Three courses. Four months. Ten countries.
Magnolia O’Brien, a junior at St. Joseph’s University, New York’s Brooklyn Campus, spent her fall semester immersed in a world of cultures while participating in the Semester at Sea program.
O’Brien, a hospitality and tourism management major, had the chance to study abroad while exploring Belgium, Spain, Malta, Greece, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Mauritius, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.
“I wanted to experience new cultures,” the Rhode Island native said. “I also just wanted to have an opportunity to travel outside of the country, as this was my first time leaving the United States. With Semester at Sea, I was able to experience so many different cultures because of how different the countries we visited were.”
Studying Abroad
While traveling around the globe, O’Brien immersed herself in courses about food and society, culinary tourism and hospitality management, and international literature.
“My favorite course was Culinary Tourism and Hospitality Management,” O’Brien, 21, said. “I loved that it brought together two interests of mine within my major. Culinary tourism is huge in travel, and being able to experience it while taking this class enhanced the information I was learning.
“Each course in the program has a field class, which is a class that takes place in one of the ports. For this class, we learned how to make paella, along with other traditional Spanish dishes, while in Barcelona,” she explained.
Although every place she traveled to holds special memories, there are two destinations that stand out to O’Brien.
“Cape Town was beautiful, and it was also an unplanned port,” she said. “Ho Chi Minh City had a culture that I had not experienced before. Also, Vietnamese food is amazing!”
In addition to all the new places she got to see, O’Brien said her favorite part of the trip was all the new people she met while on the ship.
“By living on a ship for four months, I was able to connect with people quickly and find amazing people to travel with,” she said.
Overall, O’Brien definitely recommends a global studies trip to anyone considering it.
“Semester at Sea or not, studying abroad was an amazing experience to gain new perspectives, meet new people and make amazing memories,” she said.
Check out some of her pictures from the trip:
