was all set to go home. As Hanley neared the end of her time in Antigua, however, a friend of hers brought her along on a visit to the slums next to the Guatemala City dump.

What she saw there would change her life. The families living in and next to the dump basically survived off of what they could find there. They made their living on whatever they could unearth and sell amidst the trash, often ate whatever remains they could find, and without any money for an education, they had no prospects of ever being able to lift themselves out of poverty.

That very same week, Hanley founded Camino Seguro, which means “Safe Passage” in English. By going into her savings and having her parents sell her car and computer back in the U.S., Hanley was able to put together enough money to educate 40 children who were living in the Guatemalan City dump.

“We believe every child should have the opportunity to receive an education and to go as far as they are able in school. Our programs are designed so that each child can gain the skills needed to obtain stable jobs, to be self-sufficient and to lead their families out of poverty in a dignified and permanent way,” the program’s goals state. Camino Seguro works to provide the children of families living in and near the dump with an education, nutritional support, medical attention, vocational training programs, and extracurricular activities.

2009 marks the 10th anniversary of the organization’s founding. Tragically, Hanley was killed in an automobile accident in Antigua in 2007 but the work that she began and Camino Seguro have continued on the path that she laid out. Today, over 550 Guatemalan children are being educated by Camino Seguro and receiving assistance through its other programs.

While we were in Guatemala, two groups of Semester at Sea voyagers traveled to Guatemala City on service projects and visited the dump to see the work being done there by Camino Seguro. “It was one of the most inspiring yet horrifying things I’ve ever seen,” said Nancy Abbott. “The people there are in a terrible cycle of poverty that they can’t get out of because they can’t afford education.” Camino Seguro provides the means for these families to pull themselves out of poverty.

During their visit, voyagers were able to speak with the staff of Camino Seguro and meet with some of the families benefitting from their good work. This service project, and the many others that students have participated in over the voyage have really inspired many into action. “I don’t want to just go home and sit down,” said Sarah Shields. When she returns home, she is planning on looking into ways to raise money and awareness for the different causes she has volunteered for while on Semester at Sea. Many students have also said that they would like to return to organizations that touched them to volunteer for lengthier periods of time.

Last Stop, Guatemala

2009-04-28T00:32:00.005-04:00

Tomorrow morning at 8:00am, the MV Explorer will be docking in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, the final port visit of the Spring 2009 Voyage. The port itself is one of the largest in Guatemala and puts many of Guatemala’s greatest sites within just a few hours reach.

One of best destinations will surely be Antigua, located in the central highlands of Guatemala. It is not a big city, but it is known for its incredible architecture and natural beauty, which includes three large volcanoes that surround the city. It was even designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A number of voyagers will be traveling there through a homestay program that will place them with a Guatemalan family for the duration of our stay in the country.

Another UNESCO World Heritage Site that will be visited by voyagers is Tikal, a major archaeological site of the Mayan civilization. Located in the northern part of the country, Tikal thrived from roughly 200-900. It is located in the midst of a rainforest and is home to thousands of ruins, the largest being six Mesoamerican step pyramids. There is still much to unearth at the site.

There are also scheduled trips to climb Guatemala’s incredible volcanoes, immerse oneself in Mayan culture, and do service visits that will address some of the issues of poverty in the country. The array of options available to voyagers should provide something to everyone, and it should be a great finale to an incredible voyage.

Academic Support

2009-04-26T03:20:00.004-04:00

Most students are probably breathing a big sigh of relief right now. Yesterday was the last full day of classes and this afternoon, they completed the final Global Studies exam. There are two more days of exams and then the academic calendar for the semester is finished! I thought this would be a good point to tell you more about the academic support system that has been in place all semester to help students with their classes and other academic pursuits.

Every living learning coordinator (LLC), the equivalent of a resident advisor, also has a collateral assignment. One of those LLCs is Brad Miller, who is responsible for academic support programs aboard the MV Explorer. “I try to bridge the chasm between academic life and residential life and serve as liaison between faculty and students,” Brad told me.

This is the second year in Semester at Sea’s history that this position has been in place, and it has really made an impact on the students. Brad has years of experience in education and has used that experience to design an innovative program that brings together the academic needs of students, their extracurricular interests, and shipboard life.

He received an undergraduate degree from Harvard University where he majored in Latin. Following college, Brad taught Latin at a boarding school while he ran one of their dorms. He then spent a year at the University of Florida where he earned a master’s degree in Latin and worked for the football team in their Quality Control department. He then moved on to Stanford, where he received a master’s degree in education and worked as an assistant football coach. After some time teaching in California, Brad then moved to Florence, Italy where he most recently was the Academic Supervisor of an international school.

To make sure he knows what the students are going through, Brad regularly attends classes and meets with professors, the academic dean, and our registrar. “It’s great to be back in the classroom again after some time as an administrator and experience just a small piece of what our students get, “ he said. Brad told me that his goal has been to setup a “scaffolding of academic support,” that can adjust to fluctuations in the academic workload.

The programming that the academic team has provided has really done just that. They started off during our first week at sea with a strong presence at the student activities fair. Right then, Brad was able to identify students with unique skills and those who were enthusiastic to help provide assistance during the semester. A popular student interest in creating “language tables” during meals (interested voyagers would sit together and study a language through conversation) also led to the start of a number of language tables including three in Spanish, one in French, and one in Japanese.

As classes began, the emphasis shifted to assisting students succeed in such a unique environment. The greatest challenge to students, Brad explained, is the irregular calendar, caused by the interruptions due to our field excursions. The challenges though, Brad said, “forceseveryone to rediscover their best ways of learning.” To address this issue, a panel composed of faculty, staff, and lifelong learners spoke to students about the study aids that worked for them when they were in school and provided them with other tips to have a successful academic voyage.

As the semester went on, the academic team was there to meet any needs the students may have had. Faculty would refer students to Brad that they felt might be falling behind and Brad also looked out for students that he thought might need a little extra help. A number of students have also been very proactive and sought out assistance when they felt they were having difficulties. In all of these instances, the academic team worked with students to pair them up with stronger people in their classes who might be able to help them with notes or tutoring or help them devise study plans. Brad also pointed out the many faculty who “embrace the 24/7 aspect of shipboard life,” that allows them to interact and assist students on an informal basis. The academic team also started a writing center where students could have their papers reviewed by student volunteers.

Additionally, a Graduate School Night and a Career Night were held in response to student interest. Both drew large numbers of voyagers. For the graduate school session, students attended a dinner and sat with faculty, staff, and lifelong learners who had been through the graduate school application process, and in some cases taught in the relevant fields, so that they could gain some insight into the application process and learn more about specific programs. For Career Night, students had the option of attending different sessions throughout the ship to learn about internship possibilities, what classes might help them in a chosen profession, and get more information on potential paths to their dream jobs. There was really something for everyone, with offerings from medicine, to communications, to politics and much in between.

The students themselves started a number of initiatives though. One of the best examples of this is the Port Research Operations (PRO) Society, which took off after a group of students expressed interest in learning about the current events of South Africa as we approached Cape Town. Over the past few months, interest has spread and the group now meets in preparation of every port and presents on the current news of our next destination to the entire shipboard community during global studies. The group also maintains a facebook group called “PRO Society – Semester at Sea Spring 2009” if you would like to see what they have been up to. The students are planning to continue their research after the voyage is over so that they can keep up to date on the places we have visited.

Have you ever wondered….?

2009-04-23T23:42:00.007-04:00

During an Explorer Seminar the other evening, voyagers were given a rare opportunity to quiz the four most senior officers of the crew on anything and everything having to do with our voyage, their jobs, and the MV Explorer.

There is a lot that goes into the daily operation of the ship; probably more than we’ll ever know. There are over 200 crew aboard the MV Explorer who work tirelessly to ensure that things run smoothly during the voyage. The ship was built as a cruise liner in 2002 by the German firm, Blohm & Voss, and then later retrofitted as a floating campus when purchased by Semester at Sea. It is the fastest passenger ship of its kind in the world, with a capability to reach around 30 knots and it is just under 600 ft. in length, with seven decks.

L to R: Chief Engineer Mario Penniello, Staff Captain Konstantinos Siamantas, Master Captain Jeremy Kingston, and Hotel Director Stefan Heuser

Now meet our incredible officers. Our Master Captain, Jeremy Kingston, has been on the sea since a young child. He joined the P&O Steam Navigation Company as a Cadet Officer in 1974 and then served on a number of vessels as he interspersed his voyages with studies at the Southampton School of Navigation at Warsah in the United Kingdom. It would take him about ten years of training before he qualified to be a captain and another twelve before he received a master position, but in that time, he achieved an exemplary record in the cruise industry.

Our Staff Captain is Kostas Siamantas. He began his career at sea as a deck cadet at the age of 18 for Niarhos Shipping Company and then attended the Merchant Marine Academy of Thessaloniki, Greece from which he graduated in 1985. In 1987, Siamantas began his career in the cruise industry and over the years, he has held the positions of 1st Officer, Safety Officer, and now captain.

This next person is arguably the most important member of our crew, especially considering the fact that there are over 700 hungry college students aboard the ship. Our Hotel Director, Stefan Heuser, runs the operations of the ship that are probably closest to us, such as the dining services and housekeeping. He was born and raised in Germany and started his professional career with a formal apprenticeship to become a chef. He began is career at sea in 1992, working on a small luxury passenger ship, and then he joined V. Ships, the company which manages the MV Explorer, 14 years ago. After a number of successful assignments around the globe for V. Ships, Stefan joined the crew of the MV Explorer in August 2005 and has been with us since.

Our fourth senior officer is the Chief Engineer, Mario Penniello. Mario oversees all of the technical aspects of the ship and literally keeps the engines running. He also is in charge of a number of other essential systems of the ship including our water and electrical systems.

Here are some of the questions that voyagers asked our officers. (Not exact quotes, I have paraphrased in some cases)

Q: How is water made aboard the MV Explorer?
Chief Engineer: The ship has a freshwater system that takes in seawater, which is then run through filters and chlorinated. In addition to the pure water used for drinking , we also have grey water and black water tanks. The grey water is water collected from the sinks, galley, laundry, and showers, etc…Black water comes from our sewage system. While we are at sea, both forms of water can be ejected (black water is treated with chlorine first) according to maritime regulations.

Q: How does our water usage compare to other voyages?
Staff Captain: Voyagers this semester are using the amount that is expected. Consumption is about 220-240 tons per day while we have the capacity to produce around 500 tons per day.

Q: How many pounds of potatoes are used during voyage?
Hotel Manager: We use about 500g/person/day at sea, which is about 400lbs/day. (That’s 43,200 lbs of potatos!!!)

Q: Where is the bread from?
Hotel Manager: All bread on board, with the exception of our bagels and English muffins, is baked fresh for every meal. We probably produce around 700-800 rolls per meal plus the toast at every meal and the pastries provided at breakfast.

Q: What is the ship’s fuel consumption like?
Chief Engineer: The ship’s fuel capacity is 1190 tons. We estimate that we will use about 700 tons to go from Hawaii to Guatemala.
Master Captain: We will probably get around 6 miles per ton. If we are going really fast, we may only get about 4 miles per ton. Our most efficient speed is probably somewhere around 14-15 knots but that is really debatable because the slower you go, the longer you are at sea, and you still consume a lot of fuel just to keep the ship going.

Q: How is electricity generated?
Chief Engineer: There are four generators on board that are separate from the main engines. Two are usually in use, sometimes three during maneuvers such as pulling into a port.

Q: What does it cost to be in port?
Master Captain: It really depends on the port. The cost is generally calculated by the gross tonnage of the ship. Sometimes, we are given exemptions though because we are an educational ship and prices can be reduced or even waived altogether.

Q: Do we have the capacity for green energy?
Chief Engineer: We try but there are no real alternatives to running the ship. All we can do is try to minimize consumption and be more efficient.
Master Captain: To give you an example of where technology is right now, there is now one ship being built with solar panels. All of the panels on board will generate enough electricity to be able to power one elevator.
(I also wanted to note Semester at Sea's Greening of the Ship initiative, which will be a phased $2.6 million project starting in Spring 2010. The plan will include improvements to the MV Explorer's water management system, HVAC, propellers, lighting, consumption, hydraulics, and other ship functions and will be integrated with a sustainability awareness program for voyagers.)

Q: Can you explain how the ship’s stabilizers work?
Master Captain: Stabilizers are basically like an aerofoil, which extend about 4 meters on each side when they’re out. They are controlled by a gyro sphere that automatically deploys them when it detects the ship leaning in one direction or the other. The effect on speed is debatable. I estimate we lose about half a knot when they’re out but if the ship is zigzagging a lot, you may use more fuel.

Q: How much can the ship roll? How far below waterline is the ship?
Master Captain: The MV Explorer is able to roll to about 67 degrees and come back without a problem. The ship extends about 24 ft below the surface.

Q: If you’re all here, who is driving right now?
Master Captain: I really don’t take the controls except for what is essentially parking the ship. There are three people who take turns steering and they work in shifts.

Q: What are the crew’s facilities like?
Staff Captain: There is a crew mess as well as an officer’s mess. There’s also a gym and a crew bar in the evenings where we hold events. Deck 4 aft is also available to them. In addition to the facilities on the ship. We also often organize trips in ports of call.

Q: How many washing machines are aboard the ship?
Hotel Manager: The ship has two large washing machines and 3 dryers. (I have to say, this really surprised all of us!)

Q: In case of an emergency, what is the estimated time to get everyone into lifeboats?
Master Captain: By law, we need to be able to get everyone safely off of the ship in 30 minutes or less.

Q: If there is a medical emergency while at sea, is surgery possible?
Master Captain: We have the capacity on board to perform surgeries but the ship’s medical facilities are generally designed to stabilize a patient’s condition until you can get them to shore. If necessary, we could also call for a medivac.

Q: Captain, in your opinion, what's the coolest room on the ship?
Master Captain: The meat room. (Get it?)

Photo by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Hawaii FDP

2009-04-22T19:39:00.005-04:00

Our visit to Hawaii was fairly short but it gave all of us some much needed time to stretch our legs off of the ship after about a week at sea. It was also a nice place to transition back into America. For two days, we didn’t have to think about exchange rates, deal with any language barriers, and our cell phones actually worked! Hawaii is the most diverse state in the country though and the culture there is a wonderful mixture composed from the indigenous people of the Hawaiian Islands, the American mainland, and other Pacific peoples.

One of the representations of this diverse culture that I was able to experience along with a group of about fifteen other SAS voyagers was a trip to a Korean Buddhist temple in Honolulu. It may seem surprising that a number of students chose to visit a Buddhist temple in Hawaii when we only had two days there, especially given the fact that we had just finished with a whirlwind trip through Asia. I can’t even count the number of temples I visited during the different excursions I went on.

However, our visit had a very specific purpose. The temple was a beautiful sanctuary in the hills overlooking Honolulu. Built with strong architectural influences from Tibet and Korea, the complex is actually quite large and we were told that it is among the largest in the world. It was founded in 1982 with a message of world peace. Monks from all over the world visit for up to ten months at a time to study there.

