Alumni Ball!

Well, tonight was the alumni ball, and that unofficially signifies the end of Semester At Sea.

I’ve got to say I am a different person because of it. Three and a half months ago I would have just read over an email that may be my next adventure. Friday (Yes, this Friday, as weird as it sounds and as far away as it seems) I have an interview with Encompass Technologies. This internship has the potential to send me to China for the summer. Instead of just reading it like I would have three point five months ago, I not only read it and applied for it, but emailed my professor, my career advisor, my parents and my best friend completely exhilarated for the opportunity.

It is crazy to me to think that in like a month I could be back in China, a place I pretty much fell in love with during my short week there. The thing is, this is a huge change in the eyes of everyone, but I’ve seen bigger, ground shaking changes with people on this trip. There is this one kid, I’ll leave his name out, but when I met this kid, I wanted nothing to do with him. But now he is by no means the same kid he was when he joined the shipboard community with a group called the Ft Lauderdale Crew, a group of kids who barely made the trip because of some issues with visas. He is completely different. When he got on the ship, he was a self-centered, completely messed up in the head jackass. But, this trip has made him a lot different. He still has some of his jackass qualities, but that’s part of his charm. Tonight, he really cared about everyone, shared everything he had, and was an all-around great guy.  Its these changes that I will take away from this trip. I went all over the world! But I don’t think it wouldn’t have been the same without the people I was with.

I decided the other day that I don’t want to leave the ship with any bad blood. I apologized for some stupid stuff that I probably shouldn’t have, but that’s the guy I want to be remembered as. I try to be the realest person I can, 100% of the time.

I’ve had the time of my life on this trip, and I can’t wait until I have the opportunity to have my next adventure, to set up my next blog, and to share with everyone everything I’m doing.

It has been one hell of a semester, and I can’t wait to get back with my friends and family, but the journey with the friends I’ve met this semester is only starting.

 

Much Love- Denver in 3 days!

Matt Schnitzler