Back to the U.S.A.

This is it, I've made it all the way around the world! Tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. PST or 11 a.m. EST, the Explorer will be docking in San Diego. Out of the past two and a half weeks, except for one day for our stop in Hilo, Hawaii, I have been on the ship crossing the Pacific Ocean. The time has been filled finishing up classes and final exams. It’s really hard to believe that it is all over. SAS is definitely the best and hardest thing that I have done in my life. Currently, there are a lot of mixed emotions because tomorrow when we arrive it will feel like we are in another port but instead we are getting off the ship never to return again with the ship moving on to some other location without us. I am truly grateful to have had this opportunity to travel around the world and being apart of this amazing community of people. The hardest part tomorrow will be leaving everyone and everything that we have come accustomed to in our life over the past four months. It’s something that would be difficult for an outsider to understand. This includes ship life, friends who we’ve experienced so much with, amazing faculty members that have taught us so much, and the chance to see and learn something new everyday. I believe a major benefit of this journey has been how we are so shut off from our home lives (Facebook, Twitter, News, Cell Phones, etc.) and we can escape from the Internet and completely focus where we are right now. That is something that will be with me forever; how to be in the present and truly immerse yourself in something. Together we have all done so much and it’s hard to believe just how far we’ve traveled since the day we stepped on the ship in Nassau, Bahamas on Jan. 19. For now, that’s all I have. I look forward to speaking and sharing with anyone about this EPIC voyage around the world. I want to thank everyone who has kept up and read along the journey. It has been fun trying to keep everyone informed of what I’ve been up to so I hope everyone enjoyed it.

 

U.S.A. tomorrow, U.S.A. tomorrow, U.S.A. tomorrow after 110 days out of the country. It’s the longest I have ever been away from the States so it will be interesting. I look forward to hearing from everyone as I’m back in contact tomorrow. I’ll sign off with this quote from Dr. Seuss:

 

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

 

I’m forever grateful to call myself a member on the Spring 2012 Voyage of Semester at Sea, it’s been an amazing ride!