Culture Archives | Semester At Sea

News from the Helm

Topic: Culture

Understanding Traditional Religions in Post-Modern Japan

Kyoto: a picturesque city approximately an hour and a half away from the port of Kobe and home to 1,600 Buddhist and Shinto temples. There was no better location to […]
International Law framed through photos of the Vietnam War

For U.S. students studying abroad on the Fall 2018 Voyage of Semester at Sea, the story of the Vietnam War has been ingrained through history classes, remembrances, and popular culture, […]
Semester at Sea’s continued travel to Myanmar (Burma)

Within the past two weeks, the U.S. Treasury Department and the United Nations released statements regarding the conflict in Myanmar (Burma) and the atrocities committed against the Rohingya Muslim communities. […]
Book recommendations for Fall 2018 Voyagers

Rick Steves is always writing and talking about how traveling can (and should) be a political act. I probably don’t have to affirm that stance to all of us in […]
Fall 2018 Professor Preview: Dr. Nan Sussman

Semester at Sea — from life on the MV World Odyssey, to language barriers, to the kind of food voyagers eat in-country — is about encountering the new, the unfamiliar, […]
Spring 2018 Voyager reflects on Semester at Sea

Like all great endings, my semester around the world comes to a close with the promise of a new beginning. As I prepare to journey home in just two short […]
Voyagers find ways to give back to community in Ghana

Many of Semester at Sea’s programs in Ghana focused on connecting with locals and students did just that. Between homestays and service visits to local social enterprises, voyagers took the […]
Interport lecturer Zubeida Jaffer joins community in Mauritius

Zubeida Jaffer, an award-winning South African journalist, joined the shipboard community in Mauritius to talk about her experience as a journalist of color reporting at the time of the uprisings […]
Spring 2018 faculty member wins Hiddingh-Currie award

Faculty member Megan Lewis is much more than a professor- she’s a thespian, a historian, an advocate for human rights, and now, the winner of the Hiddingh-Currie literary award. As […]
University of Alabama voyagers play Holi in India

On any other day of the year, Megan Hoeffler’s flaming red hair would stick out among the crowded streets of New Delhi like a rose in a garden of daisies. […]
Myanmar homecoming ten years in the making

Exactly ten years to the date, Spring 2018 voyager and solo Burmese student Richard Thawng returned back to his home country of Myanmar as the MV World Odyssey sailed into […]
Discovering theatre in Vietnam

Theatre and performance can be seen everywhere in our daily lives. According to Introduction to Theatre professor Dr. Megan Lewis, you can learn a lot about a culture from how they act […]
Global Studies prepares students for Japan

Twelve days at sea between Hawaii and Japan have given Global Studies director Alex Nalbach a lot of time to prepare students for culture shock in Kobe. Semester at Sea’s […]
Origami and Temples in Kyoto

For Fall 2017 voyagers, traditions were brought to life during the “Origami and Temples in Kyoto” field program. They got in touch with their spiritual side visiting multiple temples, including […]
Life Along the Mekong Delta Homestay Field Program

The Mekong Delta River could very well be deemed the “lifeblood” of south-western Vietnam. Citizens of the Mekong Delta region not only rely on the river for resources and transportation […]