For the first time since Spring 2004, Semester at Sea will return to the Republic of Cuba starting with the Fall 2013 voyage. Past field experiences in Cuba were some of the most powerful in the history of Semester at Sea for students, lifelong learners, faculty, and staff given the cultural richness and significant political history of the island nation.

Due to restrictions on U.S. educational travel policies to Cuba imposed in 2004, Semester at Sea has not been able to return, although gaining approval to go back has remained a top priority for the Institute.

After working closely with the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) at the U.S. Treasury Department for several years to obtain approval, Semester at Sea is now officially licensed for educational travel to Cuba. The exciting port of Havana has been added to the Fall 2013 itinerary, and plans with our Cuban hosts are underway for logistical arrangements, student exchanges, the creation of dynamic academic field labs and related educational excursions.

Fall 2013 Itinerary*

August 24 – December 16, 2013

• Embark: Southampton (London), England
• St. Petersburg, Russia
• Hamburg, Germany
• Antwerp, Belgium
• La Havre, France
• Dublin, Ireland
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Cadiz, Spain
• Casablanca, Morocco
• Takoradi, Ghana
• Tema (Accra), Ghana
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Salvador, Brazil
• Havana, Cuba
• Debark: Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

*Subject to final confirmation.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Voyage start and end dates will remain the same
August 24 – December 16, 2013

There are no visa requirements for U.S. students to enter Cuba prior to arrival
You do not need to take any steps regarding visas or other travel documentation.

Salvador, Brazil has been substituted for Manaus, Brazil
Students will have the opportunity to visit the Amazon region via overland trips from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Stay tuned for exciting field opportunities to be released in coming weeks!
Plans with our Cuban hosts are underway for logistical arrangements, student exchanges, and the creation of dynamic academic field labs and related educational excursions.

Kathy Pao (left), Fall 2012 alumna, stands in front of the Clinton Global Initiative University that took place in April, 2013 at Washington University in St. Louis.

Before I embarked on Semester at Sea I would stare at this poster on my wall; to anyone else it was simply a canoe beached on a tropical island, but to me, the poster represented everything I had yet to see beyond the confines of my college campus. Semester at Sea was my chance to explore new horizons. My opportunity to break the rut I was experiencing at my home campus; my opportunity to travel, experience, and learn things you just couldn’t get from a book or classroom. I had wanderlust and Semester at Sea was my solution.

After travelling to a dozen countries on four continents, the world changed from a vague abstraction to a very real place. I got lost in places where I couldn’t speak the language, I met friendly and not-so-friendly people, and I had expectations fulfilled and disappointed; in other words, I experienced life. If there’s any sort of universal truth I can conclude, it’s that people all around the world have the same aspirations in life. Though the details may be different for each person, the same nature of people exists everywhere. We are connected on this earth through our humanity, through our ubuntu; “I am because other people are.”

The greatest aspects of Semester at Sea were being exposed to new walks of life and meeting new people.  Hearing people talk about their stories, what they’re doing, and what they want in the future, taught me so much more than any reading assignment ever could. Reminiscent of my experience on Semester at Sea, the Clinton Global Initiative University brought together a diverse array of people united in pursuit of a common goal. On Semester at Sea, the goal was to see the world and find our place in it; at CGI-U, it was to commit to making a positive change by giving back to the world that has given us so much.

It was an honor to sit in the same room with the esteemed collection of panelists. Each one of them has made a tangible impact on a global issue. Their stories were incredible because they taught innovation, self-confidence, but most of all perseverance. They were living proof that though one person can make an impact, we should never have to face these problems alone.  Being at the University of Washington in St. Louis for CGI-U, showed me that none of us are alone in our pursuit of change. Walking into the field house with 1000 of my fellow students, I felt exceptional but simultaneously small, both privileged and humbled. The same feeling I got when I looked out on the horizon and all I saw was ocean.

Like many Semester at Sea alums, Cassie Childers came off her voyage in 2003 wanting to ignite change—but she wasn’t really sure how to go about it or in what capacity she would do so. She relocated to Thailand after graduating college later that year and taught English for a stint before returning to the United States and using her degree to teach elementary school, then high school history.

