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.

Jess-Viborg

This Monday starts my last week of work at Foulum. Time has really flown by here! I feel like I am just getting into the usual momentum of work, if there is such a thing, and I think it will be very hard for me to leave it all behind. I am still very interested in what the analyzers will tell us about the diets that the pigs were on and how that information can help people too. Peter has promised to keep me informed, so that makes me feel a little bit better!

I must admit that before I came here I knew that I just wanted to work with animals. I was perfectly happy with the idea that I would do something with some species of animal each day at Foulum and that would be sufficient. But, I am really happy that Peter and everyone else here has taken the time and made a huge effort to include me in every single aspect of their project. And most importantly, they have made the effort to allow me to choose what role I would like to play in their work. I think that takes a lot of trust and true dedication to science on their part.

I will surely miss catching the bus each morning and seeing the same faces saying, "Gut morn" regardless of the weather, the time, or their general mood!! Denmark is a wonderful place that I will be sure to visit again!

This week I will be working as usually, but on Wednesday Peter will be treating me to a special 4th of July! He is planning on taking me to his farm and meeting his family to celebrate the 4th of July with a strong Danish influence! I do not know exactly what he has planned for the day, but it will surely be memorable!

Another event that I am looking forward to this week is attending the National Show here in Denmark. Helle, from work, has very generously offered to include me with her family for a trip to what would be our version of a state fair! She showed me a show bill or sort of itinerary for the day which includes horse shows, rabbit races, tractors, cattle, and anything else having to do with agriculture in Denmark. I am really excited to see how this may compare to our county or state fairs in the U.S. and to just get back to seeing people being proud of their agricultural background!

Next Monday I plan to travel to Copenhagen for about three days. I have a good friend who lives in Malmo, Sweden who plans to meet me in Copenhagen and show me around. I may stay with her in Malmo after visiting Copenhagen, but at this point that is all dependent on her work schedule. Some things are always universal among college students! She said we can visit the beach and see the Little Mermaid!! I can't wait!

I plan to return to Viborg on or before Monday before we leave to fly home Thursday.
I don't know that I will be able to see Peter or Helle after this week. I think they are both taking holiday, so this week will really be strange because I will be thinking I won't be seeing either of them for a long time. Winnie plans on driving us to the airport when we leave so I am grateful that I will get to see her one more time before jumping on the big, white, bird.

It is amazing to me that this trip is already coming to a close. I have to say that one of the most important lessons I have learned is to be true to yourself even if others around you are changing. I know that I have changed while I have been here, but I know that it has only been for the better. I feel much more confident in my basic daily activities and I really know now that friendship and family are truly important to me no matter what else is going on in my life.

Of course I have learned invaluable lessons about science. I would say that I have learned more about how science works as whole than minute scientific details though. I was always under the impression that I loved science because there is always a right and wrong answer to everything! But I have learned that I could not have been more wrong. I still love science, but I have become so much more aware of the variables that are still present in science no matter how much you calculate, aniticipate, and repeat your experiments.

I think this has been a wonderful trip and I consider myself extremely lucky to have been able to take part in such an amazing life ride. I will be sure to write again before I leave, but I am sure that my overall feelings will not change a bit!

Viborg Week 6 Alanna

This has been a very fulfilling week academically and socially. This past weekend Jess and I attended Viborg's summer solstice festival. The Danes celebrate the longest day of the year by lighting a witch on fire. I thought that was the funniest thing when I first heard about it. Every year a witch made out of cloth and wood is put on a raft and sent into the middle of north lake in Viborg. The raft is then lit on fire and the people of the town celebrate. A long march through town opens the celebration and concerts and the witch burning end the celebration. This event comes from a pagan tradition that was celebrated hundreds of years ago. It has modified itself and has turned into a celebration that hundreds of people partake in. It's like Halloween in the middle of summer.

Work has been challenging this week. I am in the final stages of writing my research paper and gathering my thoughts for the final two weeks to come. It seems that one can never be truly satisfied with their own writing. After weeks of working on and editing my paper I still have much to revise. Although this process is very grueling I have learned a few things. This paper has given me the chance to learn how to write like a scientist. After years of writing essays and papers for my humanity classes I found it very hard to transition over to scientific writing. According to Jens writing a research paper is like a "march." You have to write in precise steps which are to the point and methodical. I'm still struggling to write like a scientist and I would love to learn how to integrate the science mentality with the smoothness of humanity writing. Some scientists have done it but it's an art. Hopefully I can bring back the skills of scientific writing back to school with me.

As the weeks come closer to an end Jess and I have been anticipating our travels to Copenhagen. After hearing such wonderful things about the capital I am excited to see what it has to offer. Hopefully we won't run into any troubles purchasing tickets and getting around. If all our plans come through I hope to share what we've seen when we come back!

Wageningen Week 6 Sam

Time here in Wageningen is flying by, as we are already almost finished with our course that I feel like we just began. I guess 4 weeks really isn't long for a course at all, yet putting in 40 hours/week is a lot of time. Allison's blog generally reflects most news I would've covered in a general update about Wageningen, not much else has been new.

I did however, find Jess's blog about borders, visas and discussing the U.S. situation with several people very interesting. In response, I cannot say I was nearly as surprised about what she found out. It is truly unfortunate that our borders are becoming so tight, however it is happening all over the world. For instance, I know getting 2-week Visas for our study tour in Brasil this past Spring is becoming more and more difficult. People are often surprised when they hear this, yet as we make it more difficult for people to enter our country, it becomes increasingly difficult for us to enter theirs. I have also been fortunate to speak with many people around the world so far that have trouble traveling, namely to the States, but to other countries as well.

