Institute For Shipboard Education

In 2009 I took a sabbatical/​leave of absence from my job in NYC to be a staff member on Semester at Sea. It was the most moving experience of my entire life. Here is what sums it up:
We embarked in Miami, we boarded a ship
We toasted to our journey and we each took a sip
For three days we trained and learned all the ropes
To ensure student safety and to meet all their hopes
The mysteries of the world, they will all unravel
As we embark on this journey of international travel
On to the Bahamas, were students overwhelmed with emotions
They boarded there, to begin our journey crossing three oceans
My family flew down to the Bahamas to see me sail away
Don’t you fret Mom, Dad, Grandma, I’ll see you in May
My eyes welled up as we said goodbye,
Don’t worry my loves, this voyage will fly
The seas were rocky as we crossed the Atlantic
But the ship was stronger and faster than Titantic
After 8 days, we docked in Spain and we kissed the ground
Happy to be on land and see friendly faces all around
We practiced our Spanish and watched Flamenco Dancers,
In Global Studies class we learned, and our questions got answers
We stopped at Gibralter for some fuel at the dock
In a storm we waited between a hard place and a rock
Now off to Morocco, where we drank mint tea
And went to the Casbah with so much to see
We sailed south for awhile and crossed the Equator
Now we’re all Shellbacks, a few days later
Namibia’s next, with its desserts and African charm
Flamingoes, Dunes, and Germans who came there to farm
Now on to Capetown, one of my favorite ports for sure
We saw some zebras, some ostrich, and listened to a cheetah purr
Was Mauritius even a port?
We were only there for a day, that’s too short!
But Flic-​en-​Flac Beach was my own paradise,
I’d go back in a heartbeat, don’t ask me twice
Then on to India which melted my heart
With beautiful children, their village, their art
They lived in the dirt and the heat, and they rarely have rain
But I never once heard those beautiful children complain
I met Nupur and we had lunch served on a banana leaf
Mostly vegetarian, because they don’t eat beef
Onward we sailed, eastward to Thailand
We use Baht here? I still have Rand
I exchanged my money and met my best friend
Who flew there to meet me, I didn’t want it to end
We rode an elephant and explored Bangkok
We had so much fun and some culture shock
Now on to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta
Where it was so hot, I thought I might melta
The War Remnants museum was somber and sad
I wrote a blog about the war with some help from my Dad
Hong Kong comes next, a big city, that’s right
Each night there’s a show with a laser light
And now on to Shanghai, a futuristic city,
Only two days there, so short, such a pity
Next is Japan with its pink blossoms of cherry
We loved the baseball game, it was joyous and merry
We ate Kobe beef and I saw my friend Mo,
I needed more time here, I hated to go!
Nine long days as we crossed the Pacific,
A long time at sea, I can’t be more specific
Finally we saw land, Pearl Harbor, and Diamond Head
We swam in the ocean and saw pretty flowers of red
Two days was too short for our time in paradise
Back to the ship to eat more pasta and rice
In a few days the ship’s alongside the dock once more
And our eyes will tear up as we walk through the door
Guatemala’s rich land has ruins of the Mayan
After we leave we’ll each be cryin’
Oh Beautiful for Spacious skies, we sing to the land from which we hail
For it’s almost May 6 and we’ve finished our sail
We’ve learned about and we’ve seen so many nations,
And now we head back to our homeland obligations
To amber waves of grain we return, as we look over the rail
We’re almost there, to Fort Lauderdale
I’ll miss these waves that rock me to sleep
Homeward bound, I cheer, yet I weep
For Purple Mountain majesties, I will miss my new friends
But at some point every Semester at Sea voyage ends
Across the fruited plain, we belt out with joyage
This is the end of our fantastic voyage.

Semester At Sea– Through the Institute for Shipboard Education was the best experience of my life.
In the summer of 06′ I decided I needed a little uprooting. I was severely unhappy in New York because the weather was just too cold for me and I don’t think I was ready to head back to LA after only a year in college. So, after watching a video my friend’s sister made of her trip around the world with Semester At Sea (SAS), I decided it had to be done.
What can I say for it now? Well, with the exception of a few changes I would have made to my trip, I can not think of a more enriching, bubble-​breaking, eye-​opening experience. SAS is a 108 day program at sea, stopping briefly in 14 countries. Completely on your own, you’re set in the middle of places you never knew existed or thought you would visit. From Burma to Egypt, Croatia to India, I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend 108 days of my life.
I’ve kept a pretty extensive blog of my trip, although I do have to look thorugh some moving boxes to find the other, but if you’d like to read some of my anecdotes and memories, visit the travel section of my website at: