A Little Introduction

What is SAS?

Semester at Sea was established in 1963. It is an amazing study abroad program where students from 250-300 colleges from all around the world and pursuing any majors embark on a passenger cruise which is also a floating university and home for more than a thousand people every year. Each semester the ship visits up to a dozen countries and students earn transferable credits from the academic sponsor, University of Virginia. Not only around 700 students participate on the voyage, but also excellent, nationally renowned, award winning faculty members who have a strong interest in global education and have been chosen rigorously.

Why I decided to do SAS?

I love traveling, meeting new people, seeing new cultures, and experiencing new things. I always wondered how nice it would be to travel on a cruise around the world, and I also wanted to study abroad; all of a sudden I heard about this opportunity to put together my two desires, and I had never been more curious about anything before. I started looking on the SAS website for more information, pictures, videos, stories, and I was completely astonished. I asked myself, how come I did not know about this before? And, how come everyone is not doing this (if this is like a dream to me)? I started talking about it with my parents and they thought it was a good idea for me to apply, but I had actually started the application process already. Then I knew I had the support of my family and that gave me desire to keep looking into the program and how to make it happen. Moreover, I got even more excited after I looked at the courses offered and saw that all of them are very unique and are focused on the visited countries giving students a deeper understanding of the topics and the opportunity to apply what has been learned. I also read inspiring stories from SAS alumni and I want to be inspired the same way they were and be able to transform knowledge into actions and results.

Spring 2015 Voyage

Around the World

I had never been so happy about taking classes before, and I am so excited to see what our professors have to teach us and how we can apply what we learn throughout the course of the voyage. Professors, classmates, new countries, new cultures, altogether make the most enriching experience I can imagine.  So far, my main goal is to learn new things from several different perspectives and be able to figure out how I can make a difference in the world. I want to be the change I want to see in everyone else.

Out of more than 30 awesome courses, I am going to take:

Environmental Policy:

Global Environmental Challenges

Environmental Science:

Geohazards and Natural Disasters. Field Lab: Hilo, Hawaii

Water for the World. Field Lab: Morocco

Politics and International Relations:

Global Environmental Politics. Field Lab: Hong Kong

12 countries, 15 cities, 112 days.

Embark: San Diego, CA, United States 1

Hilo, Hawaii, United States

Yokohama, Japan

Kobe, Japan

Shanghai, China

Hong Kong, China

Ho Chi Minh City, Việt Nam

Singapore, Singapore

Rangoon, Burma

Cochin, India

Port Louis, Mauritius

Cape Town, South Africa

Walvis Bay, Namibia

Casablanca, Morocco

Debark: Southampton (London), England

For more details on my voyage you can visit http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2015/