UF student on Semester at Sea lives the ‘suite’ life

Wifi is limited. Phone service is rare. Dining rooms are turned to classrooms, and students sometimes have to be excused for seasickness.

Joshua Greenspan, a 22-year-old UF business administration senior, is spending three and a half months on a ship studying around the world.

Greenspan is the only UF student out of 590 who boarded the M.S. World Odyssey on Jan. 5 to complete their program with Semester at Sea.

“To have these experiences and to see other cultures and seeing the problems that the world is facing today, it just makes you think about life and just your new perspective,” Greenspan said.

In the month since Greenspan said he left UF, he’s been to Hawaii, Japan, China and Vietnam. His next stop is Myanmar. From there he will sail to India, Mauritius, South Africa, Ghana and Morocco.

Students generally take 12 to 15 credits and have class every day the ship is at sea, Greenspan said.

“I would be in class, and the teacher’s, like, falling over because the boats rocking so much,” Greenspan said.

When the ship docks, students have anywhere from four to six days in each country, he said. They can explore on their own or go on pre-arranged field program with Semester at Sea. Greenspan said he’s going to do both options.

In India, the country he’s looking forward to the most, he will be going on a three-night eld program that will go to Varanasi and the Taj Ma- hal, but he’ll also have two nights free to explore.

Greenspan decided to study abroad with Semester at Sea is because his older sister did the program when she was a student at UF.

Shelley Greenspan, 28 lives in Washington DC, spent Spring of 2012 traveling around the world on a ship just like her brother.

“I really wanted it to be his own experience,” Shelley Greenspan said. “I really do believe the world is your classroom. The fact that he’ll get to explore it means so much to me.”

Shelley and her younger sister, who also graduated from UF in 2015, will fly to Morocco in April to visit Joshua at his final destination of the trip.

“He has such a desire and hunger to learn about the the world, about technology, about society, that I think he is such a great candidate for a program like this,” Shelley Greenspan said.

Josh Greenspan, 22-year-old business administration senior, traveling in Kyoto, Japan, the second stop on his voyage with Semester at Sea.