Although the voyage and our visits were all too transient, the resulting knowledge, experiences, friends and wisdom were not; far too many students are unable to say that about their undergraduate years and courses. On the Semester at Sea, every second was a minute. When we returned to the U.S., it was like we had experienced another life and been reborn--culturally, spiritually and educationally. The U.S. seemed so different: when we returned, it felt just like another port.

My courses on the ship complimented my experiences in the countries. I read books by Ngugi, Rushdi, Malan and Gordimer, among other authors from the countries we visited for my "Ethnic Literature" course. I learned of England's agreement with Hong Kong, problems of international commercial arbitration between multinational corporations and international human rights enforcement against Chinese labor in my "International Law and Problems of World Order" course.

I learned of the inhumane disparities of world development and standards of living, the problems of World Bank and IMF programs in Africa and the Green Revolution in India in my "Development Economics" course. I also listened to and learned from professors teaching other courses on the ship, ranging from "Saints East and West," "The Columbus Voyage," "International Marketing," "Women's Rights Around the World," and many others in the required course on comparative international studies. Not only did I read about the above topics in books or see them on a screen, I was there. I saw the statistics, I felt the facts, I met with international "player-actors." I experienced harmony in India.

In addition to having professors from Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Syracuse, Princeton, the London School of Economics, Oxford, Georgetown and the University of Pittsburgh, among other well-respected universities, Semester at Sea hosts several interport lectures. On my voyage last spring, our lectures were Bishop Tutu (Brazil to South Africa); Liberty Mhlanga (Cape Town to Kenya); Margaret Pusch (Nassau to Brazil) and Maria Ruiz-Merroth (Nassau to Venezuala). They spoke on everything from the farming practices of the Massai in Kenya to third world debt problems, the Gulf of Columbia-Venezuela conflict, apartheid (or Apart-Hate as Desmond Tutu prefers to call it) in South Africa and Los Angeles and world population growth. In a way, they were the equivalent of visiting professors, though they would be embarrassed to be called such a thing.

Although there were days when even Desmond Tutu was caught sleeping in class, the courses provided students with valuable pre-and post-port medical, travel, historical and cultural information on each country. There were times when the only studying done on ship was on who scored the most points in the volleyball game, but everything we did was balanced (no, there was no shuffleboard).

Whether we were hang-gliding in Rio, skydiving in South Africa, shopping in Hong Kong or singing karaoke in Japan, we were all caught crying and laughing with our new friends on the ship and the countries we visited. We learned to greet people in many different languages and we learned the responsibility we, as citizens of developed countries, have to lesser developed countries.

We also learned how to challenge our own concepts of development and accept alternative ideas of development, culture, life, death, the world, and even education.

And that is something that Harvard should recognize--not only for its worth, but for its credit.

Raymond J. Blanchard Jr. '94 spent last spring on the University of Pittsburgh's Semester at Sea Program.