Favorites in Rome #HogsAbroad in Italy

Hello, I am Andrew McLellan and I am an Honors student majoring in Chemical Engineering. This summer I studied abroad at the University of Arkansas Rome Center and took both Thermodynamics and Basic Principles of Economics. For this blog I will be listing some of my favorite places, trips, and foods from my time in Rome.

Favorite Weekend Trip: Capri

During my time in Rome we had two free weekends and for one of them I travelled with about 10 other students to the small island of Capri. This island is fairly easy to travel to due to how great the train system is in Italy. We took a 3-hour train from Rome to Naples and then we took a 1-hour ferry to Capri.

Favorite Pasta: Gnochetti

My favorite pasta of the whole trip was this very small noodle that was made of potatoes covered in a red sauce with sausage and fennel.

Favorite Gelato: La Romana

This Gelato shop has two locations in Rome, one of which is in the neighborhood of Prati where my apartment was located. This Gelato shop is a must in Rome.

Favorite Mode of Transportation: Metro

Taxis are too expensive, walking can take too long and be too tiring and buses are never on time. This leaves the Metro as the best way to get around Rome.

Favorite Food near the Rome Center: Pasta Imperiale

This place is right next to the Rome center and serves as the perfect quick pasta for lunch before or after class. They have a great variety, and everything is homemade right there in house.

Favorite Supermarket: InCoop

This was the cheapest market we found that had plenty of food products along with necessary household items like soap and toilet paper.

Favorite American Food: Tommi’s Burgers

After a few weeks of only pasta and pizza, you are bound to feel burnt out. Tommi’s Burgers will offer you a taste of home and definitely beats a McDonald’s burger that you may be tempted by after a couple weeks.

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Chemical Engineering major Andrew McLellan spent the Summer 2018 term at our U of A Rome Center.

Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

After the Program #HogsAbroad in Belgium

Yesterday was the last day of this program, and I already miss it. I really loved Ghent. It is definitely in my top five favorite cities. Somehow in these past two weeks, I started to feel like the hostel was my home. Besides loving the city, I really enjoyed getting to know the rest of the students, Dr. Runkle and Dr. Savin, and all the Belgians that helped with the program i.e. Hilde, Hanne, Olivier, Michelle, Yarre, etc … I might have misspelled a couple of their names… Everybody got along really well, and that really helped with the whole experience.

This program also gave me a lot of insight into sustainability, and how it is being applied in Belgium, the EU, and the rest of the world. I had already known this, but this program reinforced that many environmental issues are expected to escalate within the next few decades and that we as humans need to start increasing our efforts to move towards more sustainable living. Within Belgium, and the EU, there is a significant amount of work going into transforming their linear economy into a circular economy. Basically, this means that they are trying to reincorporate all of their waste streams back into the economy so that they can reduce their impact on the environment and the amount of raw resources that need to be added into the economy initially. As a chemical engineer, this is probably the most direct way that I could work towards solving environmental issues. Some of the major processes involved in a circular economy are recycling waste products back into their “original” forms, but also processing non-recyclable waste products into something of value. Typical career paths for chemical engineers involve working with/producing plastics and producing fuels. Within a circular economy, chemical engineers can convert plastics that are thrown away into different chemicals that can be used by society or even fuels such as gasoline and diesel. I could also work with biomass to create biocoal, fertilizers, or even biofuel. Overall, this program has really taught me that it IS possible for chemical engineers to work in sustainability.

During this program, I also learned a lot about Belgian culture. Overall, they are very similar to the United States, but there are a few differences that stuck out for me. In general, Belgians seem to have more of a concern for the environment than people in the United States. They recycle more, don’t use plastic bags at grocery stores, and many people have solar panels on their roofs. Belgians also have a different philosophy regarding how the government should work. In the United States, it seems like people have more freedoms to do whatever they want because there are fewer taxes and regulations, but in Belgium, people pay significantly more taxes so that the government can afford to give them so many opportunities that essentially, they are free to do whatever they want.

Overall, I think that there are pros and cons to how the United States runs things versus the EU, but I feel like the United States could learn a lot from the EU regarding sustainability. They have many government programs that make being sustainable more favorable, and I believe the United States needs to start doing this as well before environmental problems come back to bite us in the butt. Then again, I realize that Europeans think differently than Americans, and there has to be a change in our cultural perception of the environment before any real change can occur.

