Last Saturday, some members of the Abroad101 team got the distinct pleasure of spending an evening on the Semester At Sea (SAS) Ship! We were wined and dined as we heard tales of the high seas and just how much the semester means to the students who get the opportunity to experience it. Most of us left the ship wishing we could stay and become part of the upcoming semester’s adventures.

SAS’s Director of Enrollment was our guide for the night. “Students choose SAS because of all the amazing cities they’ll get to experience during the semester. That is certainly an amazing aspect, but usually they are surprised to find out just how close of a community they become a part of on the ship. Really strong relationships are forged and it’s hard to say goodbye at the end.”

We started out the evening by boarding the ship, checking in and receiving our very own SAS ID’s! These ID’s had our picture on them and were essential for everything we wanted to do while on the ship, including getting into our cabins. We were hoping we’d get to keep the ID’s as mementos, but alas they collected them as we left. Oh, well…the memories are permanently implanted for us!

After settling into our cabins, we headed to one of the ship’s dining areas and enjoyed a traditional dinner, just like the students enjoy. We never say no to an all you can eat buffet!

Once the sun set, the ship was ours! We had a formal tour and then spent the night playing basketball, ping pong and getting to know some of the ship’s employees. We put on our dancing shoes as they played music for us in the faculty lounge!

 

We ended the night by playing basketball under the stars, and headed to bed. The only part of the whole experience that wasn’t as stellar as we’d hoped was that we stayed docked the whole time! It was such a fun experience, yet we can’t even imagine how amazing it’d be if we were looking out at the open ocean! Hearing stories of all the different ports, all over the world really made us jealous.

Our advice: If you ever have the opportunity to experience this amazing semester, DO IT! We can tell you will not regret it!

Want to read reviews from students who have been on the program? Click HERE!