But that wasn’t enough for the mover and shaker. Childers says she always felt a connection to high school girls and wanted to work with them as more of a mentor and counselor. Little did she know that, years later, she would do just that—on a global scale. And it was, India, an unlikely candidate given Childers’ own preconceived notions, that would set the ball in motion. “When I was on Semester at Sea, the only port I dreaded was India,” Childers admits. “I had it in my mind that I would absolutely hate it. I planned to eat McDonald’s for every meal—and the exact opposite happened. I loved it, it changed my life, and I promised myself I would go back.”

And she did return, on many occasions. While living in Asia, Childers spent time in Dharamsala—home to the Dalai Lama and a large community of Tibetan refugees—to study Buddhist culture. In 2010, during her summer break, she went back to Dharamsala once more. The World Cup was going on, and it struck Childers, a soccer coach and former player, as odd that she was the only woman paying attention to this international event.

During a Tibetan Sports Association photography exhibit she visited, she was also surprised that not only were there no women featured in the photographs, but none others present at the exhibit, period. And this wasn’t just soccer—but all sports when it came to Tibetan women.

“I wasn’t looking for any sort of change at that time. I was perfectly happy to go back to my job,” Childers recalls, “but I was standing in this exhibition and I looked around the room and there wasn’t a single female. In about two minutes—literally—I put together this whole idea about how I was going to change Tibetan society and support Tibet politically by introducing soccer to its female population. It was like an epiphany. And there was no way I could not do it.”

Childers left her name and email address behind with a note that read: “I think Tibetan women need to play soccer. If you want help, contact me.” Then she went home, returned to her job that fall and forgot about it. A few months later, she received an email from the Tibetan Sports Association that said: “If you’re serious, we want your help.”

She was. She spent a year back in the United States planning her exit strategy while working tirelessly to get her new non-profit organization, Tibet Women’s Soccer, up and running and all the moving parts in place before relocating to Dharamsala—this time, for good—in 2011. And ever since, Childers has rarely stopped to rest. She has now engaged 14 teams and nearly 300 girls in the process. Each team is required to practice two days a week, but Childers—who coaches the select team—pointed out that every team hits the turf a minimum of six days a week, some even seven. “They just love it,” she says in awe.

One hundred percent of the donations made to TWS go to the program. Childers is the registered non-profit’s only “employee” and even she just lives off of interest accrued from her own savings and plans to continue doing so as long as feasible. Funding the NGO has been a particularly tricky beast given the political implications with China. TWS has corporate donors such as Lush Cosmetics and The B.I.T. Group, but Childers is quick to tell every potential funding agency that they should only get involved if they don’t have ties with China (or don’t plan to in the future). Therefore, much of the financial backing comes from individual donations via the TWS website. Childers herself is on China’s black list after all the promotion she’s done to free Tibet, meaning she likely will never step foot inside the Communist nation or Tibet—at least until it is a sovereign nation.

While some might say Childers has already reached her goal—creating a sustainable league with 14 teams and nearly 300 participants—the self-motivator has even bigger ones in mind: first, for every Tibetan girl in exile to have the opportunity to play soccer recreationally and, ultimately, to form the first women’s national team for Tibet—and to coach it herself. With talks with International Olympic Committee and FIFA (the international governing body for soccer) underway, Childers have been making baby steps toward that goal, though she admits it’s going to take a lot of time.

She points out that there are 5.5 million Tibetans living in Tibet and just 150,000 Tibetans living in exile, so she’s only able to work with a small fraction of the population she’s targeting. “Those living in Tibet can’t even wave their flag. They can’t even own their flag. And so it really means something when we field a team that waves the Tibetan flag. They’re representing all those others who can’t. “

And aside from giving Tibetan women a chance, Childers has found that she’s achieved that counselor role she once wanted so badly, as many of the local Indian women come to her for guidance with stories of domestic violence and other abuse. Childers has become an icon in the community of Dharamsala, a voice of hope and a symbol to all the women that they deserve more.

