Semester at Sea Atlantic or west across the Pacific, visiting from 10 to 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America. The program previously had voyages that would sail through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal, but due to piracy concerns in the Gulf of Aden, voyages now typically travel around Africa. For many years, ISE hosted a shorter 65-day Semester at Sea program in the summer that concentrated on one general region of the world. In May 2011, Semester at Sea introduced a new short-term or Maymester voyage with a curriculum focused on the UN Millennium Development Goals. These
Catholic Church in Europe Italians, Poles, Portuguese, and Spaniards) to continents such as the Americas and Australia. Furthermore, Catholicism has been spread outside Europe through both historical Catholic missionary activity, especially in Latin America, and the past colonization and conversion of native people by Catholic European countries, specifically the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Belgian colonial empire, in regions such as South America, the Caribbean, Central Africa and West Africa, and Southeast Asia. As the Vatican State is a theocracy, it cannot become a member of the European Union. However, traditionally there are very strong ties of the Holy See with the neighbor country of