That was not why we were there though. We came to this spiritual center in the hills of Honolulu to talk about killing, or more specifically, how to work towards a “nonkilling world.” The term “nonkilling world” was coined by Dr. Glen Paige, our discussion leader and the founder of the Center for Global Nonkilling as well as the author of Nonkilling Global Political Science. He defined a nonkilling world for us as one where people did not kill one another, where there were no weapons, where there was no justification to kill another human, and where there was no fear of being killed.

We all wrote down whether or not we thought a world like this would ever exist and listed a few reasons to support our conclusions. Then we traded note cards amongst ourselves and read the opinions in anonymity. The ensuing discussion was largely a philosophical one that debated the possibility of a nonkilling world. Most of us felt that it a nonkilling world would be impossible to realize, however we all agreed that it was something to work towards.

This FDP was created by Professor Mark Shadle, who joins Semester at Sea from Eastern Oregon University. He teaches three courses aboard the MV Explorer on topics relating to literature, writing, and media. He brings extensive experience with him and expertise in multiple fields and his full bio can be found here.

Photos by SAS photographer, John Weakley

Arrival in Honolulu

2009-04-19T04:47:00.004-04:00

The MV Explorer will be pulling into the island of Oahu and docking in Honolulu in just about seven hours. Our crossing of the Pacific has gone great so far, but I don't think anyone will be complaining about getting off the ship for a few days after over a week at sea.

Oahu, known as "The Gathering Place" to Hawaiians, is the third largest of the Hawaiian islands and the most populated. The island is home to Honolulu, the state capital and Hawaii's largest city, as well as Pearl Harbor. I know everyone is looking forward to returning to U.S. soil, even if it's only for two days!

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

2009-04-17T08:19:00.003-04:00

Something that you will find everywhere in the world, no matter where you are, is art. Though it may differ in style, content, or form, wherever you go, you will witness that basic human desire to create and express one’s self. Art can serve to interpret, comment on, or enhance basic human experiences. Viewing life through an artistic prism, it is possible to find new meaning and dimensions to things that once seemed clear. On a voyage like ours, art can add perspective and a global outlook that can reach across cultures and national borders.

Voyagers are very lucky to have Professor Fred Levine on board this semester. Both an author and lecturer on a vast range of issues in art and cultural studies, Fred is currently a professor of art history at Palomar College in San Marcos, CA. He has previously taught at the University of Texas, Northwestern University, Colorado State University, and the University of Tasmania in Hobart. He is also no stranger to life at sea. For the past twenty years, he has sailed as a lecturer on art and architecture aboard cruise ships around the world and this semester marks Fred’s third voyage with Semester at Sea.

Fred is one of the rare people who recognize art in daily life. From exceptional architecture, to natural wonders, to paintings on the walls, he is able to capture the essence of art and help the rest of us relate to it.

Earlier today, I had the chance to sit in on one of the three courses that Fred is offering this semester, Migrations of Art. As the title suggests, students in this class are learning about how different techniques, styles, and themes have migrated around the globe over history. However, there is an additional element to the course, unique to Semester at Sea that Fred offers his students. Using the skills of visual analysis and interpretation, students in Migrations of Art use the pieces they learn about in class and see in the field as a framework for analyzing their own experiences during the voyage.

I’ll use today’s lecture as en example. The main discussion focused around Travelers Amid Mountains and Streams by the Chinese painter, Fan Kuan. Considered to be one of the finest Chinese artists of all time, Kuan lived during the Song Dynasty (960-1030) and was known for his incredible landscapes.

Travelers Amid Mountains and Streams in particular is viewed as an incredible work of art, which served as a model to other Chinese artists. As Professor Levin explained during class, “One of the things that Chinese paintings tend to do over and over again…is to teach you to look at details.” He told us how Kuan would spend hours studying objects in nature to see how they interacted with the world around them. I don’t know if this representation of the painting (which is actually ink on silk) can actually do it justice, but just look at how intricate everything is – the mountain in the background and the path, set among the rocks and trees down below.

If you look closely on the right side of the painting, you will notice that there is a mule pack with two figures descending down the path of the mountain from a temple that is shown in the forest on the cliff. In Chinese artwork, paths are typically represented as a metaphor for life’s journey. Fred continued to explain how the boulders along the path signify the difficulties one may face in life and “how you need to climb over obstacles to get there in the first instance.”

Take note of how small the humans in this work are though compared to their surroundings. They almost seem to get lost in the grandeur of nature. It just shouts, “Take the time to be, to just stop and look a tree and enjoy and experience the journey while you find your identity,” Dr. Levin commented.

Now transition this to our current journey. After seeing so much of the world with our own eyes, how small do we feel? Maybe somewhat like the people in this painting. We are also nearing the completion of our voyage; we are on our “descent,” just like the figures on the path. We have had obstacles in our path over the past few months, but we have worked around them and made it through. Most importantly, I think we all learned to stop and observe both people and nature and really take in the most that this journey offers.

Pen Pals

2009-04-15T07:59:00.002-04:00

To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.
-- Phyllis Theroux

How many of you had a pen pal when you were in school? I’m sure almost everyone did at some point. Maybe you wrote two or three letters back and forth to one another over a span of a few months and chances are you probably never spoke again. What are the odds you would still be writing one another a year later? Five years later? Almost fifty years later?

In 1961, Judy Burtner, mother of Professor Matthew Burtner (who you may be familiar with through the MICE postings) received an assignment from her social studies teacher to write a letter to a Japanese girl named Setsuko. They corresponded with one another over the course of the year and they seemed to have a lot in common so they kept up with one another, swapping stories, telling each other about the big events in their lives, and trading photos and little gifts.

They would not write each other every week, or even every month, but two or three times a year, Judy and Setsuko would check in to see how the other was doing. As the years went by, their lives, incredibly, seemed to mirror one another from opposite ends of the globe.

Judy took up the piano, Setsuko played the piano. Judy lived in Alaska, Setsuko lived in the coldest and snowiest region of Japan. Following college, Judy decided to become an elementary school teacher, Setsuko became an elementary school teacher. Both of them even married teachers! And over the years, Judy had four boys and Setsuko had thee boys (I think that’s close enough, don’t you?). It just seemed that the independent paths of their lives were running incredible parallel to one another.

Over the years, Judy explained how Setsuko had “emissaries coming from Alaska to her.” Matthew stayed with her one time and a daughter-in-law of Judy found herself a guest of Setsuko’s at another point, but over all of the years, the two had never met themselves, or even heard the other’s voice.

When Judy found out that she would be joining Matthew on Semester at Sea this Semester, she knew that this would be the chance to finally meet Setsuko after so many years. They began the preparations seven months ago and continued trading emails during the voyage since their regular method of communication wasn’t available to them. By the time the MV Explorer reached Kobe, they had worked out all of the details and had a plan to meet.

“It was incredibly emotional,” Judy said. “When I saw her, I just knew her already. I knew everything about her but at the same time, I didn’t know anything about her.” Just staring at her face, I couldn’t believe she was right there.” Setsuko reads and writes English very well, but she does not speak very much so she communicated through her husband. At one point, Setsuko brought out what her husband described as “her treasure,” a stack of letters and photos from Judy, including the first letter sent in 1961 that had been the catalyst for their incredible friendship.

Judy, Setsuko, and both of their husbands were able to spend a few days together during our stay in Japan. “Even though we didn’t talk, we were happy just to sit side by side.” Now that they have finally met, Judy is hoping that she can return the hospitality sometime and host Setsuko and her husband back in the U.S.!

Dalit Service Project

2009-04-13T09:55:00.005-04:00

To date, the MV Explorer has called on 13 different ports in 11 countries. We have two more stops to go and in exactly 22 days, we all will have circumnavigated the globe. I feel very comfortable stating that no one will disembark in Ft. Lauderdale with the same world outlook as when they boarded the ship in Nassau two and half months ago.

Voyagers are exposed to so much of the world though that it often takes time to process our experiences. It may be weeks before something clicks in your mind. It is possible that you don’t appreciate something that happened until you are later able to place it into a regional or global context. Oftentimes, voyagers also find themselves always looking forward. With upcoming academic and field requirements, you just don’t always have the chance to reflect right away. I have found that it can be very beneficial to just take a step back, reread through some journal entries, maybe scan through some pictures, and just look back at some of the incredible things that were done during the course of this voyage.

Tomorrow will mark exactly six weeks since the ship departed from Chennai, India. Now that we have finished with the Asian segment of the voyage, I spoke with a few students about how the different countries compared to one another, and specifically where they saw India in the mix. “How do you even do that?” replied Whitney Bairstow. “It was a whole other world,” she continued. Another student, Gavin Booth joined in and said that, “You just can’t compare India with anything…its culture and religions were completely different, especially in contrast with Japan,” our last port. They were right.

Our videographer, Jerry Pratt, just finished putting together a great video on a service project with Bridge Education Trust. When I watched it earlier today, everything just came rushing back to me. The first excited child I saw as I exited our bus, the sounds of the band as we were led to the school where we would be working, and the incredible graciousness of our hosts and the important work that they do.

Bridge Education Trust works to improve the lives of the Dalits in India. Under the caste system, they were the poorest class, the “untouchables.” Historically, they were relegated to the lowest occupations, specifically those that were considered impure such as butchering and cleaning the streets. The Dalits were segregated from the rest of society and were literally untouchable, because it was believed that the tasks they performed made them unclean and that this pollution could be contagious to the rest of the population. Although much has been done in recent years to eliminate the segregation and discrimination against Dalits in Indian society, it is still a problem in many of the rural areas.

The Director of Bridge Education Trust, Dr. Henry Thiagaraj, described the work of his organization as, “building the emergence of community leaders as agents of social change.” The group started out as a centralized organization that went out into the dalit communities to help educate the people and assist them in their climb out of poverty. Over the years, it has transformed into more of an educational institute. While its mission is still the same, its methods now include more training for local leaders and greater grassroots initiatives.

Semester at Sea’s relationship with Dr. Thiagaraj and Bridge Education Trust dates back almost twenty years and they will be celebrating their 20th anniversary of working together during the fall 209 voyage. Every time that Semester at Sea has visited India over the past two decades, Voyagers have gone out and contributed in some way to help improve the lives of India’s Dalit population.

During our voyage, there were two service projects organized in conjunction with Bridge Education Trust. One was an overnight visit to a Dalit village where voyagers were given the chance to interact with the people there and learn how they are being trained with new skills to advance in society and break free of the caste system. The second project, which the video below focuses on, visited a Dalit school set up by Bridge Education Trust in the slums of Chennai. Voyagers who participated repainted the school and then interacted with the children and other community members. I really don’t know who benefitted more that day, the Semester at Sea Voyagers or the Dalit children, but I do know that it is an experience that none of us will ever forget.

Video by SAS Videographer, Jerry Pratt

Japan Part II: Kyoto and Tokyo

2009-04-12T06:45:00.012-04:00

Kyoto

On the morning of our second day in Japan, I awoke early to join about 40 other voyagers for the SAS trip to Kyoto. It was one of the best excursions I have been on yet. Other participants described it as, “fabulous and a lot of fun.” One student told me that she “never thought we would get to see all of this in one day.”

Our first stop was the Nijo Castle. It is an incredibly large complex and contains two palaces, the Ninomaru Palace and Honmaru Palace. Construction began in 1601 and was completed twenty-five years later. Nijo became a residence of the Tokugawa Shoguns, who ruled Japan under a feudal system from about 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. At that time, imperial rule was restored and the shogun was forced to submit to the emperor. Prior to 1868, the real power of Japan lay with the shogun, who controlled the nation's military power, while the emperor had been more of a religious and political leader.

The majority of our time in Nijo Castle was spent seeing Ninomaru Palace and the extensive gardens of the complex. Most of the original palace, built out of Hinoki cypress, remains standing today just as it did over 400 years ago. There have been some modifications made by subsequent shoguns and emperors since its original construction but it remains an incredible symbol of the power of the Japanese shogunate.

The palace was built in concentric rings, the innermost being the shogun’s private sanctuary. As we walked through the different layers of the palace, the tone changed to reflect those who had been granted access to it. The outermost part of the palace was the most opulent and intimidating part, because this is where the shogun displayed his power to those he ruled over. As you moved closer to the center, the decorations became simpler until finally we reached the residence of the shogun, which was for the most part bereft of any lavish symbols of power. It was a simple room where the shogun could retreat and be with his own thoughts.

The gardens of Nijo Castle were equally if not more spectacular than the palaces themselves. The meticulously manicured trees and shrubbery with the ancient Japanese architecture of shrines and other buildings scattered throughout the grounds, coupled with the simple luck that we were there at the height of the cherry blossoms provided for a magnificent addition to the palace tour.

Another highlight for those of us on the Kyoto trip was the Garden of Heian Jingu Shrine. It was built in 1895 to commemorate the 1100th anniversary of the capital and the main entrance was built as a ¾ scale replica of the first Imperial Palace. Voyagers walked through the gardens at their own pace and were given the opportunity to enjoy the scenery, which was nothing less than stunning. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.

Tokyo

One of the great things about Japan is just how easy it is to get around. A number of Voyagers opted to travel independently from Kobe to Yokohama and meet the ship there at the end of our time in Japan. Robert Perry, an SAS student from San Diego State University who traveled Japan by rail explained that, “We just went from station to station. No matter where you got off, the longest you would have to wait for the next train was five minutes or so. It was a great way to travel.”

Robby shared one of his favorite experiences with me, something that I was lucky enough to see as well. For those of us who were willing to wake up just a tad on the early side, visiting the Tsukiji Fish Market of Tokyo was probably one of the most unique and fun experiences to have in Japan. Robby told me how he and the group he traveled with had a 4:45am wakeup call, dragged themselves out of bed and were off to the fish market, arriving by about 5:15am to see the live auction of that morning’s tuna catch. “It was just an intense experience,” Robby told me. “It was just something so unique to see, there’s nothing like it anywhere else in the world.”

Robert provided me with this video of the auction to share with everyone. Enjoy!

After observing the auction for a few minutes, visitors could just walk through the marketplace and in and out of the small stalls where you could encounter just about every type of fish and seafood imaginable. There were eels, crabs, lobsters, salmon, tuna, squid, and whale, amongst an even greater number of things that I could not name.

Just exploring Tokyo could show you so many different sides of the city. There were SAS trips that showcased Tokyo’s modern side, like the Akihabara Electric town, Tokyo Tower, and sleek car exhibits, as well as others that presented the historical and cultural aspects of the city. Voyagers on these trips were able to see the Imperial Palace, the Meiji Shinto Shrine, and the Asakusa Kannon Temple.

It was an incredible five days, but now it’s time to hit the books again. With the end of the academic semester in sight and exams in the not too distant future, students have really ratcheted up their studying and the entire ship has been consumed by students, busily pouring over their notes and organizing work completed in the field.

