My Abroad Advice and Reflection
I miss school on water. I miss it. I miss it. I miss it.
But now that I’m back on NAU’s campus, I have many retrospective thoughts about my time away from the familiar and running into the unknown.
Past Suzanna’s Packing
Let’s start with simply thanking “Past Suzanna” for bringing a few SUPER handy things.
- Carabiners — It’s clear that it’s a handy thing to clip on what you need. But it helped me largely when it came to my ship ID. We needed it when going in and out of port security and getting on and off the ship. It was the handiest thing ever when my hands were full of things like my snacks and drinks and there was a LONG line of people behind me. I could just clip it onto the strap of my bag without having to take minutes to dig around in my bag. I most often clipped it to my jumpsuit and it did the job hahah. Especially on very windy days where it could have been blown away💨
- Games🎲 — This was more of a sentimental thing funny enough. The many times my friends and I were entertained with a simple deck of cards or Uno will be what makes me smile and laugh when I reminisce on the good ol days. I’m truly thankful and laugh about the friends and I playing spoons while waiting for any announcement about my disembarking in Ghana.
- A small zippered fabric bag — This baggie held all of my important documents when in-country. I defiantly could have kept them in one of those “under clothes money pouches” but that wasn’t my kind of product. This baggie kept: my ship ID, any large amounts of foreign currency for emergencies, passport (when necessary), and a green sheet (a SAS made guide for every country on all the do’s, don’ts, important reminders and phone numbers). I even put my jewelry in there when locals said to take off any jewelry! I’m one that wants to know where everything is and that bag had everything and was guarded with my life.
Solo Exploring and Tips
After having explored 10 countries with virtually no plan, I’ve gathered some simple but greatly helpful tips when it comes to exploring with caution.
Firstly, using a buddy system or traveling in groups or even just simply telling people where you are going/letting someone know where you are going.
It’s very obvious advice but you have no idea how much it can help.
A great one for my program, Semester at Sea, many students and other passengers within the program would send texts in group chats about things happening.
Whether it was good or bad news of “careful at XXXX because *this happened*” or sharing taxis’ and travel groups’ business cards. Everyone helped each other out! SASers take care of SASers 💙.
And a practical quote that I will always take to heart from Dean V on the ship, if you’re trying to cross the street and are scared or hesitant or whatever it is that’s stopping you from crossing,
“Walk when a local walks, they don’t get hit.”
Let me tell you, THEY DON’T GET HIT.
Say Yes and Rolling with What Happens!
I was told by so many people on SAS to “just say yes” and it’s cheesy to say but I’m so thankful that I did.
In India, I was just enjoying an excursion and the itinerary that was planned and I ended up chatting it up well with these two girls.
A day later and one “Sure, let’s go out to dinner together,” and those two girls ended up becoming my closest friends during my study abroad.
I just kept saying “yes, why not” and ended up on a STEAL of a safari trip with 20 SASers and my roommate in Kenya! As for rolling with it, I was meant to join about 12 random SASers for plans in Mauritius but the voyage ended up having a detour instead. It was saddening about the natural disaster that caused the change of ports but it had to happen.
The worse yet best was my time “in” Ghana. I only ended up spending 2 out of the 6 days we were docked in Ghana doing activities before pretty much getting heat stroke.
But I ended up spending 4 days, practically nonstop, with my now best friend on the ship who also got sick. We spent those 4 days really getting close and I always look back at it as the worse yet best thing to happen to me.
You can’t “roll with it” if you aren’t willing to be flexible and handle changes in plans. The unknown is scary and can be dark but it can really pay off to be the best things you do and experience✨
Meeting and Greeting New People
I had the amazing chance to meet and chat with locals in various different countries. I’ll forever think about all the wonderful people I met during my time outside of the states.
I also got the chance to get close with all the people on the ship. I got really personal with all sorts of students as Semester at Sea really is it’s own unique community as we sailed across the world for 4 months.
But there were more people than just the students — people got to know all of the professors and even Captain Jan and the spectacular crew.
Students ended up being the crew’s biggest love even though they were “just crew members.” I know I was a big fan of the grill staff who knew my order! Just kidding! Although I did always love and look forward to talking to the grill staff every time I ordered French fries (I miss Marjan and Jolly all the time👨🍳❤️).
There was even amazing “ship families”! Yes, you heard that right. Ship families.
Semester at Sea early on creates little groups or “ship families” by pairing students with a Lifelong Learner or Staculty (staff and faculty combined). It’s meant to be a way for students to get to know others but also meant to be another community/support system as we are on a ship away from everything we once knew.
My ship family was absolutely amazing. I was with a Lifelong Learner and SAS Alumni named Alison who was sailing with her two kids. They were a rambunctious pair but I loved them!
Whenever we arranged to hangout as a family on the ship, there was never a dull moment since we were always talking about what we did in-country.
By the end of the voyage, I ended up becoming a part of an informal ship family comprised of many SASers, a kid’s caretaker, and even a Dean. It was a silly little fun thing some friends of mine made up but it ended up being a truly great time as we ended up hosting a murder mystery party within the family.
