The Basics

Here is the layout of my voyage:

• Jan. 9 at 10:30 I leave San Diego to go to Ensenada, Mexico to board the ship
• Jan. 15 at 8:00 I arrive in Hilo, Hawaii and depart on Jan. 16 at 20:00
• Jan. 27 at 8:00 I arrive in Yokohama, Japan and will depart out of Kobe, Japan on Jan. 31 at 20:00
• Feb. 3 at 9:00 I arrive in Shanghai, China and will depart out of Hong Kong on Feb. 8 at 20:00
• Feb. 12 at 12:30 I arrive in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and depart on Feb. 18 at 6:00
• Feb. 20 at 8:00 I arrive in Singapore, Singapore and depart on Feb. 21 at 20:00
• Feb. 25 at 8:00 I arrive in Rangoon, Burma and depart on Mar. 1 at 20:00
• Mar. 6 at 8:00 I arrive in Cochin, India and depart on Mar. 11 at 20:00
• Mar. 18 at 8:00 I arrive in Port Louis, Mauritius and depart the same day at 20:00
• Mar. 25 at 8:00 I arrive in Cape Town, South Africa and depart on Mar. 30 at 20:00
• Apr. 6 at 8:00 I arrive in Takoradi, Ghana and will depart out of Accra, Ghana on Apr. 10 at 20:00
• Apr. 18 at 8:00 I arrive in Casablanca, Morocco and will depart on Apr. 21 at 20:00
• Apr. 25 at 8:00 I arrive in Barcelona, Spain 

For those of you who don't know anything about Semester at Sea, it is basically a study abroad program that takes place on a ship (the MV Explorer) that travels to various countries.  The classes are taken on the boat using a block type of schedule where there are "A days" and "B days" and which days you have class are dependent upon which classes you take.  For me, I am taking Immigration Law, Music Cultures, Myth of the Self, and Health Promotion and Behavior, and will have one class on A day and three classes on B day. Each class has a required "Field Lab" which is basically like a field trip for a specific day that you will do an assignment for the class.
These classes weren't necessarily my first choice for classes, but I'm sure they will be just as fun and enlightening. For anyone that is planning on going on SAS my advice to you is to start early!  I made the mistake of procrastinating (which isn't surprising considering I procrastinate everything), but in doing so, I got accepted into the program maybe a day or two after the class registration opened and all of the classes I wanted to take were full. Also, if you procrastinate things like getting your passport and applying for your visas, you'll get extremely stressed that you may not get everything in time.  So my overall advice for anyone who is thinking about applying for this is to get everything done as soon as you can!
When we are on port, we can pretty much do whatever we want.  There are organized programs that you can sign up for through SAS, there are some organizations that have been used by SAS for many years, or there are things you can organize and do as independent travel.