Late Night Thoughts from Four Years after Semester at Sea

I should be writing my methods material for the study that I am planning on launching this fall for my master’s thesis en pursuit towards my PhD in social psychology. I should probably study for the two finals I have next week. And yet, I have this nagging bit of nostalgia to that summer that I studied abroad with Semester at Sea. As I wear my Summer 2010 SAS voyage shirt (the white one with the flags of all of the countries that we visited while spending 68 days exploring the world). 

FYI. This post is inspired by Anna G., a friend who recently updated her blog to talk about her and her boyfriend’s journey after SAS and where they are at now. If you know her, find her blog and see what she wrote. It is a great read. 

Anyways, a point that I do not think Semester at Sea uses enough to recruit new participants is this: the initial lure of Semester at Sea is the chance to have a comparative study abroad experience. In the relatively short span of 2-3 months, SAS gives you the chance to observe up to 10 different perspectives on how to live and how places are more similar than expected. You can learn from the best professors about some concept relevant to your career or to better your knowledge, and you leave SAS with the idea that the world is smaller than you can ever imagine.

That was what I was sold on when I watched the 18 minute video promoting Semester at Sea in the fall of 2009. That was got me to submit my deposit, followed my tuition, and the travel and life arrangement that come with going off the grid for 70 days. I left for Halifax on June 13^th, 2010 expecting to see the world. 

I came back on August 22^nd, 2010 realizing that I got much more than that. I wish Semester at Sea would have promoted this when I signed up. It would have made the decision to go that much easier, and the roadmap to life after SAS that much more understandable. So, for the benefit of anyone who finds this post, here is what I learned from that summer I decided to go on a boat for a few months.

1.      Life is always a choice between “roots” and “wings.” However, no one ever says just how fast people who choose “wings” tend to form roots. Being in an environment where you are forced to create bonds to survive and thrive has the byproduct of making long-lasting relationships for when you return home. It gets glossed over, but some of the best friends that I made in life came from being in situations that were “adapt or go home” situations. Semester at Sea started that.

2.      Technology is a tool. Not a crutch. We can survive without it. Knowing this changes your approach to how you live in the digital age moving forward. This isn’t to say that we should give up Facebook or Google, or that the information age is bad. But life is worth living through your eyes looking outward. Life should not consist of the reflection of a computer or cell phone screen.

3.      Your environment creates you. Self-determination only goes as far as the context around you lets it. Building communities that allow you to function and grow should be the goal of life, and learning the tools how to do can change the life of you and everyone around you (who lets it).

4.      Crazy dreams seem less crazy. Once you are given a chance to live out a dream, newer dreams seem less far-fetched.

5.      Learning that there are people who are similar to you in that they want to change the world, yet different in how they want to do so, will forever change who you are, what you want to do, and the mark you will leave in your life. It will make you a better person in ways you have to live to believe. No one gets it except for those who have gone through it themselves.

6.      People are weirder and crazier than what you think everyone was like in high school. It turns out that everyone actually is as weird as you are. However, the difference comes from how it is handled and expressed.

7.      You find out real fast what matters and what does not. You end up keeping that perspective forever.

8.      It is pragmatic to be kind. It is pragmatic to help out your friend. It is pragmatic to support someone with the knowledge that they will help you out someday soon. Pragmatism tends to be related to kindness and honesty. You learn that first hand when you need someone to be pragmatic towards you.

9.      Tell your love ones that you love them as often as you can. Nothing lasts forever, and nothing is guaranteed.
P.S. Thanks, mom and dad!

10.  People who were the most important entities in your life today can be out of your life within three months. It is fast and unexpected, and your contact is reduced to an automated “happy birthday” message on Facebook or an obituary notice. It is weird, but you find this balance where you aim to make the world a better place tomorrow while living for today. It is scary and won’t make sense many times. But every now and then, there will be these moments of deafening clarity where life makes sense. Those are the moments worth living for. Those are the moments that come from living. This is what I learned from Semester at Sea.

11.  Life is not worth living in a vacuum. Neither is love. Or friendship. Or business.

12.  Semester at Sea gives you a chance to see the world for what it and the potential for what it could be. That changes how you view others. That changes who you are yourself.

13.  Finally, four years ago, 821 individuals left with the goal of changing the world. Today, many of us are working to do so (via many different paths). Semester at Sea facilitated this. 

This went longer than I planned, but I feel it is worth writing. If you are thinking of following your dream, do your best to make it happen. If you are thinking of doing Semester at Sea, do it. Just do it. And if you find yourself four years later wondering where the time went, take a moment to reflect and give thanks. 

Time to head back to work.