Letter to Prospective CPAS Students,

Just do it! This is a once in a lifetime experience that no one should pass up. You get to see a vast part of the world, you make scores of new friends, you create lifelong memories, and you have the time of your life.

Life on the boat is very enjoyable. School is not easy like I thought it would be. The classes are real and you probably study more on the boat than you would during a normal Cal Poly quarter. Due to the condensed schedule, you have tests what seems like every day. Though the classes aren't a walk through, they are enjoyable as you are friends with everyone in class and with the teacher. The facilities on the boat for school are great. The classrooms are decent, the computer lab is great, and the library is an awesome place to study (and nap on the super comfy couch). Myself and two buddies would go down to the library every day to nap from 1 - 3 in the afternoon. It was the best part of my day.

The food is great most nights and good on the others. They fix a wide variety of dishes. The desert is to die for. Do not plan on losing weight on the boat because you will eat enough deserts to last a lifetime. The gym is adequate and you are able to stay in shape if you go religiously. It is hard to run regularly because the treadmills are either broken, being used, or the boat is rocking too much to run. I was able to stay in good shape on the boat but it took a lot of work.

Living space in lower berthing is cramped, but it's worth it. You have enough room to store everything, but just barely. The beds are the same size as those in the staterooms. The AC works much better down there, which was an issue while we were in the tropics. The people in the staterooms could not sleep while the people in lower berthing slept great as the temperature was kept at 64 degrees. The bathroom situation is better also because you have a giant community bathroom which always had an open sink, toilet, or shower. In the staterooms I heard people complain that their bathroom was always full. If you live in lower berthing you form a very close knit group of friends that you will spend a lot of your time with. You form a lower berthing gang. After you party in port you can continue the dancing in lower berthing, another plus. The only downside I found about living in lower berthing is that if you want to relax you have to lie in your bed. There are no chairs to sit in or room to stand. My solution for this was to relax in the library reading room, which was very close by. The couches are super duper comfy in there.

In your free time you will do a lot of napping, sunbathing on the 04 deck, watching movies, and reading books. The ports are awesome, and the curfew is not really an issue. Enough said. You only live once! DO IT!