Wageningen Week 7 Sam

I cannot believe my time here in Wageningen has gone by so quickly and that the end is so near. We finished up the Animal Behavior and Environment course last week with our 10 minute presentations of the reports of our data that we analyzed and wrote in the span on 3 days beforehand. The presentations went really well, it was very interesting to see how the research turned out for each group in our class. Our presentation was voted to be one of the best by the students, we were quite pleased that they enjoyed it. The experience overall was very positive, I believe I learned a lot, not only in terms of course material but also about group work, research analysis methods as well as all about several international students.

There were several specific instances in the course that I found really interesting. For example, the day after we finished our observations, we were sitting in lecture to learn about the expectations of our reports. After our professor, Paul Koene, explained that the report was expected to be at least 10 pages in length, without the references or appendices, a girl raised her hand and said, “10 pages in 3 days, that’s impossible, I cannot do that.” Allison and I just kind of looked at each other in awe and in shock. Neither of us could ever imagine speaking out in that way to a professor. We think of it in terms of if a professor says jump, you jump, never do you question something like that. The professor answered in a very well mannered way, explaining that we did indeed have several pages complete already from all of the pre-observation reports we completed and that much of this space includes graphs and charts. It really wasn’t that much to expect, even for us. We mentioned this Rene later in the week and he felt it was something worthwhile and interesting to mention here.

Another point concerns plagiarism. I believe we mentioned before about how the topic was fairly lightly touched on at the beginning of the course, yet I still could not believe people really would do that. Yet the professor did mention that there were a few groups he needed to speak with about it before handing in our reports. We also noticed that even in the presentations we gave earlier in the course, there was only 1 other group that cited all of their information in the presentation. Again, very surprising for us. This topic came up once more when we were helping edit a Polish friend of ours thesis paper, mainly for grammar and word choice at times. I was discussing it with her, not that she had at it, yet she said it really does not matter at all in Poland. I found this all strange since the topic has been beyond enforced to me since I learned to write.

Allison did mention that this course was very different from a typical course here at Wageningen, which is very true from speaking with other students. Yet I believe it is really important that these opportunities are offered. I communicated further with the professor after we finished the course about what the purpose of our particular program is. He was curious if it was to help input a similar course at UIUC. I explained that we do not have the resource of a zoo within 2 hours of campus, but that I hope the ideals of the course structure are influential on professors approaches to their courses. I know this past Spring we (students from ANSC 199, the course where you reflect on your abroad experience) completed an international study campus wide teaching retreat where we were able to speak with professors as well as other influences from campus about our experiences. I know this helped many people that attended and also helped complete our goal of spreading and expanding international experience.

I have I think evidently found how valuable studying abroad can be, which is why it has become a slight addiction that I enjoy so much. I am very pleased to see that the other students are also gaining so much from this experience. I have never known someone to come back from studying abroad and have a negative overall experience. Sure you will face challenges as you are immersed in a different culture, yet I believe we all emerge as different and better people at that.

There were several objectives and aims that I have interpreted for the program. They include; experiencing a different educational system, learning from the differences and differentiating them from our own system, meeting international students and learning about their experiences as well as learning some new material. The intent of completing the objectives and aims listed above fall in sync with the ultimate goal and hope to further internationalize our own Animal Sciences program. Through taking the course and helping with research, we have all been able to easily recognize how beneficial applied learning can be. We have also noticed there is much more group work with a cooperative effort, which helped Allison and I not only learn the material more thoroughly, but much more about ourselves. We do not do much group work at all in most of our courses, therefore we honestly found it very difficult in the beginning to collaborate our ideas. Ultimately, I do not feel my experience here could have been more complete in filling those aims and goals, along with so much more.

Aside from the Netherlands, we did take a lovely trip to Berlin, which I really enjoyed. I feel Allison really accurately described how we both felt about the city, so much history within such a big city. It was nothing like any city I have ever visited and the tours we went on gave us the opportunity to really meet and spend the day with so many different people. The trip also really made me think, as much as we know it all happened, it really hits you that it was not that long ago at all, when you see so many recent pictures. You also constantly think how terrible it all was, how could people ever actually go along with that happening? Yet it made me realize, we are doing nearly the exact same thing, only its happening in Darfur. Yes, in a smaller scale than the Holocaust, but many similarities exist. The sad part is when it is not thrown right in our faces, we fail to realize how big the problem is or was. It’s just hard to process, that no matter how much you feel you know or try to do, there’s always more to be done, more people that need to be helped. I think those were some of the most important realizations I grasped from the weekend.

Wageningen Allison Day 41-48

It has been too long since I last posted, but we have been very busy since the beginning of last week.

After many hours in the computer labs, we were able to complete our analysis work for the course. I was pleased with the results we extracted from our data. It showed that the infant we were monitoring was spending more than half the time with its mother. Also, even after only 5 days of observation, I really felt that we were able to assess the situation and make positive recommendations for the zoo.

On Wednesday, we presented our work to the class as well as to the professors and zoo staff. Our presentation was ten minutes long, and in that time we had to squeeze in everything we discovered about our macaques as well as all the analysis from our data. We both know we speak too fast, so toning it down was difficult. People seemed to like our presentation, however, because they voted us in the top three. We didn't want that to happen though because we know this class was more important to other people. We did make some friends in the class, and it was nice to be able to hear their perspective on things. I realize that the class we took was not stereotypical of classes here, but I am glad we did it.

This weekend, we decided to go to Berlin. I am so glad we did because the trip was very spur of the moment. Berlin was absolutely phenomenal. The city is so rich with history, and we met amazing people from all over the world. My mother was worried about me traveling to Germany after the G8 riots, but honestly, I can say that I felt safer there than I do in New York or Chicago sometimes.

What I thought was most interesting about Berlin is that it is such a mixture of old and new. Because of all the bombings and such, Berlin has been rebuilt over and over again. Even the buildings that look old most of the time have been rebuilt.

We took several walking tours put on by the New Berlin Tours company. They really do a wonderful job, and I don't feel as if we would have gotten as much out of what we did if we had just walked around by ourselves all the time. We took their tour into a nearby town to visit the concentration camp there. It was really incredible the difference it makes actually seeing it. You read about it in text books, but standing in the middle of it can not be replaced. Sure, it wasn't the happiest tour, but I am very glad we took the time out to do that.

We met great people traveling Europe as well. Most of those individuals were very free thinkers, so it didn't matter to them that we were American. We only had a couple cases where we felt Anti-Americanism, but after talking with those people for awhile, I feel that they also realized that people are people. We may not have changed their opinions of America, but maybe they have a better understanding from our side.

Overall, I would say that Berlin is one of the most interesting cities I have ever visited. I would love to go back someday.

This week, Sam and I are back in the labs. I start tomorrow helping with assays. Only a week and a half until we are done with the program. It has really been a worthwhile experience, and I have noticed changes in myself that I know may not have come otherwise.