Reflections on Japan

2009-04-11T09:26:00.004-04:00

There is a feeling on the ship that we have reached a turning point in our voyage. No one wants to say it or talk about it just yet, but it’s still there. With less than a month now until we return to Florida, it’s a mixture of sadness that we’re nearing the end of our journey and excitement to return home after being abroad for so long.

Our visit to Japan capped off an incredible few weeks in Asia. We couldn’t have picked a better time to be there. Cherry blossoms throughout the entire country were in full bloom and it was an incredibly beautiful landscape, wherever you were. Everyone was amazed. Dalia Auerhahn described the petals falling to the ground as appearing “like snow from a distance, but then as you moved closer, you realized they were pink flowers.”

As picturesque as the scenery was though, that was not what impacted the SAS voyagers the most. What mattered were the people they encountered. As one student, Kara Zucker put it, “It’s not necessarily the sites you see or the museums you go to, or the mountains you climb, it’s the people that you do it with, maybe that you know from Semester at Sea or the people that you met in that country.”

For those looking for a genuine living experience with a Japanese family, Semester at Sea offered a home-stay field trip, where students were paired up with Japanese families for an overnight stay. Dalia’s family joined together with others for a dinner party where everyone made sushi together. They also taught the SAS students to make origami and dressed them in traditional kimonos for a tea ceremony. Another student, Greg Lessans, discovered the complexities of a Japanese style bath, when his host mother invited him up to the bathroom to bathe. He looked at the bath, realized he had no idea what to do and quickly ran downstairs to google “how to take a Japanese style bath.” (Check it out here).

In addition to the welcoming embrace of its residents, Japan also offered voyagers with a rich history. One of the more moving trips for all who undertook it was to the memorial in Hiroshima. Michael Sene described what he felt during the post port reflection earlier this evening. “I didn’t know what to expect in terms of the people, if there would be resentment…I didn’t know what the attitude would be like.” Like many others who visited, Michael was unsure what the Japanese response would be to Americans. He went to the museum and came out of saying that it was, “very powerful, unbiased, and just pitching peace the whole time. It was very inspiring.” As Michael explained, the museum does not attempt to be anti-American or biased in its account of the war. Rather, it aims to prevent the use of nuclear weapons again in the future.

The other major destinations for voyagers were Kyoto and Tokyo, and I’ll be posting tomorrow about some of the experiences there. My apologies to you all again for the gaps while we are in port.

Arrival in Kobe, Japan

2009-04-05T20:19:00.000-04:00

The MV Explorer arrived in Kobe, Japan a few hours ago. The customs procedures to enter the country are very similar to those in the U.S., and we probably have a few more hours to go until the whole ship is cleared to disembark. We just finished receiving our diplomatic briefing from the U.S. Consulate and everyone is excitedly preparing for our time in Japan.

As was the case in China, Voyagers had the option to sail between Kobe and Yokohama or find their own way between ports. For most of those who are traveling independently, this will mean a ride on the Japanese Shinkansen, or Bullet Train. This high speed rail system connects most major cities in Japan, and can transport its passengers at speeds of upwards of 185 mph.

The most popular stops for Voyagers in the coming days seem to be Kobe, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, and Tokyo. This is our last stop in Asia and for those of you back home, today also marks 30 days until our arrival in Ft. Lauderdale!

Events in Hong Kong and Shanghai

2009-04-04T07:52:00.002-04:00

The MV Explorer spent time in Hong Kong and Shanghai but Semester at Sea voyagers went far beyond those two cities. The greatest number went to Beijing where the Great Wall seems to have been the main attraction as well as Tiananmen Square. SAS students also had the opportunity to meet and interact with students from a number of Chinese universities.

What many voyagers have told me were the best experiences though were not the big tourist attractions, but the more intimate moments where they were able to experience China on a deeper level. It’s possible that the most fun was had by a group of students who were guided through Hong Kong by our interport student, Edmond.

Andrew Davis, Tomas Ramos, and Eric Stephenson were walking through Edmond’s neighborhood when they stumbled onto familiar territory, a basketball court. Within a few minutes, they had started a pickup game and pretty soon, the whole neighborhood had gathered to watch them play. “They were amazed…and yelling like I was some sort of hero,” Andrew said. The students were hugged and signed autographs, making them feel like they were celebrities. “It was a blessing for me to be able to do that and enjoy their company,” Andrew told the community last night at post-port reflection when describing how he felt that day.

There are also a number of students on board who are of Asian descent, and for them, our time in Hong Kong and Shanghai took on a more personal meaning. Some were able to become reacquainted with family, others saw the places where their parents were born or spent a large part of their lives. For others that had lived in Asia themselves, “it felt like home.”

In addition to the events taking place on shore while the MV Explorer was docked in China though, there was something very special transpiring on board the ship. Semester at Sea announced the launch of a milestone program in its academic history, the C.Y. Tung Program in Sino-U.S. Relations.

In the words of Les McCabe, our Executive Dean and the president of the Institute for Shipboard Education, “This program marks a new era by offering a timely and integrated study of China – one of the world’s most influential global powers – and its relations with the United States. It will bring together students, scholars, and prominent figures to explore the history and cultures of China and the United States, and to consider how to ensure productive economic and diplomatic relationships between the two in the future.”

This program will be an incredible opportunity to further develop Semester at Sea as an heir to Thomas Jefferson’s vision of an “academical village,” a place where students and scholars would come together and interact in the pursuit of knowledge. There is no more fitting an example of this vision than the MV Explorer, where students and faculty live together for months at a time, traveling the globe together in a journey of academic pursuit and personal introspection.

University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III remarked of the new program that, “Our collaboration with Semester at Sea has provided thousands of students from colleges and universities around the world with unique opportunities to experience and understand world cultures, political systems and literature. This program builds on Semester at Sea’s successful educational mission and dovetails with the University’s ongoing initiatives to expand its global footprint.”

The design of the program builds on the vision of its namesake, C.Y. Tung. Mr. Tung, a Chinese shipping magnate was a longtime supporter of Semester at Sea and one of the greatest proponents of shipboard education. He always believed that ships could transport more than cargo and that is why he founded the predecessor program to Semester at Sea, World Campus Afloat, in 1963. Under Mr. Tung’s vision, his ships began to transport ideas and advance the education of thousands of college students. More than 45,000 alumni, hailing from approximately 1,500 different academic institutions have benefitted from C.Y. Tung’s creation of the floating campus.

The C.Y. Tung Program on Sino-U.S. Relations will bring together distinguished faculty from the University of Virginia and Fudan University in Shanghai, China to lead upper level courses that will “serve as a forum for constructive analysis of Chinese and American worldviews, economies, and diplomacy.” Additionally, five Chinese and five American university students will be selected as C.Y. Tung Program Scholars, receiving scholarships that will cover the costs of tuition and room and board. It will be an exceptional forum for the best and brightest students of both nations to come together and examine the relations between their two countries.

Reuniting with the Past

2009-03-31T10:23:00.004-04:00

First off, I’d like to apologize for the gaps in between posts. As I mentioned earlier on in the voyage, it is often difficult to get to a computer when I am off the ship and our travel schedule throughout Asia contains relatively short periods of time aboard the MV Explorer in between longer stretches in port.

We departed Hong Kong late last night after a two day stay in what can only be described as a remarkable city. However, we are short about five hundred Voyagers, as most are currently on trips to mainland China and will be meeting the rest of us in Shanghai in a few days.

I wanted to backtrack a little though and share an incredible story that Pamela Werner, one of our lifelong learners shared with me the other day. Twelve years ago, Pamela and her husband Michael traveled to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam to meet the newest member of their family, Tami, an 8 year old Vietnamese girl they had chosen to adopt.

The Werners already had four children at home but Pamela explained to me that she and her husband saw the hardships that people around the world endured and while they knew they could not help everybody, “we just wanted to reach out and help one [child]…and we were blessed to have gotten Tami.”

Today, Tami is about 20 years old and is in her sophomore year at a university in her home state of Florida. It was a long and difficult journey to get where she is today though. It was the warm embrace, love, and support that Tami received from her new family that allowed her to adjust and flourish in her new home.

Pamela explained how tough those first weeks were when everything was so new to Tami. She could barely speak any English, which only compounded all of the difficulties she faced in her new environment. Tami’s self-chosen guide through this period was her new sister, Hannah. Two years younger than Tami, Pamela described her as Tami’s “medium.” When Tami wanted something but couldn’t find the English words, Hannah was the one who understood what her sister wanted. “There’s just something about children, they know each other,” Pamela said. “Hannah also shared her room, clothes, games, books, toys, and friends,” with Tami.

America became Tami’s new home and the Werners became her family. However, the move had separated Tami from her birth family. Her closest relative was her sister Tu, who is five years older than Tami. For twelve years, they did not speak or have any contact with one another.

When Pamela saw her itinerary for her upcoming Semester at Sea voyage, she contacted the adoption agency that she had used to find Tami to see if it would be possible to contact Tu. Within days, she was provided with all of the information she needed. Pamela was able to reach Tu once our voyage began and they made arrangements to meet when the MV Explorer arrived in Ho Chi Minh City.

Tu, now 25 years old, traveled over 12 hours by bus with her husband, 4 year old son, and grandmother to meet Pamela when she arrived in Vietnam. There was absolute joy when they were finally together. “They treated me like I was a queen,” Pamela told me. She continued that the family could not show enough thanks and gratitude to both her and Michael for giving Tami a home and raising her as one of their own.

Pamela (center) with Tami's Vietnamese family. To her immediate left is Tu and to her immediate right is Tami's grandmother.

As wonderful as it was for Pamela to meet Tu and her family though, the rest of the Werners, including Tami, wanted to see and talk to them. I’m just going to say right here that you have to love technology. Pamela and Michael were able to set up webcams on opposite ends of the world and after twelve years, Tami and Tu were finally able to look into each other's eyes, see the other's face, and talk to one another.

According to Pamela, Tami was lectured to quite extensively by all of her Vietnamese relatives to be a good daughter and keep up with her studies. Tu also threw in some elderly-sister dating advice. The two sisters loved talking with one another and have made a commitment to keep their relationship going and growing.

Tami no longer speaks Vietnamese and Tu does not speak English (everyone spoke through a translator who was with Pamela) so each of them is taking lessons in the other’s language, and they will be able to put their new linguistic skills to use in June when Tami travels to Vietnam to spend the summer with her sister.

Pictured are Tu (left), her son (center) and Tami (right).

Did We Really Do All of That?

2009-03-27T13:39:00.015-04:00

I always have an odd mix of feelings when I leave a country that we have visited, and departing Ho Chi Minh City was no different. It hit my during my last cab ride back to the ship. As I looked out the window at the street passing by, I first thought to myself that it felt like I had just arrived. However, as I reviewed everything that I had actually done during our five days in Vietnam, I couldn’t believe that I had been there for only five days. The four Semester at Sea trips that I had been on with other Voyagers had taken me through most of Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), introduced me to Vietnamese university students, exposed me to the different religions that are prevalent in the country, allowed me to crawl through the Cu Chi Tunnels, and showed me what life was like out on the Mekong Delta.

In my last post, I gave a little bit of the historical background on HCMC, but as I found out firsthand, that really does not do it justice. You truly have to be there to experience it. One example of this is the unique experience of crossing the street in Vietnam. In a city where motorbikes only cost between $200-300 USD, to say they are everywhere would be an understatement A lack of traffic signals and a propensity to ignore the few that are there also adds to the excitement of trying to get from one side of the road to the other. After recently snorkeling in Thailand, I likened it to be a lot like trying to make your way through a school of fish with all of them just swarming around you, coming close enough to make you squirm, but in the end just speeding right around you. It was chaotic and constantly moving, but after a day, you began to get a feel for it.

City Orientation

My first trip was the SAS City Orientation. We began with a visit to the Thien Hau Pagoda, a traditional Vietnamese temple. Besides the incredible building itself, the main attraction here were the long coils of incense, which can burn for roughly a month. Next was the Reunification Palace, which before 1975 housed the President of South Vietnam. Our other stops included the HCMC post office, the Notre Dame Cathedral of HCMC, and the history museum, which was a favorite. SAS Voyagers were treated to a wonderful display of water puppetry there, which is an ancient Vietnamese tradition.

It dates back to the 11th century when farmers in the northern part of the country created this form of puppetry to entertain one another when their rice fields flooded. They used their own flooded rice paddies and ponds as the stages for these shows. The water puppet performances seen today usually depict rural Vietnamese life. The show that we saw was a wonderful portrayal of river life and farming.

English in Vietnam

The next day, I joined about 15 students on a Faculty-Directed Practica (FDP) under the guidance of Professor George Thomas. For those of you who do not know, at least 30% of a student’s grade in every course is comprised of work done in the field. This particular FDP explored the use of English in Vietnam.

I think that a lot of times, many of us take it for granted that wherever we go, there are people who speak English, and in most cases, that is true for just about everyone we encounter. Professor Thomas, a professor in linguistics (for full bio, please click here) teaches three courses on the MV Explorer that trace the origins of language, examines how they have developed and spread throughout the world, and looks at what types of policies are being implemented to reform and modernize languages. One course in particular, English as a Global Language, deals with the question of a need for a global language and then explores why English has fulfilled this role in the world today.

Considering America’s history in Vietnam, one might think that Americans and our language might not be very welcome in the country. However, we all were happy to discover that the Vietnamese people have fully embraced both. The first stop on this FDP was the Ho Chi Minh University of Social Sciences and Humanities. Stephanie Malone, a student of Professor Thomas called it, “the perfect compliment to my world languages course.”

Professor Nguyen Van Hue of the university proclaimed to us that, “the topic of English in Vietnam is terrific one.” He went on to explain how English is being used and taught in the university. It differs from department to department, however, all students are required to pass an English entrance exam before being admitted to the school and in order to graduate, it is necessary to pass a proficiency exam. For those majoring in English, all lectures, presentations, and exams are completely in English. The school even offers English writing and speaking clubs that are cosponsored by the US Consulate.

Why is English so important? As Professor Van Hue explained it, “English is the means to obtaining a job and rising to the top of your field.” Another Professor commented that, “English is the most important language in Vietnam.” Kiersten Boehm, another student of Professor Thomas has been learning about the migrations of languages around the world and saw this FDP as a great way to see the spread of a language in action and to see firsthand the importance and great role that English plays in Vietnamese society.

Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple

In 1926, a new religion based upon the fusion of Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, native Vietnamese spirits, Christianity, and Islam was founded in Tay Ninh, Vietnam. The Holy See of Caodaism was our first stop of this trip. We made it just in time for the noon services, which included music, song, and meditation. The temple itself was beautiful, with colors and a design reminiscent of many of the Hindu temples I visited in India. Voyagers found the service to be beautiful, one remarking to me that it was, “different than any ceremony I have seen before.”

