The Viking Sun, a cruise ship with the capacity of 930 passengers, set sail for the company Viking Cruises with the goal of breaking the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous passenger cruise on Sunday, Aug. 31 ^st.

Starting and ending in London, England, the Viking Ultimate World Cruise will voyage to six different continents, and 111 major world cities in a record-breaking 245 days. The passengers will stay overnight in 23 destinations, allowing them to dabble into the culture of that area just a little bit more. What’s the cost? $92,990 dollars. The package (you must be 18 or older) includes meals, beer with lunch and dinner, and among other things, free Wi-Fi.

All this money being drained, and time being spent away from home got me thinking, who in the world would want to be away from home and pay $90,000 to do it?

Well me, I guess.

My name is Noah Bieniek, and I’m from Detroit, Mi. , and like many other Point Park University students, I’ll probably be paying north of $90,000 in college fees. So, what do I and 4,000 other students that attend PPU, have in common with the 930 passengers on the Viking Sun?

Besides the obvious – both of us are spending boatloads of money and away from home for a long period of time – there are other similarities. To start, the Viking Sun has their 930 passengers. I think many of the passengers will be able to create bonds with each other during their eight-month luxury vacation.

After all, they’re pretty much floating in the middle of nowhere right now, and all they see is the dry, hot, yellow sun beating down on them with a dark blue sea in front, behind and to their left and right. You would think they’ve got to pass some time and mingle with each other. Here at Point Park University, I’ve already made many new friends of different gender and age, and I’m sure many students have, too. After all, we have to share our Downtown Pittsburgh campus with somebody.

The Viking Sun also has the 111 major cities they will be seeing and learning about. Here at Point Park, there are over 70 majors offered where us students can dabble and learn about various career paths . Students then pick their major based on which career path sounds the best. Much like a passenger on the Viking Sun may have liked Sydney, Australia, the most compared to  other cities like Holyhead, Wales, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Rio de Janeiro or Brazil.

In the package that the passengers bought and the tuition that us students are paying for, we get lodging, food, Wi-Fi, and fun activities to keep us busy during the long dog days. The only advantage I think the passengers have over us is that they have a pool on the cruise ship. Let me go tweet something quick,

@Bienats77-

“Hey @PointParkU , I’ve loved most every second of my three weeks here on campus, but I’ve been a little hot in Lawrence Hall, mind if you put a pool on the 8^th floor to go alongside the laundry room? Please and thanks!”

Lastly, the Viking Sun passengers and the Pioneer students will have to say goodbye to their newfound friends when their time is up after the year. The passengers won’t live across the hall of that one funny Swedish family, and I won’t live right next door to those nice dance girls where we share our own language through knocking on the walls that separate our two rooms.

The passengers will thank their captain, floor attendant, café workers and janitors when they depart the boat. Us students will thank our teachers, Resident Educators, the employees inside the Dining Hall and those weird guys in the main lobby, that stare at you and wait for you to approach them to scan your ID as you walk into your residence hall at two in the morning.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves as both the passengers of the Viking Sun, and the students of Point Park University still have eight months to enjoy new lives, make new friendships, and create new memories and most of all just have fun.

May yinz stay safe (ha, maybe I’m using this Pittsburghese slang too soon.)