And that can only serve to benefit Tibet in the end. Because the day TWS has achieved all of its dreams is the day Childers says she’ll finally stop. “And it might take us years, but we will get there. I’m in it for the long haul, and I’m not going to give up.”

The problem was not small. As we arrived at Gales Point, Belize, a small village of less than 500 people, we knew that we had a task on our hands: to return clean water to Gales Point Primary School. Over the past year, the water quality had been so poor that the Belizean government had been forced to close the school on several occasions. Not only were the school children drinking contaminated water, they were also being deprived of an education. It was a real problem, but a preventable one and through Semester at Sea, we were given a chance to remedy the situation.

I took a class titled “Real Communities, Real Problems, Real Solutions” during the Short-term 2012 voyage. Taught by Dr. Bernard Strenecky, this class utilized The 100 Dollar Solution model to tackle this issue. First introduced to Semester at Sea in Fall 2007, The 100 Dollar Solution aims “to teach students how to turn $100 into a world of change by meeting community-determined needs.” Over the course of the trip to Belize fellow students Joe Torp, James Kelly, and myself collaborated with experts in the field to come up with an affordable, sustainable solution.

In the end, with the help of AJ Strenecky and the Rotary Club, we were able to install a water filtration system into the main water pipeline in the school. This particular device utilizes ultraviolet light to kill microbes within the water without contaminating it. Thankfully, our solution worked: The Belizean government confirmed in November that all traces of E Coli were eradicated from the school’s water. Now, the kids are back in school, staying healthy and getting their education. I learned valuable skills in this class, and was able to aid a community in need. I cannot ask for more.

Listen to Semester at Sea: The Early Years, an audio podcast from the 2013 Reunion Voyage that features Lloyd Lewan (Spring 1969) as he recounts his experiences during the formation of Semester at Sea. You may be surprised by some of the early obstacles and successes included in his presentation.

Semester at Sea was recently nominated for two awards celebrating innovations in international education from the study abroad resource and review website GoAbroad.com. This annual showcase is a way to recognize the best organizations in the industry and acknowledge creative ideas in programming with the goal of pushing international education forward. Winners will be announced at the GoAbroad Reception during the NAFSA Annual Conference & Expo in St. Louis, on Thursday, May 30.

Innovative New Program – Study Abroad Award: Semester at Sea – Unreasonable at Sea Program

Semester at Sea, in partnership with the Unreasonable Institute, has launched the “Unreasonable at Sea” project on the Spring 2013 voyage. Unreasonable at Sea is an international accelerator for tech entrepreneurs that will enable Semester at Sea students to study entrepreneurship while tackling the world’s most pressing issues with those who are actually doing the work. Participants will have the opportunity to sail, work, and learn from some of the world’s most renowned innovators and mentors.

Learn more about the program here:
http://www.semesteratsea.org/discover-sas/signature-programs/unreasonable-at-sea/

Read more about the finalists here:
http://www.goabroad.com/blog/2013/05/13/2013-goabroad-innovation-awards-innovative-new-program-study-abroad-finalists/

Innovative Technology Award: Semester at Sea – Share Microsite

To help empower participants to share their voyage experience, Semester at Sea created the “Share Your Voyage” microsite.  This audience specific website serves as a step-by-step guide for sharing Semester at Sea with others, and includes tools and features that make the sharing process easy.

Check out the microsite here:
http://share.semesteratsea.org/

Learn more about all of the 2013 GoAbroad finalists here:
http://www.goabroad.com/awards/innovation-awards-2013/

Semester at Sea Chief of Staff Luke Jones tells the audience at Unreasonable Barcelona that we need more people to “Get out into the world.”  Luke speaks on the changing landscape of higher education and how students are seeking ways to be more engaged and involved with work that focuses on social change.  To meet this growing desire, Semester at Sea partnered with the Unreasonable Institute on the Spring 2013 voyage, giving students exposure to global issues on a very personal level. By offering a supportive environment, world class mentors and professors, and access to companies who are working on real solutions, the Unreasonable at Sea program offered a unique experiential learning model. By allowing students to “unplug” from daily distractions and be a part of scaling solutions in real time, Semester at Sea pushes the boundaries of the traditional education model and gives students the tools they need to get out into the world and make change.

