By this time in the program, I think everyone was really excited for it to be Tuesday. We only had 2 lectures on our schedule and then it was laundry time at Wasbar! Our first lecture was over the economic aspects of bioproduction, and our second lecture was about soil-water management. Of all of the lectures thus far, these might have been the two I knew absolutely least about.
In economics, there’s a supply and demand something-or-another, and I knew the Dust Bowl occurred due to poor soil-water management, but other than that, I’m pretty useless. As per pretty much ever other lecture so far, I’ve learned so much I was not expecting to learn, and I never realized how complex these fields are. It’s actually insane to think about how specialized these fields are, and I’m constantly blown away at how prestigious some of these professors are in their field. On top of that, some of them are also fantastic speakers and teachers. I’ve gone into so many lectures expecting to get lost or confused or bored since I don’t have a strong chemistry or biology background, yet some professors are fantastic at engaging. I love laughing through the lectures.
Some of the key pointed I learned from the agro-economics lecture was that predictions are only as good at the data for the formula, and that the numbers are hard to get. One interesting concept I had never heard of was “agglomeration” which are the “benefits that firms obtain by locating near each other.” For example, if a mine were near a refinery, this would mean that the companies benefit from their proximity since it takes less time and money to transport materials. Another example is the close proximity of farmer’s markets and shopping centers. Given the typical audience of both establishments, often times, customers of the farmer’s markets will leave proud owners of a new blouse, and customers of the shopping center will spontaneously wish to buy some fresh kale.
In the soil-water management lecture, I learned that meteorological drought, which is drought due to lack of rainfall, is not as common as agricultural drought, which is a shortage of available water for plant growth. In other words, there can be a rise in agricultural drought without a rise in meteorological drought. This can be due to contaminations of the agricultural water source or poor soil infiltration capacity. This is honestly a topic I took for granted and never really put much thought into, which given that I’ve learned about the Dust Bowl, you would think I would have paid more attention until now. Yet, I still have much to learn.
After our two lectures, we all took our 10 days of dirty laundry on a 15 minute walk down the streets of Ghent to the cutest laundromat I’ve ever seen called Wasbar. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you’ll see I check in there on Friday in order to use their wifi. It was the cutest place; it had a restaurant and a bar inside. It was basically a cute, bright cafe with the white noise of washing machines and dryers.
It took a while to finish up my laundry; I wear a lot of clothes, and I’m the queen of overpacking. We also had a few washers, enough for most everyone to double up. Except, whoops, I didn’t get a washer in the first round which put me quite a bit behind everyone. Luckily for me, Hilde lived nearby and offered her home dryer to me. If you ever wondered if you’d be well taken care of on a U of A Faculty-Led study abroad program, the answer is “yes, like you wouldn’t believe.”
With the rest of the afternoon off, Lauren and I took advantage of the clothing stores’ open hours which we typically miss because of school. As if I didn’t have enough clothes already, I added a couple outfits to my collection. We also found one of the best parts of being a international visitor; when someone tries to stop you on the street to talk to you about their product or business or organization, not being able to speak Dutch or not being a Belgian citizen is a great excuse for not sticking around.
Then, with no great splendor, Lauren and I laid down for hours resting our minds and feet from an intensive week and a half of cultural and educational game of dodgeball which we willingly lost until we fell asleep with the sun still up.
I’m actually trying to remember Tuesday-Friday events while on a train to Switzerland where I will be spending a few days post-program for sightseeing and exploring. Reminiscing on these event is bittersweet, even so soon after ending. I know I’ll greatly appreciate taking the time to write down events and thoughts in the near and distant future. WordPress better not go down anytime soon.
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Read more from Kaylee at https://letsghentlost.wordpress.com/blog/
To find out more about the U of A Faculty-Led: European
Agriculture-Food Chain Sustainability program at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/SUSTEurozone/
