SAS Funfact1: The students and faculty on this voyage represent 280 universities.
SAS Funfact2: 74% of the students on the voyage are female…theres A LOT of estrogen here!
This morning, we had a meeting with the other “lifelong learners” on the voyage. The Teachers at Sea program participants are considered part of this particular group…I guess for lack of belonging to any other group. The ‘lifelong learners’ are mainly retired couples who want to see the world but do so in an academic environment. They are actually a wonderful part of the shipboard community…its just a bit strange to be considered part of their “group”. A lot of them have had amazing life experiences that they are eager to share with us…one of the ladies, Gladys, is 82 years old and this is her 23rd time sailing with Semester at Sea! Could you imagine?!?!
Anyway, I realized that one of the couples (who happen to be celebrating their 48th anniversary today) was on the same voyage I was on in Spring ’04! It was so wonderful to see two familiar faces J
After my meeting, I got to get off the ship to spend my last few hours in the Bahamas with Dustin. We finally got to go to this restaurant, Ichiban, that we’ve been trying to go to for days…and lunch was delicious, but I was really sad L The music in the restaurant didn’t help much, either…sappy love songs… I am so glad I was able to spend a wonderful week in the Bahamas with Dustin before leaving (THANKS MOM!!!) And thank you Dustin for sneaking a t-shirt that smells like your cologne in my suitcase. That was the best surprise ever!
Melissa (my roommate), Gary (the other Teacher at Sea), and I then got to eat lunch with our Teachers at Sea professor, Dr. Ken Cushner. I AM SO EXCITED TO WORK WITH HIM! He’s done everything I would love to accomplish in my career. He’s very easy to talk to and he is all about shaping our coursework to what we are interested in. Which is awesome because (1)I can work my SAS courses into my Drexel master’s thesis and (2) there are 25 children on board the ship who need someone to help them make sense of this whole experience. The children range from 4-17 and they are mostly children of professors and staff members. Melissa and I are thinking of helping put their program together!
Oh yea…and I’ll be learning a new language during the voyage…Esperanto. Look it up…its pretty interesting. J
Take note so you can tell me all about the kid programs for future reference :) Have a great journey. I can't wait to read your about experience.
ReplyDeleteSounds awesome! I didn't know that people "not in school" could be a part of the program. That's pretty cool! It sounds interesting and exciting already!
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