Meet One of Our Study Abroad Peer Advisors: Jean Morales! #HogsAbroad

My name is Jean Morales and I am currently a senior majoring in chemical engineering and biochemistry. I am from Panama, grew up there, and did not move to the United States until I started college. So, as you can imagine, I have been on a constant study abroad for almost four years.

My first study abroad experience as a UofA student was at the Rome Center the summer of 2015. Being an engineering and science major, it was very hard to find time to sit down and actually admire art, history, or the beauty of a foreign culture. Studying abroad at the Rome Center enabled me to do all this, not to mention to develop a good taste in art, cuisine, and a sense of adventure while being in the commodity of the always charming Rome.

Saint Peter's square from the top of Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.

Guess what! One month in Italy went by way too fast, so, I decided that the next time that I would study abroad it would be for longer. Indeed, the fall semester of 2016 I decided to take a second adventure, a longer one. I participated on a semester long exchange program at the University Of Newcastle, Australia. Besides spending time cuddling with cute Aussie animals, this journey taught me so many things about Aussie values, and specially about myself. I would summarize my fall semester of 2016 in one phrase: “Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses!”

Orientation week at the Great Aussie Bush Camp sponsored by the University of Newcastle

I have been so lucky to call four very different countries home, Panama, the United States, Italy, and Australia. Each one of them has helped me discover a different bit of myself, different bits that I did not know I had before I studied abroad.

I chose to be a Study Abroad Peer Advisor because I wanted to show others what the world showed me. I know it is very hard to decide where you want to go, when you are going to do it, and particularly, how you are going to do it. So, if you have wondered one or more of these questions, stop by the office and my student colleagues and I will be more than glad to guide you through this process and hopefully get you started on this adventure.

Snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef

There are so many wonderful places to visit, beautiful people to meet, and thrilling adventures to be undertake, but you won’t get to experience any of these if you don’t make the life-changing decision of studying abroad.

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Come meet Jean and the other peer advisors at a Hogs Abroad 101 information meeting! These hour-long sessions are held Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the fall and spring semesters from 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm in the Center for World Languages, Literatures and Cultures (JBHT 207).

Time Flies When Your're Having Fun #HogsAbroad in Denmark #WanderlustWednesday

Every night before we all go to bed we decide on at least one activity we can all do the next day together. 

Today we decided to tackle the Church of Our Savior circa 1695. This beautiful church is 295 ft. and three inches tall and has 400 steps you can climb to the very top of the tower spire for the best view in all of Copenhagen. 

The climb up was rough on my legs but easier on my nerves then the climb back down the steep staircases. 

I would do it again any day. I am continually amazed by this city, at every angel. Clear skies, gusting wind, and Copenhagen for miles…

Couldn’t think of a better way to spend my afternoon with friends. 

Later that evening (after a short nap) DIS would be hosting a BBQ event for all the summer students on the beach. Free food? I’m in. It was nice, we walked along the beach beforehand and dipped our toes in the cold Øresund strait. There were traditional Danish hot dogs served, along with salad and what I think was potato salad.  

We got to talk to students who had been there all summer or had also just come for session three but where in different classes. It was a nice outing and the RA in me was impressed by the turnout for such a program.

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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

And search for more study abroad opportunities in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search

Celebrating in Christiania, Copenhagen #HogsAbroad in Denmark

Today was the eve of Lauren’s 21st birthday so we set out as a group to celebrate our friend. It’s amazing to think that we have all known each other barely a week and yet we are all already so close.

We decided to go to Copenhagen street food for dinner and none of us were disappointed. It is a giant warehouse facing the harbor that houses at least twenty different food trucks ranging from British pancakes, Asian cuisine, fish and chips to old fashioned hamburgers. I decided to have the traditional Danish open-face sandwich called a smørrebrød. This pared with “the best beer on tap you have, please” made me one happy camper! 

Post dinner, we made our way to Christiania - the self-proclaimed free town in Copenhagen. It was this tiny village like area with cool bohemian shops and graffiti promoting free love, anti-racism and good vibes everywhere. There is free music almost every night on the main stage near the food trucks. 

As we waited, I observed the most diverse crowd of people gathering around us. There were hipster/grunge teens, posh young adults, families with small kids, and old rock and roll couples; each person was as interesting and unique as the next and yet they all made sense together in this strange hidden wonderland. 

 

An older Danish woman with a raspy voice came out to hype the crowd and had everyone, young and old cheering. A Danish 80s cover band took the stage right after and completely killed it. We knew none of the words but danced happily anyway with the Danes who obviously loved the songs being played. I felt so out of place yet so in place at the same time. Christiania is truly a magical adventure.

