Wageningen Day 24-29 Allison

This week Sam and I ate lunch with Dr. Grossman. In our discussions, we talked about the independence that is expected of students here as has been brought up by several of us on this blog. He had also noticed that students we expected to handle many things on their own, where we would get detailed instruction in the U.S. I find that it is an important element of learning that we may be lacking in the U.S. We also discussed working in teams, which seems to be very common here. At first for our class, it was difficult for Sam and I to work together. We each had our own idea of how things should be, and putting that together in one project became difficult. It took some discussion before we found a way to compromise and divide up the work. It is really helpful to learn how to work in a team, and I think this could be a great improvement in the classroom activities at U of I. We are not forced to work in teams often back home, and even assignments where you are asked to work together, I have found that each member does it on his or her own, and then the pair compares answers. Competition, we have noticed, is not as heated here. I think it is a good thing that less focus is put on the individual here. These are just a few new ideas that we have been discussing lately that I wanted to mention.

The new question is: Identify 3 problems that you have had since leaving home. For each, describe in detail how you went about solving those problems or coming to a personal accommodation about the problem (for example, how did you use communication, creativity, persistence, dialog, negotiation, etc to resolve the problem?). Also, how has solving each problem impacted you since that time?

Problem 1: Traveling
We have had a hard time getting from point A to point B without some confusion nearly every time we have traveled. The first day, we got on the wrong train to get to Wageningen, we spent a whole morning trying to find our meeting point with Rene, and we spent one afternoon on the exact opposite side of town looking for a building. To solve this problem, our map did come in handy, but it turned out to lead us astray in one instance. We have found now that the best solution is to always ask someone. At first we were hesitant because we didn't want to look lost, but since we were actually lost, what did it matter. Luckily, people are always happy to help here. On the train here, people were willing to watch for our stop and two gentlemen even offered to walk us to the next platform. Also, we have used determination to find what we need. It isn't helpful to get frustrated or anxious about being lost. In the end, it is best to just keep looking. It may have taken us a long time to find that meeting place, but we did find it. I now am more familiar with what to do and what type of person to ask when this problem arises, and I am glad that we struggled a bit in the beginning because now I feel that we have more resources and knowledge to use in the future.

Problem 2: Meeting people
I have found it very difficult to meet students our own age here. Part of it is because we live with graduate students, and part of it is because we were not taking classes and did not know where to find other bachelors students. I am not trying to say that the people in our hallway or labs haven't been wonderful, because they have been good friends to us and I believe we have both made good contacts here, but it is just nice to be able to socialize with students at your same level. To solve this problem, I have had to get very creative, and I have learned that you find friends in the most unusual places. I was able to sit in on a lab course just a while back, and as I was observing, I slowly began to mingle in with the students and just started asking questions about how courses were run and such, and by the end of the class I had an invitation for dinner. It was really just a matter of opening up a conversation, and people here seem very curious as to why we are here, so doing this isn't hard. We have now been trying to put ourselves in situations where it is easy to start a conversation and have met several new people doing so. Solving this problem has opened up a new gateway into learning about Dutch culture. Before, we were able to observe, but now we are more involved in what is going on here, and I feel that I can understand better now how our cultures differ.

Problem 3: Biking
This has been a problem for me alone. I must admit that I had not been on a bicycle since I was six years old until two weeks before we left. I had never learned to ride a bike, and never thought it would ever be an issue. When I found out that this would be my main form of transportation, I panicked. I had two days of learning before I came, but I was still quite uncomfortable with riding. When we arrived, I thought that maybe I would be able to walk everywhere, and I nearly gave up on the idea that I would use a bike even if it was available, but I soon found out how spread out the campus was. Once we rented bikes, I was embarassed that I was bad at it, and I avoided riding as much as I could. To solve my problem, it was pure persistence. I really needed to forget my fear in order to get any better. I began to take the bike out by myself and ride in the country for an hour at a time. After just a few days of pushing myself to do it, I really started enjoying it. Now I can ride all over town. I have few problems left, sometimes I have trouble starting, but really, I feel pretty good about it. It was all just a matter of forcing myself to do it and ignoring everyone elses reactions.

The class is going well, and we begin observations tomorrow. I posted pictures last week of Wageningen and the physiology work I had been doing. I am sure there will be many more pictures to come after spending the next few days in the zoo.