Wageningen Day 20-23 Allison

Sam and I began our class called Behavior and Environment this week. We are taking this class to hopefully get a better grasp on what the educational experience is really like here. The class is taught by Paul Koene and focuses on ethology as a way to quantify behavior to create a better understanding of animals. In this class, we attend lectures discussing behavior and ethology theory and then we work out our own projects concerning a species assigned to us.

The past few days have been spent in a computer lab researching our animal, the Barbary macaque, writing an introductory report, and devising an experiment using our new knowledge of ethograms and sampling. As of this point, we will be observing maturation of social behavior in subadult individuals to try to see if being raised in captivity changes the way macaques mature socially.

With this class, I have noticed that things are much more open ended, and much more responsibility sits on the student's shoulders. Although our advisor holds meetings with us to answer questions and help us stay on the right track, nearly everything comes from our own thinking and there is no one around to make sure we are working when we are supposed to be. I like this method for a few reasons. This method allows for more open thinking and I believe it allows for more creative ideas to be produced. Also, it ensures that grades are not just handed to students, as I feel they sometimes are in U of I classes. All of the work belongs to the student, and there is no one to blame but the student if the work is not at the level it should be. Here, it is all what you put into it.

The downside of this method is that some students in our class were lost on where to even begin. Each group had been flooded with too much information, and were having trouble putting it into a narrow research question of their own. I also became frustrated with the lack of structure at first, but I feel like it really caused Sam and I to work as a team. Without being able to put our ideas together, I think this project would have been much harder.

The education system here from gradeschool on really focuses on individual ability and does not expect every person to be good in every subject. That is something I wish our society could see. I wish that Americans, in education and in the workforce, could see that not everyone can be on top or a leader, and that this is okay. I understand wanting to motivate people, but I feel that the expectations of perfection are too high in our country for anyone to achieve. This is something I hope to bring back with me and incorporate into 199.

Also, people are much "greener" here. It isn't that they preach being environmentally friendly, but the Dutch were just raised that way. Fewer people drive cars, the animals are kept in better conditions, and the need for new manufactured products is not as high here. Dr. Hurley mentioned that they live for quality and not quantity here, and I believe that this is very true. It makes me look at my day to day and I have already noticed significant changes I can make.

I am excited for the weeks to come when we get to go to the zoo and observe our animal. I think we will have a nice time watching our research grow into something tangible.

Wageningen Day 15-19 Allison

This week has been very nice for me. I was able to go through the process of electophoresis, tour the dairy farms, and also sit in on a bachelor's physiology lab. The dairy farms were very interesting because they use robotic milking here for small farms. These systems allow cows to chose when they want to be milked and requires very little staff to aid the milking process. A laser directed machine finds the teats and begins to milk the cow. She then stands until she is finished and is released back out into the pen. The cows know exactly what to do.

It was also nice this week to be able to sit in on a class. Although the lecture was in Dutch, I was able to see many differences in their teaching methods compared to ours. This was also the first time I had any encounters with students my age. We weren't sure that this school even had a bachelor's program.

This lab was to observe the breakdown and absorption of sugars in the intestine. The technicians removed the rat's intestines and inverted them to create a closed system where nutrients would flow inside and remain there. This way, sugars could be easily measured using a color detection system.

I also was able to sit down with one student and discuss general differences in their education system. They are on a 10 point scale here and most of the class grades are based on a single final exam. The students are responsible for themselves here and must be self motivated. They are also currently trying to make all lectures in English to encourage more international students to come to this small university. Tuition is much lower here as well; for Dutch students only 1,500 a year tuition and fees, and most students recieve financial aid from the government.

It was nice this weekend to just take a day away and go to the beach. Things will get more hectic once we start our class tomorrow. This class seems very intense considering it runs all day. I can't wait to see how it all is run here and what is expected of a student.

Wageningen Pictures Posted (Sam)

Things have been going very well here in Wageningen. Allison and I enjoyed taking a day trip out to Den Haag, the capital of the Netherlands, as known as the Hague, this weekend. We relaxed at the beach after walking a few miles through the city and realized that the North Sea is very cold as everyone had promised. We have finished up with research for the month and I excited to begin our Animal Behavior Course tomorrow. It should be interesting days, as they run 8-5, Monday through Friday.

I have finally had time to post pictures on the photobucket.com album. If you search for ANSCUSDA07, that is the name of our album and it will come up if you would like to view the pictures. I have created a sub album for our Wagenignen portion, so far containing folders of the pig and poultry research tour, robotic milking tour, my aquaculture research and picture I've taken around the town of Wageningen so far. Enjoy!

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.

Viborg Day 6-10 Jess

What did you do over the weekend?

This weekend Alanna and I spent Friday night watching some television shows that we downloaded from the internet, we talked to some of the students who live here and had a quiet night. We were still suffering from jetlag a bit.

Saturday we went to a music festival in downtown Viborg with some of the other students who live at the kollegiet. The festival was a ton of fun and a great way to learn what people here enjoy and find funny. It was amazing for me to read some of the T-shirts and clothes that people were wearing that had American logos, or quotes from American television characters. I am sure they are much more aware of our culture than we are of theirs. It is kind of sad for us.