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Don't miss out on making your own memories! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

And search for more study abroad opportunities in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search

MALMÖ AND MORE #HogsAbroad in Denmark #WanderlustWednesday

At some point the day before Emily, Erin and I decided that a day trip to Malmö, Sweden was a necessary part of our study abroad experience. By noon on Saturday we were on the short train ride across the sea to the small costal town. 

The architecture was very similar to Copenhagen, but the feel of the town was vastly different. It was quieter, the pedestrian traffic was slow and easy and there were not nearly as many bikers. 

The first stop on our walk through town was lunch! We found a small little pub called Harry’s that had a cute little outdoor seating area along the main shopping street. When in Malmö… sea food is a must! 

As I do not know any Swedish, reading the menu was difficult but the waitress was nice and recommended a sea food stew that included shrimp, mussels, salmon and some vegetable that resembled cabbage. This was/is probably the best thing I have eaten to date while abroad and also probably my first substantial meal since being here.

After lunch we did a lot of walking around looking at shops and souvenirs.  We came across the “American Store” and saw a banners in the window saying “Hot Sauces” and “Sale”- this was gonna be a good stop. The small store had everything stereotypical to the South and old American pop culture. They had every type of hot sauce and tabasco sauces, Betty Crocker icing cans, Crisco, marshmallows, and Hershey’s chocolate syrup. The obvious staple American condiments. They also sold old decks of cards, nick-nacks with the American flag on them and in the corner I saw a small pile of Confederate Flags (what?). 

We talked to the owner for a while, he was a funny British man who said the store was going out of business and being remodeled into a new concept called Mile 66 (if I remember correctly). His new business plan was to create a restaurant that had the best of the best in American favorites and English traditional foods. 

He said people always gave him crap for being a Brit and owning an American Store. I was one of those people.

When walking around we stumbled upon an old church, very typical of any walk through Europe I’m sure. I wish my home church could be as extravagant or history rich as the ones here but its what you do in the building that matters not the building itself. 

There was a small area where people had written prayers on slips of paper and hung them. I saw languages I had never seen before and some that I could barely translate. It was a cool moment to add my own slip with the others. Our cultures and languages might have been different but it was clear that our faith was the same.

Next, we made our way to an old Swedish Castle, but missed the exhibit hours so we wandered the back park area and enjoyed the sun next to a windmill. From here we could see the Turning Torso, the Malmö skyscraper by the shore and decided to use it as a directional guide to the beach. It was a long trek that involved lots of turn-arounds and backtracking but we made it, and it was absolutely breathtaking! 

We sat on the rocky beach and enjoyed the smell of the sea and the view as the sun sunk lower. I’m realizing more and more that the wind in my face evokes the strong feeling of being utterly free and happy. If I could stay in that moment forever I would.

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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

And search for more study abroad opportunities in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search

Lody lody lody #HogsAbroad in Poland

I always tell students getting ready to go abroad to evaluate their habits at home, because they will only increase in a new country.

For example, if you eat out regularly at home, then your abroad experience will likely have more dinning out experiences than the average. Or if you tend to spend money on a whim, then expect to return with an extra suitcase of souvenirs.

For me I knew that my sweet tooth was going to have a heyday with all new foreign treats to try! What I didn’t know was that my most frequented treat would be one available at home – ice cream. 

Now I’m not just talking any old, Bluebell, Ben & Jerry’s kind of cream… the stuff in Europe is the real deal! There are gelato, soft serve, and all kinds of ice cream dessert combinations scattered throughout the streets of Denmark and Poland. The flavors are creative and the consistently is of creamy sweetness! If I could only eat ice cream from Poland for the rest of my life… I would do it. 

Now I could have just had a heightened ice cream experience because, ya know, everything seems better abroad. But I will say that the ice cream, in Poland particularly, was amazing! Our professor warned us before our week in Warsaw and Krakow that we would get to see how much the Poles love lody (ice cream). He wasn’t kidding, there were lody shops and stands every other store! Really, at one point I counted 5 different shops in the same block. I think that’s also the point when I fell in love with Polish culture.

If you go abroad, particularly Europe, particularly Poland, then you HAVE to try their lody! It’s the best way to connect with the culture and the traditions… and its delicious!

 -Madison, study abroad peer advisor and #HogsAbroad Alum in Denmark

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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

And search for more study abroad opportunities in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search

Where A Foodie Finds Her Happy Place #HogsAbroad in Denmark

I have a catalogue of memories stored in the back of my study abroad compartment of my brain. There are outrageously funny memories and ones that were only funny after the fact… like when I crashed my bike and had to go to the hospital. I revisit these memories randomly and can’t help but smile at that amazing time in my life.

Some of my favorite memories are just the everyday things that probably wouldn’t stand out to most people. Believe it or not, some things do become routine when you are abroad long enough. Almost every day after class, they 10 girls and I from our flat would meet up for lunch. Some days we would go to this place called the Glass Markets. There were different food and merchant booths set up in a city center within these glass-walled structures. It wasn’t really indoors or outdoors, but it was amazing! The food was wonderful and the laughs never stopped.

Other days we would go to the Copenhagen Street Food on Paper Island. This was my favorite places in all of Denmark (this girl is a self-declared food critic). What looked like a large warehouse on the outside was actually a maze of different food trucks on the inside. There were cheesecake trucks, BBQ trucks, Brazilian cuisine, seafood, beer and wine, pasta and all things in between. We never got tired of this place!

After getting our various different lunches we would sit out on the pier and watch the boats go by or just observe the people. It felt like being a local, just us hanging around and talking about our different classes and what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. These small memories are some of my favorites because these are the places I truly connect with the girls on my flat and with local culture. Just talking about it has me hungry for a smørrebrød!

Here’s a link to the Copenhagen Street Food website if you want to check out all the different vendors or events: http://copenhagenstreetfood.dk/en/

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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

And search for more study abroad opportunities in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search

 

Last Call for the 2016 #HogsAbroad Photo Contest!

What: 2016 #HogsAbroad Photo Contest 
Where to submit: http://uark.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_b8i3KwfEeSPRlMV

Deadline: Monday, October 10

Categories:

1. People- did you meet interesting locals? Have a great travel group or host family?
2. Places- landscapes, buildings, squares- what beautiful sites did you see abroad?
3. Events- Holidays, carnivals, special events in your host culture
4. Study Abroad Selfie- share a selfie taken abroad!
5. #HogsAbroad- Photos that show your Razorback spirit abroad!
6. A Day in the life- Photos that show daily life in your study abroad city
7. Miscellaneous- Anything that can’t be categorized!
8. Global Classroom- show us your learning environment! On safari with a  professor? Drawing class in the Uffizi?

The 2016 #HogsAbroad Photo Contest is almost closed; submit your entries* by Monday, October 10th to be considered.  Winners of the 2015 Study Abroad Photo Contest will be announced and displayed during the International Bazaar on Monday, November 14 in the International Connections Lounge of the Arkansas Union.  

Please submit using the link provided so we can guarantee your photos will be included in the contest (the survey link helps us make sure we actually have all the information we need to consider your entries). You should be ready with all your photos, titles & descriptions before you click the link to enter (otherwise the website is likely to time out on you).  If you submitted your photos via email, resubmitting them via this form is the best way to ensure your photos will be included in the contest.

*Rules & Restrictions:

• Photos must have been taken abroad during the 2015-16 academic year (including Summer 2016)
• You must have ownership of the photo
• By submitting a photo, you agree to allow the University of Arkansas to use this photo for promotional materials, website images, etc. 
• You may submit only one photo per category.
• Submissions must be high resolution photographs suitable for printing at a large scale. 

Check out some of the winners from last year:

The Chief’s Wife

Jordan Smith

Organization for Tropical Studies, Summer 2014

Taken from my village home stay. This remarkable woman was the chief’s wife.

1st Place- People Category     

Peeling Cassava

Erin Wright

U of A Faculty-Led Program in Belize, Summer 2014

2nd Place- People Category

Easter Eggs

Andres MacLean

U of A Exchange, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spring 2014

One of the highlights of my study abroad experience was the trip I did with a couple of friends through Eastern Europe during our Easter Break. Our first stop was Vienna and what a wonderful city it was! On our second day there, we visited the Schönbrunn Palace and its beautiful gardens. To our surprise there was a pretty big Easter Market where you could enjoy live music, delicious Austrian cuisine and buy local products. I photographed these hand-made eggs that had beautiful designs- the lady that sold them was pretty interesting!

1st Place- Events Category

Journey to Guatemala

Katherine Dombek

U of A Faculty-Led, Urban Design in Mexico, Summer 2014

After two weeks of traveling through Mexico in the confined space of a van, we reached the Guatemalan boarder expecting some paperwork, travel fees, and a new van to take us on our way. Nope! Turns out the journey to Guatemala requires climbing into small boats and driving miles upstream, experiencing increasing contact with howler monkeys and other wildlife as we make our way into a beautiful and mysterious forest which is always thickening around us.

