What IS Semester at Sea?

So this is a party boat that sails around like a cruise ship, right?

Ehhh... Not exactly.

Our home for 4 months: The MV World Odyssey

Semester at Sea (SAS) is mostly for college students and it's kind of like studying abroad except you're not just in one country. You're on a ship (never say boat) for a semester and it ports in different cities around the world. There are 9 classrooms on the ship and a wide range of classes for students to take.

Course examples:

Intro Cultural Anthropology
Global Encounters in Art
Comparative Economic Systems
US-China Relations Since 1800
World Interdependence

The classes have an in-port component that dovetails with what is being learned in the classroom. The ports we stop in are: Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana, Morocco, and The Netherlands.  

SO what are the Johnson-Leck's doing on this voyage?! Ain't none of you in college!

In 2016 Colorado State University (where Jen and Chris both work) became the academic home of Semester at Sea. It basically means that all the classes on board are CSU classes. There was an agreement made that some of the positions, like the Academic Dean, on every voyage would come from CSU as well. There are 2 mental health counselors on every voyage and one of those comes from CSU too. So that's how this whole thing got started.

Probably sometime around 2016 we put our name on the list for SP2020. At the time, Guthrie had just been born and SAS doesn't want kids under 2 on the ship. Wally was 4 and we thought that would be an ok age for us to drag Guthrie around the world. So this trip really has been years in the making. Many, many people have heard us talking about this and we have been saving money and planning for just under 4 years.It is starting to get surreal now that it's so close.

So Chris will be doing counseling on the ship. Individual counseling, some groups, emergency consultations, that kind of thing. Jen submitted an application the old fashioned way and got hired to be a faculty member on the ship and is teaching classes. So we both have full time jobs so don't think we're just going to be lying around drinking daiquiris, getting a tan, and yelling at our children. No, no. We will be busy.

On to the kids:
Because the parents have full time jobs on the ship we have to bring along a childcare provider If you're pissed because we didn't ask YOU to be our childcare provider please show us your: years of teaching experience at a Waldorf elementary school, artistic talent, world traveling experience, completed marathons, patience, good humor, organization/planning skills, and genuine affection for our children. Chances are you're missing at least one of the above. Ellie's got them all. Ellie and her family have been friends of ours since well before our kids were born. We're unbelievably lucky she was up for the adventure.

Guthrie's photo for his Visa to India. Cute, right?

We will have more about the kids' days on the ship in a future post, but the basics are this: Kids can come to the morning lecture that everyone goes to if they want and then go to some hours of organized study hall. Each kids will have some stuff to work on for school and the littles time will look more like pre-school. After lunch there are organized activities coordinated by all the childcare providers. It should be pretty fun. Our kids' teachers have been accommodating and encouraging. Lord knows these kids are going to have their minds blown!




In ports:  

Shanghai, China

Jen and Chris both have some job duties in a few of the ports, but otherwise we're free to roam and explore. The average length of time in port is 5 days so not enough to do a deep dive by any means, but the kids will get a good survey of some of the highlights and hopefully the inspiration to return another time for a longer stay and immersive experience.

Lots more to write, but this will be a good start to let people know a general sense of what we'll be doing.