Open Waters
Intercultural learning was a hallmark of Ricky Alexander’s non-traditional study abroad program
By Carolyn Beeler
Ricky Alexander sailed halfway around the world, spent time in eight different countries, and lived with students from 35 countries for four months. But at the end of his semester on the Scholar Ship, the most important thing Alexander learned was how to accept himself for who he is. “There’s a fine line between being proud of who you are and where you’re from and being ethnocentric and not accepting other cultures,” Alexander says. “While I was on the ship I learned that it’s okay for me to be okay with who I am.”
Alexander, a senior environmental studies and peace studies double major at Santa Clara University, spent the fall semester of his junior year on the first voyage of the Scholar Ship, a former cruise ship converted into a floating study abroad program. The ship sailed from Athens in September 2007 and docked in Lisbon, Panama City, Ecuador, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia, finally stopping in Hong Kong in December.
The 200 Scholar Ship students spent a week at each stop (with the exception of Tahiti, which was a short mid-term break after exams), where they went on field studies, visited indigenous communities, attended lectures by local professors, traveled independently, gave back through community service, or went on organized sightseeing excursions. Each student selected three ports for an intensive Academic Field Program (AFP). Alexander did one of his AFPs in Ecuador, where he visited an indigenous community to learn about their struggle to retain the right to live on their land.
Although Alexander speaks glowingly of his experiences on land, he says his time on the ship was the best part. “The eight countries drew me to the program, but it was the 200 people on the ship who made the experience,” Alexander says. “The ability to have conversations on any topic that came up, and share your knowledge from your own culture and learn from others was amazing.”
While on the ship, students took two core classes, one a survey of issues affecting the global sphere and the other a class on intercultural communication. With so many different nationalities on the ship, the communication class proved to be truly experiential learning. “The professor would throw out a topic and that would be the class—us talking about it would be the intercultural communication,” Alexander says. “It was the best possible use for the student body we had.”
Outside of class time, the ship’s staff gave the students free reign to create their own extracurricular programming. French and Arabic clubs formed, students taught dance and yoga, and Alexander was a founding member of a social justice and service club. The group organized a hunger banquet and an auction that ended up raising $14,000 for a school and nursery in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.
Alexander says he feels like he missed out on forming deep relationships with a host family, or getting to know one city as in a traditional study abroad program, but the tight bonds he formed with friends on the ship more than made up for it. He knew and trusted the other students enough to come out as gay for the first time, and he still considers the friends he made on the ship, who hail from Hong Kong, Sweden, Iran, the Caribbean, and Ghana, his best friends.
While sailing Alexander developed more nuanced views on cultural exchange in a global economy: “globalization can be a positive as long as it’s a two-way street”; and “preserving indigenous cultures is important, but cultures aren’t static, they evolve on their own.” In the end, however, Alexander’s biggest lessons came from within.
“I came on this ship to learn all about other people, but I didn’t think I had any culture myself. But I talked about different aspects of my life—about how I’m a vegetarian, how I’m Jewish—and people were interested in it. And it made me realize that I do have my own culture.”
Note: The Scholar Ship announced its indefinite suspension in June 2008, citing a lack of funding. Steps are reportedly being taken to re-organize and re-launch the program. You can visit its website for updates: www.thescholarship.com.