Viborg Day 7 Alanna

What did you do over the weekend?

Jess and I attended a concert on Saturday called Viborg Rocker with some students from the Kollegium. The Viborg Rocker is a small festival/carnival in the center of Viborg where Danish rock bands come to play. Later in the evening we attended a dinner party at the Kollegium to get to know more people over some great food.

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

I thought the Viborg Rocker was especially interesting this weekend. The music was what really shocked me. What we found popular in the late 80s/early 90s has made a comeback in Denmark. I don’t think the music here would fly at home.

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

On Sunday Jess and I decided to take a bike ride out to Foulum. We wanted to see where it was and how long it would take us to bike to work. We shortly discovered that on our way to Foulum the bike paths cut off midway and merges in with traffic. Biking several miles in heavy traffic is very difficult especially when cars are going faster than 40mph. There were several points during the trip where we thought we’d get hit. Cars came very close to us and some were not as yielding as others.

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

I have learned that I will be working with dairy cows. I am not sure what I will be doing exactly because I have not been to Foulum yet. Denmark has been on a holiday since we flew in.

Wageningen Day 10 Sam

My first week on the job has gone much better than I could have ever predicted. The Aquaculture department here at Wageningen was beyond welcoming in they I’ve learned about every research project currently running at the hatcheries, by different people working on each project. I was able to help a masters student with her project that examines coral consumption of artemia and also amino acid input to stimulate consumption.

She finished this week, but since she was not able to get all of the data her supervisor would like with the new acid input, they have passed the work on to me to complete next week. We exam 8 different corals, 4 types, complete water sample collections 4 times per hour with each set of 2 corals and then analyze the samples by counting the number of remaining artemia, to determine how many were consumed.

I was also able to help with a much bigger project that being sponsored by the government of the Netherlands. It is a 2 year project that concerns Nile tilapia fish farming and whether closed re-circulation system are causing growth retardation. With this project, we took many samples from 4 different systems, I worked with filtering samples to be prepared to determine COD and mineral levels. I found this project particularly interesting because we completed a small tilapia fish farming study during my program in Jamaica and this situation is much different, but does have similarities.

It has been very enjoyable so far working in the aquaculture department. Everybody in the hatchery is so welcoming to my presence and I had no idea I could learn so much in just 3 days.

Wageningen Day 9-11 Allison

This week has been great! I have met a lot of great researchers, all part of an animal physiology team. I have been working under Professor Katja Teerds in labs with her graduate students.

How has your first week “on the job” gone?
The first week was great! I started out obeserving, but by the second day, I was allowed to help with some of the slide staining procedures and then tissue cutting from parafin blocks.

What did you do?
I have toured all but one of the animal science facilities used by my work group. This includes the isotope labs, the photography lab, the rat behavior and experiment rooms, the livestock houses, the staining labs, and a lab for nutritionists and physiologists to use to test engergy consupmtion in humans. I have also done some hands on work preparing slides of testis from hypothalimic rats as well as preparing supplies for an upcoming radioimmune assay.

What did you learn?
I have learned quite a bit about how to use antibodies to stain certain cells in slides. In the lab I have been helping in, they are using vectastain and the ABC method, which is a very sensitive method of staining. I also sat in on some presentations of other projects going on currently. One of these was on the recognition by cells of a certain protein receptor that may be linked to cancer.

What did you find particularly interesting?
I find the process of using primary and secondary antibodies to stain specific cells for their function particularly interesting. It is amazing to me how this technique works. The girl I have been helping is staining testes for identification of Leydig cells. Only these cells will turn brown, while the rest of the tissue turns blue.

What did you find frustrating?
The only part I have found frustrating is how much each student is expected to just know. They just asked me to help, assuming I had all the skills necessary to do the job, but there are many things I have never seen before. At first, I thought this was just because I am at an earlier stage of schooling than the other students, but one student told me that this was the case for her as well when she came, and she wished she had had someone walk her through the basics the first time, but they were upset when she needed help.

I have been very lucky to see all these things they are doing. I feel very in the way when I am there, but I am appreciative that this team is willing to take time out and share what is going on and allow me to visit other labs.

Wageningen Day 7-8 Allison

The past couple of days have been very nice. I got to see all the slide staining in an experiment with Leydig cells. I also learned how to take pictures of slides, sat in on presentations about current experiments, and got to tour some labs. One lab was a human nutrition lab where there was a big tent that regulated oxygen intake to test energy consumption. One girl was using this equipment to test the energy intake after eating certain breakfasts or none at all. Sam and I both were able to tour the farm facilities, which were much cleaner and nicer for the animals than ours back home. The animals are treated much better here. They were even having trouble inducing stress on chickens because the birds are so content.

To answer the questions about the weekend:

What did you do over the weekend?
We went to Utrecht to the open air markets and we went to Apeldoorn to the monkey reserve.

What did you experience over the weekend that you found especially interesting? Why was it interesting?
The monkey reserve was so cool. The monkeys roam all over the park and they have lots of species. I would recommend it to anyone who comes here.

What did you experience over the weekend that you found especially negative? Why was it negative?
The bus system is not that difficult to learn, but the language barrier was hard to get past and I think we may have overpaid for our rides. Also, the busses take very long to get anywhere.

What have your learned to date about the work you will be doing while there?
I have now met with one whole team in cell physiology, and I know I will be shadowing each of them to learn what they are doing and I will be doing some simple practical work for their experiments such as cutting sample blocks and measuring out liquids for stains.

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.