First, a bit about Semester at Sea, the reason I have this blog in the first place.
Founded in 1963, Semester at Sea (referred to as SAS from now on) is probably one of the most unique study abroad programs there is. Aboard the MV Explorer, approximately 700 students (and a couple hundred faculty and crew, as well) travel literally around the world during the Spring and Fall voyages. The Summer 2011 voyage, which I'll be a part of in a few short weeks, takes one of a few possible routes featuring different areas of the world. My journey will hit 8 different ports around the Mediterranean. A listing of the itinerary can be found on the right-hand sidebar of this page.
Classes take place during every day that we aren't at port, totaling up to 27 class days. I'll be taking three classes for a total of 9 credit hours: Global Studies (mandatory for everybody), Anthropology of Tourism, and Psychology of Learning and Memory. Textbooks have been slowly rolling in via Amazon, and all the course readings seem interesting so I'm actually pretty excited for class (to the extent that one can become excited about taking a class...)
Don't let the picture fool you- this aint Royal Caribbean or Carnival. It's a "floating campus", not a cruise ship. As such, internet is very limited: email and research/scholarly sites only (I'm crossing my fingers that they deem Wikipedia scholarly). Once we set sail I'll be posting to this blog via a yet-to-be-assigned email address, which I will post on the sidebar once I get it. I plan to update pretty frequently (no pictures, sadly, unless I'm in port with wifi) so check back often!
Now back to packing...
