Semester at Sea Changed Her Life

For Semester at Sea’s first-ever trip to Bulgaria, alumna Kelly Adams-Smith visited the ship addressing the voyage community as its diplomatic lecturer for Bulgaria.

Adams-Smith, who is the economic and political deputy counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, credits her time on Semester at Sea with putting her on the path toward her work in the foreign service.

“Semester at Sea changed the course and direction of my life," she told gathered students and faculty before a talk about Bulgaria. My life is what it is now because of my experience on Semester at Sea.”

Adams-Smith has worked for the state department for 12 years serving in Washington, Moscow, Estonia and now in Bulgaria. She majored in Russian in college and then Russian and East European studies in graduate school because of her SAS experience.

Following her talk on Bulgaria, Adams-Smith spent more than an hour meeting in small groups with students interested in foreign service work, attending an SAS-organized tour on human-trafficking with students, and dining with them on the ship.

“She is a real inspiration and I got so much from hearing her speak about her career,” one student said.

Hear more about Adams-Smith’s life-changing experience on her Fall 1988 voyage on Semester at Sea’s YouTube Channel. Just click on either of the photos to get to the website.