Truly, all the quick side chats to deep conversations will be something that I keep close to heart.
I think about all of the kinds souls I got to meet all the time. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Independence
Personally, it wasn’t crazy scary leaving. It was very exciting and thrilling for me to go on an adventure of a lifetime for 4 months.
Of course, I didn’t know what I was walking into. I had no clue.
But I knew that at the end — it would be whatever amazingness I would make it.
In retrospect, one of the best decisions I did for myself was trying to spend one day to myself in each country. I would spend these days or many hours just enjoying a meal to myself and walking around. Now, I didn’t do things all willy nilly. I usually went to places recommended by other SASers or went to popular attractions and malls.
I really learned how to disconnect and be in the moment.
I would enjoy the environment of local restaurants while eating the delicious delicacies. I would people watch and just take in everything around me while I went wherever my feet took me.
I really do live by “following wherever my feet take me” since coming back to the states.
Even on the ship, I would take time to myself to just soak everything in. From the rays of the morning sun to the cold breeze while reading my book.
Learning to be alone with my own thoughts and disconnecting has been some of the greatest takeaways during my time abroad.
📓 Capture it, remember it 📸
Journaling! Polaroid Camera! Scrapbooking! 360 Camera! Notebook of advice! Do whatever and all ways you want to remember your trip!
I know so many people had different ways of keeping the memories forever. I kept any ticket stubs, napkins, rocks, just any little memento in a booklet for every country. I decided mid-voyage that I would get some fabric markers and a SAS hoodie and have people sign it like it was an 8 year old’s birthday memento.
I know so many people who had all types of camera’s to record their adventures for personal meaning or to post on socials.
A popular choice was a polaroid camera on the ship! I know I ran into so many people on the ship who would try to write everything that happened down in a journal.
And many times after each country, people would ask around if anyone had left over currencies to scrapbook with! There are so many ways of going about keeping the memories.
I do have one reflection from my own memory capturing moments. TAKE THE SILLY PICTURE OR ANY PICTURE AT ALL!!!!📸
I’m so thankful for every single picture and video I took. But I wish I had so many more silly pictures and videos to remember to moment. The next best thing is my memory which still makes me smile every time something comes to surface. But I do sometimes wish I had the goofy pictures of all of my friends doing who knows what at 11pm.
FOMO at Home
My FOMO wasn’t a huge concern for me. My friends and family knew that this was truly a once in a lifetime experience and they pushed me to enjoy it all while I can. I made it a regular task to send update texts to family members who didn’t have me on social media.
I sent so much on what I did but also included pictures for their enjoyment.
As for my friends, they knew where to find me and my stuff on socials. I also had the lucky opportunity a few times to video call my friends which always make me so happy to see their faces.
A Dean on the ship recommended sending postcards or a small goody box to yourself or others to stay connected. I thought this was brilliant as many students sent out postcards in almost every country.
As for how it was initially coming back to land and the states, it defiantly felt odd👀.
It felt as if no time had passed yet so much time had passed. Things looked the same but I had felt so different.
Since it’s been more than a few months since being back, I’ve learned to refer to my time abroad as “blipped.” Now, yes this is a movie reference to Avengers: Infinity War but it well represents how I (and my of my friends) felt. No, we didn’t die and fade away into the ether for 4 months. But my SAS friends and I all agree on the feeling of coming back to what seems like the same environment but just enough time had passed for it to have changed and be different.
With this came many “remember when…”, “oh yeah! so that happened while you were gone,” “wait, were you not here for that”, and so on conversation lines.
I’ve grown to brush it over my shoulder since I blipped and wouldn’t trade it for the world.
But I must say, it was initially hard to wrap my head around the fact.
You can’t be there for everything is a really big thing to come to terms with if you aren’t familiar with it to begin with.
Food Galore
Oh my god, the food!!!! Where do I begin? Let’s start with the ship food.
Firstly, I miss my favorite grill staff, Jolly and Marjan, who knew my late night grill order. The food in Lido and Berlin, the dining halls, on the ship was pretty plain European style buffet (Team Lido!!!!). It was repetitive and I didn’t have many options considering my food allergies.
The grill was a nice option for me on days where nothing seemed appetizing in the dining hall (in desperate times, the 24 hour library snack bar also had ramen for late night study seshes too).
Though I will say that I appreciated the fruits, desserts, and snack time where I could have a sweet treat.
Something I can’t forget to mention is the fancy dinners on the ship!
🍽️For about 35 dollars, you get a 5 course meal of delicious food in the Four Seasons Restaurant (a really pretty room on the ship). Fancy dinner is typically just a fun and nice way to celebrate things on the ship!
Now for the good stuff! Oh my god the food was delicious everywhere!
My top 5 favorite eats has got to be Moroccan soup (it’s what spagetti-o’s wishes it tastes like), dosa (India), meat pie (South Africa), snapper (Kenya), and pani puri (India).
