Once in a lifetime experience - do it!! January 01, 2025

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

I thought that some of the classes had incredibly unique structures and foci that I would never have experienced in a normal classroom due to the comparative and global perspectives. Some classes workloads and expectations did not always match the availability of students and lack of internet connection such as research papers or lengthy readings but otherwise manageable assignments.

On-site administration of your program

No significant problems. Just a little complicated to get financial information from my home university to the program to all connect and felt as though more help would have been appreciated.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I mean, you live on a ship. With housekeeping. some of the rooms will be tiny but thats just how it goes and everyone makes do just fine.

so like it wasn't the greatest. They serve some of the same varieties of pasta, rice, fish, breakfast etc every day. The food is of ok quality, about normal dining hall food quality, but the hard part can be the dining hours being limited so you're always kinda hungry but don't really want to eat the food. It was free though and you never had to worry about it making you sick or finding your meal like when in-country.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

clubs are all made at the beginning of the voyage by students (and other faculty, staff, ship kids etc). the only hard part is that activities have so few days to meet and spaces are only available to be used after classes and dinner so everyone meets at the same time which makes it hard to attend all the events you want. but I consider that a good thing, there was always something I could be doing

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I personally had no real issues to manage but many friends had poor experiences with the on-ship health services because they were so limited (2 total hours when at sea and only 30 mins when in port open) and the doctors weren't always super helpful and didn't have the ability to fix some issues because of limited tech. that being said, they went with students to the hospital in country and were there for any emergency issues so I was ok with it.

the ship is perfectly safe - no issues. sometimes in country you might find yourself in dangerous situations, but that is mostly due to choosing to go out to areas the ship didn't recommend or taking dangerous transportation like motorbikes or buses when they advised that students shouldn't take them. Being in an unfamiliar environment can always feel a little sketchy especially for some students without cellular on the whole voyage but I never felt like I was in any serious harm. that being said, quite a few students got roofied at bars and so taking care of each other and making smart decisions is essential.

you will likely never get to do this on your own let alone with like minded people. being able to meet and forever have future travel buddies that you work with is a blessing and really opens your eye to the greater global context of your actions.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

This program is incredibly hard for people to do without saving up a good amount of money, taking loans, or being wealthy. While being on the ship itself doesn't require you to pay for much - flights, in country travel, experiences, food, hotels etc can cost a lot when it all adds up. Some people traveled on a little over $600 total for the semester but really had to budget, not get off the ship some days in country, or say no to certain experiences. Scholarships help reduce the high tuition but dont' really help with the travel costs.

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

At the beginning the administration taught us key words and phrases for each new country with a different language but they stopped doing that which made me sad. They tried to inform us on the prevalence of English in the country but weren't always right.

Select all that apply

• Other

Select all that apply

• Other

Select all that apply

• Americans
• International Students

• unique experience - 10 countries!
• you're on a SHIP!
• amazing people and friends

• Academic expectations
• funding opportunities
• diversity of students

The Academic or Linguist