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.

Wageningen Day 6 Sam

How are you feeling about being away from home?

I am feeling great away from home. I am used to leaving for extended periods of time, so it really is not something out of the ordinary. There are certain conveniences I miss, such as having a cell phone for easy contact, having a car to get places easily rather than relying on public transportation, having fully functioning internet and places being open past 5pm. Yet these are changes that I am adjusting well to and I believe they just take a little getting used to.

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

I am really enjoying Wageningen so far. It is very different than what I am used to, yet I believe that I will learn so much while living in such a different place for 8 weeks. The people have been beyond great, for instance, Rene welcomed us into his home and his wife, Emmy, cooked us an amazing home cooked meal. We were also able to meet his two daughters and I found them really interesting to talk to. The students in our wing have also been really friendly and it’s been really neat to meet people from all around the world. An Italian boy on our floor cooked us a delicious Italian lasagne tonight. I really enjoy the town we are in, it appears as a very small town at first, yet as we explore further out, it has a lot to offer, such as different types of shops and huge open markets on Wednesdays and Sundays.

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?

I have had to adapt to many of the changes that I listed in the first question, yet I feel that it has been a smooth transition. I absolutely love that everyone rides bikes here, it is so much more environmentally friendly and it is also so nice to be outdoors. I have also needed to learn an entire new town, we have been glued to our map. Also learning the bus and train systems has been an adventure so far, yet I think we are getting the hang of it. I should have more things I may have to adapt to concerning my work environment in the coming days, since we will officially start tomorrow.

Other Comments:

My internet is currently very limited in function. I am working on getting this problem fixed, they are not sure what is wrong. Basically I can only access my email and cannot even reach this blog site, use google or much else. Therefore, Allison has been very kind to allow me to post from hers.

Viborg Day 1 Alanna

I am super excited to be here in Viborg, DK and look forward to the next 9 weeks!!

Reflection Questions:

What did you experience during your travel that you found especially interesting? Why was it interesting?

I was especially interested in the Dane’s mode of transportation and laid back lifestyle. Bicycles and mopeds are more popular in Denmark than the conventional car, SUV, or truck found in the U.S. It's weird that I have not seen a single SUV or pick up truck roaming the streets of Viborg since we got here. The Danes obviously do not depend on or spend alot of money on gas. Surprisingly, biking 8 to 10 miles one way to work is not that big of a deal here.

What did you experience during your travel that you found especially negative? Why was it negative?

The weather was the only experience during my travel that I found especially negative. While we were on our way to O’Hare airport it was down pouring and it only slowed down a little right before we boarded our plane at 10 PM. After a long flight we got off the plane in Copenhagen and were greeted with more gray weather and rain. The weather in Viborg has been windy, cold, and very cloudy these past few days. Hopefully the weather will get slightly warmer as the weeks progress.

What are your initial impressions of the country you are visiting, the town you are living in, your accommodations, the people you are interacting with, or any other initial impressions that you would like to share?

My initial impressions of Denmark have been very positive. On the first day of our arrival Jess and I went to Netto, a small grocery store near our housing unit. We quickly discovered we could not read any of the labels in the store because they were all in Danish. People in the store, however, caught on that we were Americans and tried to help us to the best of their ability. Those living in the town and in our unit are very friendly, helpful, and talkative. I look forward to meeting more people in our housing units and at Foulum.

What are you most excited about in looking forward to the next several weeks? Why are you excited about that?

I am most excited about exploring more of Denmark and meeting the researchers and students at Foulum. I look forward to learning more about the differences between Denmark and the U.S. in terms of agriculture, social and political issues, and culture.

Wageningen Day 2-3 Allison

We are still working on figuring out the town, but slowly, we are learning the ropes. Yesterday, we walked about town even though everything was closed for holiday. Today, we spent the morning shopping for more supplies now that we know where to go and what we have here to use daily. It has been very helpful to ask our neighbors about where to shop, because the prices at our current store are slightly high. We also rented bikes today, which will be very nice because many area towns and things are just a short biking distance. A tip for future students is to be very comfortable riding because these bikes are very tall and very big. It would help if you were very comfortable on a bike in general so that the switch is easy; as it hasn't been for me. We were also nicely invited to Rene's home for dinner this evening and had wonderful food and were able to meet his whole family. I enjoyed the conversation with his daughters because we have as much to learn from them as they have from us. It is too bad that people here only see the U.S. through movies and politics because the ideas extracted from those are believed to be the customs and beliefs of our country. There is so much more to see. I wish we could to an exchange program where students from here would be able to experience the U.S. as well so that we could compare experiences. Maybe someday this can happen.

Wageningen Day 1 Allison

Getting here has been crazy and exciting, but I am glad that part is over.

Reflective questions:

What did you experience during your travel that you found especially interesting? Why was it interesting?
I thought it was especially interesting that everyone is more than willing to help you. We had half a train trying to help us as well as people coming up to help us on the street. Fortunately, we have been really really lucky on this trip so far.

What did you experience during your travel that you found especially negative? Why was it negative?
I thought it was negative that everything was in Dutch as soon as we hit the ground. It makes it very hard to know where you are going or even what you are ordering for dinner. Hopefully we will make friends that can help us learn what common things mean.

What are your initial impressions of the country you are visiting, the town you are living in, your accommodations, the people you are interacting with, or any other initial impressions that you would like to share?
My initial impression of Holland is that everyone is very laid back, no one moves to fast or seems worried about anything. They even close the whole town down for holidays and weekends so that everyone can go home and relax. This town is very quaint, but I feel right at home because Macomb isn't any bigger than this. I think that once we get a feeling for everything things will be easy to find. The people here have been great so far. People are willing to talk to you and if you look like you need help, they will come up to you and ask you.

What are you most excited about in looking forward to the next several weeks? Why are you excited about that?
I am most excited about meeting new people. I am a social person, and I know I am going to miss hanging out with people at home, so I hope to meet people here.

Is there anything knowledge that you have from your travel that you can contribute to our program's Survival Handbook for that country.
I would like to add that if you are lost, make sure you ask. People are very helpful, and most will speak English. Use the resources you have around you, and that includes people too.

Are there any other observations or reflections or concerns that you would like to share?
My only concern is that for next year, students should be sure to speak with their contact a week or two prior to departure about what to do when they arrive and where to meet.