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Well, the time has finally come.The end of the Spring 2008 Semester At Sea voyage.The past four months have been one of the most amazing experiences of my life.I figured I write this journal entry now, as there is so much to reflect on and recap in my life, the lessons that I have learned and continue to learn and to make sense of this experience.The last week of the voyage is going to be pretty intense, with our own reflection and re-entry dialogues on top of packing, packing and graduation.
Before I begin, I want to thank those of you who have read my journals throughout the semester.It means a lot.If you are reading this last and final journal, you have a task to complete, if you choose to do so, which will mean a lot to me.Re-entering the USA next week is going to be tough.As you could image, for 4 months, I have been living on a ship, in the ocean, traveling around the world.I have visited 12 countries, lived with 750 people I did not know, had my food cooked for me, my room cleaned for me, have been completed cut off from friends, family and life in the USA.Help me get readjusted to life… I need to know what is going on with you, what new movies are out, what new music has been on the radio, what is going on with the presidential election, the news in the USA, gas prices, and so on.IT is going to take me time to get readjusted to my new life and it would be great to start now with email updates so we can go from there.Life around the world is completely different, but yet similar in the ways we do things, and it is now time to get back to my roots, yet being a different person.You all have no idea on so many things that have changed in me and it will all come out soon.So now the task is up to you… hope to hear from you soon.
My Experience of a Life Time
Semester at Sea, unbelievable, awesome, challenging, fun, eventful, life changing, different, similar, scary, eye awakening, incredible, astonishing, mind-boggling,and the list of words describing this experience will just continue to go on.I am privileged and honored to say that I had this chance to be a part of the Spring 2008 Semester at Sea voyage.I am part of the 1% of the world that can say has completely traveled and circled the globe, visiting some of the most precious places in the world.What better way to travel, to work with college students and be a part of the most unbelievable student development experience there is.Our community, filled with 750 students, faculty and staff, has really flourished and taken on that academical village that we have strived for from day one.I have had the pleasure to see faculty and staff living and working with students for 110 days, learning and teaching from each other, being a part of the same community, having fun together and exposing our worlds in one community.It has been the most intense living and learning environment that I have been a part of in all of my experiences in residential education.
Life for me is not going to be the same for me after this voyage and work.I look back on some very recent and some old mistakes or communications that have occurred and realized the impact of them, even though the intentions of information gathering were there.There is life around the world, there is happiness, there is sadness, people making a difference, doing their jobs and doing the one thing that they should be doing, being happy.From what I have seen, the poor of the poorest, the rich of the richest, the conditions of life, to the kindness of hearts and examples of gratitude and appreciation, life for me has changed.There are so many things that I am used to back home I take for granted, so many things that I have at my fingertips, and so many people to have exposed to my life.Certain things are important to each of us, but looking on what I have seen in the world, if you live your life to the fullest each day and are happy, then you have accomplished the most rewarding feeling that anyone can ask for.For so many days in my life, happiness was there, but others and situations that I have been put in never made it possible to be happy every day.Realizing how important life is each day, and the role of happiness has a new meaning on the way I now will do things in my life and the people I take into my life, from work to friends to family.I have visited many orphanages around the world and feel the pain of these children as I have played with them.Seeing their pain and knowing their situations is one thing to experience and be a part of, but the staff there do the one thing that is best for everyone, they make the these kids feel HAPPY and to live each other with their love!!
A big life lesson for me is this new phrase.In life we need to forgive each other to move on, not forget the mistakes we made.What a powerful statement.You know where this hit me, Hiroshima Japan and Vietnam.Two things these countries have in common with the USA, we killed many members of their community.Being exposed and on the exact locations of these two war areas has really made me think.First, there are three sides of a story.Everything that I have learned in history class only spoke of the war from the American view point, which is fine.But here I am, at ground zero of the Atomic Bomb, looking at the devastation we caused and hearing their story and message, was just as a powerful.Or visiting the tombs of the Vietnam soldiers, who died in the war, opened my mind on how much in life we are trained to think and listen in certain ways.What about that third side of the story, the side that no one hears, no one wants to make reference to or acknowledge.To forgive others in life, you must really look at the inside of meanings of why things were done the way they are.Yeah, question things, challenge things and listen, which is the way we will find the meaning to situations, differences of ideas and to make the most out of situations. Don't let others say to you, you question or challenge to much!When you hear that, it is an insecurity of their policies or viewpoints they have and can't handle the aspect of change or opinions of others.
Speaking of change, South Africa and the safari, had a huge impact on a lesson in life, one that many of us struggle with, the notion of change.Who moved my cheese… yeah, something I did with my RA's, and looking back, the cheese in life is always changing.On safari, the safari leader said it best himself about change.Both the environment and the animals needed to adapt to change to survive.If only one of the changed, then neither would survive.With the animals adapting to the changes of the world, the environment they were able to survive and move on and make the best out of what they could and to continue to reproduce more with new capabilities for survival.Interesting… finding a big impact of life about change, through a trip on a safari in Africa.But it all does make sense.If both parties in life don't adapt to change, then who is the real winner?We always heard from others, you better change or you won't make it!!True, but when does the other party find the balance in the change of the new situation at hand to make the most out of change.That is the complex question.Our lives, or cheese, are always changing and with others involved.It is not until both parties can make the promise and the big step to find the balance in change and make the best out of life.
