Summer 2010 SAS Voyage Blog

So what is it like, teaching and learning on a ship that's been outfitted as a traveling university? It definitely has its challenges.

David Gies, Commonwealth Professor of Spanish and former Chairman of the Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese at the University of Virginia, recently talked about his strong commitment to the Semester at Sea program.

Professor Gerald Bowler opened a lively, informative and wide-ranging first Global Studies Class with the famous quote from William Faulkner’s Requiem for a Nun, “The past isn’t dead.  It isn’t even past.” This class reminded us of the relevance of the past for today, and that civilization itself is, as Professor Bowler says,  a “vast, collective memory."

"Just look at the ship and look at these people! Why wouldn't you go?" said Parth Chaudhari of Syracuse University, as he and 707 other summer voyagers climbed the gangway onto the MV Explorer. Watch an audio slideshow of embarkation.