12 countries, 112 days, two suitcases. What would you bring? 629 students had to decide what to bring and what to leave prior to boarding the MV Explorer in Ensenada, Mexico on January 7.
Bring the essentials of course ‚Äì Clothes, shampoo, camera, don’t forget your toothbrush. After all the essentials, there is no room for much else. Four students however, found a bit of extra room in their suitcase for things that had special meaning in their life.
Hoang Nguyen from Bentley College brought a Polaroid Camera from the late 70’s on the ship with him. ‘The Reporter’ camera was a gift from his girlfriend, and although he has to be much more selective with his photos as he has a limited supply of film on board, he prefers the Polaroid to digital. Hoang says that being more selective gives him a better appreciation of the moment and the resulting photograph. He looks forward to capturing all he will experience over the next four months.
Zhentao Liu is an Engineering student from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China. Zhentao brought his erhu, a traditional Chinese string instrument. He wanted to bring the instrument to share his home culture with other students on the ship. Zhentao has played the erhu since he was a child and is looking forward to playing it for everyone soon.
Oswaldo Chavez attends Lindenwood University in Saint Charles, Missouri, but is originally from Ecuador. Oswaldo brought the flag of Ecuador because of his pride in his home country. He has brought the flag everywhere he has traveled, and hopes it invokes a sense of identity and pride for other international students and their home countries.
Christine Vo is an Environmental Studies student from the University of Houston. Before leaving home for Semester at Sea, Christine made ‘I Promise’ signs. The signs remind her of the things she wants to accomplish on Semester at Sea, such as ‘I promise to love the unloved’ and ‘I promise to love the ocean.’ Christine plans to take a photo with a different sign in each country to keep memories of the voyage.
So after you have packed all the essentials, what else would you bring?