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Chemical Engineering major Harrison Dawson spent the May intersession 2018 in Belgium with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System.

Read more from Harrison at https://sites.uark.edu/hdawson/blog/

Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

Last Day of Lectures #HogsAbroad in Belgium

So, if you are reading this you might be noticing a theme. Belgium is amazing. I know I’m in a sustainability-oriented class, and that we are being taught all the great things Belgium is doing to reduce their impact on the environment, but it really seems like they’ve got it figured out… or at least they are way ahead of the United States in terms of sustainability.

One aspect of Belgian society that helps them be more sustainable than the United States is Belgians’ general attitude towards the environment. The typical Belgian consumes less in terms of water, energy, plastics, etc. Sometimes this is a conscious decision i.e. increased amounts of recycling and a dedication to the valorization of waste streams and sometimes this is caused by societal and governmental regulations. You might be thinking that the United States also recycles, but Belgium has a much more intense system. Almost every single trashcan is coupled with a recycling bin (I would say around 90% of them) and many of their bins are designated for plastics and paper (per usual) and bins for organic materials which are used in compost or biofuel. Probably the most interesting part of Belgian society is their dedication to forming a circular economy which, in a nutshell, is to repurpose or process all waste streams into new products that can be reincorporated into society. One such plant that I found interesting was a pilot plant designed to sort through most all types of municipal waste then convert each type of waste into a new product that can be used by society. Many plastics can be converted into biogas or biodiesel while some can be converted into different chemicals that society can reuse. Organic waste is sorted to be composted or turned into biofuel. There are many other processes within this waste valorization plant, but those were the ones I found most interesting. In terms of societal pressures, water is never free when at restaurants or when in any public setting, and there are rarely free refills, which encourages people to regulate their eating. All of their toilets, most of their sinks, and even some of their showers work by pushing a button, receiving water for a short amount of time, then stopping till you press the button again. Also, their government has a multitude of subsidies and programs in place that make being sustainable more favorable.

Besides their views on sustainability and environmental protection, culturally they do not seem very different. The biggest differences I’ve noticed between Belgians and Americans are clothing choices and alcohol consumption… also, they seem a little sarcastic when you first meet them, but you get a lot of that in the United States as well. In terms of clothing, they dress nicely literally all the time. Even their “comfortable” clothes look nicer than most of what Americans wear. In terms of alcohol consumption, Belgian’s tend to have a culture of sipping while Americans tend to have a culture of chugging (at least in college.)

Overall, I have really liked Belgium so far, and I am sad to say that this program is almost over. Someday I hope to incorporate what I’ve learned so far into my future career as a chemical engineer.

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Chemical Engineering major Harrison Dawson spent the May intersession 2018 in Belgium with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System.

Read more from Harrison at https://sites.uark.edu/hdawson/blog/

Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

Week One Thoughts #HogsAbroad in Belgium

First off, I have got to say that I love Ghent. All the buildings are extremely old (many of them being older than the United States) and they all are gorgeous. During the walking tour, we were told some interesting stories about the different guild houses, belfries, and cathedrals all within a few blocks of the hostel… turns out, Belgians, more specifically people from Ghent, tend to be at the forefront of many rebellions and movements throughout history. One of my favorite things about Ghent so far is that because there are so many cathedrals in such a small area that the citizens have repurposed many of them into restaurants, post offices, flea markets, etc. We were told they did this because there has been a sharp decline in the number of weekly churchgoers, and instead of letting the cathedrals fall apart, they’ve turned them into something the city can use.

So, today is our third full day and the jet lag is just now starting to wear off. Besides that, I have really enjoyed the classes. The first day included an introduction of Belgian culture, and the most interesting thing about that class that I remember is that they are heavily influenced by all the countries that have occupied them. We also discussed the possible uses for lipids in industry that would otherwise be thrown out as waste. Oils from many fruits, nuts, and animals can be extracted and refined into biofuels, green diesel, cosmetics, and many more products. This lecture was of extreme interest to me because I could easily see how this topic could be related to chemical engineering in the United States. There is starting to be more of a push for sustainability in the United States, and reusing lipids is something that many industries could take advantage of.

The second day of classes was more oriented towards plants and sustainability issues related to plants. The most fascinating lecture from this day discussed GMO’s and how they’re treated differently in Europe vs the United States. Before this lecture, I didn’t quite know how I felt about GMO’s and this lecture helped clear things up for me. We were taught that most of the negative opinions on GMO’s stemmed from political issues and advertising rather than scientific fact. Massive amounts of research have been released on the GMO’s already present in society, and only a handful of them suggest GMO’s are harmful… and even these papers’ were based on sloppy techniques and data interpretation.

Today has been the most impressive so far. In the morning we visited a company called Ardo and in the afternoon, we visited a public research institution called INAGRO. Ardo is one of the largest distributors of frozen vegetables in Europe, and one of their most impressive features was their commitment to sustainability. They conducted a lot of research focusing on sustainable agriculture and they converted a lot of their waste products into biofuel which they then used to power half of the power their factories needed. INAGRO was especially unique because it was an extremely nice research institution that only existed to serve the public. They conducted many projects in the field of agriculture more specifically with insect farming, aquaculture, aquaponics, mushroom farming and organic farming. It was super interesting to see a government funded institution focusing just on sustainability and educating the public.

So far, I have been impressed with the overall Belgian experience. The cities we’ve visited were very clean and all of the Belgians we’ve met so far have been nice and extremely helpful in regards to navigating the city and immersing us in the culture.

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Chemical Engineering major Harrison Dawson spent the May intersession 2018 in Belgium with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System.

Read more from Harrison at https://sites.uark.edu/hdawson/blog/

Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

What I Learned From Study Abroad #HogsAbroad in Belgium

Reflection

Our program has come to a close and I am very sad to see it end. The farewell dinner was very emotional, as was saying goodbye to Hilde, Michele, and Oliver. Even though it was very sad to say goodbye to new friends, I am thankful to have made bonds that made leaving so difficult. I am glad to know that I have multiple friends in Ghent if I am ever to return.

I feel I am coming out of this program much more aware of the things around me in everyday life that affect sustainability. I have already had stimulating discussions with my sister over topics we covered such as biofuels and GMOs. These are topics I knew very little about prior to our program in Ghent. I find myself already far more impassioned about the need for renewable and sustainable sources of energy than I was before this course.

One thing this course has made me think about is the way we talk about sustainability and the environment back home as compared to here in Europe. I find that speaking about climate change can still be viewed as extreme or controversial in some companies in the United States. Everyone that spoke to us in Ghent, however, spoke of climate change as an undeniable fact. I think this is far more productive when trying to teach, raise awareness, or even just have a conversation about the environment. I hope that some people in the United States will stop denying climate change and embrace the need for more sustainable practices.

Another topic that I noticed had major differences from the United States was the attitude toward genetically modified organisms. While I occasionally see anti-GMO rhetoric in the United States, I feel as though GMO’s are far less vilified there than in Europe. In most European countries, labeling of GMO’s is required. There is a far larger stigma against GMO’s than there is in the States.

My experience in Belgium has not only enhanced my knowledge of food systems and sustainability, but also expanded my view of how my future degree in chemical engineering can be applied. Often when I tell people that I am pursuing degree in chemical engineering, they ask if I will go into the oil and gas sector. The classes on biofuels, biosurfactants, and bioplastics, as well as the tour of the Bio-Based Europe Pilot Plant, opened my eyes to the possibility of working in the field of sustainability and renewable energy as a chemical engineer.

Studying these topics also made me realize how interdisciplinary my future field can be. I could see how I could collaborate with biological engineers, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, food scientists, and agriculture workers on a variety of topics. Studying with classmates that had such a wide array of backgrounds and knowledge helped to show how many different facets there are to all the topics surrounding sustainability. Many different minds will be needed if we want to create sustainable practices and utilize innovative sources of alternative energy.

On a more personal level, my time in Belgium helped to remind me of the universality of the human condition. In many cases, a meaningful conversations had with a Belgian person revealed that we had had similar experiences, emotions, or difficulties at some point in our lives. It was a good reminder that no matter someone’s background, history, or culture, we are all human and there are universal experiences that we all go through. This made the world feel smaller and made me feel incredibly connected to the people I met in Ghent.

I want to thank many people for helping to make this incredible experience possible. Thank you to: my parents and grandparents for helping to finance this trip and supporting this endeavor; my sister, Hannah, for helping me pack my bag being an all-star trip planner; to Dr. Runkle for being a knowledgeable, supportive, and fun faculty leader on this trip; to all the professors from the University of Ghent who spoke to us and enlightened us in many ways; to Oliver for being a friend to all; to Hilde for being a mother to all. That is quite cheesy and I don’t think that sentence is at all grammatically correct, but I am very thankful to everyone mentioned, just the same.
I can already tell that the things I learned during this program will guide my future in my schooling and in my career, and enlighten my everyday life. Additionally, Ghent and the people I met there will be in my heart forever.

–Mary Kate

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Chemical Engineering major Mary Kate studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System program.
Read more from Mary Kate at https://you.uark.edu/mkfairle/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

Conversations with Locals - #HogsAbroad in Belgium #TBT

Since my last post, our group has already had many more experiences. On Friday night we kicked off the weekend by going to a bar then to a Greek restaurant. It was surprising to me that it seems quite normal to go grab a drink before dinner. It was very fun none the less. One of the member of the international relations faculty, Michele, joined us for dinner with his girlfriend, Karen. I was lucky enough to be seated next to Karen during dinner. We got along very well and she is definitely one of my favorite locals I have met thus far. (Oliver, if you’re reading: no worries, you’re still #1). Karen and I discussed the politics of our countries at length. This was such an interesting and stimulating conversation and I learned a lot more about the general attitude towards Belgian politics. While I think of the Belgian economic system as quite socialized, Karen told me that she wished Belgium would move toward more socialization. This was very interesting to me, as socialism is generally unpopular in the United States. She was very interested in hearing about how things in the United States work as well. This conversation lasted the whole meal, with our glasses of wine being refilled periodically, so it was very good fun.

I have had other conversations and experiences that have revealed further differences between Belgium and the US. Oliver and I had a conversation regarding social issues such as racism and islamophobia. I learned that these issues are relevant here just as they are back home. Hilde informed me that issues such as abortion and homosexuality are discussed far less than in America. She says these issues are old news, that they have already been settled. This was incredibly fascinating to me, as they are extremely hot topics back home. I hope to have many more of these stimulating conversations in the week to come.

On Saturday we took a trip to Oostende, which is a tourist town located on the coast of the North Sea. We took a bus from our hostel and arrived outside of Oostende where we did a nature tour of some sand dunes. Our guide for this tour, Herman, was a fun character. He was very animated and told us all about many plants we encountered on our trail. We hopped back on the bus and had lunch when we arrived in Oostende. We then suited up for some land yachting. This was very fun, even though there was not enough wind to really pick up any speed. I just enjoyed having my feet in some sand and sun on my face. We then headed to our hotel, which was much more grand than I expected. We were situated right by the beach, which I was very pleased with. A group of us headed down to the beach before dinner. The water was quite cold but it was nice to walk along the shore.

For dinner we went to three different places: one for an appetizer, one for an entrée, and one for desert. This was a really fun way to see many places and try a lot of different food. Our entrée was fish. If you know me at all, you know that I have hated seafood my entire life. However, I decided to at least try a bite of the fish. To my surprise, it had a very inoffensive, non-fishy taste. I ended up finishing the whole dish, and enjoying it. I promptly texted my parents, knowing they would be shocked and proud.

Oostende was very interesting to me, as it was evident that it was a tourist town, but was quite different than the tourist towns I’ve visited in America. Compared to American tourist towns, Oostende was far less flashy and commercialized. That’s not to say that there weren’t many places trying to attract the money of tourists. The strip by the beach was lined with condos, restaurants, and small shops.  However, you didn’t get as much a sense of the “tourist traps” as you do in some towns in the US.

The next day we rode these pedal-powered, four person go carts all around Oostende. We were supposed to go to certain places and answer questions about the city’s history. My group had some trouble navigating (Mom, I’m sure you’re not surprised by this as you know how directionally challenged I am). Luckily, our group had Hilde’s daughter, Renee, who knew her way around and was able to ask locals for directions in Dutch. This was a really fun way to see the ins and outs of Oostende. We then had a spaghetti lunch.

I have been surprised by the portion sizes we have received. Before coming to Europe, I had mentally prepared myself for smaller servings, as people have often told me that America has abnormally large serving sizes. However, almost all of our portions have been just as large, if not larger than the portions given at restaurants back home. With their love of fries, beer, and chocolate, Belgians have proven to be much more indulgent than I expected.

