Semester at Sea can provide a possibility to develop your awareness

How will your Semester at Sea voyage create (or enhance) your personal global perspective? Highlight your discussion by referencing at least one country on your itinerary and by explaining how your time there will further develop your awareness.

Semester at Sea Application Essay

The first time I went out of the country I was a young 8 years old. My family took a vacation on a cruise ship to the Bahamas and that experience completely changed my view of the world. Growing up you always hear about different countries and how they are different from where you live, but you can never fully understand it unless it's experienced first-hand. I, as a citizen of the U.S, would love to experience what life is like for people who live outside of America. Seeing the different places people grow up will really help widen my global perspective.

Semester at Sea is the perfect opportunity to view a whole lot of the world in a short amount of time while being educated on each and every country that is visited. One of the areas that I am most excited for is Africa, specifically Cape Town. I've always had images in my head of Africa; poor, starving children who have to walk 5 miles just to get water from a river that is most likely not clean. After doing some research, I've found that this city, and many others, is not what I pictured at all. In fact, it's actually quite the opposite. From Table Mountain, to Clifton Beach, to industrialized cities, Cape Town has a lot to offer. Not only to residents but to tourists as well.

Expanding my knowledge of the world is extremely important to me because I know there is so much more out there than what I have experienced so far in life. Being able to see the world while still getting an education is a once in a lifetime opportunity and I know that it will really change my view on the world.

I've always been big on adventures, so hearing about this opportunity made my heart skip a couple beats. 11 countries and 14 cities in just 106 days? If you asked me before now, I would have told you that it would be impossible to learn and experience the culture and gain important information in creating a real experience. But I know now that with the right educators they are able to make it possible and create an experience of a lifetime all while broadening mine and others global perspectives.

These are some of the main ideas that I want to include in my essay, although I'm not the best at placement and would love to have suggestions? Thanks!

Emma, the reviewer isn't going to believe that you had a global perspective of the world at the age of 8. Specially since you were traveling on a cruise ship with your parents. Now, had you said that your parents were missionaries who traveled the world with you and had you helping them with their evangelical work at that age, then maybe you could convince the reviewer that you could have developed a world point of view at that age. Try to represent a general world view that you may have developed through the influence of your diverse set of classmates at school, the influence of cable television, or a developing interest in world politics instead. That way, you will represent a more believable angle as to why you may have developed a particular view of the world, or one country in particular. Your description of your interest in South Africa needs to have a more personal angle to it. The way it reads at the moment, it makes it seem like you only have a textbook interest, instead of a cultural and diversified interest in visiting the country. You should make the reference more believable by discussing what influenced your point of view in particular about that country. Specifically, how and why you developed the image of an impoverished country in your ming.