Can’t you just Google that? And do I need plans before I even leave home?
Did your college or university have a Facebook group for accepted students? You probably posted about yourself for introductory and roommate finding purposes, sharing how you’re going in as an undecided major but love hanging out with friends or having a “chill” night in. Pretty soon you got about 50 new followers and a DM from some girl in Virginia saying you’d be PERFECT roommates. Perfect roommates. And you don’t even know her! Imagine that.
Semester at Sea will also have a Facebook group for your voyage. In the group page you can meet other voyagers, find roommates and travel buddies, ask questions, and do some preliminary trip planning. Personally, I did not have the patience or interest in the roommate scavenger hunt. I figured that most people who go on SAS are adventurous and capable of communicating and living with others. I was willing to trust the random roommate selection, but it is totally valid if you think that’s crazy.
What To Expect in the Group Page
There are a few common types of posts that you will find in the pre-voyage page. I’ve outlined seven of them below as well as a quick blurb on how each of them can be helpful or unhelpful.
Voyager Introductions
Voyagers will post a few pictures of themselves along with basic info about their college, major, interests, lifestyle, and SAS goals. These introductions are a great way to find potential travel buddies and roomates as well as to begin placing faces to names of your fellow shipmates. For example, I found a girl who was flying from the PHL airport too. While we were on different flights, we landed in Dubai at roughly the same time. We had made plans to meet up at the airport. From there, we split an Uber to our hotel! It was very helpful to have a new friend when trying to decipher “Baggage Claim” in Arabic. (And it became a lot easier when we found the English translation below).
These posts can feel a bit overwhelming and its helpful to remember that you do not have to learn the social preferences of 400 new people by tomorrow. Or even by the next day. Check out my post on how to prep for SAS while balancing your regular college semester.
Questions and Polls
Members will ask questions or pose polls such as “What’s the weather like in Kenya in January?” or “How much local currency should I order ahead of time?”. I found these questions to be helpful as they prompted me to think about aspects of travel prep that I hadn’t before.
There were a lot of repeated questions and many questions that could have been answered with a Google search (such as the average weather in a country). I also found that recommendation questions (such as “What’s the best travel water bottle to bring?” ) instigated many opinions which often opposed each other. I am not sure how helpful those were to the members who asked them.
Ideas That (Sometimes) Have a Plan
Aspirational voyagers share lofty ideas with some or no logistics. For example, a voyager might share “I really want to go cliff jumping in Croatia!” or a more specific “I am booking a cliff jumping trip in Croatia for March 10th. If anyone would like to join, it will cost $40 USD and we can pay closer to the time. Let me know if you’d be interested and I can start a group chat.”
Both are good sources of inspiration as you start to consider your own travel agendas. The former is a bit vague while the latter contributes to a slight feeling of overwhelm as other people begin to fill up their travel schedules and you haven’t even gotten your passport yet. I outline more thoughts on these types of posts below, as I found they triggered bigtime FOMO and confusion.
Joining Other Groups
Voyagers shared links to join Snapchat and GroupMe groups. Some of these included groups for girls, girls in sororities, fitness groups, people flying from Colorado, etc.
These groups are great for communication and finding smaller subgroups from the main page. It also gives a specific place to ask niche questions that may not apply to everyone in the main group.
After joining a girls Snapchat group and the pan-voyage GroupMe, I had to mute notifications so I could focus on my schoolwork and life responsibilities. I often came back to hundreds of messages regarding a very specific, irrelevant question (such as whether or not powder dry shampoo works better than an aerosol product.
Parents’ Thoughts
Parents of voyagers share questions and concerns and also connect with one another about antipcated challenges.
These posts offered much needed perspective on what its like for those who love you as you prepare to sail around the world.
While generally helpful, I found these posts could be heavily opinionated in an excessive and repetitive way, but I think that is because as a parent, your child’s safety and wellbeing is a top priority.
SAS Communications
These posts come from the team at Semester at Sea. They cover a wide variety of topics from global affairs and updates on the current voyage to reminders of deadlines and exciting announcements. They serve as helpful points of reference as you prepare for your voyage and count down to embarkation day.
The caveat is that these posts can get lost in the rest of the page. But don’t worry, the critical updates will always find a home in your email inbox, so you won’t miss out!
Making Plans Before You Even Leave Home
While I enjoyed seeing the faces of my future fellow travelers and starting to learn names, I felt a bit stressed when people started to make travel plans. I felt that groups were already forming if I didn’t join a plan (such as watching New Years fireworks from the top of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai) I was going to be left out forever and make zero friends.
FALSE. FALSE. FALSE.
Most of those early trips were filled with people who felt the same way – scared to miss out, nervous about traveling, eager to meet new people. It is easy to feel a bit of FOMO when people (yes, even strangers) are starting to make plans with one another. I even contemplated changing my flight just to get to Dubai when “everyone” else was. Many people will be solo traveling from the states and a lot of international students will be flying in from all over. Trust yourself and your travel arrangements. Chances are you will bump into a SASer in the airport or at your hotel/hostel without even planning for it! Also, most of the friends I made on SAS were not even in the Facebook page so we would have never been able to even make those plans. I discovered later on in the voyage many people who didn’t even really remain friends with the people from those initial days.
That initial friendship bond rests in the uncomfiness of a new situation. After a few weeks, SASers learn that being uncomfy is the norm and you start to make friends with people based on other connections and new shared experiences. While comforting to know you have a plan in your first country, it is absolutely not necessary to coordinate your travel or first few days with strangers (albeit future fellow voyagers) in the group communications.
Do not let my experience deter you from joining plans though. If something seems interesting and it works with your travel plans and budget, I say go for it! It can be a great way to roll into the SAS experience – meeting new people and doing cool things. I’m sure those fireworks from the Burj looked sweeeeeeet.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the Semester at Sea Pre-Voyage Facebook Page is a resource aimed to be helpful for you as you plan and prepare. If you understand it through this lens, it can be exactly that. Keep in mind that you are going to meet the members of the group in person pretty soon. Make your first impressions (even digital ones) count! Be respectful of the group. Take what is helpful for you and leave what is not.
Be sure to check out my other Semester at Sea posts to help you prepare for an awesome voyage.
Thanks for stopping by and reading 🙂
~Katherine
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