2nd Place- Events Category

Laurentian Library Selfie

Grant Gilliard

U of A Rome Center, Architecture, Spring 2014

Caught my reflection in Michelangelo's Laurentian Library in Florence, Italy

1st Place- Selfie Category   

#AbbeyRoadSelfie

Morgan Williams

U of A Faculty-Led, Theatre in Britain, Summer 2014

Selfie in front of an Abbey Road sign just after crossing the famous crosswalk from The Beatles' Abbey Road album art.

2nd Place- Selfie Category   

Use http://uark.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_b8i3KwfEeSPRlMV to submit your entries by Monday!

Velkommen Til København #HogsAbroad in Denmark

Hej! My name is Madison Wieters and I am a seniør history and political science major. Last summer I had the life changing opportunity to study abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark through the Danish Institute for Study Abroad! I had never been out of the country before and was beyond excited to experience the challenges and wonders that Copenhagen would bring.

The class I took that summer excited me more than anything! European Genocide was taught by a renowned Danish Holocaust Researcher named Torben Jørgensen. I have always had a strange fascination with the Holocaust and Nazi perpetrators, so as soon as I found out that DIS offered such an amazing learning experienced I signed up!

Torben quickly became one of my all-time favorite teachers. He stood before us and spoke with such knowledge and passion about the horrors and truths of the Holocaust. He encouraged us to not be afraid of the harsh realities of the time. Talking about the cruel and brutal deaths of millions is not an easy task, but to make it interesting and animated came effortlessly to Torben. Our class focused mostly on the persecution of Poles and Polish Jews. Our third week of class would actually be spent in Poland visiting the sites we had studied in the weeks before. Warsaw, Kraków, and the chilling visits to death camps are memories I will hold for a life time.

When visiting Auschwitz Stammlager and Auschwitz Birkenau, Torben’s words guided us with vivid images of what happened in the places we were standing. Birkenau impacted me the most. The vastness of such a place and the beauty were shocking. I could have never imagined what a concentration camp truly felt like without visiting one for myself. The contrast of rich nature plagued with ghosts of horrors long past was a surreal experience. My feet crunched on gravel that carried the weight of so many tormented peoples as my eyes saw butterflies and my ears heard the sweet song of birds. It is that exact type of experience that draws me to study history. A place can hold so much more than a location and even if that place looks different years down the line the history is what defines it. 

The learning opportunities afforded to me through DIS are irreplaceable. Studying under Torben, taking classroom knowledge to the field, and fully immersing myself in history is more than I could have ever hoped for academically. My time in Denmark and Poland changed me in so many ways, and it warms my heart knowing that there are streets halfway around the world that hold some of my favorite memories with people I can never forget.

               

Here are some of my favorite memories captured:

 

My second day in Copenhagen I rented a bike in an attempt to embrace Danish culture…. But 20 minutes later I was sprawled out in the middle of a town square with a bruised knee, large scrapes, and a sprained wrist. This photo was taken by my Danish RA when we were at the hospital. I literally can never forget my trip now because I will forever have a large scar on my forearm. Thanks Copenhagen :)

 

 

While abroad I made it a personal and spiritual goal to light a candle in every church I visited. This is a picture of the inside of Saint Ansgar’s Cathedra in Copenhagen where I attended Mass a couple of times. That is one thing I love most about my faith, is that Catholic Masses are the same no matter where you are in the world. This mass was said in Latin and included an English reading of the Gospel. It was an amazing cultural and spiritual experience!

 

 

The Church of Our Savior in Copenhagen ad a spiral tower with 400 steps to the top! The girls I shared a flat with and I climbed the tower one day after our classes. The view was absolutely breath taking! You could see our neighborhood, Amagerbro, and even the coast of Sweden from up there! 

My second favorite part of my trip, after Poland, was my whirlwind weekend in London with my friend Andrea who was studying abroad in Spain. The recommended tour time for the HP Tour is 3 hours…. We were there for 6 crying tears of happiness. My forever inner Harry Potter nerd had never been so satisfied before.  

This is a picture taken by one of the other DIS faculty on our trip. I love this moment because it shows the way Torben guided us through Auschwitz Birkenau. He used a book titled “The Place Where You Are Standing.” The use of this book to talk about the camp was an amazing teaching skill and learning moment for us as students. The tour was more impactful with actual images of the very place we were at.

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Don't miss out on your own study abroad experience! 

Find out more about Madison's DIS Copenhagen summer program at http://disabroad.org/copenhagen/

Search for study abroad opportunities like these in over 50 other countries: http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search