8/27/08
An opportunity to travel
After graduation in May, I was fortunate to be able to visit our newest
sister school in Tartu, Estonia. I flew from Omaha to Amsterdam to Tallinn,
the capital of Estonia. The city of Tallin is amazingly beautiful; it was
spared most of the destruction that other capitals saw in the Second World
War, so the “old town” has been preserved as a medieval European city
complete with walled fortress and lots of ornate architecture. Nowadays
Tallinn is reaping the benefits of tourism as each day saw busloads of
tourists being led through Old Town, many of them Finns from Helsinki which
is only 90 minutes away.
I visited the University of Tartu, 2 1/2 hours by car from Tallinn, with
President Ohles and NWU alum Harry Huge. We visited our counterparts at UT
— the rector (president) and the heads of international education.
It was a great visit and the university is gorgeous. Estonia reminded me a
lot of southern Sweden. It is hard for me to believe that Estonia was under
the Soviet Union until so recently — Estonian independence came in 1991.
Today Estonia is a thriving country capitalizing on tourism and technology.
Did you know the headquarters of Skype are located in Estonia?
Then in June my husband and I traveled to Scandinavia for three weeks to
attend some meetings for his work and to visit my relatives. We began in
Copenhagen, then visited Malmo, Onnekop, and Stockholm. We got to spend a
traditional Midsummer celebration with my cousin and his friends on the
shores of the Baltic Sea. Midsummer celebrates the summer solstice, the
longest day of the year (21 June). The sun was rising at about 4am and
setting at about 11pm.
After that we took the traditional “cruise” from
Stockholm to Helsinki. It’s an overnight trip on a small cruise ship. If
this experience is not on your “to do before I die” list, it should be. The
first three to four hours sailing out of Stockholm is stunning as you pass
thousands (literally) of small islands of the archipelago.
Once in Finland we visited the University of Helsinki and the University of
Jyvaskyla, both of them ISEP schools that our Wesleyan students have
attended in past years. I am always amazed at how forested Finland is. One
of the photos is of me on the University of Jyvaskyla campus — the
buildings of the campus are connected by woodland paths.
The remainder of the summer has seen me back at work, preparing for fall
semester and the onslaught of study abroad applications for spring semester
2009. Another record year for study abroad? I’ll let you know. I’ve also
been working on next summer’s faculty–led study abroad programs, and we have
some new and exciting trips in the planning — France, Italy, Peru. I’ll
keep you updated on the summer trip options throughout fall semester.
9/15/08
work, colleagues and a little taste of home life
We are now in our fourth week of classes and despite my wish that things would settle down, it seems the opposite. I am busy reading Fulbright applications, my students’ papers (more on my classes in my next blog), university accreditation chapters, etc. Next week is our annual Study Abroad Fair so Jake and I are busy getting ready for it. The 11th annual Study Abroad Photo Contest is a fun part of the fair and I enjoy seeing all the students’ photos from their experiences all over the globe. At this time in the semester the ISEP placements are coming in and I am excited that most students got their first choice schools. Also, we are in the approval process for the faculty–led summer trips that will go out next summer. Looks like we will offer six trips this summer. I will write more about them after they’ve received all the approvals necessary to advertise them.
I should introduce you to my two colleagues in the International Education Office. Yoko Iwasaki–Zink is a 2000 graduate of NWU. Originally from Osaka, Japan, Yoko came to NWU as an international student after studying English in Toronto, Canada. She graduated with a degree in international business and then worked in a Lincoln company for five years before coming to work in the International Office in 2005. She has been an invaluable addition to our office and I appreciate her competence, dedication, and humor immensely. Her title is International Student Advisor and one of her responsibilities is ensuring compliance with US immigration for our students at NWU on student visas.
Jake Hoy–Elswick is our Study Abroad Intern for the year. Jake is a 2007 graduate of NWU. He earned his bachelor degree in Political Science. While a student at Nebraska Wesleyan he studied for a semester at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He was a member of the Global Service Learning group and served in many local projects, projects in other US states, and internationally in Panama, Vietnam, and Swaziland. Yoko and I have been so impressed with Jake’s enthusiasm in meeting with students to help them choose their study abroad program and location. It is hard to say no to Jake, so I predict our study abroad numbers will steadily go up.
As far as my life outside of work, that is not possible at this time of the academic year. My husband is a professor of exercise physiology at Creighton University in Omaha and he stays in Omaha during the week and comes back to Lincoln on the weekends. He is as busy as I am at this point in the semester. We have two cats that I see occasionally at night, but if the food bowl is kept full they don’t seem terribly concerned by my absences.
10/17/08
Fall break & preparing students for international travel
Finally, it is Fall Break and campus is quiet for three days. I have a lot to get done in three days! This past week turned out to be “Study Abroad Scholarship Deadline Week” for me: Gilman Scholarship, Freeman–Asia Scholarship, Fulbright, and the new U.S. Department of State Internships. But, my part is now all completed and I’m proud of all the Nebraska Wesleyan students who put in the time required to prepare really good applications of which the university can be proud.
Teaching: I am teaching two one–credit classes specific to study abroad. Both are electives (i.e. Not required in order to study abroad). Global Studies 10 is entitled, “Preparing for Education Abroad” and provides students with an in–depth look at both practical travel topics and cultural aspects of adapting to a foreign culture. Global Studies 20 is entitled, “Processing the International Experience” and is a writing intensive class that challenges students to critically analyze their experiences and what they meant both personally and within a cultural context.
For example, one of the topics is, “Food and Attitudes Toward Food.” We don’t waste too much of class time listing the traditional foods of each country, but rather ask questions such as, “Why do we U.S. citizens eat so quickly and often while walking or driving? Why do people in Latin America linger over the main meal for two hours or more? Is it that we don’t value food as anything more than caloric intake? Is it that we value convenience and efficiency over conversation and the ’art’ of food and drink?” There are no right or wrong answers and the discussion is fascinating (at least to me).