This sanctuary of peace and tranquility could not have stood in more stark contrast with our next stop, the Cu Chi Tunnels. Originally built by the Viet Cong in their struggle against the French and then later expanded for use against the Americans, the Cu Chi tunnels are a roughly 200-kilometer long network of tunnels running underneath the Cu Chi district outside of HCMC. They provided the Vietnamese fighters with quick escape routes and places to hide that allowed them to almost strike out of thin air and disappear just as quickly. The extensive subterranean system housed kitchens, hospital rooms, and military headquarters, although most fighters did not spend more than 24 hours underground at a time.

Crawling through the tunnels and seeing the remnants of the war, like the Vietnamese booby traps used on American soldiers and the craters left by B-52 bombers, were a sobering reminder to many of the Voyagers of the war that ravaged this country not so long ago. Many Voyagers also chose to visit the War Remnants Museum, which provided a similar experience.

Mekong Delta

My last SAS trip in Vietnam was an excursion to the Mekong Delta. We visited the My Tho area, which is renowned for its many fruit orchards. Voyagers were able to see firsthand how the Vietnamese people in this region live and work, deriving much of their sustenance from the river environment around them. Until the 1500s, the area mostly consisted of marshlands and forests but over time, the Khmer people reclaimed the marshes and built a canal system to support the cultivation of rice, fish, soybeans, maize, peanuts, tobacco, and melons. The Vietnamese annexed the territory from the Khmers in the late 18th century and to this day, it continues to be a major agricultural and fishing region.

Photo #10 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Welcome to Vietnam!

2009-03-21T21:09:00.008-04:00

It’s just past 8:00am here in Vietnam and the MV Explorer is now docked in port after snaking its way through the Nha Be River on the last leg of our passage to Ho Chi Minh City. A number of Voyagers awoke before the sun was even up to watch as we made our way through the beautiful Vietnamese landscape.

There is an incredibly deep and vibrant history here. Ho Chi Minh city, formerly known as Saigon, is today the largest city in Vietnam. It was originally established as a small fishing village named Prey Nokor and was inhabited by the Khmer people before the Vietnamese began to settle in the area. In the 1600’s, the Vietnamese annexed the territory from Cambodia. However, it was conquered by the French in 1859. They formally renamed the city Saigon and made it the capital of their colony, Cochinchina.

The French influences on the city can still be seen today and it is often referred to as “The Pearl of the Far East” or “The Paris in the Orient.” Saigon once again became a capital city following the split between the north and the south, serving as the capital of South Vietnam from 1954-1975. Following reunification though, the capital moved to Hanoi, located about 1,000 miles north of Saigon, and the city was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City. However, even to this day, the city is still commonly referred to as Saigon, even on signs located in Hanoi.

What was once a swampland is now home to roughly 9 million inhabitants and has become arguably Vietnam’s most important city. While it only accounts for 0.6% of the country’s land area, Ho Chi Minh City boasts 7.5% of the population, over 20% of the nation’s GDP, and close to 30% of industrial output. The standard of living is also steadily rising, with per capita income rising from $730 USD in 2006 to $2100 USD in 2007. Ho Chi Minh City is also home to over 70 colleges and universities, which together have a student population of roughly 380,000.

Semester at Sea voyagers will also be making their way to several other destinations in Vietnam as well as Cambodia. I will be posting some stories on the trips in the coming days so stay tuned!

Halfway There

2009-03-20T12:51:00.002-04:00

The MV Explorer has been quite a busy place lately, and things are only going to pick up from here. We departed Thailand last night and we will arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, early Sunday morning. It’s a virtual whirlwind through Asia that will also include Hong Kong, Shanghai, Kobe, and Yokohama.

Voyagers are taking full advantage of every stop though. Thailand provided all of us with a plethora of opportunities for exploration and travel. The most popular destinations included Bangkok, Phuket, Chang Mai, and Pattaya. From visiting orphanages, to riding elephants, to petting tigers, to learning about Thai history and Buddhism, and visiting incredible temples and palaces, Semester at Sea students really did it all.

We recently passed the halfway mark of our journey together, and for many students, the voyage is really starting to take form. We have reached a point where real comparisons of a number of countries and cultures can be made and the intrinsic unique value of the Semester at Sea mission becomes more and more evident. Charlie House, a student in international affairs at Marshall University, said that, “before I left, my friends told me that things would change...in Bangkok they did.”

The human contact that Voyagers are having, the poverty they are witnessing in certain places, and the cultures they are experiencing, in addition to an academic program that is truly global, is having a marked impact on Voyagers’ respective views of the world. Greg, a student at the University of Maryland, works in an ER back home, and in Bangkok, he joined UVa med students that are on board for a few ports on a visit to a major hospital. He described his experience to the community. “I was looking around, seeing patients and doctors interacting in the atmosphere…it was so different there – the language and the faces – but it was the same also…the same human experiences I see at home. Things are different, cultures clash, but I see so much of the same, everyone wants the same things in life no matter where they are. Things are remarkably similar in their different ways.”

The education students are receiving also hits closer to home though, and many Voyagers are finding out that they are learning more about themselves through this journey. SAS trips are taking many outside of their comfort zones and into unfamiliar territory. As Emily Cohen, a Babson University student, said, “It’s good to push yourself to places you don’t know.

Rock On, MICE!

2009-03-14T04:44:00.003-04:00

Yesterday afternoon, the Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble (MICE) made the most of our brief stop in Singapore and arranged an international concert with students at the National University of Singapore. Dubbed “an international drive-by concert” by MICE’s director, Professor Matthew Burtner, the performance took place while we were anchored and being refueled off of the coast of Singapore.

The performance, which was broadcast through Singapore by the National University of Singapore’s radio station, NUS Radio Pulze, was comprised of four pieces. Before the show began though, Professor Burtner introduced listeners to MICE’s unique style of music and all of us in the Union got to say hello to our counterparts at the National University. Matthew described the performance to the audience as “sound-art pieces that explain the natural environment around us and human interaction with it in new ways.”

First up was Kañja, which had been recorded while the MV Explorer was sailing across the Indian Ocean from East Africa to India. Next was an ensemble for percussion, saxaphone, and computers entitled That which is bodiless is reflected in bodies. The third MICE piece was Sandprints, which MICE performers recorded during our visit to Namibia.

The grand finale was Singapore Beacon, which was specifically designed for this visit. The technology was initially developed by a UVa grad class under Professor Burtner’s direction and was adapted by MICE for this performance. Anyone who was able to download the software created by MICE before the show was able to participate. It basically worked like a computer game. When Matthew gave us the signal, we started the program, which transformed our laptops into instruments and us into musicians. Our computers emitted a beep, or beacon, which we controlled through the MICE program. As we adjusted the tone and pulse, the sound changed and we could explore different pitches and rhythms as we wanted. It was a great experience and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone!

Literature Around the World

2009-03-12T06:13:00.002-04:00

Another course aboard the MV Explorer that takes advantage of our unique journey is Professor John Serio’s International Short Stories class. Professor Serio (full bio) is a specialist in modern American poetry and a full professor of Humanities at Clarkson University. He has been the recipient of several NEH grants as well as two Fulbrights, one to Greece and one to Belgium. He is returning to the ship after his first voyage during the Spring 2005 semester.

By reading, discussing, and comparing short stories from around the world, his students are learning about history and culture through a literary lens. The stories often provide a great introduction to the culture and history of the countries we will be sailing to. I read the assigned stories before we arrived in Chennai and I completely agree with Serio’s students. The short stories introduced me to the Indian caste system and tradition of arranged marriages and served as great complements to the pre-port briefings.

Perri Prigoff, a student at Boston University and one of Professor Serio’s students, told me that the stories in class “have introduced us to India and lesser known aspects of some ports’ cultures.” She continued to say that the stories “provide further insight into what we don’t normally see… they show us something more.” When I asked Perri what she felt set this course apart from a similar class offered back at home, she responded, “At home, you’re so far removed from what you’re studying that it doesn’t hit home and it doesn’t seem like its real.” On the ship, students had the opportunity to learn about the caste system and the cultural and social norms of India, and then step into the streets of Chennai, Delhi, and other places and see for themselves how their class studies portrayed real life.

A visit to a port represented in a story can also reinforce what was discussed in class and many times will add new perspectives. Professor Serio told me that his class intertwines different literary elements with discussions of analysis of cultural norms, traditions, and religion, which are an important aspect of revealing the themes of the stories. The class also reflects lessons learned in global studies and other courses because of the necessary background to understand the various settings of the stories. While you can learn the literary aspects of these stories anywhere, there really is no comparison to seeing for yourself what the various authors are discussing and trying to capture in their work.

RIDE

2009-03-11T03:18:00.014-04:00

India was not easy. I have never been in as polluted in environment, seen such abject poverty, or been in a city that seemed as chaotic or foreign. The air was grimy and after just a few minutes outside, you began to see your clothes blacken from the coal and soot in the air. Beggars lined the roads and sometimes seemed to come at you from every direction. Little things suddenly seemed complicated. When trying to cross the street, you felt like you had stepped into a game of Frogger, darting auto-rickshaws, cars, bicycles, and trucks that seemed to weave around one another and zip by without any discernible regard to traffic rules. Even settling on a restaurant to grab a quick bite to eat could prove problematic since health standards and foods in India are so different from what we are used to.

Despite the challenges though, India was incredibly rewarding. In no other port have I experienced more genuine warmth and hospitality from my hosts. The welcoming that Semester at Sea Voyagers were given wherever they went was truly incredible and I have never been received with more energy, enthusiasm, and excitement than I was on my SAS service-visits in India. As much as Chennai could be frustrating and disheartening at times, you would more often find yourself being invited to someone’s home for dinner, answering friendly questions about life in the United States or receiving assistance from complete strangers. I often found myself returning to the words that our Indian interport lecturer, Dr. Hamsapriya, said to me and that I reported in an earlier post. “For those on the trips that involve human contact, they find that people are very open, generous, friendly, and go out of their way to do things for students.”

During our post-port reflection session yesterday evening, the general themes of kindness and hospitality were juxtaposed with the poverty and a general difficulty of being able to mentally digest what was seen in India. Through all of the experiences that were recounted by students and shared since our return to the MV Explorer, the question being grappled with by all is, “What now?”

How do we help? Can we help? Towards the end of post-port, one student pointed out that learning from each other and spreading awareness is the first step. The first experience that I would like to share is an overnight service project that I participated in with about 25 other SAS voyagers. The trip focused on learning about child labor and life in rural India.

On our first afternoon, we traveled to Kanchipuram, located about two hours away from Chennai. Our first stop was a school operated by the Rural Institute for Development Education (RIDE) that serves as a “bridge school,” which transitions children out of labor and into school. To give you a brief background on what I found to be a remarkable organization, RIDE was founded in 1984 as an NGO “dedicated to empowering poor and disadvantaged residents of rural Tamil Nadu (the Indian state Chennai is located in) to improve the quality of their lives,” as described in their mission statement. The organization's motto is “Help Others Help Themselves,” and it operates under the concept that “people cannot be developed but they can develop themselves, if they have access to education, counseling, guidance, resources, and opportunities.”

RIDE uses a two-pronged approach to address poverty and child labor in Tamil Nadu. First, there is the education of children, which we witnessed at the Bridge School. We received an incredible welcome from the students, teachers, and director of RIDE, S. Jeyaraj. As we were led into the school compound by a swarm of excited children who were singing and excitedly running all around us, Jeyaraj began to explain how RIDE strives to empower children and families through education. The impact that we could make began to sink in when we were led to the first school building, where a sign hung outside, “Donated by Semester at Sea, USA.”

RIDE is able to fund two thirds of the education of all of its students and parents cover the remaining the costs. From what we could see, the children have quite an extensive curriculum. During presentations they made for us, the Indian students covered topics such as their national freedom fighters, world history, the planets, solar and lunar eclipses, and the composition of soil. The students also spoke great English and it was wonderful to see what they were learning.

In addition to these students, who had been fully rescued from child labor, we met a second group of children who were not as fortunate. These kids, ranging in age from 5 to about 10 years old still work in stone quarries, and had put in about six hours of work earlier that day. They attend classes when they can sneak away and RIDE even offers courses and lunch at the quarries when possible. I had trouble imagining what kind of work they could even be doing at a quarry, and I learned that they are used to hammer larger stones into gravel, which is then used for building roads and sometimes in construction projects. Those that are strong enough also carry the smaller loads at the work site.

In most cases, the entire family works at the quarry together – parents and children. There is just no other way to survive unless the entire family is earning money. Some opted out of government schools, where beatings from teachers can be a regular occurrence. The second part of RIDE’s education program, in addition to the Bridge Schools, is the education of villages on consumption, conservation, agriculture, and money management. This is what allows parents to remove their children out of the labor sites and send them to school.

During our second day with RIDE, we visited a village where child labor has been completely eradicated thanks to the organization’s work there. It is estimated that in the past 10 years, child labor in Kanchipuram has been reduced from roughly 40,000 to 4,000. Although these results are incredible, child labor in India is still pervasive throughout the country and continues to be a problem. The village that we visited is an example of how program’s like RIDE can succeed in implementing a solution.

Jeyaraj explained that as the villagers learn to conserve their resources, both natural and monetary, their lives begin to improve. RIDE taught them how to farm sustainably, create their own fish stocks, and set up small businesses and save money. Now, instead of working in the silk looms or quarries for a pittance, most villagers operate their own looms, work in local factories or for multi-national corporations such as Nokia, or farm.

If you would like to learn more about the Rural Institute for Development Education, please visit their website at www.rideindia.org.

Photo #3 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Article that appeared in the Indian Express

2009-03-10T15:29:00.003-04:00

"Painting a new life for slum children"

By Express News Service, 06 Mar 2009 02:48:00 AM IST

Link to Original Article

CHENNAI: For the 450-odd students of Ananthanayaki Primary School, nested amid the shanty town of Vyasarpadi in north Chennai locality, it was nothing less than a pleasant surprise to have foreign students among them.

Around 25 students, reached the city on Thursday in a ship, MV Explorer, as part of their ‘semester at sea’ programme and visited the government-aided primary school and spent a few hours with the students.

During their stay, they also painted 14 classrooms as part of their project work on shore and entertained students with the skills acquired on board.Speaking to Express, K Chinnaswamy, Headmaster of the school, said, “Most of our students, who hail from economically poor background, enjoyed the presence of foreign students and greeted them for being here.” Besides students themselves, it was a surprise for people living along the school premises. They thronged the (school) venue to see them doing painting work and even tried to exchange words of courtesy to student visitors from the US. Mark Lazaroff, the ship’s communication coordinator and who accompanied these 25 students to the school, said, “It was a nice experience for students, since most of them saw India for the first time.”

Ananthanayaki Primary School was established in 1974 at Vyasarpadi to cater to students living in hutments and belonging to the economically weaker sections of society. After having students’ strength in double digits for the first few years, now it has a healthy 400 plus.The ship, Explorer, along with 780 students arrived in the city on Thursday on a five-day visit, and its last port call was at Port Louis, Mauritius. Besides visiting schools and orphanages during their visit, these students are expected to undertake 50 field trips during their stay.

