 |
| Sailing back to Southampton, England. |
Somehow the summer has flown
by and it’s time for me to say goodbye to the M.V. Explorer and Semester at
Sea. After nearly 31,000 nautical miles traveled around the world in eight
months, I will make my last trek across the Atlantic by plane and return home
to Iowa on Friday. As the next day or so will be busy with wrap-up activities
and travel, this will be my last post from the ship and also likely my last
post on this blog for a few days.
Last night was the Alumni
Ball, an event celebrating the end of classes and the shipboard community’s
transition from Semester at Sea participants to alumni. The shipboard community
dressed in their finest for a fancy dinner and dancing. It is fun to see
everyone dressed in their best enjoying the company of their shipboard peers for
one of the last times.
This afternoon there are a
number of activities planned including a re-entry program which will talk about
how to adjust to life at home after completing an amazing program like SAS, a
convocation ceremony, and our final pre-port session. After a fun final night
on the ship, tomorrow morning we arrive in Southampton, England, and will all
pile onto shuttle busses up to London Heathrow Airport. Our Semester at Sea
journey will come to an end as we disperse back to our homes around the U.S.
and world.
 |
| On-ship field office team. From left: Julie Engerran, me and Lauren Hartig. |
 |
| At the alumni ball. From left: Jennifer Mowad, me and Sara Karen Arlin, my supervisor from the Semester at Sea home office. |
 |
| Vijay, one of my favorite crew members, and me. |
