Last fall, I sailed around the world in a cruise ship converted into a college campus, visiting nine countries in South America, Africa and Asia.
Semester at Sea is not your typical study-abroad program.
Venezuela: The Presidential Debate
COLORFUL CARACAS, VENEZUELA, was our first port of call, requiring nonstop use of my Spanish minor as we explored the nation’s capital.
Arriving just weeks after televangelist Pat Robertson’s incendiary remarks about President Hugo Chavez, I was curious to hear what Venezuelans thought about their current leader and Americans.
| From the Author: Join me on my trip around the world. Stops include Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Mauritius, India, Myanmar, Vietnam, China and Japan. Read my reflections on each country and watch a slideshow that includes pictures of The Great Wall of China and Mauritius, the tropical nation of which Mark Twain wrote, “You gather the idea that Mauritius was made first and then heaven, and that heaven was copied after Mauritius.” The Curio staff decided to feature Semester at Sea because the program is switching its accreditation to the University of Virginia this summer. It is my hope that as the program moves into the Valley, many more Virginia residents, both young and old, will take advantage of this one-of-a-kind opportunity. |
