A Semester at Sea
Introduction. I am currently enjoying a Visiting Professor appointment with the University of Virginia, teaching three courses with that university’s Semester at Sea program. The Institute for Shipboard Education owns a cruise ship and contracts with UVA to provide curriculum and faculty for this study abroad experience. The MV Explorer has been converted it into a modern, floating college campus. There are seven hundred students, thirty-five faculty, and two hundred crew members on board this semester. Different semesters follow different itineraries, but mine starts in England, follows the coast of Europe down to Africa, then follows the coast of Africa to the southern ocean and across to southern South America. Then the route traces the coast of South America northward into the Caribbean and ending in Florida.
The Ultimate Study Abroad. This is a full college semester. Students take 12 or more hours of regular college coursework with professors, classrooms, homework, field lab reports, exams … everything! But the campus is always moving from one place to another until it docks at a port. There are no regular classes taught while in port; classes are only held while sailing between ports so the teaching days are really intense. Each class is required to take a ten-hour field lab in two ports along the way. These include visits to businesses, schools, NGO’s, port authorities, embassies, etc. We also visit the local sites, learn about the local culture, meet the people, and basically ‘study abroad’ in a host of different places! My semester started in Southampton, England. Then we proceeded to St. Petersburg, Russia; Hamburg, Germany; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Antwerp, Belgium; La Havre, France (and Normandy); then to Lisbon, Portugal; Cadiz, Spain, and the Rock of Gibraltar. At each port, we stay four or five days and people take class field labs, tours, catch a train or bus to the interior of the country or even other countries. All they have to do was make sure that they are back for ship’s departure on time; the ship waits for no one. If students or faculty miss the departure time, then they must proceed to the next port and catch the MV Explorer there! It happens a lot, but not to me (so far), fortunately!
After the Rock of Gibraltar, we proceeded to Casablanca and Marrakesh, Morocco, where the camel rides were popular attractions. Next, we went to the Canary Islands and then down the coast of Africa to Ghana, to Namibia, and then to Cape Town, South Africa. All along the journey, various dignitaries join us from the countries that we visit, usually members of the US State Department, or business or political elite from a particular country. For example, Desmond Tutu joined us in Cape Town. He gave an eloquent presentation to our student body and spent most of the day with the faculty discussing various African issues and problems. We are joined by inter-port students from each country. They travel with us to the next port, speak to our classes and mingle with our students. From South Africa, we sailed for twelve days across the southern Atlantic Ocean, past Tristan da Cunha (the most remote inhabited island in the world) to Buenos Aires, Argentina – quaint cafes, the tango, and gauchos! The ship has just left Argentina in route to two ports in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. We then go to Havana, Cuba, for a week and then finish the semester in Fort Lauderdale Florida.
Charlene A. Dykman, Ph.D.
Professor of Management Information Systems
© November 2013 by Charlene A. Dykman