Wageningen Day 11-14 Allison

So, things have been going well here. I am very lucky to be observing in the labs. My team is very helpful besides the occasional Dutch conversation that I understand only three words of. Also, I have been able to dilute antibodies, cut tissue for slides, mix buffer, and create capillary storage tubes. The tours have been great too. They have very advanced behavior facilities and I may get to observe intestinal extraction and inversion from rats for a graduate lab practical. I am a little nervous about this though. Sam is correct though, the animal welfare systems are looked at in a different way than in the U.S. Hunting may as well be a sin according to some people I have talked to.

To answer the questions:
What did you do over the weekend? What did you find interesting? Why was it interesting?
We went into Amsterdam this weekend. We had been warned, but I would never have believed the extent of the drug and sex trades there. The city was green with marijuana and it was just sad to see what may have been a very beautiful city at one time filled with stoners. The canals were nice, and the museums were interesting, but the crowds for everything were horrible. They ruined the art experience for me. We met several other American students there, and it was nice to talk to someone who doesn't hate Americans. Even at work, they make jokes about how we as students just shoot eachother all the time. It was interesting that everyone we met was a tourist in Amsterdam. It made the city feel less like a real place, and more like a twisted Disneyworld.

Now that you have been there nearly two weeks, how has your behavior changed in your day-to-day life? What changes have you had to make to adapt to your new environment?
I can ride a bike now! I am certainly getting better at it. Also, I have been speaking differently. I knew it would happen because I pick up dilects without even realizing it, and I hope people don't think I am making fun. I really can't help it. I have also been trying to avoid asking questions about what I should be doing day to day. I think it is just expected here that you will figure it out on your own, so I have just been popping in and out and seeing different research on my own.

How have you changed the way you think or respond to eating, traveling around, your daily schedule, communicating with others?
Eating is interesting. There are no instant meals here, and it is hard to cook for one. Plus, I only know a few Dutch words now, so buying ingredients you need to make boxed things is impossible. I tried to make soup from a bag the other day and failed miserably because I just tried to make up what I thought the directions said. I was wrong. Travel is expensive. We have narrowed our travels to things we feel we must see or will die because we would both be bankrupt by the end if we didn't. I love hearing other people's opinions on travel because I now know some good places to go in the area that will be less expensive in the end. Communicating is hard sometimes because if you are the only one who doesn't know Dutch in a group, they will just leave you out to avoid using English. Most everyone speaks English, it is just getting them to use it so that you understand the jokes at coffee or the tests they are running is difficult.

What types of questions should Dr. Hurley be asking you to help you record your thoughts, observations, reflections on your international experience?
Questions relating to what we are doing specifically may help us hone in on a better way to explain it to others when we get to 199.

Things are good here. I like the laid back lifestyle and I like seeing all these tests actually being done. I have attended a few peer reviewed research presentations, but most of it is over my head. I am glad to be invited though. It is good to know what students are expected of here.

Here are a few pictures of the labs I have seen.

Taking pictures of cells:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb122/Allieolie639/DSC03686.jpg

A tent designed to measure energy intake under low oxygen conditions:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb122/Allieolie639/DSC03690.jpg

Device used for slicing tissue thin enough to place on a slide:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb122/Allieolie639/DSC03689.jpg

Mummified fetal pigs:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb122/Allieolie639/DSC03695.jpg

Hi from Dr. Hurley

I am in the blog now. Thanks Sam for reminding me how to get into this blog.

We had a great time in Taiwan last week. It is an amazing place. It was a fast-paced program that covered many of the potential parks and other activities that may become part of a broader summer biodiversity program over there. I have probably over 800 pictures. I will try to post some of those later on either on this blog or my other one. I feel confident that we can set up a great 4-5 week program for next summer. There are still a number of issues to be settled first.

Nancy just sent you the last set of reflection questions that I had written up before I left for Taiwan. Now is a good time for you to give me feedback on the types of questions you find most useful. You are continuing to learn and change as the summer progresses, so I do not want to keep asking you exactly the same questions if they are not appropriate. Give me your thoughts and suggestions and I will come up with more reflection questions to guide your blog responses. As always, you are welcome to include anything else that you want in your blogs.

Good luck.

Dr. Hurley

Wageningen Week 2 Sam

What did you do over the weekend? What did you find interesting? Why was it interesting?

We went into Amsterdam for the weekend and the city in itself is beyond interesting. Two uncommon things that are legal: marijuana and prostitution (but not on the streets at all, in windows and shops). However, I could not nearly expect the abundance it came in, it is all over most of the city. Many parts were very sad to see, especially the people living their lives through smoking marijuana all day or making money through starting prostitution at a legal age of 14. The city was an experience because it is nothing something you really believe exists in its entirety until you actually see it. However, the trip was very positive, there are many museums, we visited Van Gogh and the Anne Frank House and there were also canals throughout the entire city. Overall, the experience made me really recognize many realizations about cultures that exist differently from our own.

Now that you have been there nearly two weeks, how has your behavior changed in your day-to-day life? What changes have you had to make to adapt to your new environment?

I have made many changes in my day-to-day routine. I have been getting up and working a full, long day at the hatchery for the aquaculture department. They take 15 minute coffee breaks frequently and relaxed lunches. Yet I’m many times exhausted after working hard most of the day and a trip to the grocery store every few days has become habit since I can only carry limited amounts of food back at a time and there is limited space in the refrigerator. Other than that, trying to journal about everything I’ve experienced each night has helped me keep everyone from home up to date.

How have you changed the way you think or respond to eating, traveling around, your daily schedule, communicating with others?

From reading other’s blogs, I agree that the food is definitely much different! Meat is entirely different here, but fortunately I do not run into much of a problem because I do not each much meat at all. I have been able to make many of the dinners I made at my apartment throughout the year, so I don’t feel my eating habits have needed to shift much. It’s hard to try and make new things though, since all the directions are in Dutch! It’s also at times quite the guessing game when grocery shopping, yet fellow shoppers and workers are friendly if you ask.

Travel: I love that everyone bikes! I actually love my bike so much that I decided to get adventurous and take a nice ride out in the country last week. Yet leave it to me to get entirely lost and end up a good 10 miles outside of Wageningen. When I finally realized I was way lost, I asked a nice farmer who was outside which direction Wageningen was in, he looked shocked and said it was very far, I laughed knowing it was, yet he pointed me the right way. I eventually made it home about 3 hours later, good work out!

Communication: I have barely come across any language barrier in Wageningen, merely elderly people, accents have not been a problem with students from all over the world. Funny part, we met a British soccer team this past weekend in Amsterdam and they were by far the hardest to understand of everyone I’ve met! Go figure, we speak the same language and have a harder time communicating than with people who speak English as a second language. I found this funny, yet I wasn’t surprised, seeing as though I at times have a hard time understanding my family from England as well.

What types of questions should Dr. Hurley be asking you to help you record your thoughts, observations, reflections on your international experience?

I think questions pertaining to how our experiences working and at the University differ from those at home will help when reflecting back to develop a learning module next semester about this program. I know a constant theme I have been continually recognizing is animal welfare, mainly concerning the conditions respective countries keep their animals it. I feel as this might be an interesting comparison across several countries, because I have noticed extreme differences throughout my travels.

Are there any other observations or reflections or concerns that you would like to share?

I am really enjoying my time here so far. I especially love my work in the hatchery and I have been fortunate enough to help with research for two different government funded projects as well as start on my own today. It has been a remarkable experience thus far.