Semester at Sea Administration

I’m going to write this with the hopes that they have not posted my blog on their website. Apparently they’ve found a few people’s blogs and posted them without their consent. People are not pleased. I never posted mine in the group, so hopefully mine’s not up.

As this trip progresses the administration is getting worse and worse. They literally treat us like we’re in middle school. 2 kids got kicked off in Vietnam. For decent enough reasons involving buying prescription drugs.

But they are getting bad. People are getting in trouble for the stupidest stuff. They’ll have meetings with you and draw out the entire process as though you’ve killed someone. They given so much dock time out I can’t believe it. Some people weren’t allowed off in Chennai or Cochin at all and others won’t be allowed off for an entire day in Mauritius. A few of the upper administrators have taken the words of kids and twisted them to get them into more trouble.

If you get caught being drunk, at all, you get sentenced to going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on the ship. Yes, because drinking at all makes you can alcoholic. The leader of this meeting is not a recovering alcoholic nor does he drink nor has he been affected by alcoholism. He admits he doesn’t know what he’s doing there. That doesn’t even make sense. Some people aren’t allowed to drink on the ship or even in port. Most of the people who’ve gotten in trouble are older, too. They’re not the younger students, they’re way beyond the legal age of drinking anywhere. Some of them have even graduated. They still treat them as though they’re 13.

I keep seeing what my friends are going through and it just bothers me how little respect the administration has for their students.

One girl had to have a meeting when someone overheard her talking “disrespectfully” about the process and what happened. Goodbye freedom of speech.

The ship just keeps feeling smaller and smaller. Everyone’s started being really careful about what they say and to who. Some of the teachers and LLC’s try to snoop around and get you to tell them things. It is pure ridiculousness.