I've Had The Time of My Life.

Now that the Alumni Ball is over, and I am officially an SAS Alumni, it really means that this voyage is coming to an end. It just doesn’t seem real to me right now, that I’m not going to be off the ship in a couple days with this semester complete. I feel like I am going to be in San Diego, looking for my green sheet letting me know when on ship time is to let me know what day and when I have to be back on the ship. It doesn’t seem real that I’m not going to wake up every morning and see all of these people who have grown to be my family. I have spent the last three and a half months with these people and can’t imagine leaving them so soon. I am going to miss them so much. I just don’t think it is going to really hit me until I am in San Diego and I can watch the ship pull away and I’m not on it, or when I am at home for a couple days, or even weeks, and realize that this journey in my life has ended and all that I am left with are the memories and experiences.

I know that this voyage is a time in my life that I will never forget. I have learned so much, in the classroom, and especially out of the classroom. This experience taught me so much about life and the world that I would have never been able to learn in the classroom back home. I got to go to an actual bull fight in Spain, trek through the Sahara Desert on a camel and sleep under the stars in Morocco, help build a house for Habitat for Humanity in Ghana, see the view from the top of Table Mountain in South Africa, see the home of the extinct Dodo bird and hike to amazing waterfalls in Mauritius, learn of the child labor situation and interact with many of these children in India, see the craziness of the shopping in Singapore, learned to bargain while in the markets of Vietnam while also visiting and climbing through the Cu Chi Tunnels, hike and sleep on the Great Wall of China in China, travel all over the city and see cars being produced in Japan, see the Pearl Harbor memorial in Hawaii, and so much more. This is the most valuable education I could have possibly gotten, because I was able to interact with all of the people in these countries and learn about their life, because they are people too and they have stories to tell.

I just hope that the rest of this shipboard community from the Fall 2010 Voyage remembers the truly amazing gift that we have been given to be able to embark on this voyage. I hope that they remember what they have just done (we just circumnavigated the globe!!) and use this experience to make a difference in the world and change it for the better. This is our time to make a difference and learn from our experiences to create a better world for tomorrow. We have been given this opportunity to sail around the world. I just hope that it isn’t taken for granted.

As sad as I am for this voyage to end, I am so excited to see my friends and family again! I miss them all so much!