Chennai, India

2009-03-04T21:58:00.009-05:00

This morning, the MV Explorer arrived in Chennai, India. Formerly known as Madras, Chennai is the capital of one of India’s 28 states, Tamil Nadu. With a population of roughly 8 million inhabitants, which is about the same as New York City, it is India’s fourth largest city. Chennai is sometimes known as the “Detroit of India,” due to the fact that it is responsible for roughly 60% of the country’s auto exports. It is also India’s second largest exporter of software and information technology. The city is also an important cultural center. It is home to India’s second largest film industry, Kollywood, and Chennai is the site of some of India’s best dance, theater, and art festivals.

Semester at Sea Voyager’s have been privileged to have three wonderful interport lecturers with us since Chennai, who have been introducing us to Indian culture and history. Sneha and Anusha, two Indian university students have been on board the ship as well as Dr. Hamsapriya Srinivasan, an Indian professor in political science.

While this was the first voyage for Sneha and Anusha, Dr. Hamsapriya has been a part of the SAS community for the past twenty years. Her first contact with Semester at Sea was when she was invited by the U.S. Education Institute of India to give a lecture to visiting SAS students. Afterwards, she tagged along with others and visited the ship. The next day, she hosted around 30 Voyagers for lunch and showed them around Chennai. Every year since then, she has helped organize trips for Voyagers on their stops to India, briefed them when they arrived, and she has been an interport lecturer twice.

Dr. Hamsapriya is also an avid supporter of the mission of SAS, and told me that it, “scores hands down on any other education program,” when I asked her how she felt it compared to other study abroad options. India is often cited by Voyagers as the port that impacts them the most during their journey. This will be my first visit to the country but Dr. Hamsapriya conveyed to me that, “The sites, sounds, smells, and crowds hit people as soon as they’re off the ship…but for those on the trips that involve human contact, they find that people are very open, generous, friendly, and go out of their way to do things for students.”

Semester at Sea students also were very interested in talking to Sneha and Anusha to learn more about the lives of Indian university students. They learned that education is extremely important here and is compulsory beginning at age three. Schools are free until you reach the university level and even then, the government provides loans and scholarships, which make the costs extremely low. The two girls were also quick to point out that on average, females in India score much higher on the national exams than males.

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Vicarious Voyage

2009-03-02T12:29:00.005-05:00

In addition to the friends and family members of the Voyagers aboard the MV Explorer, there are hundreds of school children across America and some others around the world who are following this semester’s voyage as well. They are part of Semester at Sea’s Vicarious Voyage, which pairs up classrooms of K-12 students with students, staff, and lifelong learners aboard the ship. It is a unique opportunity for us with SAS to share our experiences with others back home and it offers the students we are corresponding with a far more intriguing way to learn about the world than textbooks can provide.

Classrooms participating in the Vicarious Voyage program range from inner city New York to rural Virginia to the California coast, second grade through seniors, and include ESOL (English as a Second/Other Language) learners of all ages, art classrooms, Teach for America classrooms, Gifted Education programs, and two international classrooms in Thailand and Okinawa, respectively. The SAS Voyagers participating in this program exchange postcards, letters, and emails with their selected classrooms throughout our journey.

SAS Voyagers also send cultural packets to their classrooms that contain interesting items that will help explain the people and cultures of the countries that we are exploring. Amber Tullos, an SAS student from the University of Oklahoma has been corresponding with 21 students in a third grade class at O'Hara Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At our first “packing party,” where participants in Vicarious Voyage gather together to send out their cultural packets, Amber decided to include newspapers, postcards, maps, and other items that would help, “broaden their understanding of different cultures,” as she told me. She also put together a CD with videos and pictures taken in port, which is something that many of the SAS Voyagers I spoke with are doing. They find it a great way to make their exchanges more personal and the added media provide a great visual accompaniment that will allow Vicarious Voyagers to see more of what we’re seeing than ever before.

Below is a video of our first packing party, enjoy!

Created by SAS Staff Video Producer, Jerry Pratt

Giving Back

2009-03-01T09:13:00.008-05:00

An often overlooked but very significant component of Semester at Sea are the service opportunities provided through the International Field Program and some of the independent service projects that students undertake on their own. In most ports, there are often numerous chances to contribute in some way to the local population. Many of the students I have spoken with are continuing the charitable efforts that are part of their normal schedules back home while others are volunteering for the first time.

Why are students choosing to visit a hospital, or an orphanage, or distribute food to the hungry instead of visiting a famous site or maybe visiting a museum? Here are some of their answers:

“To do something beyond yourself.”
“Because we all need help at some point.”
“For a reality check.”
“For the gratefulness in the eyes of those you have helped.”

Two of the most recent projects that Voyagers participated in were Operation Hunger in Cape Town and a visit to the SOS Children’s Village of Bambou in Mauritius.

Operation Hunger
The Townships of South Africa are home to millions. It is estimated that approximately 10,000 people arrive in Cape Town from the Transkei and Ciskei every month in search of work, that in most cases cannot be found. When they arrive, they squat land in the Townships and build shacks out of tin, plastic, cardboard, or any other materials that they can find.

Operation Hunger works to combat malnutrition and promote the dissemination of knowledge about poverty and malnutrition in South Africa. Its integrated development program includes locally managed growth-monitoring programs, targeted food support, water supply, sanitation facilities, health/hygiene education, income generation and livelihood programs, agriculture and food production. Two groups of Semester at Sea Voyagers participated on a program with Operation Hunger on consecutive days in South Africa.

The principal activity of the Voyagers was to help Operation Hunger staff ascertain malnutrition levels by taking weight and arm measurements of Township children and recording the results. The group was so touched by the children they encountered that during the bus ride home, they started a collection amongst themselves and put together over $300 to purchase toys for the Township’s children. These Voyagers also began planting a nursery, which the second group completed. The hope is that the residents there will be able to take these plants once they grow and start their own gardens.

The participants of the second SAS Operation Hunger group were the lucky ones who actually were able to hand out the toys purchased the previous day. After putting the finishing touches on the nursery and taking the malnutrition measurements, the SAS Voyagers spent hours playing with the children as the Operation Hunger staff tabulated the recordings taken by SAS.

After all of the calculations were completed, everyone went to a soup kitchen where the children were to receive their meal, which normally consists of a soup with additional vitamins added in. However, the Semester at Sea Voyagers went into a store and literally bought every loaf of bread available and then took food from their own lunches that they had brought with them to make sandwiches for the children. In the words of Adrienne, a student from UCSD who was there that day, “The smiles we helped put on these kids faces were amazing. All we were doing was playing with them and it brightened up their day…it was completely life changing.”

SOS Children’s Village
The first SOS Children’s Village was opened by an Austrian medical student, Hermann Gmeiner, in Austria in 1949. Today, there are SOS Children’s Villages in more than 106 countries and they provide homes to approximately 50,000 needy children. The Village that the SAS students visited in Mauritius can house up to 120 children and consists of 12 family houses, homes for the Village’s director and the SOS “mothers,” who help to take care of the children, a staff house, a community hall, an administrative building, and classrooms. The children who live here are for the most part “social orphans,” meaning that they have parents who are either in prison or incapable of providing care for a number of other reasons. About forty SAS Voyagers participated in this service project. They met with the administrators of the program, toured the Village’s facilities, and then spent time interacting with a number of the children who live there.

A Belated Happy Birthday

2009-02-28T00:43:00.007-05:00

Although I’m a few weeks late, I’d like to wish Charles Darwin a belated happy birthday. Semester at Sea Voyagers spent yesterday in Mauritius, which was one of Darwin’s stops on his five-year circumnavigation of the globe aboard the HMS Beagle. During that time, a young Darwin, who was a recent graduate and just a few years older than most of the students aboard the MV Explorer, made the observations that would become the foundation for this evolutionary theory. Darwin then went from Mauritius to spend a few weeks in Cape Town, our previous port of call. Although that is the extent of our shared itinerary, the themes of our voyages, separated by about 178 years, are very similar.

Both Darwin and the students of Semester at Sea set out on a worldwide journey of discovery and academic pursuit. As our own Voyagers seek to compare the countries and people that we encounter to gain a better globalized perspective of the world, so too did Darwin build upon his findings in each stop that he made and compare the results to build a greater unified theory.

Our voyage’s academic theme, Migrations, also finds common ground with Darwin. Our Academic Dean, Reg Garrett, wrote the following in a letter to Voyagers. “As we travel, we will consider the myriad consequences following upon the early migration of humans out of Africa and their dispersal to all corners of the globe…we will see how migration has influenced art, music, language, culture, social structure, economics, history, and politics.” All of these facets of society are constantly evolving and in an ever-shrinking world, migrations play a fundamental role in the global exchange of ideas. So, we say thank you to Charles Darwin for making that not only evolutionary, but also revolutionary voyage so long ago, and wish him a happy birthday.

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

MICE

2009-02-26T10:18:00.009-05:00

One of the most unique classes I have come across so far is Professor Matthew Burtner’s (for full bio, click here) Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble. When I first saw the signs for a MICE show to be held outside on Deck 7 of the MV Explorer, I went not knowing what to expect. To be honest, even after seeing the show, I still had no idea what was actually happening on stage.

Last night, Matthew and his class gave a great presentation though, which cleared a lot of this up for me. MICE, which is a program that Matthew also runs at UVa, focuses on Interactive Acoustic Ecologies. In essence, he and his students are able to harness the natural world to make music. Originally from Alaska, it was Matthew’s home growing up that inspired him to fuse together nature with music.

How does one “play” the wind? Sand? The students of MICE know how. The technology that they use to achieve this is truly impressive. The special microphones and computer software, which they themselves have written, allows the MICE students to directly capture and input the sounds of nature to the computer, allowing them to then “own” the sound, synthesizing it with musical instruments or other acoustics and enabling the MICE to change the pitch and tone of all of the inputs instantaneously. Justin Thompson, a student from University of Vermont, remarked that the course is “completely unconventional for any kind of music you could think of and it opened my mind up to all of these natural elements being music.”

The process is basically as follows. After capturing the sounds of nature, as they did on board the ship by placing a special microphone in the wind and in Namibia by burying special microphones beneath the sand, the sound is then sent to a computer. Acoustic instruments are also added in and the students manning the computers filter the sound and using their self-designed software, which can interpret their movements and gestures, meld it together. Then, other members of MICE, using “instruments” like a percussion control, can add beats and melodies to further control the sound.

This course really allows students to use music to connect with the environment around them. In the words of Andy Goldsworthy, a British artist who produces art in natural and environmental settings, “You feel as if you have touched the heart of the place.” The students of MICE 2009 have staged concerts on board the MV Explorer, in the middle of the Namibian desert, gave a show at the Cape Town waterfront and the team has announced that an underwater show, utilizing the sounds emanating from the ship’s pool, is in the near future.

Photos #1,2, and 3 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Namibian Choir Greets SAS

2009-02-24T15:44:00.006-05:00

Below is a video of the Namibian choir that greeted Semester at Sea Voyagers upon our arrival in Walvis Bay.

Their visit to the MV Explorer brought a smile to all of our faces. After they had finished singing, the girls came aboard for brunch and met with students. One SAS student, Audrey, described her experience with the girls. After talking and playing with them, Audrey and her friends decided to give little gifts to the girls. They had planned ahead and had little things like stickers and pens in their rooms. The Namibian girls were so excited and asked if they could come down with the SAS students to see their rooms. Audrey described the Namibian girls' excitement and amusement over seeing new things, like contact lenses and crayons. A few of the girls asked Audrey if they could have the pictures she had up on her wall of her friends and family. One of the Namibian girls told Audrey that she wanted a picture of her family because she, "wasn't used to seeing a family together." There was one girl left though, and Audrey was out of gifts. She was trying to think of what she could give this Namibian girl and then an idea hit her. She ran to her closet and took out the dress that she had brought along for the Ambassador's Ball, which will be held towards the end of the voyage. The Namibian girl's eyes lit up. "For me?" she asked. Audrey smiled and answered yes and presented her with the dress.

This is one of the instances where I know that Semester at Sea students were able to make an impact on the lives of people they met in their journey, which is something we always hope for as we meet people around the world who touch us so deeply.

Video created by SAS Staff Video Producer, Jerry Pratt

Visiting the Ovahimba Tribe

2009-02-24T07:24:00.005-05:00

One of the most unique field trips offered during our time in Namibia was a visit to the Ovahimba Tribe in their native kraal (village). Voyagers were flown from Walvis Bay to Opuwo in the northwest corner of the country where the tribe is located. The next morning, accompanied by a guide and translator, the group arrived at the kraal.

One Voyager described the experience as “like walking into the cover of National Geographic Magazine.” The Ovahimbas live a life that is for the most part secluded and untouched by modern society, and therefore have retained a mostly traditional lifestyle. The tribe breeds cattle and goats for sustenance. It is a very harsh natural environment though. To protect themselves from the sun, women cover their whole bodies with a red mixture of butter fat, ochre, and herbs.

One of the Semester at Sea Voyagers to visit the Ovahimba kraal was Marjorie Seawell, a lifelong learner on board for her third voyage. She shared her experience in Opuwo with the community at post-port reflection. “I knew that when I chose to go on this trip, I would be confronted with otherness.” The marked differences between their lives and ours truly struck her. However, Marjorie also found the commonalities that bind us all together. A retired labor and delivery nurse as well as a grandmother of thirteen, Marjorie is a real baby lover. When she saw the Ovahimba mothers with their babies, “it looked the same as me with my kids, and them with their kids. I felt a bond, a sisterhood, mom to mom, grandmother to grandmother…we have relationships of love and caring in our families that are the same in Denver, Colorado as a remote corner of Namibia.”

Articles On Our Visit to Namibia

2009-02-23T12:50:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the long break in posts. We had a great five days in South Africa and we are now on our way to Port Louis, Mauritius. There was a delay in leaving Cape Town due to some wind outside of the harbor but we pulled out this morning with no problems and we will be able to make up the lost time and arrive in Mauritius on schedule. For new readers, I just wanted to let you know that while I post to the blog about every day we are on the ship, I also send out short quick updates throughout the day that you can access and follow at http://twitter.com/SAS_spring09.

Below are two articles that appeared in the Namibian press covering our visit to Walvis Bay. In separate posts tonight and tomorrow morning, I'll be giving detailed accounts of some of the Voyagers experiences there and in South Africa.

Semester at Sea to visit Walvis Bay

Friday, 13 February 2009 10:55
Link to Article

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - The world’s original shipboard programme for study abroad - Semester at Sea - will sail into Walvis Bay the morning of 14 February for a three-day visit. Over 700 students from more than 230 universities will disembark to participate in varying service projects, learn about Namibian culture, and visit sites across the country.

Established in 1963, Semester at Sea is defined by its long-term commitment to global education. The program uses a ship as its academic campus, fully circumnavigating the globe each fall and spring semester, and exploring a particular region each summer. Participants take a full load of classes aboard ship, interspersing classroom learning with hands-on exchange, fieldwork, and service learning in 8-12 international ports each voyage. The University of Virginia serves as academic sponsor, appointing the majority of faculty, overseeing curricula, and providing transferable credit to participants.

