On Friday, members of the Student Government (including myself!) were invited to attend Semester at Sea‘s Open Ship at Cape Town Harbour.
This is us being all touristy-like:
This is the ship:
Semester at Sea is just that: it allows students the opportunity of a semester abroad… abroad in various places. It is affiliated with the University of Virginia, and has excellent courses available.
And I want to go. Next year, 9 January to 25 April.
The itinerary includes San Diago, Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Mauritius, South Africa (!!!), Ghana, Morocco and Spain. The great thing about SAS is that they take “service learning” very seriously. So you don’t just visit these places for the fun of it; you also visit them to learn.
And that’s my kinda travelling.
Here’s the other awesome thing: The Academic Dean for the specific voyage is Dr Sharon Hostler. She is a professor in pediatrics, and one of her niches is outreach to rural underserved children.
This Friday, I am going to meet with my faculty’s assistant registrar. Our school doesn’t readily allow students to just leave for three months… BUT, I have a plan! It is quite a complex plan, but it will work, and it will make me a better student and a better doctor and this the only thing I want to think of right now.
Which is making studying extremely difficult.
Whispers Unto the Aether 
Sounds like an incredible opportunity. Hope it works out for you.
Thank you! I dream of it at night. By the way, I have been trying and trying to comment on your blog posts, but for some or other reason CAPTCHA keeps saying I entered the incorrect words (even though most times I’m sure they were correct)… so… until CAPTCHA likes me more, this is me saying I still read your posts and love ’em!
I’m so jealous. I wish I had more time to travel during medical school. Great blog!
I think I’m the only student at my medical school who travels so much… Global citizenship is very important to me so I have simply decided to make it work. In 2010 I had to organise special exams so that I could attend iRYLA in Canada. So it makes life a little more complicated in terms of academics, but I love it. Then again,medicine is an undergraduate course for six years in RSA. that helps. I assume I will not travel at all in my final 18 months.
Thanks for visiting!
Yeah Semester at Sea! I’ve never gone myself, but I’ve heard great things about it – I hope you get the opportunity to do it!
Thank you for the wishes!! Today I got permission from administration of my university, so now I have to still get permission from my course convener and of course apply to SAS.
I used to work on cruise lines cruising the Caribbean and that is where I heard about Semester at Sea. I REALLY wanted to do it! But, it is so super expensive. *sigh* I thought it would be so seriously amazing. What an opportunity! I hope you get to go.
It is crazy expensive, so here’s hoping I manage some kind of sponsorship. You know you can still attend a semester even if you’re not studying anymore – they call it their “lifelong learning” program. Thanks for the well-wishes!