For this post, I want to explain why I chose Semester at Sea. The reason is very simple: the shipboard community and experiences while on the ship. Semester at Sea is a unique study abroad program because you travel to several countries instead of one, but perhaps rarer is a strong community and tight-knit friend groups. Three months in as I am writing this post in a café in Copenhagen, I cannot help but reflect on the voyage so far and the amazing friends and people I have met and connected with along the way. Since the MV World Odyssey is a small ship by cruise ship standards and you are stuck on a ship with the same people for four months, you forge bonds very quickly. From late night game nights in Lido Terrace (the designated game room), exploring foreign countries together, cabin movie nights, and all the other shenanigans we got into, Semester at Sea creates a community for those that travel on the same voyage. At a traditional study abroad campus, you meet others who are studying abroad at the same time as you, but I highly doubt you become as close as you do on the ship. I have made life-long friends on this voyage who I cannot wait to reconnect with as soon as possible.

One of my favorite memories I will have of this voyage is the elaborate fake wedding my friends and I created as an excuse to celebrate and have fun. We had the ship photographer take first look and wedding party photos, ordered way too much ice cream cake, and had a wedding ceremony filled with inside jokes and lots of laughs. It was probably a first for Semester at Sea, but every single person involved got into it, and it was a great way to have fun and forget about the stress of approaching finals. While planning and following through with a throwaway joke from a restaurant in Croatia may not be for everyone, the friends you make through Semester at Sea I highly recommend.