Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
language workshops as well as lectures on whales, the colonial architecture of Antigua and
Guatemala, and the history of mariachi music.
Unlike your average cruise ship, the
Explorer
has no casinos, spas, or fancy nightclub
entertainment. What the 24,300-ton vessel does offer is an 8,000-volume library, nine
classrooms, a computer lab, a student union, a campus bookstore, a swimming pool, a fitness
center, a spa, and a health clinic. But the best perks are the interport lecturers. Over the years,
students at sea have been treated to talks by Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Indira
Gandhi, Corazon Aquino, Mother Teresa, and Fidel Castro, who one year met with students
for eight entire hours. Desmond Tutu, a frequent interport lecturer and big fan of the floating
campus for global studies, even signed on to be a guest lecturer for the entire spring semester
voyage of 2007.
Most of the onboard faculty are visiting professors from colleges across the country. The
70-plus classes each semester (30 in the summer) are diverse, covering subjects from engin-
eering to theater arts. Every student is required to take global studies, an upper-level geo-
graphy course that covers upclose and personal the complexity, dynamics, and interdepend-
ence of world systems.
Students are usually in class during the day, and at each port, where the ship stays for
three to four days, they are given field assignments. “If you're taking an economics class,
your assignment might be to meet with bankers in Hong Kong,” says Kay Volkema, direct-
or of university outreach and communications. “Or if you're studying music, your might be
asked to learn to play a native Vietnamese instrument. Anthropology students might visit an
orphanage in Thailand or stay with a family in Panama.”
The price for the hundred-day, around-the-world trip is $17,325. The 65-day summer
voyage is $8,375. The Seminars at Sea range from $1,375 to $4,200.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Institute for Shipboard Education,
Semester at Sea Program, P.O. Box 400885, Charlottes-
ville, VA 22904, 800-854-0195, www.semesteratsea.org.
