When “Semester At Sea” visited Calicut, Kuttichira — a small hamlet inside the city with beach as its western border and famous for its cultural and culinary spots — stopped and stared. A colourful group of young foreigners walked through its narrow streets towards the historic Mishkal Mosque on Wednesday (November 19, 025), where Kerala’s Public Works Minister Muhammad Riyas was waiting to welcome them.

The energy, the cameras, the curiosity — it felt like Calicut had suddenly opened a window to the world.

These were not tourists, but students and professors from the iconic global study programme, Semester at Sea.

Their guide in Calicut, Dr Ajmal Mueen, a professor of history at MAMO College Manassery, called it a “semester in a ship” — a journey where students from different countries, many from America, attend lectures while sailing and then step onto land to live the lessons they learn.

“The “Semester at Sea” is a distinctive global program uniting students and professors from various countries, though the majority of participants are American. This unique cultural initiative is designed to foster “world citizens” by having participants attend lectures while sailing and undertake immersive field visits to locations ashore. The group is currently visiting the major heritage sites in Calicut,” Dr Ajmal told Timeline.

For them, Calicut is not just another pin on the map; it is a living lesson in culture, coexistence and history.

Sailing on a floating campus, they are part of the Fall 2025 voyage, travelling across Europe, Africa and Asia, with Calicut as one of their most vibrant cultural stops. From the Netherlands to France, Ghana, India and beyond, their classroom is the ocean and their textbooks are the cities and communities they visit.

At Mishkal Mosque, centuries of Malabar history met a ship full of future global citizens.