As the end of our 3rd Semester at Sea (SAS) voyage nears, we keep reflecting on the question of why we keep returning to this program. There are so many ways to see the world – so why SAS?
The main reason we chose SAS is because of the tight community – on this voyage that consists of 549 university students, 131 faculty, staff, life long learners and their families (28 younger than 17), and the 175 crew members who are familiar faces on each of our voyages. We spend over half of our 102 days on the ship, which functions similarly to a small University campus. We eat, play, learn, exercise and bond with each other throughout the entire day. We all come from different life stages and backgrounds, but share the common characteristic of choosing to take ourselves outside our comfort zone in order to learn more about the world and about ourselves.
Another reason why SAS is so special is that we attend college courses and evening seminars that prepare us for countries we visit and provide knowledge about the world around us. This on-ship and in-port learning is interwoven in a rhythm of preparing for a country, experiencing a country and then reflecting on our experiences. As the countries layer on top of each other, we have more knowledge to compare and contrast what we are learning and we see things through multiple lenses. We find experiential learning more impactful because we not only read something in a book or hear about it in a lecture, we go out and see it, touch it, taste it, and hear it – making all we learn even more relevant and real. As a professor on our 2012 voyage said, “The more you know, the more you learn.” 
SAS is also our choice because we visit some countries that would not be on a typical travel itinerary. We traveled to countries in Asia and Africa where we saw few tourists and where we rarely saw people who looked and spoke like we did. Throughout out travels, we find that touristy locations are enjoyable, but keep us more in our isolated bubble and the greatest learning is when we are outside our comfort zone. The places we learned the most from on this voyage were a rural village in Ghana, a Berber village in Morocco and the floating houses of Inle Lake in Myanmar. We still remember clearly our previous stays in 2012/2013 in a township in Cape Town, South Africa; in hammocks in the Amazon outside of Manaus; in mud huts on Lake Titicaca in Peru; and in tents in the desert of Jordan.
Lastly, SAS exposes our kids to a college environment. Over our three family voyages, the boys have lived on a college campus, integrating with students and faculty, for almost a whole year. They have participated and witnessed college classes, studying and tests. This voyage, Luke did the course reading, presentations and exams for a history course called West and the World and also attended Comparative Politics. The talent shows, Sea Olympics, and other special events exposed the boys to things outside of classroom that hopefully will encourage them to try new things.
Some people think we have been “on vacation” over these past months. Although we have had the luxury of traveling the world, it has not been a vacation. We have submersed ourselves in learning not only on the ship, but also in the countries. There is plenty to do and it’s never-ending; most of our time is spent preparing for classes, teaching our own kids, and planning our travel in a country. (or actually traveling there!) When we are not doing this, we are mentoring the college students, leading “Deep Dive” discussion groups modeled after the Aspen Institute, speaking in classes or catching up on emails and current affairs from back home. 
Of course, it isn’t all hard work! There are also a lot of fun events, like periodic fancy dinners (instead of college dorm food), the Sea Olympics, Neptune Day, the end of semester Ball, evenings in the faculty lounge and spectacular sunsets almost every day at sea. But the real attraction to Semester at Sea is the learning and friendships we make along the way.
We know we are fortunate that we are able to make world learning a priority. SAS provides us with a chance to step outside of our normal routine and to have a floating bedroom and the world as our classroom. How often in life do we get to fully submerse ourselves in non-work-related learning – especially as adults? Life is short. Set sail!
