We
have only a couple more days left in Ghent, and I’m finding it difficult
to look back on this program as a whole. I am loving our classes and
excursions because I feel they are giving me a very well-rounded glimpse
into careers I will be in and around. There have been so many things in
lectures and excursions that have caught my attention and made me
seriously interested in different subjects and in coming back to Ghent
to study.
Today, for example, we had a lecture on Sustainable Water
Resource Management for Food Production that didn’t capture my attention
at first. However, as the speaker went on, my notes noticeably changed
and became interspersed with underlines, exclamation points, and stars. I
realized he had made a connection with a principle I had been
introduced to in my foundations of sustainability class, and he
explained that it is easy for people to react to things once they have
happened, but it is much more useful to think proactively and to plan
for problems before they arise. He explained the dual-fold way that
modeling stimulate this: analyzing ecosystem functions and services and
informing people and legislation in a way that can convince them to
change their behavior. He summarized that the role of models is to
optimize and inspire. I strongly agree.
Several
times this week I have felt that I was experiencing Ghent like a local
would. One of the most interesting things about the day-to-day in Ghent
has been the preference people seem to have for walking and cycling over
vehicular transport. It has been a learning curve to grasp that there
is always a bike lane and that bikes have the right-of-way at nearly all
times, but this week I got to move up in the food chain and hop on a
bike myself. It was an adrenaline-filled experience between the dodging
of pedestrians, the bumpy cobblestones, and travelling so close and
alongside traffic.
Once we had gotten our bikes, Hildé offered to make
us a little tour of the Flemish countryside. A few of us loved the idea
and within the hour we were on our way on our matching red bikes, three
of us in light-catching safety vests, one with a map, and myself with a
list of numbers indicating the route we should take.
We
saw so many beautiful sights on our ride! We rode along the canal some
and came upon some Belgian Blues, which we stopped to take pictures of
before we realized there was no fence between us and them. We passed
many farms and dozens of breathtaking houses. We noticed that everyone
has a well-kept garden, and we saw many people on the trails, walking
dogs and going on nature hikes. I’m sure we would’ve been annoying to
anyone else, ringing our bells and continually pointing out new
beautiful sights to one another and exclaiming “Wow!” or “Whoa!” or
“This is the most European thing ever!” as we rounded every corner.
Another
new experience was going to see a movie in the local theater. It was an
English movie, so it had double subtitles in Dutch and French. I found
out that there are no commercials or previews or urgings to silence our
phones before the movie begins. But that wasn’t a problem at all: no one
was munching on popcorn or slurping soda – we just sat in our very
comfortable chairs and soaked in the experience. It was very enjoyable,
besides being a good movie.
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Read more from Jaden at https://jadentalley.wordpress.com/
To find out more about the U of A Faculty-Led: European Agriculture-Food Chain Sustainability
program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/SUSTEurozone/