I had not been feeling well for a few days, so when it came time to take a train to Bruges, Hilde’s husband kindly offered to take me back to Ghent for some much needed rest. This definitely rejuvenated me, and I feel ready to take on the week ahead.

–Mary Kate

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Chemical Engineering major Mary Kate studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System program.
Read more from Mary Kate at https://you.uark.edu/mkfairle/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

“Nobody Wants to Read your Blog” #HogsAbroad in Belgium

Throughout my first two semesters of college, a certain trend made itself apparent to me. Whether it be girls I knew in high school or newly acquainted sorority sisters, everyone and their mom seemed to have a blog. Whether they were writing about what they’d learned in college, their religious endeavors, or anything under the sun, endless amounts of blog posts would pop up on my social media feeds. I adapted a motto of sorts: “Nobody wants to read your blog.” The blogging trend just didn’t sit well with me, as it felt self-centered and assumed the avid interest of all your Facebook friends.

However, here I am creating a blog. Although this is a requirement by my university, I must say I am excited to document my upcoming travels. I think this will be a good way to keep family and friends in the loop as I gallivant across Europe.

And thus, my bitter attitude towards blogs has circled back to bite me. Let this stand as my formal apology to anybody’s blog I might’ve rolled an eye at in the past. I will be blogging my travels and with every post I will send apologetic vibes into the universe. So with that, I begin.

Tomorrow I will depart from my home town of Dallas, TX, to Atlanta, GA. There, I will join most of my classmates from the study abroad program and depart on a nine hour flight to Ghent, Belgium. This will be my first time leaving the country and my first time flying alone.

In Ghent, we will be studying the sustainability of the European food system. I am incredibly excited about this topic and the location in which we will be studying. I am a chemical engineering major and think this program will not only be intriguing but also applicable to my future career. In fact, I have considered picking up a minor in sustainability on multiple occasions. I think this program will really help to solidify whether a career involving sustainability, food science, and/or biofuels is in my future. I am especially looking forward to learning about biofuels as I think that pertains most to chemical engineering and is most likely to be relevant to my future career.

I am so excited for all the things I will learn and all the experiences I will gain from being in a foreign country. I know spending time in Ghent will give me a much broader world view than I already have. I am most looking forward to the tours of food facilities we have planned. I have never had an inside view into the food industry, much less in a foreign country. I think seeing how the Belgians implement and maintain sustainability in their food system will allow me to come back to the USA and make comparisons and possibly implement change in the industry myself one day.

I also am looking very forward to just getting to explore Ghent as a city and getting to know the other students in my program. I think this will be the trip of a lifetime and I can’t wait to fill everyone in on everything I learn and experience.

–Mary Kate

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Read more from Mary Kate at https://you.uark.edu/mkfairle/

Chemical Engineering major Mary Kate studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: Sustainability in the Euro Food System program.

Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

When Can I Move to France? Things I Wish I Knew #HogsAbroad in France #TravelTuesday #TravelTipsTuesday

Things I Wish I Knew/Reminders Before Leaving
If you are going to a big city like Paris or Barcelona and there are lots of things you want to do, make sure you have purchased all of your tickets way before you visit those cities. The lines could be really long to get your tickets the day you visit, they may not sale tickets the day you visit, or you are required to buy them online, so be prepared for that.

Make sure you bring excellent walking shoes because there will be days where you walk all day. Also, if you have chacos or some type of water shoes bring them for the rocky beaches; I wish I brought mine.

There are some free apps that I found helpful while I was abroad because you could use them without data or Wi-Fi. I highly recommend that you download MAPS.ME and download only the maps of the cities that you will be visiting. This app can show you the nearest public restroom, drinking fountains, bus stations, and metro stations. I used it everywhere I went. You can also drop pins on places in the app that you visit frequently (like the university or your host family’s house) so that you can always find your way back to those places, and have pins in places that you want to visit ahead of time. Another good free app is Paris Metro – Map and Route Planner. If you plan on going to Paris, this app makes using the metro map a breeze! You’ll be a metro pro after using this!

Dara, a Chemical Engineering major, studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: French in Perpignan program.