Throughout its groundbreaking history, Semester at Sea participants have met with world leaders including Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Mother Teresa, Fidel Castro, and Arthur C. Clarke and alumni include Cynthia Nixon, Ray Liotta, and Joan Lunden, among others. Archbishop Tutu sailed around the world with the program in spring 2007 as Distinguished Lecturer in Residence, lecturing in classes and living in close contact with the shipboard community. To date, more than 45 000 alumni from approximately 1 500 different institutions have studied and travelled to 60 countries with Semester at Sea and its predecessor programs.

Namibia will be this semester’s third destination after setting sail from Nassau, Bahamas on January 19 and making port stops in Cadiz, Spain and Casablanca, Morocco. The complete voyage will last 108 days, visiting 13 ports in 11 different countries.

The MV Explorer will arrive in Walvis Bay at about 0800 on Saturday and depart at approximately 2000 on Monday.

Semester at Sea Voyagers will have the opportunity to participate in a number of field programmes that range from exploring Swakopmund, sight-seeing Lüderitz and the wild horses of the Namib, observing the environmental and geological wonders of the Namib, and spending time with the Ovahimba Tribe in their kraal.

Semester at Sea adds spice to studying abroad

Written by Lienette Goosen
Friday, 20 February 2009 08:39
Link to Article

The world’s original shipboard programme for study abroad - Semester at Sea - harboured in Walvis Bay last week for the Spring 2009 voyage.
Semester at Sea represents a unique study abroad programme and since the inception of shipboard education 45 years ago, this it the second time round that Namibia is one of the several destinations of a global tour of 100 to 120 days. There is no doubt that the MV Explorer offers exceptional educational facilities. This programme is further enhanced by the educational expertise of the University of Virginia as the academic sponsor.

Around the world these students go. But what makes their world go spinning around and gets “awesome” from a generation with technology at their fingertips? Michael Sene (21) from Pleasanton, California, studies at the University of California in Irvine. This Business Economics Major can’t help but compare Namibia’s safety with the other countries they have visited already.

“Namibia is the biggest, most pleasant and unexpected surprise since the start of the tour. It is much safer than I expected and by far safer than, for instance, Morocco. You can say this tour is like a bouquet with a wide variety,” he said.

On visiting Namibia, Sene said: “I truly was impressed with the country and am extremely pleased that the programme [Semester at Sea] has decided to stop here (seeing how this is the 2nd time over the past year). The country appeared to have very high potential for social, political, and economic growth. The people were extremely friendly in my entire journey to the North in Opuwa. I have always wanted to visit a native tribe that still lives in an identical manner that their ancestors lived over one hundred years ago. I got to do this on Namibia through a Semester at Sea program and it was amazing and eye-opening.”

How does he see the economic potential of Namibia? “To touch on the economics of Namibia, as a student looking to enter into international business, I’ve been keeping an open eye in all our stops for countries that have potential for future ventures and investments. Namibia has definitely been put at the top of my list. Our schools are constantly focused with the exponential growth of China, India, and to a lesser consent Brazil. But African countries are rarely mentioned. I am glad our trip got rerouted around the Cape (due to the Somalian Pirate situation) because I got to experience parts of Africa that I might have never set foot on if it was not for the program. I could see myself one day coming back to Namibia someday for business purposes.”

The Semester at Sea programme gets a definite ‘yes’ from Sene. “I would definitely encourage students to sign up for Semester at Sea and have been doing that even abroad. They are trying their best to recruit students outside of the United States, and the internationals students are growing. For the most part, it’s all US students and I have many friends at home that are already in the application stages for future voyages. This program can really only be explained through experiencing it yourself. The shipboard life rivals any college campus and the student body is such a diverse group of people. And to top it all, we’re going around the world and that alone makes this voyage a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

“Travelling for sure! I love travelling,” says Lexi Bosee. She is from Danen, Connecticut, and is majoring in psychology at the Stetson University. “I have experienced and saw things I have never seen before. I felt as if I have become a world citizen. An experience like this, noticing the cross-cultural differences, also make you change as a person. For the first time I can relate to what it means to live in the countries we visited so far.”

Asked if the economic crises of the world were visible, she indicated that they cannot go unnoticed. “Obviously we feel it too.” What did she have to say about Namibia? “It is beautiful. The country has so much to offer. Tourism can be expanded on a much greater scale.” Would she consider coming and making a living here? “I really don’t know. It’s hard to say. It’s very far away from home.”

The programme is open for students from all over the world. More information is available at www.semesteratsea.org.

En route to Cape Town

2009-02-17T15:22:00.006-05:00

The MV Explorer departed Walvis Bay last evening. Namibia was an amazing country with an incredible array of field opportunities. My personal experiences in Namibia were fantastic and everyone that I spoke with enjoyed the visit immensely. Semester at Sea Voyagers truly had the chance to do it all. Walvis Bay offered its visitors amazing wildlife, as did the big game parks where many Voyagers went on safari in the hopes of seeing the “Big Five.” The town of Swakupmond, only about twenty minutes away by car from the ship, was rich in history and was a great place to explore. The Namib Desert, right outside of these cities also offered spectacular views and environmental and geological wonders. Some Voyagers even flew out to Opuwo, roughly two hours away, to see the Ovahimbas in their kraal (village). I’ll be giving some more detailed descriptions on some of these visits when students return from Cape Town and have the opportunity to reflect on both of their African ports but I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what we have been up to.

We will be arriving in South Africa tomorrow morning for our five-day visit. I will be on safari (so excited!) for most of the visit but will resume blogging when I’m back on the ship. Please check back in on the 23rd for some stories of SAS experiences in Africa!

Namibia!

2009-02-13T17:04:00.008-05:00

Tomorrow morning, the MV Explorer will be arriving in Walvis Bay, Namibia. We received our Logistical Pre-port Presentation earlier tonight which covered all of the information we will need for our visit from the currency exchange, to health advice, to the best way to find a taxi. Tomorrow morning, U.S. diplomats will come aboard to present on some of Namibia's history, culture, and the current political situation.

An interesting fact is that we will represent about 10% of all Americans who visit Namibia this year. I think that this truly highlights what ISE President and Executive Dean Les McCabe said tonight when he remarked that, “Every time we step foot off of this ship, we are world ambassadors.” As much as I have talked about how much the SAS Voyagers have gained and experienced from our port visits, it is important to remember that the people we encounter learn just as much from us. For some of the places that we will be going, Semester at Sea students could be the first or only Americans that some of the locals have met before. While some may see this as a responsibility that Voyagers must bear, I think that it is a great opportunity to showcase our amazing academic journey and try to give back to our hosts as much as we learn and receive from them.

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

New Haircuts

2009-02-12T08:45:00.002-05:00

Some of our more adventurous Voyagers took advantage of a long-time Neptune Day tradition and opted for a new look!

Photo by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Physics for Mariners

2009-02-12T08:03:00.006-05:00

I was an International Affairs major in college and did not have the chance to take many math and science courses, so one of my goals has been to sample classes in those fields. As I discussed earlier in my interview with Academic Dean Reg Garrett, one of the academic goals of the voyage is to provide a number of science courses for non-science majors so I never have to look far to satisfy my interests.

Over the past week, I have been stopping by Sergio Conetti’s “Physics for Mariners” class. Although the physics is a little beyond me, I love how it explores the environment that surrounds us. The course deals with different topics related to sailing around the world. Students will get an introduction to astronomy and navigation, meteorology and world climate, and learn the physics of sailing.

Another attraction to the course is Sergio himself. He is currently a Professor of Physics at the University of Virginia. His scientific career has been in the field of elementary particles, working on experiments at the highest energy accelerator laboratories around the world. In 1973, in the context of a Canadian initiative to establish a strong particle physics research program, he moved to Montreal's McGill University and, during his tenure, contributed extensively to the growth of the newly formed Canadian Institute for Particle Physics. In 1989 he joined the faculty at the University of Virginia, where he co-founded an experimental particle physics group, a field of fundamental research until then not represented at UVa. He has also performed experimental work at CERN (the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland), the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Batavia, Illinois), the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and the Deutsches Electronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg, Germany. Sergio has co-authored over 100 papers in refereed scientific journals and has presented the results of his research at numerous international meetings and conferences, including a month-long series of lectures in the People's Republic of China. His teaching has covered a broad range of topics, from advanced graduate courses to introductory courses for non-science majors, including the popular USEM's "Bricks and Mortar of the Universe" and "Does Antimatter Matter?"

During the classes that I attended, the Physics for Mariners students learned about longitude and latitude and how to determine your position using a sextant. By using the angle of the sun at its highest point during the day (noon), one can determine their latitude. Longitude can be ascertained just by knowing what time it is – the sun moves 15 degrees per hour so if we are exactly four hours ahead of Greenwich time, we know that our longitude is 60 degrees.

It’s one thing to just listen to a lecture on how to figure all of this out. Being handed a sextant and determining the position of the MV Explorer for yourself is another story. Students in Physics for Mariners did exactly that yesterday, and will be doing so three times a week as they track our Voyage around the world. Doing something like this on a campus back home wouldn’t make much sense because you would only be able to take down one position, but our shipboard campus presents a unique opportunity for Semester at Sea students to put their skills learned in the classroom to good use in the field.

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Neptune Day – From Pollywogs to Shellbacks

2009-02-10T06:18:00.007-05:00

Neptune Day is nothing new to those on the high seas. The ceremony of “Crossing the Line” is an initiation rite dating back to the 16th century and is still popular today with many of the world’s navies (picture on the right is from a ceremony aboard a USN Vessel in the 1940s). The ceremony is used to commemorate a sailor’s first crossing of the equator. Before a sailor makes his inaugural voyage into a new hemisphere, he or she is known as a Pollywog and upon crossing “The Line,” a sailor is ordained a Shellback, or Son of Neptune.

The day started off early yesterday morning with the crew of the MV Explorer summoning the Pollywogs to the court of King Neptune where the whole ship took part in the festivities. I don’t want to spoil all of the fun for future sailors but I think the pictures speak for themselves. Everyone had an amazing time and we capped off the evening with a great BBQ.

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Sneak Peak - Calendars Throughout History

2009-02-08T16:51:00.003-05:00

Earlier today, I decided to visit a few classes that I’ve been hearing good things about from students. Everything that I had been told was absolutely true. I enjoyed all of them and will definitely be returning. The class I’d like to tell you a little bit about right now is Michael Goldweber’s “Calendars Throughout History.” The course focuses on understanding different calendar systems, from ancient to modern times, as well as the underlying mathematical and cultural assumptions embodied by each calendar system.

Mikey is an associate professor in the department of Mathematics and Computer Science at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. He attended Boston University receiving both a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S.B.A. in Finance. Following this, and a short stint working in industry, he spent a year living in Israel. Upon returning from Israel he received both a Masters and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth College. A respected and active participant in the computer science education community, Mikey's current research focus is in systems virtualization.

“Calendars” meets every other morning at 8:00am – if a college student raves about an 8:00am class, you know it must be good. Today’s lecture and student presentations traced the development of the calendars of the Greeks and Babylonians as well as compared the two.

Both operated on a lunar system. The Babylonians had developed the beginnings of their calendar system by about 4,000 BC. However, their calendar only contained 354 days per year. Originally, the leaders would add a new month when necessary but by roughly 500 BC, the Babylonians had developed an algorithm that would add in the extra lunar cycles when needed over a 19 year cycle.

This type of system was proposed in the Greek system in 432 BC by Meton. However, it was rejected for a number of reasons, including the fact that it would interfere with the presence that the Olympic games held in the calendar. Instead, the Greeks chose an 8-year cycle where a new month as added in three times during that period. Eventually, Seleucus, a successor of Alexander the Great who came to power in 312 BC adopted the Babylonian system.

One important component of all of this that Mikey talked about, which is integral to our academic theme here at SAS, is migrations. The spread of ideas, culture, and knowledge was an integral factor in the establishment of these calendar systems, which can still be seen today. For example, the calendar developed and still used in Judaism is the same format as the Babylonian one, and even has a few months that are almost identical in name. Some scholars contend that it was adopted by the Jews during their exile in Babylon following the destruction of the First Temple. Even the idea of a Sabbath or day of rest, which can be found in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam can find its roots in the ancient Babylonian calendar, where the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th days of the month were identified as unlucky and as days not to work. This theme of migrations – of knowledge, people, and culture is something that will be reappearing in many courses and is something that students will also be tracing when they are in the field.

Post-Port Reflections of Morocco

2009-02-07T15:08:00.009-05:00

Nancy Abbott, University of San Diego
A very popular experience for Semester at Sea Voyagers in Casablanca was the SAS-arranged dinner with a Moroccan family. Students were met by the families aboard the MV Explorer, where they took their hosts on a quick tour, and then left with them for dinner in their homes. I spoke with Nancy Abbott, a student from the University of San Diego, who relayed her experiences to me. Her group consisted of four Semester at Sea students. They were picked up by the mother of the family, Sauda ben-Moussa. Following the tour of the ship, Sauda took the students on a driving tour of the city where they were able to see the great mosque, both the new and old medina, the beach, and some of the lively parts of the city. Dinner started at around 9:00. Nancy described the house as very modern, set in a nice part of town, and comparable to an American home. The family consisted of a mother, father, a 23-year-old son, and a 25-year-old daughter and her husband. Despite the many cultural differences, such as being able to eat with your hands (which I’ve been told everyone enjoyed), Nancy said that she and her shipmates felt very comfortable and that it reminded them of being at home. The family was very interested in what was going on in the States and had a genuine appreciation for American culture and values.

Tucker Whitcomb, Cornell
Tucker was with a group that spent a night in a nomad village. He and a few friends met a Moroccan university student who was ecstatic about the opportunity of talking with American students. Their conversation ranged from politics, to history, to economics. One thing that Tucker realized were the differences between the American and Moroccan styles of education. From what he gathered by talking with this student, the Moroccan system is based much more on theory than in the U.S. For example, when the conversation turned to politics, the student did not ask about specific policies or current events, he wanted to learn what the Americans thought of the writings of Karl Marx and other political writers. For the Moroccan, “Talking to Americans was a dream come true,” according to Tucker. For the SAS students, it was a very revealing experience about life for some of their counterparts on Morocco.

SAS Student
I wasn’t able to catch the name of this student, but I really liked what she had to say. She was speaking with someone back home who asked how she could really get to experience the culture of a country. After her time in Morocco, this SAS student had her answer. While she was waiting for a bus, she sat down next to an elderly man who struck up a conversation with her. She said that it was an incredible experience and that she learned so much more about life in Morocco by just sitting at the bus stop than she ever could have learned by traveling around the country and visiting the sites.

Joshua Bernstein, University of Maine
“I want to talk about us,” Josh said as he took the microphone. He described the various places around the world that Semester at Sea Voyagers have come from, and how this group of 700+ people is now “beginning to form a family of sorts.” Faces are becoming familiar, which he described as very comforting fact when you are exploring a foreign country. “I was so happy and relieved to see family - Semester at Sea faces.” Josh recognized the turning point our community is at right now, but he also alluded to the fact that we are still in the beginnings of our journey together. He told an interesting short story to show how we need build on our great start, which I’d like to share with you.

