You are doing what?

Anyone who has been around us for almost the past two years has heard so much about what we are doing, and why, that I am sure most of you will want to stop reading right now.

For the less than 1% of our friends, colleagues, and family who we haven't bored to tears by talking about our plans, here's the brief background:

Semester at Sea is a comparative, undergraduate study abroad program offered by the non-profit Institute for Shipboard Education, with academic sponsorship from the University of Virginia. Since the academic program uses UVA library resources (both on the ship and online) throughout the voyage, they take a UVA librarian each semester. Many UVA librarians line up for this opportunity, and the planets aligned for me to go this coming spring. 

Since it is a learning community with people of all ages in addition to college-age students, faculty are allowed to bring family members. It took some creativity, but my husband (known here as Sr) and nine-year-old son (Jr) will be sailing with me. Last I checked, my dad (Grandpa) is scrambling to get his life organized enough to come along as a Lifelong Learner, too. Especially for Grandpa, but really for all of us, I'll believe we are really going when we are standing on the deck sailing out of the first port. 

I have been meeting students, faculty, and staff who will be sailing with us both in person and online for the past few months. Everyone says ours will be the best voyage ever. If you are still reading at this point, you can see the details of who, where, and when on the SAS site:

http://www.semesteratsea.org/voyages/spring-2013/