Rachel Lipko / Staff writer

Ryan broke Rachel’s heart. Or was it the other way around? She had thrown the locket he gave her at him and left him at a downtown club. For weeks after he would show up at her regular hot spot with a different girl, but just stared at her.

He would call, like clockwork, and leave messages, begging her to try and work things out. And then finally, after
weeks of pressing delete on unread text messages she finally sent one back. “Please delete my number… and me out of your life.” Though text messaging a message like that is something she deemed immature, the thought of hearing his
voice would bring her to tears.

So maybe I was a bit tough on Ryan. But nothing means more to me than holding my sanity intact and believe me, he was really trying my sanity with, what I thought, was shady antics. After the split I was a little more than down and out. It was two weeks into the spring semester and the last place I wanted to be was in Pittsburgh, where constant reminders smacked me in the face at every turn.

With my semester underway there wasn’t much I could do when it came to the thought of just leaving town for a week or two. Thoughts of how much I didn’t want to be here flooded over me and the next thing I knew I was signing a $1,000 deposit for Semester at Sea. What can I say… love makes you
do crazy things, or should I say the aftermath of love?

I had been briefly looking into Semester at Sea during the fall semester but was torn. On average the summer semesters cost around $15,500 and that’s only for 64 days. Semester at Sea does things a little differently though. They charge students based on living accommodations. So if you want your own room or you want to only live with one other roommate in a far larger suite, you’re going to be charged between $8,900 and $15,000.

The way to get around paying a lot is going for the triple and quad rooms. Those run you between $8,575 and $7,975.

But, you could do a whole fall or spring semester abroad elsewhere for about the same cost as Semester at Sea’s single room occupancy cost, and it would be for a lot longer. I wanted to immerse myself into another culture, something that Semester at Sea doesn’t offer, since the ships usually only stay in one port for 4 days max.

Then, I reasoned the cost out in my head. Let’s start from the basics; you’re going to need a passport. This cost $100 dollars after you get the pictures and applications sent out. Then of course is the trip itself. As of today, the U.S. dollar is the equivalent of $.63 in Euros, not bad for its recent dive in the market not too long ago.

After researching hotels that have only good ratings, the average hotel cost around $120 per person per night. I’m sure depending on location prices would fluctuate. But sticking with this estimated price and multiplying it by the 63 days a student would be away at sea reveals $7,560 bill for just accommodations.

A two month rail pass around Europe is averaged to cost $1,117.00 (eurotrip.com). Depending on what kind of budget you’re on past travelers have allotted $15 to $20 a day for tight budgets or $30 and up for budgets with more wiggle room. So we will go with $25 a day in food times the 63 days, or $1,575. The flight is also a place where a lot of cash is going to be dropped.

Flying out on days that yield the best prices, i.e. don’t come back on a Sunday when prices usually double and most weekend vacationers are looking to get home for their early Monday morning work day, for some students, still don’t seem like the cheapest options. Again depending on the location and the time and date prices could be close to $6,000, but on average cost between $2988 and $3221 (USAirways.com).

Finally when traveling you have to have a certain amount of money to just spend on post cards and any other kinds of memorabilia that you would like to bring back as souvenirs. I, myself, am giving myself only a $1,000 budget for semester at sea since my food and accommodations will be covered.

So after all is said and done the trip is going to cost around $13,240, and that isn’t even covering cost of education that Semester at Sea is providing or insurance. With this reasoning I’ve decided that Semester at Sea isn’t badly priced for what is offered. On the summer voyages students get their choice from 39 classes or 9 credits. With added on expense of the classes offered the price could jump from $13,240 to close to $20,000. Upfront spending $8,000 for a study abroad for such a short time can be a bit intimidating, but after rationally thinking about it and doing the math you’re getting quite a good deal.