The best part of life is how diverse we all are.Seeing the world, being in involved and immersed in the world for the past 4 months has continued to define my meaning of diversity.Has anyone ever told you that the visible aspects of diversity are the most important and almost the only signs of a diverse person.Yeah, I have.This may offend some of you, but give me time.If the only thing we look at when it comes down to diversity is what we see on the outside of a person, then how do we ever get to know that person for who they are?Do we live with the stereotypes of what life has labeled them as, I hope NOT!Look around you… every person sitting next to, across to you, or someone you may be thinking about is a diverse to you!!It doesn't matter what you look like on the surface, the only thing that matters is that we are all happy at the end of the day.Every person that I have met and encountered in the countries I visited all had the same reason to live, had the same tasks to complete in life and do the same things we would do in the USA.Diversity needs to make a new connection in people's lives as finding the dichotomy between the similarities and not the differences we see.The more we spend in life finding the similarities that we have in common, which is mostly seen inside a person, is when we have reached our ultimate level and meaning of diversity.Look inside people, see what they are capable of, see their strengths, see their weaknesses to grow with them, see their viewpoints, understand them, challenge them, learn from them, teach them, explore the world with them.Until you can do this and expose your level and meaning of diversity around, is when you will get a better understanding of who you are and how you relate to others.
Flexibility, our F word on the ship, and now something very big and powerful to me.Yeah, we heard it before at work with friends and family, be flexible.But what does that mean?When you have everything at your hands on a land campus, at your home or work, we can say we were flexible with change or a decision, but really have you been.Working on a ship, in the middle of the ocean, things come up, and if we are not flexible, we are not achieving the success and understanding our situation.Being flexible has a new meaning in my life and how it is also perceived and granted to others.It is not until you feel the pressure of a changing situation and nowhere to run from it until you can get the full meaning of that word flexible.
In life, we have different opinions on thoughts, decisions, feelings and so on.Through my voyage, I realized something that has really opened my eyes.I don't need to agree with things, I just need to understand them.It is not until I, or we, can move away from someone from agreeing to something and understanding it that we get a balance of harmony between each other.I think so much in life is getting the other person to always agree that this is the best decision, this is the best idea, the best policy and so on.We are human, we have been raised differently, have been educated differently, have been exposed to different life experiences that make all of our ideas powerful and meaningful.Until someone can say open and honestly to someone I don't agree with you , but I understand and will support it, is when the best of two worlds combine forces.When one continues to push to agreeance and what that means for them, then the other will fight more.Understand each other, find peace, find balance and know and respect each other for their understanding.This is when great learning, great brainstorming and great thoughts come out with each other.
For the past four months I had the chance to taste, touch, smell and see the world.Better yet,I got to do it with college students.What better way to understand cultures, expose yourself than to eat the foods around the world, to become part of their traditions or cultures, to smell the smells they smell and to see the beauty of what they call home.I got to eat with my hands in India, use a squatter toilet, have no toilet paper when I needed it, eat ostrich, Japanese sushi, use chop sticks, eat real Chinese food, see menu items consisted of dog meat, bull penis, duck, duck brains and so on.Trying these items, learning the meaning of their traditions and showing interest has really given me the understanding of life for others.I may not agree with what they eat, how they eat, or how they take care of their lives, but I understand now, I understand their meaning of life and respect them for it, as they respect m life.
Yes, my departure for semester at sea was a disturbance for some, but it wasn't for me.What I learned here doing the things I have done has taught me the most valuable lessons that I would not have learned back at home in the USA.It is not until you expose yourself in a culture, find the similarities and build a gap to the differences that we can say we understand world culture and respect each other for who we are.Life is filled with some many obstacles to be busy, acting ways that people have expected us to act.Look at yourself, are you happy?Do you understand the way you are acting, is someone leading you to act and behave in a certain way?Step out of your comfort zone and do different things in life.It is not until your reach your most uncomfortable state of life that you will see how much you have learned and can handle in life.
Semester at sea has rejuvenated me with the work I do and have a better appreciation for all faculty and staff in their roles with college students.As we continue to spend more time on the students that do follow policies and procedures and move away from concentrating on the discipline of that small percentage do we continue to build stronger leaders for our future.There have been so many great students that I have encountered on my voyage and will make great professionals in the world.
Overall, Semester at Sea gets 10 thumbs up.If you ever get the opportunity to do what I had the chance to do, do it.I can only say so much in my writing, my pictures and my stories that are soon to come to everyone.You may not understand or appreciate my thoughts, you may think I did not change, or think I did, but no matter what, life is life, life is full of others living for the one thing we all want for each other… happiness.
Travel the world, see what is has to offer you and step out of our comfort zone!!Don't judge the countries by what you may see on the outside, get to know the people, share their experiences and be them while on your visit!!You will see things in yourself and others that you never have seen before.
Good bye Semester at Sea!!It was a blast, it was fun, it was sad, it was funny, it was life all on a ship!!I hope to see you again soon and can't wait to do this again.
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