Today I wore my Semester at Sea t-shirt. It's quite the conversation piece; not only does it motivate people to ask me about the places we'd docked in listed on the back (Athens, Cadiz, Oslo, St. Petersburg, Antwerp, Casablanca, Naples, Alexandria, and Istanbul), and then let me talk about the other places in the countries that I'd gone to visit, but countless times a person has seen the big "Semester at Sea" on the street, or in line at the Smithsonian, or in line (today) at the MARTA card purchase office and also in an excited voice told me they'd also done SAS. The girl I met today had also done a summer voyage. I saw in her eyes the remembrance of a shared experience that you couldn't understand unless you had gone through it. I guess having done Semester at Sea, you are in a special fraternity for life.
I remember the first day I ever wore the shirt. I went on a field excursion to an orphanage in Alexandria, Egypt. There was a little girl there with whom I was sat down for a while with and played building blocks. I would building something, then she would knock it down and giggle. I later put headphones on her and played the soundtrack of The Little Mermaid for her. Even though she couldn't of understood the words, she put on the purest smile I've ever seen on a child; everyone was taking pictures of her and her happiness. The memory of that morning even now is bringing a smile to my face. This was in 2001; the girl is probably a teenager at this point in time. I think about her now and hope that she's happy. I think about her now and I miss her.
By the way, what was I doing with The Little Mermaid? Yah, that's what this good-looking girl asked me with a raised eyebrow. I sort of started explaining something but then let my voice trail off....and then walked away...
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