The shipboard community is made up of mostly students with some professors, adult travelers, and children thrown in. Semester at Sea is a study abroad program and each student is required to take classes for credit. The number of classes varies between three and five, depending on the length of the voyage. Students are welcome to take an extra course if they feel they have the time.
The classes change with every voyage and destination. The subject can be anything from English or Anthropology to Music or Geography. Every course relates somehow to the voyage. A student on a voyage that visits Latin America could expect to see English courses that read books by Latin American authors or music inspired by Mariachi bands.
Signing up for Classes and Ordering Textbooks
A class schedule will be available before the voyage and students will be able to sign up before the voyage begins. Every voyage has a class that every voyager, students and professors alike, must attend. The class has a connection to the theme or location of the voyage.
Textbooks can be order through the University of Virginia, the school that hosts Semester at Sea bookstore. The student ordering is given the option of having the books delivered right to his room on the ship!. There is also an on-ship bookstore for buying textbooks which will buy them back at the end of the voyage.
Attending and Auditing Classes on the Ship
Classes are held every day that the ship is at sea. This can be one brief day between ports or stretch into a week. There are sometimes days off during long spans at sea. On Fall and Spring voyages classes usually occur every other day so a student attends a total of three daily. Classes on summer voyages take place every day.
Life-long-learners and other adult travelers have to attend the ship-wide class, but they are welcome to audit other classes. Even students, if there is room and they ask permission, can sit in on a class they are curious about.
Homework Assignments in Different Countries
Just like a normal class students will have tests and homework. There are plenty of places to study and some assignments can be submitted on the shipboard intranet. Every room has a TV in it and some classes will run a film on a loop that students will be expected to watch. Students should not expect homework to be light or classes to be easy just because they are on a ship.
Many assignments will relate to the countries the ship visits and some will have to be done in port. A class about plant use in native cultures may require students to document the plants they eat in port and write a report. Students in an architecture course may have to take pictures of buildings for presentations.
Earning Credit, Academic Transcripts, and Dropping Classes
The classes are usually all worth three credits. At the end of the voyage students will receive an official University of Virginia transcript. In addition to the credit from a prestigious university students will be able to list Semester at Sea and their experience on future resumes and applications.
Just like a regular college, there is a period after the voyage begins in which students can add or drop classes. Each voyage has a minimum number of credits a student must take so unless a student is dropping an extra class, she will have to add a new one.
Enjoying Life on Semester at Sea
When classes are done for the day there are plenty of other things to do on the ship. Even though there will be homework to worry about in port there are still countless things to see and do there, without homework hanging overhead. As long as voyagers are prepared for the trip and understand that schoolwork is important, they will experience the trip of a lifetime.
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