The Beginning
My supercalifragilisticexpialidocious journey of Semester at Sea started at many levels. The first was when Chandni Aggarwal, now the founder of a travel startup called Transforming Travels, told me about it during one of my travels. Second was when I told my parents about Semester at Sea, followed by the endless convincing. The next was bunking of college to complete Admission and Scholarship applications before the deadline. And then the final decision of actually doing it.
I was in the final year of my college then. So obviously my parents wanted me to sit for the Campus placements. Hence a big ‘NO’ to Semester at Sea. They were seemingly convinced that getting the full scholarship for the program is like herding cats for me. So when I asked them ‘Can I go if I get full scholarship’, they agreed. As it turned out that out of the 7 scholarships that I applied for, I only got 4 of them. I was disheartened.
But as a sage once told me ‘Try and try, one day you can fly.’ So I kept trying. Until at last things worked out for me.
Raising Funds and Financial Aid
I was about to finish college. And going to SAS the coming fall became so important to me that everything else seemed insipid. Also because this was the last opportunity for me to join the voyage as a student and that too, a postgrad student.
Semester at Sea voyage as I mentioned earlier is a semester exchange program, but one of it’s core belief is that learning doesn’t stop with college studies. Hence the Lifelong Learner LLL program. Lifelong learners can be of any age group, any ethnicity, caste or creed, who voyage aboard World Odyssey with 600 students from all over the world. The only downside being, there are no scholarships for LLLs. They have to pay the entire voyage fee. Such large a amount that more than half the people on this planet may never be able to save in their entire lifetime. And that didn’t seem like a very feasible option for me.
The voyage that I went on, FALL’17, took me from Bremerhaven in Germany via Spain, Ghana, South Africa, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, China, Japan, Hawaii and placed me in San Diego, California. From where I took the flight back to India. Not to forget, we had to skip Mauritius on the way because of the rough seas. And that at the moment felt like the worst thing that could happen to us; apart from getting stuck in a sea storm.
So, now you’re wondering why my life is more happening than yours;/
Have a look at my Fall17 adventures here and join me in my journey!
So if you’re planning to join this once in a lifetime voyage of discovery, I suggest you hurry before your college gets over; as this may just be your calling. Or else BE RICH!
JOIN THE VOYAGE!
You can join the voyage as one of the following:
- A Semester Exchange student, (Talk to your college about the transfer of grades. SAS offers a wide range of Classes to choose from while on the ship. These Class subjects are based on the Colorado State academic syllabus),
- A Gap year student,
- A postgraduate diploma student, (If you’re in the final year of your college and still want to do it as an extra semester, but within 6 months of your college getting over)
- Lifelong learner,
- Interport lecturer, or student,
- Faculties,
- Ship staff and crew
To learn more about Semester at Sea, go to its website.