SAN DIEGO (CBS 8) - Hundreds of college students set off Wednesday on the adventure of a lifetime. They gathered in San Diego for the start of the Semester at Sea program.
More than 600 college students from around the world said goodbye to the life they've known to spend the next four months going to college on a ship.
"I'm so pumped. I've been waiting for this since sixth grade," one student said.
These students won't just learn about different countries, they'll stop there to experience them first hand.
"It offers them a wonderful opportunity to compare countries all over the world from various disciplines, whether it's religion or politics or literature. It's a wonderful comparative education," Marjorie Seawell of the Semester at Sea Board of Directors said.
It's called Semester at Sea, but it starts with a bus ride to Ensenada where they'll board the boat, with stops in Hawaii, Japan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Burma, India, South Africa, Namibia and Morocco before ending in London on April 29.
"It's the most unique way to see the world and understand why we all need to get together and live together and figure out world peace by getting to know other cultures," Semester at Sea alumnus Nancy Reid said.
Professors on board are from Harvard, Yale and University of San Diego. The students are here to learn -- not rock the boat. But a Semester at Sea 10 years ago shows students can get an unexpected education, taught by Mother Nature. Fifty-foot waves off Alaska tossed just about everything that wasn't nailed down.
The students this time around are from 286 colleges and universities around the world, including 20 from USD.