Through my time here, I have to say that discussing politics has been one of my most enjoyable experiences. In the aquaculture hatchery I worked mainly with PhD and post doc students, therefore I was much younger than everybody there. Also, being an American, they had several pre-conceived notions about how much I knew or whether I even cared. Yet each day at lunch or well we were working, I have had extensive conversations with people from all around the world, for example, Zambia, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Portugal, etc. about our current politics. After I few days I had successfully proved myself to many of the men I work with in this discussion and we were from that point able to talk freely about politics. I understand why many people have these notions about people from the U.S., because unfortunately the apathy of a good percentage of our country gives us the reputation. However, I know they were pleasantly surprised and impressed to find such a 'young' person so aware of the rest of the world and their politics as well.

I find it very sad that I have been able to have more extensive discussions here about the next election, the debates, the issues, the war, etc. than I can find when chatting with friends from home. It's odd to find that it seems like everyone from all around is so interested in what is going to happen with our government, yet many people actually involved in voting for these changes seem hardly phased. That says a lot about our country and mainly, our generation. I really hope to see my generation step up from the apathy and begin to care, just as the rest of the world does.

Wageningen Day 37-40 Allison

We have been working on analyzing our data gathered from our observations at the zoo. It has been a bit troublesome for us because we seem to be behind everyone in this area. It seems as though we are expected to know quite a lot about this already, but unfortunately we have never had a class on it. The professors actually seem to be a little annoyed when you ask for extra help. I think we will be fine though.

Our observations went fine until the last day, when a dominant female took the infant for nearly the entire day, so we are hoping this will not become habitual. It would be nice if we could stop by and check on the apes before we leave, but I doubt the zoo will let us do that, and it is not worth 17 euros to us just to pop in.

We had a seminar on Friday at a company called Noldus where they make and distribute technologies used to enhance behavior studies. It was interesting to see what products are being developed, and after trying to use pencil and paper for everything, I can see how digitalizing things would make recording easier. Sam said that she uses a computer always when she does her behavior work at Shedd.

We had some unfortunate excitement this week in town. One of the student dorms was struck by lightening and caught fire because the gas tanks on the roof exploded. They made an announcement in our class about it, and one poor girl told us she lived near the top floor and left to go see if everything was okay. I can tell my family is paying attention to any news from here though, because not half a day later I was getting messages from them asking if I was okay. The explosion was pretty big, and we could see black smoke from across town, but when we passed it yesterday, there didn't seem to be that much damage to the building, so that is a good sign. Here is a link to a picture someone took of it.

http://rijnsteeg.bit.nl/hoevestein/img_1946.jpg

Yesterday we made a day trip to a national park in the area called De Hoge Veluwe. I thought it was wonderful. They have a lot of land, including grasslands, forests, and sand dunes. Also they have several wildlife preserves and a phenomenal art museum and sculpture garden. It would have been a bit nicer if the rain had held off, but other than that, I would highly recommend this park. They even have bicycles for everyone that you just take whereever you want and then leave for someone else to use when you get to your destination.

Today I will be working on some class work so that we don't have to worry about it in the next couple days. We already present our final reports on Wednesday. This trip is really flying by for me.

Jess-Viborg

Yesterday I had the unique opportunity to travel to some local farms with a Veterinarian from Orum. Torben, graduated from the Danish vet school located in Copenhagen about ten years ago. Since then he has been a veterarian at an ever growing clinic along with two other doctors.

I was able to make the contact with Torben through Peter and Helle. They were both nice enough to offer to help me on my task to finding some veterinary work before I leave here. I was very curious to learn how vet med compares between the two countries.

To my suprise veterinary medicine here is a lot different that veterinary medicine at home...and almost exactly the same at the same time. What I learned yesterday is that here in Denmark all forms of antibiotic and medical treatment on any animal are only jobs for veterinarians. For example, in the United States if a beef producer sees that he has a cow that is starting to have a small mastitis problem, he can strip her udder really good, clean her up, give her a shot of Penicillin and be on his way. That would not happen in Denmark! Everything here is regulated. No antibiotics can be purchased by a farmer at a Farm and Home or Big R store. A veterinarian has to supply, and in some cases, actually inject the antibiotics.

Torben showed me the paper work that is necessary every single time he visits a farm. He has to write down each cow's given number (this number has to be in every cow's ear, or else the farmer is breaking the law), he has to write down what he did the for the cow, what he gave her, how much he gave her, the date, time, his clinic information, the farmer's information, what he left the farmer to continue treating the cow, how long the cow can receive that medicine, how much she can be given each day, when her milk can be sold again, and when she can go to slaughter. And, on top of all of that, at the bottom of each of the tickets with all of this information, there are stickers with numbers on them that match up to the ticket number. Any medication that is left at the farm must have one of these stickers on it with the number that matches up to the receipt! Then, all of the information must be kept on file for a minimum of five years by both the veterinarian and the producer. The veterinarian is then responsible for reporting all of the information from each farm into a national database so that the government always has a running record of what is going on at each farm!!

Beyond these tasks, veterinary medicine here is exactly the same as home. Here though there area lot more dairy farms to visit than beef farms!