Recently, I've realized that most of my posts on here have either been stories about past travel experiences or letting you all know a little about my travel plans for this summer. What I seem to have forgotten to blog about is what I'm actually going to be doing this summer and some information about the program I'll be working for. Luckily, two of my awesome co-workers for the summer just blogged about this, reminding me that I needed to do the same so that you all know what I'll be doing. Most people don't believe I've actually going to be working this summer, but I swear I really will be!
Semester at Sea was founded in 1963 and serves as a unique way for students to see the world and study abroad. The mission of Semester at Sea is "to educate students with the global understanding necessary to address the challenges of our interdependent world. With the world as our classroom, our unique shipboard program integrates multiple-country study, interdisciplinary coursework, and hands-on field experiences for meaningful engagement in the global community." Each semester, SAS takes students on different voyages. The fall and spring voyages typically last 100 days and go to multiple continents whereas my voyage is just 66 days and focuses on the Mediterranean and North Africa. Here is the link to find out more about Semester at Sea if you are interested: Semester at Sea
The really neat thing about Semester at Sea compared with other study abroad programs is that instead of focusing on studying in one country, the students get to visit multiple countries and ports over the course of the voyage providing them with a larger look at the world. The program also works to bring in pre-port lecturers and students from each of the countries we will be visiting to provide students, faculty, and staff with a "real life" connection and experience prior to arriving in the port to help us better understand the culture that we are about to step into. The other neat thing about this program is the community. There will be over 600 of us, faculty, staff, students and families all living and learning together on the ship. Technology is much less accessible than what we are used to which means we will have to actually have in person conversations with the people in our community which will hopefully lead to more genuine relationships than what students experience in our high paced, instant communication, and ever changing technological world.
While on the ship, students take three to four classes. They have classes every day that we are at sea and each class also has a field lab experience in at least one port where they will get to have a hands on experience related to their course with their professor. The professors for the voyage are from schools all over the country and have done impressive work and research in their respective fields. I'll hopefully get the chance to sit in on a couple classes to help me understand the material and pace that students are learning.
Okay, so this sounds great, but what in the world will you be doing Lynsey? I am going to be one of the Resident Directors on the voyage. I'll be working with the students who are living in the Baltic Sea (a specific number of rooms on Deck 3 of the ship). With my students I will be more in a Resident Assistant role, having floor meetings and planning sea socials for them along with handling any conflicts that may occur (such as roommate issues). My other responsibilities will be working with the RD team to create large scale programming and events for the students to participate in. One of the largest events each voyage has is the Sea Olympics where each of the seas compete in several different games/activities to see who will get to disembark first at the end of the voyage. We also lead Explorer Seminars which are held most nights on the ship and help teach students something related to our co-cirricular areas. I won't lie, I'm a little nervous about these, but I'm hoping to get some planning done before I get to the ship to make these presentations go smoothly. I will also be serving on several different duty rotations (sea duty, port duty, gangway duty, beverage service duty) to make sure that the students are behaving and safe :) I really hope to have a positive impact on the students and help enhance their experience.
The really neat thing about Semester at Sea compared with other study abroad programs is that instead of focusing on studying in one country, the students get to visit multiple countries and ports over the course of the voyage providing them with a larger look at the world. The program also works to bring in pre-port lecturers and students from each of the countries we will be visiting to provide students, faculty, and staff with a "real life" connection and experience prior to arriving in the port to help us better understand the culture that we are about to step into. The other neat thing about this program is the community. There will be over 600 of us, faculty, staff, students and families all living and learning together on the ship. Technology is much less accessible than what we are used to which means we will have to actually have in person conversations with the people in our community which will hopefully lead to more genuine relationships than what students experience in our high paced, instant communication, and ever changing technological world.
While on the ship, students take three to four classes. They have classes every day that we are at sea and each class also has a field lab experience in at least one port where they will get to have a hands on experience related to their course with their professor. The professors for the voyage are from schools all over the country and have done impressive work and research in their respective fields. I'll hopefully get the chance to sit in on a couple classes to help me understand the material and pace that students are learning.
Okay, so this sounds great, but what in the world will you be doing Lynsey? I am going to be one of the Resident Directors on the voyage. I'll be working with the students who are living in the Baltic Sea (a specific number of rooms on Deck 3 of the ship). With my students I will be more in a Resident Assistant role, having floor meetings and planning sea socials for them along with handling any conflicts that may occur (such as roommate issues). My other responsibilities will be working with the RD team to create large scale programming and events for the students to participate in. One of the largest events each voyage has is the Sea Olympics where each of the seas compete in several different games/activities to see who will get to disembark first at the end of the voyage. We also lead Explorer Seminars which are held most nights on the ship and help teach students something related to our co-cirricular areas. I won't lie, I'm a little nervous about these, but I'm hoping to get some planning done before I get to the ship to make these presentations go smoothly. I will also be serving on several different duty rotations (sea duty, port duty, gangway duty, beverage service duty) to make sure that the students are behaving and safe :) I really hope to have a positive impact on the students and help enhance their experience.
The M.V. Explorer...my home for the summer
I have exactly two weeks until I leave and head over to London for a few days before orientation. I'm starting to panic a little, but I know that everything is going to come together by the time I head to the airport on the 11th. Hopefully now that you know I won't just be running around Europe for the summer you will be even more excited to follow along with my journey :) And if you want to see how awesome the students are that I will be working with (and more of the inside of my future home) you should check out this awesome video a past voyage put together!
SO want to come with you!!!!
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