There was a carpenter who was about to retire, but his boss asked him to build just one more house before he ended his career. The carpenter reluctantly agreed, but because he was in a rush to retire, he did not pick out the best materials as he usually did, but instead used whatever the store had. He also did not give the same level of care or attention to detail that he had always taken in his work before. The carpenter just rushed through the project as fast as he could. When the house was finished, the carpenter’s boss met him at the front door and handed him the keys – “This house is a gift to you in honor of your retirement.” The carpenter was completely taken aback. If he had known the house would have been for him, he would have put in just as much effort as he always had.

The community that we are building on the MV Explorer is ours. Every “wall” that we build, every relationship made, will contribute to a stronger and more meaningful experience for every SAS Voyager.

Photo #1 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

2009-02-06T17:06:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers,
I just wanted to point out a new feature of the blog. You can now receive posts automatically via email by subscribing in the box to the right. I'll have some student reflections of Morocco for you tomorrow.

Article on SAS that appeared in La Voz

2009-02-05T17:26:00.005-05:00

We're about two hours out of Morocco and on our way to Namibia. While the MV Explorer was docked in Cadiz, Spain, the ship was visited by reporters from La Voz, a Spanish newspaper. An article appeared while we were docked in Spain, which I wanted to share with you all. One of our Lifelong Learners, Rose Connolly, was able to translate it for the Voyage Blog. If you would like see the original article in Spanish, please click here.

“The Floating Campus Arrives in Cadiz”
by Miguel D. Garcia
La Voz, 01/29/2009

More than a school ship, the cruiser “Explorer” that arrived in Cadiz’s port yesterday could be called an academic ship or a campus on the water. However, the passengers are not on vacation and did not arrive in our city as just tourists. Though it may look like a tourist cruise liner from the outside, inside it is an authentic college campus – an academic program of the University of Virginia in the U.S. Classes are held on ship in between ports – more than 12 in all, and so they begin in Cadiz.

On board, 727 university students (mostly from the U.S.) learn about new cultures, take classes, work and study. The ship, originally built to be a commercial cruise liner, has been remodeled with classrooms and a library, which was formerly a casino.

On the ship, classes range from music to history and sociology, and “except for the rocking of the ocean, the classes are the same as on land,” says Leslie, a marketing student who appreciates the opportunity to “travel without getting behind on classes.”

The World in 108 Days

The only education program of its kind, Semester at Sea, though actually only a trimester (108 days) during which they visit 13 ports around the world, including Casablanca (Morocco), Port Louis (Mauritius), Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong and Shanghai (China), Yokohama (Japan) and Honolulu (Hawaii).

Cadiz was the first stop since their departure 10 days ago from Nassau (in the Bahamas) and will conclude in Florida, in its return to the U.S.

Cadiz is also their only European stop, although a number of the students left the port city to travel to Seville, Granada, Barcelona, or Madrid while the ship remained in Cadiz. (On January 31st, the ship leaves for Morocco)

“Cadiz is a great port city,” explains Les McCabe, the Executive Dean of the program and President of ISE (Institute for Shipboard Education), which organizes the voyage in conjunction with the University of Virginia. ISE created the unique formula of sea travel with classes, and has led trips around the world for over 45 years. The University, for their part, offers their reputation and professors.

The students, in contrast, come from universities all over the U.S. and other countries (China, Mexico, Canada…). While there are no Spaniards aboard, “We’d love to have them,” affirms Les McCabe, who sends along the message, “We hope to have students from a Spanish University,” like the University of Cadiz.

Of course, the voyage is not free. In times of such economic crisis, it may seem expensive, $24,000, however it is all inclusive.

Yesterday, many of the 727 students toured the streets of Cadiz with professors and local guides, visiting the Cathedral, the playhouse, and the Plaza of Spain…(of course, it will be on their exams) They also toured the Central Market, the Plaza of Flowers and the winding ancient streets to, “observe typical Spanish life,” which students commented was, “surprising,” and “full of differences from the U.S.”

Molly Abelman, a history student from California, noted with surprise that for example, “The population takes their time and also talks very close to other people.” “I was fascinated with the buildings, they are so precious and full of history,” adds Maine Saole, a student of psychology. Deirdre Bird, a faculty member adds, “I’m impressed with the monument for the constitution,” coming from someone from a country with the first constitution. She also feels, “This is such an enlightening voyage and unique experience, especially for the students.”

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Semester at Sea Academics

2009-02-03T21:15:00.005-05:00

The past two weeks have flown by in a blur. Today, I just stopped for a moment to try and take it all in. My pre-SAS life seems worlds away. It’s hard to believe that three weeks ago, I was wrapping up a job in Washington, DC and since then, I have crossed the Atlantic, traveled through Spain, and I am currently in Morocco with the rest of the Semester at Sea community and we still have ten port visits ahead of us! With all of the excitement of travel and shipboard activities though, especially in the first weeks of the program, it can be easy for those not on the ship to forget about the most important part of Semester at Sea – the academic program.

Over the past few weeks, you have heard a lot about the community aboard the MV Explorer and have been able to take a look at a number of events that Voyagers shared together in the early stages of the semester. It has been difficult to showcase our academics though in the opening weeks of the voyage because classes were just beginning and were still in their introductory phase. However, when the students return from Morocco, things will really be in full swing and I hope to be able to introduce you to some of our professors and tell you a little bit about what some of our classes are working on.

I thought it would be good to start off, however, with an introduction to the overall academic theme of the voyage, Migrations, and our Academic Dean, Professor Reg Garrett. Reg is a Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. in Biology at the Johns Hopkins University in 1968 and joined the faculty at the University of Virginia later that year. In 1975, he was a Fulbright Senior Lecturer in Vienna, Austria, and in 1976, a visiting scientist in the Department of Genetics, Cambridge University (U.K.). In 1983, Professor Garrett returned to Cambridge and the Department of Genetics as a Thomas Jefferson Visiting Fellow in Downing College and in 2003, he was Professeur Invité at the University of Toulouse (France) and the CNRS Institute of Pharmacology and Structural Biology.

These experiences abroad had a profound affect on Reg. They helped to shape his support for study abroad programs and his interest in making them available to science students. However, he did not become personally involved with Semester at Sea until the spring of 2007. At that time, Reg served as the head of the UVA Academic Advisory Committee, which reviews all UVA academic programs, and he was urged by UVA provost Gene Bloch to take a look at Semester at Sea. Upon visiting the ship and seeing what it had to offer, he was extremely impressed. In his own words, “I fell in love with this ship. The crew was extremely professional and the ISE staff were engaged, committed, and willing to move in new directions.”

Reg was offered and then accepted the position of Academic Dean for this semester’s voyage, and he began preparations early on to implement some of his academic aims, such as bringing science courses to non-science majors and creating study abroad opportunities for science majors. To that effect, the Spring 2009 academic program includes required courses for science majors so that they can enjoy the exceptional opportunities presented by Semester at Sea and maintain satisfactory progress towards their degree requirements. The theme of the voyage is Migrations. It’s science based but really runs across all academic disciplines. According to Reg, it deals mainly with the early story of human dispersion but the courses also address a number of contemporary problems that relate to Migrations.

In our floating campus, Semester at Sea Voyagers can actually observe firsthand the courses of migrations and the modern ramifications that manifest themselves in contemporary religions, politics, and cultures. Through their field studies, which account for 20% of their grades, students will compare and contrast what they observe and bring their experiences back with them to the ship and analyze them. As Reg said to me when discussing the innate value of Semester at Sea in comparison to other study abroad options, “SAS offers a comparative advantage not seen elsewhere and through the breadth of the academic program, students gain depth in their understanding of the global world.”

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Reactions to Spain

2009-02-02T17:08:00.006-05:00

I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with a number of students since our departure from Spain. Some spent all of their time in Cadiz, others took small trips to Sevilla, Cordoba, and Grenada, and others traveled as far as Madrid and Barcelona. Wherever you went, it seemed like you were bumping into fellow Voyagers everywhere. One great aspect of the trips that many students remarked about was how they were able to relate their travels to what they had been studying in class. Elyssa Tanenbaum, a student from the University of Florida, who is in a Military Force class, is studying different military forts that she comes across during her port visits. In Barcelona, she was able to spend some time at Castell de Montjuic, a fort that has played a prominent role in a number of military engagements. Rebecca Bressler, a student at Penn State enrolled in a World Religions course, chose to study the many churches that she was able to see in Cadiz and Sevilla and is looking forward to being able to compare and contrast them with the places of worship that she encounters in Morocco.

Below is a new feature of the blog. Periodically, we will have students post their own writings and reactions to events on the ship and experiences in port.

Guest Blogger: Greg Lessans, a University of Maryland student aboard Semester at Sea talking about his experiences in Spain

I was asked by the videographer of our voyage a question the very first day of SAS. I was literally unloading my bags from the taxi and Jerry ran at me with a camera rolling:

“So why did you choose SAS over a traditional study abroad program?” Jerry asked.

It hit me like a ton of bricks, and I wasn’t sure of my response. I fumbled out some line I had read in a brochure somewhere, and hopped in line to board the ship. Now, with one country behind me, I’m more sure of my answer. I’ll be much more sure in three more months, but, now I have an idea.

I had studied Spanish my entire career in high school and for a semester in college. I figured I had a pretty good handle on Spain’s culture and history. So I was shocked when, throughout global studies class across the Atlantic Ocean, I heard things for the first time. Like how Spain was a dictatorship less than three decades ago, or how they transitioned to a functioning democracy in less than one. We learned about the culture, the people, the customs and the traditions of Spain, and by the time we were a day away from Cadiz, I felt like I knew the country inside and out. The ship was bustling with excitement as Spain came over the horizon (it had been a long 9 days without any land in sight), and it was an unforgettable feeling descending the gangway to Spanish soil.

In my time in Spain, the things that we learned through classes, interport lecturers and pre-port meetings came to life. I spent a day in the local southern town of Cadiz, rich with Roman architecture and Spanish reforms. There, my friends and I investigated (and enjoyed) important delicatessens that we learned about like Bocadillos and Churros con Chocolate. All the while, we struggled to make conversation with locals who were always happy to talk to us. The culture I had longed to meet in person for the past 10 years was finally laid out in front of me.

We boarded a train the next morning and headed to Madrid, the cultural and political capital of the Spanish people. One of the most fascinating things we experienced was the difference in time. EVERYTHING was later. Businesses opened in the late morning before closing for siesta. They reopen in the late afternoon, and dinner isn’t until late, late at night - the restaurants don’t even open until 10 or 11 at night most of the time.

We took a great tour of Madrid on our third day in Spain and saw all the sights to see. Our tour guide, a 28-year-old Spanish local could not have been nicer. I took the entire time to ask him about politics, and the real-life living situation in Spain. I required that he speak to me in Spanish and by the end of the day, I had most of my years in Spanish coming back to me. It was wonderful. The relationship that we created with him was real, and we had lunch with him and was even invited to his birthday party that night.

After returning to Cadiz and our floating campus, the shipboard community has rejoined in the multiple stories and experiences each of us bring back with us. “I went to Barcelona,” a friend tells me, “I went to Sevilla,” says another. Stories of soccer games and ancient castles abound, and through each other, we all experience even more.

Mostly, I feel I can answer Jerry’s question to some small degree. The combination of learning about each individual culture and then seeing it in real life is the most amazing education we could ask for. It’s the equivalent of an elementary school field trip to the zoo after a unit on animals, multiplied times infinity. The truth is, we as humans can only learn so much from books and lectures. It’s the promise of seeing it with your own two eyes after those lectures that make everything real.

As we continue to Morocco, I know that pretty soon an entire new dimension will be added to our journey, the ability to compare. Determining the similarities and differences between each culture on our itinerary is truly a gift that simply doesn’t exist in traditional study-abroad opportunities. Now, with 1 out of 12 countries completed, we can feel that something big is on our horizon, something much larger than any of us.

But it’s true; you can only compare one thing at a time. Tomorrow, it’s Morocco.

Thanks for reading,
Greg

Meet Jack Rusenko

2009-02-01T18:58:00.005-05:00

Welcome back to the SAS Voyage Blog. Sorry it has been a few days since the last post but it will probably be difficult to put up new stories while we are in port. The MV Explorer is currently right off the Rock of Gibraltar, just a bit behind schedule as we were unable to refuel earlier today. We are going to give it another try tomorrow morning and we will be on our way to Casablanca as soon as possible. I will be updating the SAS Twitter Account with more real time updates so if you are not a subscriber to that yet, please visit us here.

Today was Morocco Day aboard the ship. Voyagers participated in an extended Global Studies session this morning as well as special classes during the day that focused on Morocco and travel in general. We capped off the evening with our logistical pre-port and upon our arrival in Casablanca, we will receive our diplomatic briefing that will focus on the current political situation in the country and detailed advice for the places Voyagers may be traveling to.

As I explained in an earlier post, an interport lecturer always sails with us to our next destination to help contribute to the academic and cultural presentations given on the next port. Jack Rusenko, our expert-in-residence for Morocco has been a part of Semester at Sea’s visits to Morocco for a number of years.

In Morocco, Jack serves as President of Global Education and President of the George Washington Academy, a K-12 school with American accreditation that serves the area of Casablanca. There are about 500 students, composed of children from Morocco, the United States, and about two dozen other countries.

His first contact with SAS came in 1994. At the time, he was working with Global Education, to help bring and expand the Internet in Morocco. While the ship was in port in Casablanca, Jack became acquainted with the Executive Dean (coincidentally, it was Les McCabe, the current Executive Dean and President of the Institute for Shipboard Education) and he officially joined SAS as an interport lecturer in a 1995 voyage to Morocco. This is Jack’s fourth time participating in an SAS voyage in that capacity.

A lot of his work is aimed at trying to bridge the Arab and Western cultural divide and in his opinion, “it will never be overcome unless significant numbers of people from the two cultures meet each other.” As a truly global campus, Semester at Sea is uniquely able to introduce Voyagers to peoples and cultures around the world, and the impact is felt by both Voyagers and those that they encounter. When I asked Jack about the tangible results that a Semester at Sea visit can have, he told me about some of the Moroccan students that have traveled with him as interport students on previous SAS voyages. Two became Fulbright Scholars, one is now an official with the World Bank, and another is working his way up the diplomatic ranks in Morocco, and they have all pointed to SAS as a positive contributor to their respective global educations and something that continues to have a positive impact on them.

Please check back in tomorrow for some student reactions to their time in Spain as well as an interview with Professor Reg Garrett, our Academic Dean.

Photo #2 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Academics in the Field

2009-01-27T16:48:00.005-05:00

Tomorrow morning, the MV Explorer will pull into Cadiz, Spain for its first port visit. Voyagers will disembark with four days at their disposal. Semester at Sea offers a number of excursions at every destination, including a number of faculty directed practica (FDP). These activities are specially designed by the SAS faculty to supplement their work in the classroom. The opportunity also exists for students to collaborate with their professors to create new field experiences that will enhance their studies.