I didn’t want to step off the gangway. I didn’t want to admit that our 106 days at sea were over. Anyone who has ever sailed on Semester at Sea before knows that feeling. It’s an aching in your heart as you say goodbye to the ship that was your home and the friends who have become like family to you. It’s not surprising that we were all experiencing strong feelings of disbelief and sadness as we disembarked on Thursday, because the Spring 2013 Voyage had been truly exceptional.

As with all Semester at Sea voyages, ours was unique in its own right. We were the first voyage to ever sail with a group of world-changing entrepreneurs and mentors, thanks to the Unreasonable at Sea program. We had the privilege of sailing with Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Desmond Tutu, as he joined us for eleven weeks, imparting his profound wisdom on our entire community. We also had the wonderful fortune to have Myanmar added back onto the Semester at Sea itinerary as the country begins to open up again. We crossed the prime meridian and the equator at 0°,0°, giving us all the rare nautical distinction of “Emerald Shellbacks.” And we soaked up endless amounts of knowledge, both from the academics onboard and our adventures on land.

However, it was often the more subtle experiences during the voyage that defined it the most. It was the feeling of togetherness that radiated when we gathered on the back deck to each cast a rose into the ocean in memory of Professor Wade Lancaster (who died of natural causes while in Shanghai) as the ship sailed in a figure-eight pattern… that was the night we realized what a close family we had already become. It was enjoying breakfast in the Garden Lounge while overhearing Desmond Tutu’s infectious laugh at a nearby table, or hearing him talk about apartheid during a class discussion. It was the moments of insight that happened when the Unreasonable at Sea mentors shared their wisdom with us during the nightly “Fireside Chats.” And it was the countless times we found ourselves awestruck by the kindness and generosity of the local people we met during our travels who welcomed us so warmly into their lives.

It was the serendipitous encounters, the awe inspiring landscapes, the new languages, and the moments of connection with total strangers. It was the late night chats, the morning workouts, the classroom discussions, and the group projects. Field labs, new foods, hilarious antics, and opportunities to learn patience, humility, and compassion. These are just some of the many things that defined our voyage.

As I hauled my bags out of the port terminal in Barcelona, I was greeted by a large group of eager parents who were waiting to welcome their children back from this incredible adventure. One of the moms asked me as I passed by, “So how was it?” All I could do was shake my head and confess to the parents nearby, “None of your children will ever be able to fully explain what this experience has been like.” It’s unfortunate, but true. You can never grasp what Semester at Sea is really about until you’ve sailed. The intensity of the community that forms is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, the encounters in each port make permanent impressions on us all, and watching your fellow voyagers grow and change as they discover both themselves and the world around them is simply magical.

We were part of something special these past 106 days. And, while we’re all sad to leave the MV Explorer behind, there’s also an overwhelming sense of gratitude for all that we experienced, and for the people who helped make it possible. We’re grateful for Tom Jelke, Sharon Hostler and the rest of the Spring 2013 administrative team who each put their heart and soul into making this voyage such a success. We’re grateful for the faculty, staff, and life long learners who inspired us in endless ways. For the Unreasonable at Sea team for giving us a new perspective on how to change the world. And, of course, for the incredible crew of the MV Explorer for taking such good care of us everyday and for getting us safely from port to port.

As hard as it was to finally step off the gangway here in Barcelona (after all possible stowaway options had been fully considered!), I recognize that my Semester at Sea experience doesn’t finish here. So many of the people I met  on board will be friends for life. The lessons I’ve learned will be with me forever. And, given the addictive nature of the Semester at Sea experience, I’ll likely be back again one day in some capacity. Until then, I’d like to send a fond farewell to everyone who sailed on the Spring 2013 Voyage. We are all returning home much wiser citizens of the world thanks to each other and the life-changing journey we shared.

-Tori Hogan
Communications Coordinator, Spring 2013