Saturday night after the festival we attended a birthday party for one of the grad students who lives here. Even though we had only been here for three days, everyone welcomed us and made us feel at home. We baked a cake, took strawberries and ice cream to have with the cake, and everyone was happy with us.

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

I found the time we spent at the music festival to be very telling of the lifestyle here. Most of the people where probably not typical everyday people, but the way they do things I am pretty sure is typical. For example, when we were waiting in line to get into the festival everyone was happy. They were happy to open their bags for the guards, happy to pay for a ticket, in general they were happy to follow the rules. If someone wanted to, they probably could have walked right passed on of the ticket sales booths and walked right into the festival without paying, but nobody did that. I guess I was just amazed at how cooperative everyone was.

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

The drunk people who were at the festival were a bit negative to see! I always thought that the Danish would look down upon someone who was drunk, but they really didn’t. It could very well have been the environment we were in that made it more acceptable to be “smashed”, but I was still a little surprised by the huge amounts of alcohol being consumed.

Also, the amount of warm alcohol that was being consumed really surprised me. I don’t drink, but I know that most Americans like cold beer. Not here. When I asked some of the Danish people here about it, they just shrugged and said something like “…why waste time and energy to make cold beer when you can drink it right out of the store and it tastes just fine!”

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

Today was our second day of work and I have learned a great deal already. Yesterday I was able to read a PhD Thesis paper explaining the procedures and point of the trial that I will be helping collect data for. That really helped me get a good idea of what was going on. Even though Peter and the other people at Foulum speak excellent English, are very patient, and explain almost everything, it still really helped me to read the material and figure it out for myself.

I will be helping with a dietary trial that measures the nutrients that are absorbed by the small intestine. Using catheters to draw blood from an artery and a vein and then analyzing this blood, it is possible to determine what the animal is using from its diet.

I read an entire ninety page or longer thesis on this and can explain it in much greater detail if that is necessary.

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

I am enjoying my time here and I am hoping that it stays that way. I really like work so far. I am getting great hands on experience, not only with veterinary related applications, but with science and learning in general. I am afraid that my time here is going to fly, but I will be sure to say at the end of the trip whether the nine week period is long enough or too long.

How has your first week “on the job” gone?

My first week working at Foulum was wonderful! I was able to jump right into the trial that Peter is working on and learn why he is doing this experiment, who it is for, and how it is being performed. The experiment that I am helping with actually belongs to another PhD candidate who left Foulum to work on another project and Peter took over the experiment. So, he was actually learning a lot about the trial as I was learning the information as well.

I was able to read a thesis on Monday that explained the reasoning and procedure behind what I will be helping with. That gave me a good idea of what was going to happen as a general view, but I learned the details more when we went to the barns and started working with the pigs. Tuesday, I was able to watch two surgeries to fit the pigs being used for this trial with catheters so that blood can easily be drawn from them on a regular basis. Wednesday was a surgery recovery day for the pigs…and the humans both. Thursday is the really busy day during the week though. On Thursdays, blood has to be drawn about every fifteen minutes. The blood is then tested for glucose and hematocrit levels. Then the drawn blood is placed in a centrifuge and spun down. The plasma that is separated during this process is then pipetted into various test tubes so that it may be further tested later. All of this took about ten to fifteen minutes, so by the time you finished with one blood sample, it was time to turn around and start all over again with another blood sample. After Thursdays, Fridays are a breeze. The pigs are done with their trial diet for the week on Fridays and put back on a flushing diet by the stable help. This leaves Fridays as work days in the office.

What did you learn?

This week at work I learned how to draw blood from catheters, measure blood flow using a probe that is surgically placed around the portal vein in the pig, centrifuge blood samples, pipette plasma, and how to pool samples. All of this had to be done when a sample of blood was drawn, so I learned very quickly how to perform each of these steps.

What did you find particularly interesting?

I found that I really like drawing blood and then using it to draw conclusions almost immediately. When I have worked with veterinarians at home, we are usually drawing blood samples for health certificates. So, when I have drawn blood before, I simple place it in a test tube and send it off to a lab where someone else analyzes it. Here I can at least take glucose levels, measure hematocrit and centrifuge down the blood to obtain plasma before I send the blood to a lab. And by doing all of this and recording the information that is being gathered, I am able to see patterns among all of these steps and feeding times. So, I feel like I am actually learning more about the blood samples here than I would be at home doing similar work.

What did you find frustrating?

I found reading Danish very frustrating this week. All of the tables that have to filled in with glucose levels, hematocrit, volume of plasma, feces and urine mass are all written in Danish. So, I had to have a crash course on Wednesday in reading the important words in Danish to make sure that I provide all of the information necessary for the blood samples. Also, all of the procedure sheets for drawing blood and analyzing it are written in Danish. So I had to write my own procedures in English and go through it with Peter to make sure that I first understood what I was trying to read in Danish, and then second understood that I had the correct times and amounts of everything that had to be taken from or given to the pigs. This was just a minor frustration though. It was actually kind of fun to learn some new vocabulary and to learn that I will be working with gris here…(gris being the Danish word for pig)!