Semester at Sea Reflection

I can easily say that Semester at Sea has been the best experience of my life. We only had 22 class days out of our 66 day voyage. But in the end, Semester at Sea is not about the learning done in the classroom. Getting to explore all the different countries that we have visited has been the greatest education of all. The world truly was our campus.

The people I have met on this voyage I know will be life long friends. Even though I have only known them for two months, we all feel like we have been friends for much longer. On the ship when you are not in class or doing homework, the only way to pass the time is to socialize with people. We don’t have access to Facebook on board or TV in our cabins so the nature of the program itself forces you to meet and interact with people, bringing you so much closer. The result is that every night we ended up having two hour long dinners. It only took us about 15 minutes to eat, but then we would just stay in the dining hall talking all night. I now have more friends, spread across the country at so many different colleges than I could have ever imagined. The ship creates an atmosphere of being home. When we are at port, backpacking around the country for several days, there is nothing like returning to the comfort of the ship and your own cabin bed (after a thorough pat down by security at first to make sure you aren’t sneaking anything on!). My professors are some of the most enthusiastic and passionate teachers I have ever had. I am currently trying to convince them to transfer to Vanderbilt and teach there instead! I will forever be a Semester at Sea advocate. This summer has truly been life changing.

We arrive to Boston tomorrow and I fly straight back to Nashville and straight back to reality as school starts back up once again. It is definitely going to take me a few days to adjust to life off of the ship. I won’t be wobbling around anymore due to rough seas but I will most likely still use lots of hand gestures as if the person I’m talking to doesn’t understand English. It is for sure bitter sweet to leave and tomorrow’s goodbyes are going to be very difficult.

I would like to thank everyone who has read this blog over the past two months and who has kept in touch with me. And most importantly, thank you Mom and Dad for providing me with this experience and giving me the opportunity to see the world.

Love,

Madison