Despite me only naming 5 dishes, there were so many delicious things to have touched my tastebuds. In the 133 Voyage video, Meg Lewis, a professor on Voyage 133, says “tasting new foods that you no longer know how to live without” and I couldn’t agree more with that statement.
I find myself seeking those spices and flavors despite knowing how rare it will be to find authentic food outside of the country of origin. Students were allowed to bring back “groceries” and snacks as long as they were within limitations (groceries is being generous as fresh fruits and veggies were not allowed as well as things like twist top drinks and other restrictions).
The chance to taste so many treats and drinks was absolutely amazing. I would often find myself seeking corner markets and grocery stores to bring back snacks and drinks for our time at sea!
Now, let me end the food talk with two pieces of advice.
One, take a picture of your finger pointing at the ordered food items on the menu. I did this for all the various foods I tried and it was helpful when trying to remember what food in the picture. Handy thing for when you look back.
Two, try all the food if you can!! I’m a big believer that food is a great way to learn and understand a culture. I wish I had the opportunity to eat more Indian food but had to restrain myself for the sake of my food allergies. But when I had a food that was free of my allergies — you best believed I tried it.
Truly you never know what greatness awaits for your taste buds!🤩
Spending $$
I mentioned in my packing list blog post how getting foreign currency can be a big help but was also a risk for my journey. But let me give you some more spending tips and other things to consider.
At least for SAS, there was an option to sign up for a payment plan and you could get “shipboard credit” which could’ve been spend on things like field programs and the snack bar.
I was too late to sign up for the payment plan + shipboard credit, but I know some people on the ship really enjoyed having that credit to get a smoothie or cold soda on a hot day out.
A great thing to consider is getting a credit card with no foreign transaction fees.
After 4 months of travel through 10 countries and 3 continents, there were so many of these little ATM withdraw fees and international transaction fees. You don’t think about $2.00 here and $1.50 there costing a lot. But when you’re visiting 4 different places for food, 3 stores for clothes, another 2 stalls for souvenirs, they all have those international transaction fees that can total up to be something you didn’t account for in your spending budget.
Now for my program, all sorts of people organized together to make a “Ball on a Budget” where people asked and traded all sorts of free to budget spending activities.
People most often would ask about any laundromats for cheaper laundry in-country than what it would cost to have the crew do your laundry (or shop for snacks and drinks in-country than getting them at the snack bar on the ship). This was a really great resource for the SAS community in every country.
Alternatively, with so much information at the tip of your fingers, you can surely find other people’s recommendations on social media and online to find a variety of budget-friendly ways to enjoy yourself.
And lastly, one helpful tip for spending is getting a currency conversion app. It helped me all the time and even my friends would call me over to use the app on my phone.
Travel Withdrawals
It’s not easy, let me tell you that. My SAS bestie and I called each other almost every day all summer long. It was to a point where we both said that if we didn’t talk to each other for one day then it felt weird because we hadn’t called to chat and whatnot.
I spent days on end with these people on a 6 floored ship and now were oceans away from each other with so many time zones in-between.
I reminisce every day about it and I miss it every time no matter the kind of emotion it brings up.
A frequent reminder for me is that we are all feeling the same emotions being away from each other and the experience.
My best advice for handling withdrawal is talking it out with them. From sending “I miss you guys” texts and checking in on one another and even talking about the post-abroad experience with everyone, I have no hesitation texting all sorts since I know we’re all going through it since getting off the ship.
Actually, if you’ve ever been abroad and are reading this — go text your abroad friends right now!! I know they’ll appreciate it.
Future Abroad Advise
If you’re hesitant or not sure about going abroad, take the opportunity! I understand that there can be many limitations preventing people from going abroad.
Finances? There are 3rd party scholarships and grants you can apply for (SAS had their own scholarships and grants and even matched FASFA and Pell Grant)!
Scared? Typical and scary but take the jump! I’ve grown to agree with “money will come back but you’ll never be this young doing this stuff.”
I wasn’t a legacy or anything when I went on SAS. I actually saw one ad for SAS in high school. Heard nothing about it for 5 years. Got one ad for it around October my sophomore year of college and remembered the one ad from high school. I got curious if NAU’s Education Abroad Office had worked with SAS and it turns out the answer was yes. Told my parents about it a few times and said “I’m enrolling and we’ll see from there.” A
bout a month or two later, I got accepted and lost my mind for hours when I got the news. My lead up was nothing crazy but a very “let’s see” out of curiosity decision and I’m so glad I said “why not”.
At the end of the voyage, one of the deans said “If you’ve never done it, you won’t be able to understand it. And if you’ve done it, you’ll never be able to explain it.”
It won’t seem like an impactful quote to a regular person, but since getting off of my favorite 11th port, the MV World Odessey🚢, it is a very sentimental quote to round up all the experiences, colors, spices, odors, people, and memories that I now have to tell as stories and change me for the rest of my life.
Truly, I am a changed person from studying abroad.
Semester at Sea is a once in a gazillion lifetime opportunity that my wanderlusting, cruise ship enjoying, travel bug self will always remember my 4 months at sea.
Thank you so much Semester at Sea for everything,
Suzanna