Just to give you a few examples for what we have planned in Cadiz (and you can see them all here), there are FDPs in subjects ranging across the course catalogue. For those interested in communications/psychology, Professor John Mueller will be leading a group in nonverbal communication. Voyagers participating in this FDP will be observing Spaniards in their natural environment engaging in their typical daily activities with the objective of assessing the notion that cultures differ in their nonverbal communication, and seeing how these differences could illustrate psychological principles.

For those studying art, Professors John and Faye Serio will be leading an FDP on “Women in Cadiz Through History,” that will take participants on a historic tour of Cadiz that will emphasize the portrayal of women in the exhibits and artwork that they encounter. Students will also have the chance to take photographs and draw directly from the paintings and architecture that they come across. The objective will be to study similarities and differences in technique, in composition, and in figurative treatment.

Some classes also require some fieldwork in addition to the FDPs, such as Military Force and Diplomacy, where Professor Mabbutt is requiring his students to keep a journal with entries for every port visit that reflect topics covered in classes. Assignments like these are considered to be an integral part of the SAS academic experience and therefore, twenty percent of the grade for every course offered is comprised of fieldwork.

On a brief side note to my readers, I myself will be off the ship for the next few days so I may not have the opportunity to post until I return. Enjoy the next few days; I know that we will!

Photo by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Que Aproveche!

2009-01-26T19:39:00.011-05:00

For anyone wondering how much preparation Semester at Sea Voyagers undergo for a port visit, the short answer is A LOT. So far, we have had two Global Studies courses, an Explorer’s Seminar, and a Cultural Pre-Port Presentation and tomorrow, the entire community will be attending the Logistical Pre-Port Presentation.

So what does this all mean? The Semester at Sea Voyagers will disembark in Cadiz on Wednesday for our four-day visit to Spain knowing where to go, what to say, how to eat, and a practical knowledge of the culture we will encounter. Of course, there will be surprises and a lot to learn, but the pre-port program does a
tremendous job of laying a strong foundation upon which Voyagers can build their visits.

Let me give you an example of just how thorough the prep-work has been on a subject that will be fun for everyone – Spanish food! A week ago, my knowledge of the Spanish culinary arts was limited to paella and tapas. I had a lot to learn if I really wanted to experience the specialties that Spain has to offer. Here’s a little lesson for all of you based upon what we went over.

For the morning people, desayuno (breakfast) is served from about 7:00-10:30. You can start off the day with a croissant, café con leche, and if you really want to be decadent, which I plan to be, chocolate con churros (check them out here). After a short break, it’s time for the merienda, or snack time. The typical Spanish choice would be to head over to a café or family bar for a bocadilla, pictured right. The time for merienda typically ends by about 1:00. Time for lunch, right? Not yet!

Before that, it’s time to meet up with friends and enjoy some tapas. I hope you’re not full, because we’re just getting to lunch, the biggest meal of the day. Lunch generally lasts from about 2:00-4:00. Usually, it is 2-3 courses and you can get whatever you’re looking for. On the recommendation of Sir David, I can’t wait to get to try out the bocadillos and tortilla de patatas. I also learned about a few things I’m going to avoid, like amprea (eel) and perceos (barnacle) but for those braver than me, they’re supposed to be delicious!

Don’t worry about being full because you will have plenty of time to digest until dinner, which for the average Spaniard does not begin until around 9:30 or 10:00. Be prepared for some great fish dishes. I didn’t know this but the Spanish eat more fish than any other country in the world except for Japan.

For those of you back at home, think about how much we learned just about how to eat. Now apply that to Spain’s culture, history, travel tips, and useful logistical information, and you’ll begin to get an appreciation of the depth of knowledge that Semester at Sea bestows upon its Voyagers before they depart for land.

Que aproveche! - Enjoy your meal!

Photos #1 and 2 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Introduction to our first Interport Lecturer

2009-01-25T11:58:00.006-05:00

Interport lecturers and students are a fantastic resource for the Semester at Sea community. They join us at different points along the journey to help prepare us for what we will encounter in upcoming destinations. In most cases, those interport lecturers and students will be residents of the country that we are going to visit. However, in the case of Spain, we are lucky enough to have UVA Spanish professor David Gies along with us until we reach Cadiz on Wednesday.

In addition to being a seasoned professor, an expert in his field, well published, and a great lecturer as our shipboard community can now attest to, Professor Gies, or should I say Sir David, is also a recipient of The Cross of Isabel the Catholic, Spain’s highest cultural achievement distinction for foreign nationals, making him a bona fide Spanish knight.

Following last night’s Explorer’s Seminar, during which Professor Gies gave us some great tips for Spain that I will be sharing with you all in a separate post, I had the opportunity to sit down with him and learn more about his relationship with Semester at Sea and his thoughts about the program.

David first became a part of Semester at Sea when the University of Virginia became the academic sponsor in 2006. He served as the academic dean on UVA’s maiden voyage in the summer of 2007, a role that he will be filling again in the fall of 2010. When UVA took over as the academic sponsor, David explained that he felt “the mission was to ratchet up academic improvement and the academic experiences in-country.” As academic dean, he sought to improve the courses offered and move their syllabi more towards those offered on the Charlottesville campus. In selecting professors, he searched for those that were engaged intellectually in their fields, published, received awards, and probably most importantly, he sought professors that were superb teachers.

I was also curious to know how David felt SAS compared to other study abroad programs. The Semester at Sea experience is unique in that it offers a “range of opportunities to participate in a global environment,” David responded. Students can compare and contrast firsthand the different peoples, languages, and cultures that they will encounter during their journey. This is a serious academic undertaking and in David’s words, Semester at Sea is for those who will “take this seriously as an academic experience, for they will surely gain a deeper and richer understanding of the world.”

Photo by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Video from the Activities Fair

2009-01-24T12:38:00.006-05:00

I'm going to try and update you all with videos whenever possible. It can be tough sometimes from the ship but we'll do our best. Enjoy this clip!

Created by SAS Staff Video Producer, Jerry Pratt

What a night

2009-01-23T23:32:00.007-05:00

The Semester at Sea community had quite a busy evening. For me, it started at 5:30 with a Shabbat dinner that drew over thirty students and faculty. By 7:00, it was time to run to the swing dance class being held in the Union. The tone of the evening then turned a bit more serious with this evening’s Explorer’s Seminar (a nightly class/lecture/discussion on various topics led by members of the shipboard community), which focused on the progress of the American civil rights movement from Martin Luther King, Jr. to the election of President Obama.

Last, but definitely not least, was our first Open Mic night. It was standing room only in the
400+ seat Union, where it looked like just about everyone turned out to watch their fellow Voyagers. The talent literally blew me away. Performances ranged from Jonathan Katz on the melodica (if like me, you have never heard of that instrument before, check it out here) to Ashley Perez on guitar, who played a piece entitled “When It’s Cold in California,” that she had written for a friend in school. There was complete silence as Meghan Butcher played the piano and sang, beautifully if I may add, as the audience was rocked by the gentle waves beneath us.We also had vocalists and dancers and the genres varied all the way from classical to rock. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the extraordinary talent that this student body has to offer over the next few months.

Photos #2 and 3 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Medical Facilities Aboard the MV Explorer

2009-01-22T18:33:00.003-05:00

The health and wellness of the Voyagers aboard the MV Explorer is a top priority for Semester at Sea and the Institute for Shipboard Education. The ship is equipped with an advanced medical facility and is staffed with two medical teams. A doctor and nurse, as part of the crew of the MV Explorer, primarily provide care to their fellow crew-members, while another doctor and nurse, as well as a physician’s assistant look after the Voyagers aboard the ship.

The medical facilities have just about everything you would find in a typical emergency room and the staff is prepared to treat everything from seasickness, to a broken limb, to cardiac arrest. The facilities include an examination room, an intensive care room, and an operating room for more advanced procedures. There is also an x-ray machine and a lab where medical staff can run blood-work and perform other tests.

John Lewis, this semester’s physician’s assistant has ten years experience in emergency medicine. He has owned and operated an urgent care clinic in Montana and worked in a metropolitan emergency room and he currently he holds a full time position in Internal Medicine with Dr. Jack K. Lewis M.D., P.C.-Internal Medicine, as well as a part-time position in a Hispanic family practice. He says that the staff here generally sees about 20 visitors a day (mostly for seasickness at this early point in the voyage) but that will typically drop off to about 3-5 people once everyone acquires their “sea legs.”

The physician for this voyage, Ann McKee, MD graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in cell biology in 1977 and a medical degree 1981 and her family medicine residency in 1984. She has been a staff physician at Group Health Cooperative since 1984 with a practice that includes the full scope of family medicine including pediatrics and obstetrics and geriatrics. She previously sailed with Semester at Sea in the fall of 1998 and spring of 2002.

Our nurse, Joan Knecht, RN obtained her MS from Cedar Crest College, her BSN from Cornell University, and an MS from Rutgers University. She is a retired professor of nursing at County College of Morris, NJ and Santa Fe Community College, NM and is currently an adjunct professor of pediatrics. She was also an Emergency Department (Level I Trauma Center) staff nurse 22 years in Morristown, NJ. This is Joan’s third SAS journey; with previous trips in the spring of 1991 and fall of 1998.

At the end of the day, we're all home

2009-01-21T21:02:00.008-05:00

The activities fair was scheduled to begin at 7:30. I was there right on time and the line already snaked through the Union and down the corridor of the ship. Students, Lifelong Learners, staff, and faculty crowded the tables to sign up for activities and groups ranging from salsa dancing to study groups. A “create your own activity” table drew huge numbers as well, with suggestions including a Morning Talk Show, an Investment Club, and an Environmental Awareness Group.

Another big hit was the Extended Family Program, run by Lifelong Learners Coordinator Susie Brazas. Personally, this is one of the groups I am most excited about participating in. Students who signed up (looks like around 500!) will be paired up with a Lifelong Learner, faculty member, or staff member so that everyone on board will always have someone to go to with problems, celebrate a birthday with, or just have a good time. As someone who came to Semester at Sea by myself, I can’t wait to meet my “extended family!”

This is just one of the many great aspects of the Semester at Sea community. Students have only been here a few days and they are already beginning to notice some of the extra benefits of being on a shipboard campus. One student from University of Maryland, Greg Lessans, discovered a surprising bonus to being “unplugged” without a cell phone. For Greg, this has meant that when he wants to find someone, he just goes out and looks for them and in the course of doing so, he will inevitably meet new people just walking through the ship. For Zachary Grasmick, a student from UC Boulder, it has been great just running into faculty and students throughout the day. As Lia Albini of the University of Connecticut put it, “No one leaves the ship. We’re just here and we get to know everyone. At the end of the day, we’re all home.”

Photos by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Semester at Sea Celebrates Inauguration Day

2009-01-20T22:14:00.004-05:00

Earlier today, millions of people around the world tuned in to watch Barack Obama be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Things were no different aboard the MV Explorer, roughly four hundred miles away from Nassau in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Students, staff, and faculty gathered together in the Union and classrooms as a live webcast of the inaugural festivities was broadcast on televisions throughout the ship.

Students erupted into cheers and applause as Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, and President Obama came onto the screen. People here across the political spectrum recognized the event as a momentous day in our nation’s history and that the peaceful transition of power embodies the greatest ideals of the United States.

The words of President Obama inspired faculty and students alike. One of the most memorable parts for Kate Shields, a student from Cleveland, Ohio, was when Obama stated, “To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Kate felt that Obama’s speech offered a “renewed sense of hope, and real change.” Her twin sister, Sarah, also a student on this voyage, remarked that she was very excited to have this opportunity to travel the globe and see for herself what other countries thought about America. Similarly, Hadley Mick, a student from Colorado believed that President Obama would bring a “newfound respect for us as a country.”

We capped off the celebrations here with a reception in the Union following the last student orientation session. It featured brief remarks on the day’s events by Les McCabe, President of the Institute for Shipboard Education as well as this semester’s Executive Dean and cake for all!

Photo #1 by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Forward, Upward, Onward Together

2009-01-19T19:50:00.004-05:00

The MV Explorer pulled out of Nassau right on schedule and we are currently on our way to Cadiz, Spain. As we left the Bahamas, and a throng of parents who looked like they were close to following us off the port, I heard from students left and right, “I can’t believe we’re really doing this.” One told me that the thought that he will literally be traveling around the world just hasn’t sunk in yet. I’m with him.

Earlier this morning, as I was walking through Nassau, I noticed a plaque on the Supreme Court building with the motto of the Bahamas, which read, “Forward, Upward, Onward Together.” I found this to be very fitting to the voyage that we are all embarking upon.

724 students, representing 235 universities have chosen to be a part of this journey. They will see, as I have in the past five days, that Semester at Sea is unlike anything else. I am not just talking about the fact that students will be exposed to different cultures and places across the globe. Less than half of a SAS student’s time is spent on land. The remaining part of a student’s time is spent aboard the MV Explorer, which is now home to all of us. There is a vibrant shipboard community here that each one of them is now a part of. It is this community, which I hope to introduce you to over the course of our voyage.

On a side note, for more regular updates on ship activities, please visit http://twitter.com/SAS_spring09 where I will be providing brief notes on student life.

SAS Welcomes Parents and Family Members Aboard the MV Explorer

2009-01-19T08:42:00.005-05:00

Yesterday afternoon, just over five hundred parents of Semester at Sea’s Spring 2009 Voyagers were welcomed aboard the MV Explorer for a reception. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by faculty and staff and were given tours of the ship. The general reaction that we received was WOW and it was pretty clear that most parents walked away a little jealous that they would not be joining the voyage themselves. (See for yourself right here! http://www.semesteratsea.org/our-ship/overview/)

Parents were then invited into the Union to attend a brief program that featured remarks from Les McCabe, the President of the Institute for Shipboard Education (ISE) as well as this semester’s Executive Dean (http://www.semesteratsea.org/about-us/presidents-welcome/dr.-mccabe-s-bio.php) and Jeremy Kingston, the MV Explorer’s Master Captain (http://www.semesteratsea.org/our-ship/ship-management/officers-crew.php#Kingston).

McCabe expounded upon Semester at Sea’s mission of educating individuals for leadership, service, and success in shaping our interdependent world and talked to parents about the dedication of ISE to its core principles, focusing specifically on health and safety, which is the top priority for all programs. (See all of them here: http://www.semesteratsea.org/about-us/presidents-welcome/mission-and-core-values.php)

Afterwards, I spoke with one parent who remarked that, “A half hour ago, I was very apprehensive, as I can understand how any parent would be, but after listening to the presentation, I have been completely put at ease.” Every other family member that I talked to following the reception shared those exact feelings.

Photo by SAS Photographer John Weakley

Welcome to the Semester at Sea Voyage Blog!

2009-01-18T14:44:00.000-05:00

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!