2016 Summer, May Term

Korbin Bordonie: Post 1

Korbin Bordonie H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Week one After I stepped off the bus into the city of my new home earlier this week, I noticed things were a lot different in Spain. Along with the extremely fast language they speak in Spain, something as small as the layout of their grid of the city is different. This first week I found myself pulling out my phone quite a bit after I got lost a few times to check my GPS. The grid of the city is set out however it fell hundreds of years ago. […]

2016 Summer, May Term

Nick Browning: Post 1

Nick Browning H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 My First Week Back I have been lucky enough to be able to return to Alcalá de Henares for the second time during my career at Hampden-Sydney. We are lucky that we are able to return to the historic town and study at one of the oldest universities in Spain: La Universidad de Alcalá de Henares. When I came back, I felt like I never left. The town hasn’t changed at all over the past two years, and with laws in place that maintain the historic feel, I don’t see […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 8

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Neptune Day is a historic maritime tradition. The transformation from pollywogs to shellbacks. This tradition takes place after you cross the equator for the first time aboard a ship. The MV World Odyssey has adapted this tradition to include the tradition of sailors shaving their heads after crossing the equator and being accepted into King Neptune’s court. The ceremony of King Neptune’s court consisted of our ship’s captain, Captain Kostas painting himself green, wearing a Santa beard, and being dressed in traditional ancient Greek regalia. A sailor first started the process of being […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 7

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 “O, to die in Cape Town”, said Andy Pringle, the 89 year old gentleman sailing around the world with his family. The MV World Odyssey docked in Cape Town on March 15th 2016. This was the most westernized port we had been to in a very long time. It felt like your typical United States city with its own African flare.  Cape Town is a city where it was easy to find something to do; between exploring the V&A waterfront which was full of local musicians and western chain stores, to hiking table […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 6

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 The country of Myanmar is a beautiful country that has much more to offer than expected. The MV World Odyssey arrived in the industrial port an hour and a half south of the former capitol city Yangon on February 18th 2016. We first got off the ship and boarded a shuttle that would take us into the city center of Yangon. While on the shuttle bus you can see a wide variety of sights. You can see the elegant gold pagodas that litter the country side, back dropped by extreme poverty. You can […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 5

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 On February 9th, 2016 the MV World Odyssey arrived in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam. We arrived a day later than scheduled due to extreme weather conditions on the Saigon River. Vietnam was a fantastic country. The weather was hot. When we arrived it was 91 degrees Fahrenheit. This was so comfortable after the two weeks of winter we experienced in Japan and China. As we sailed up the Saigon River to get to the Ho Chi Minh City port we saw brown, murky water under us and on either side of the […]

2015 Summer

Timothy Morgan: Studying French in Senegal

Timothy Morgan Summer 2015 Reflecting on my Summer in Dakar… I am a person who craves the non-typical; anything I can find that will set me apart from the crowd. I think that’s what attracted me to something like Dakar, Senegal, a country and region which had been far from my mind, despite all my college-level French classes. Browsing the options, for an experience abroad through which I could improve my French speaking ability, I submitted my application for the Washington University in St. Louis Summer session in Senegal along with several other applications for various places, and didn’t have […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 4

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 We first landed in Shanghai China on January 31st 2016. This was my first opportunity to explore the great expanses of China. The ship originally would be docked in Shanghai for two days then travel from Shanghai to Hong Kong and that is where I would meet up with the ship again. I traveled on the first day to the Jade Buddha Pagoda in Shanghai. This was an entertaining two hour walk from the ship with several friends. When we arrived at the Buddha it was an incredible experience to see the craftsmanship […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 3

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 After 12 days aboard the MV World Odyssey, everyone was getting a little cabin fever. It was a thankful sight to see the shores of Japan. We first docked in the port of Yokohama. Then after two days in Yokohama, the ship sailed to the port of Kobe. When we first arrived in Yokohama we had a welcoming party of traditional Japanese drummers. Outside of my window on the ship there was a Ferris wheel that also doubles as the world’s largest clock. Then when we arrived in Kobe, we were greeted by […]

2016 Spring

Michael Willis: Post 2

Michael Willis Semester at Sea Spring 2016 I am studying abroad with the Semester at Sea program, academically sponsored by the University of Virginia. Thus, I am not in one single country for the duration of my study abroad experience. I will be traveling to Honolulu Hawaii, Yokohama Japan, Kobe Japan, Shanghai China, Hong Kong, Ho Chi Min City Vietnam, Rangoon Myanmar, Cochin India, Port Louis Mauritius, Cape Town South Africa, Takoradi and Tema Ghana. We travel to these countries aboard the ship MV World Odyssey, formerly the MS Deutschland. The ship is a very luxurious, thousand person, cruise ship […]