<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I’m thinking of doing a course at SEA Semester the summer after my freshman year (the one at Woods Hole, not UVA’s Semester at Sea). In a nutshell, you spend a couple of weeks to two months on a tall ship and study marine science, history, leadership, etc—it sounds really exciting!</p>
<p>Has anyone had any experience with this program? What was it like to man a boat and spend so much time at sea? Would you do it again if you had the chance?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance! :)</p>
<p>Anyone? </p>
<p>Okay. Well, I’m planning on doing this either the summer after my freshman or sophomore year, so once I get back I’ll revive this thread for prospective applicants. Hopefully CC will be a little less dead by then! </p>
<p>Hey Coriander23:</p>
<p>My alma mater, Carnegie Mellon, asked alums to get active on this site, to help answer questions. I just made my profile and was surfing around, decided to see if anyone had questions about SEA Semester, while I was looking up CMU. And here you are!</p>
<p>I sailed on the Robert C. Seamans during my senior year in 2002, doing one of the semester long programs. So, 6 weeks on shore in Woods Hole, followed by 6 weeks at sea, sailing from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to La Paz, down to cross the equator, (shellback!), then up to Hawaii and around those islands for almost a week. It was awesome! After the first leg, we basically had a month of being at sea, just got into the routines, away from land and everyone / everything, except my new shipmates. I hadn’t sailed much before then, but the crew taught us so much in such a short amount of time, that by the end of the voyage, we all felt such a sense of accomplishment to be able to work together to pretty much sail the boat on our own.</p>
<p>I would definitely do the program again, if I had the chance. They didn’t offer the summer programs when I was a student. And while I really liked the experience of being at sea for 4 weeks straight, I know that some of the other voyages had more port stops, which would have been cool too. I get the alumni newsletters from SEA Semester, so I was looking at some of the new program offerings recently and the Historic Seaports one caught my eye. A chance to sail around Western Europe for 4 weeks, learning about the ports from the maritime perspective? For credit? Yes, please! </p>
<p>Hope it works out for you to attend!</p>
<p>Hi there @ISlHopper13301, thanks so much for your informative response!</p>
<p>That sounds like an incredible experience-- covering that much land (or sea, more accurately) in a semester must’ve been a great learning opportunity. The Historic Seaports session is actually the one I was thinking about doing, haha. I’ve always wanted to sail on a tall ship and study abroad in Europe, so that gets both of those off my bucket list! And the maritime history theme sounds especially cool as well…</p>
<p>How long does it usually take to get your sea legs? I have a guaranteed transfer to another school that I’ll probably be attending next fall, and I was wondering if it would be too taxing to adjust to collegiate life somewhere new immediately after adjusting to life at sea. Is it one of those things where you feel refreshed and ready to tackle new adventures after SEA, or did you kind of go whew, that met my adventure quota for the year! If the latter’s the case, then I’ll probably go the summer of my sophomore year when I’m all settled down. </p>
<p>As an aside, a good friend of mine is currently at CMU as a biology major and she’s having a lot of fun over in Pittsburgh. Thanks again for all your help!!</p>