Wageningen Day 7 Sam

What did you do over the weekend?

We went out the city of Utrecht, which is much bigger than Wageningen and it has streets and streets of stores. It was very crowded due to the huge open markets they have on Saturday and it reminded me of New York City markets and shopping in a sense. On Sunday, we spent all day at the Apenhaul Monkey Reserve.

What did you experience over the weekend that you found especially interesting? Why was it interesting?

I found the monkey reserve especially interesting because I have never been to another facility like it. Apenhaul had over 20 different types of monkeys, most free roaming throughout a huge park. So as you walked, you could look up and see monkey’s hanging out above your head or within an arm’s reach, I really enjoyed it. It gave the monkeys a ton of space and with very few fences or cages, it felt like it was a much more humane approach to keeping monkeys.

What did you experience over the weekend that you found especially negative? Why was it negative?

We found that a few towns over might be longer bus rides than we could have imagined. We probably spent a good 8 hours in transit between Saturday and Sunday on buses to and from what seemed to be ‘close towns.’ Many times the bus drivers did not speak English, therefore there was a bit of a language barrier and we may have lost some money on bus fares over it. Yet, we are learning the bus system as we go.

What have your learned to date about the work you will be doing while there?

We know we are signed up for a 4 week Animal Behavior course that runs throughout June. I am very excited for this course, we will pick our preferred select animals to study soon and find out which animal we get when the course starts to complete the project on. I will be helping with PhD thesis work before and after this class begins and ends. I am excited to be learning about Miriam Schutter’s thesis, which is based on the influence of abiotic factors on growth and morphology of scleractinian corals in aquarium systems.

Viborg Day 6 Alanna

How are you feeling about being away from home?

I feel fine being away from home. I’m usually not home during the summer so this is not out of the ordinary. There are a few things I miss at home though, namely food, family, and friends but I know it will all be there when I get back. The Nørresø Kollegium, our housing facility, is very much a community and every Wednesday we eat dinner together. The students here are friendly and very welcomining, which makes our stay more enjoyable.

How are you feeling about being where you are located now?

Although Viborg is a small town, it has much to offer. The center of the town is filled with small shopping and grocery stores. I enjoy the beautiful scenery and slow paced lifestyle of Viborg. I can finally relax a bit.

What have you had to do to adapt to living and working there? How are you coping with those changes in your day-to-day behavior?

There were a few things I had to adapt to living in Viborg. As silly as this may sound I had to seriously practice riding a bike. I usually depend on a car or walking, but here in Viborg a bike is an everyday part of life. The hardest thing out here is finding cheap food. Food here is expensive and the quanities are small. Learning how to conserve your money and how to spend it wisely is key. At work the only thing I had to adapt to was the coffee breaks and a foreign keyboard. I’m not use to having two breaks in the middle of a workday. Their concept of the coffee break is NICE. Not only do you get to converse with co-workers otherwise not seen, but you also get to take a break from the mayhem of science. I finally got use to the keyboards as well. There are extra letters and symbols on the keyboards here. It’s a bit difficult to navigate. With some time and practice though, it's easy to master the Danish keyboard.

Is there anything knowledge that you would like to contribute to our program’s Survival Handbook for that country.

I recommend bringing food from home. Food here is expensive and sometimes the grocery stores are closed when you least expect it.

Wageningen Day 4-6 Allison

We have worked our way up to getting around town fairly well now. We have also met some of the professors and students that we will be working with while we are here. I am excited now because I talked to a couple students who had taken the behavior course that we will be taking, and they each said that it was a great course. This weekend we traveled around the area to Utrecht for the open markets and to Apeldoorn to the monkey reserve, which was very fun.

To answer the questions:

How are you feeling about being away from home?

I am feeling fine still. It is alittle hard not seeing my boyfriend everyday, but I would recommend Skype to anyone traveling abroad because it is very easy to use and it is free. I ahve spoken with both my parents over it now and they seem to like it also. I have not felt homesick at all, and that may be because everyone is so nice here and we are making friends fast.

How are you feeling about being where you are located now?

Wageningen is very small, which is nice for getting around. Everything is so close. Also, everything is very green and they seem to really try to take care of the environment. Very few cars are on the roads, and there is nearly no garbage in the streets. I enjoy it here.

What have you had to do to adapt to living/working there? How are you coping with those changes in your day-to-day behavior?

My biggest adaptation has been riding a bike everywhere. I am so used to walking or driving places. We have started riding a little further each day, which helps me get used to it. The bikes are also bigger and more upright here, which was a change. I still like to walk though, which is fine because Zodiac and the centrum are so close to us.

Is there anything knowledge that you would like to contribute to our program’s Survival Handbook for that country

A new contribution may be to be familiar with some common Dutch phrases because people like to say hello to you, and many of the bus drivers to not speak English. I am still quite confused about the bus ticket system here, and I am afraid that it may have cost us some extra money because we did not understand what they were trying to tell us.

Other than that, up to Monday, we haven't really started our lab work, so we have just been getting other small errands done throughout the day and exploring the town more.