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To find out more about the French in Perpignan summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/perpignan.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

When Can I Move to France? Food and Traveling in Perpignan #HogsAbroad in France #TravelTuesday

 

Food
I strongly encourage you to not be a picky eater and try everything! I tried so many kinds of meats, cheeses, and seafood. I tried duck and chicken gizzard, an assortment of sausages including blood sausage and Catalan sausage, duck liver, oysters, clams, muscles, sardines, octopus, squid, frog legs (pictured above), bleu cheese, brie cheese, morbier cheese and many more cheeses! Don’t turn down anything and if you don’t like it, at least you tried it. For lunch you could eat at the café on campus or there were plenty of restaurants relatively close to the university. I ate out for lunch for the first week; each day was under ten euros. I didn’t want to spend all my money on food so I would get lunch at a grocery store near the university for less than three euros per day!

Traveling
The weekends we had off, but the university has a day trip planned to a city like Barcelona or Carcassonne if you wanted to do that on the weekends. I was fortunate enough to visit Paris on one of the weekends and I loved it. If you have a chance to explore other cities in France, do it! See as much as you can! Paris was wonderful! I went to the Eiffel Tower the first night just so I knew for sure I was in Paris! I went to the Palace of Versailles, the top of Montparnasse to see the beautiful view of Paris, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre-Cœur, Cimetière du Père Lachaise to see Oscar Wilde’s tomb, Jardin du Luxembourg, Musée d’Orsay, and Centre Pompidou. I attended daily mass at Notre Dame which was breathtaking. I also went to the last stage of Tour de France, which was amazing!

Dara, a Chemical Engineering major, studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: French in Perpignan program.

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To find out more about the French in Perpignan summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/perpignan.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

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).

When Can I Move to France? School and Activities in Perpignan #HogsAbroad in France #TravelTuesday

School
Classes were great! The first day you take a placement test to see where your French skills are and then you can move up or down where you feel comfortable. Monday through Friday we had classes from 8:30am-12:30pm with the first class ending at 10:30am and the second ending at 12:30pm. All of the professors spoke completely in French unless you really didn’t understand what was going on. We had a grammar class first every day and for the second class we either had our literature or culture class that alternated every other day. Our professors were very helpful and understanding. This program was also for students from other countries too, so we had students from Denmark, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Australia, and England just to name a few. In class we did individual work and group work so there were some occasions where you had to work with other people who weren’t from the University of Arkansas. This was more challenging because French or English was not their first language so it was harder to communicate with them but it was fun trying!

Activities
There was always a bus that would leave at 2:00pm everyday that would take us to either a beach or a city to visit for the afternoon and would bring us back by 7:00pm. There are so many beautiful beaches near Perpignan. Most of us from Arkansas hung out together but we also hung out with the other students from other countries and we became really close friends. I loved walking everywhere! So if you want to explore, bring your very best tennis shoes because there is a lot of walking. There are so many museums, stores, and castles to explore in Perpignan. My favorite beach was Collioure (pictured above) for sure; it was beautiful and so colorful!

Dara, a Chemical Engineering major, studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: French in Perpignan program.

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To find out more about the French in Perpignan summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/perpignan.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/

When Can I Move to France? From Toulouse to Perpignan #HogsAbroad in France #TravelTuesday

Hi! My name is Dara Rowell. I’m a junior majoring in chemical engineering. In July I had the opportunity to study abroad in my favorite country during the French in Perpignan program. I chose to do this program because I love learning anything about French culture and what better way is there to learn about the culture than living in France for a month! This was my first time to travel outside the United States so everything was a new experience for me. I loved every little detail of this trip from the airplane food and listening to French radio commercials on Chérie FM to attending daily mass at Notre Dame, all the roundabouts, and the beautiful cypress trees. I was extremely fortunate to have taken this trip of a lifetime. If I had the ability to do this study abroad program again, I would do it a 100 times!



We stayed in Toulouse, France for three days and that’s where I got to know our group a little better before we started classes in Perpignan. We went to churches and convents in the mornings and then we had the afternoons off to explore the city. One day we walked to the space museum, Cité de L’espace, that we thought would take about 30 minutes to get there, but it ended up being an hour away! It was fun though because we stopped along the way and played on a French playground. We always came together in the evenings to have our group dinners.

After our days in Toulouse we left for Perpignan and met our host families at the bus/train station. This was the most nerve-racking part because I had to start speaking French, it was actually happening! I had only taken a year and a half of French, so my French was not very good at all (I always had to say: Je parle un peu français, meaning I speak a little French, to anyone who spoke French to me). I knew this program would be a challenge for me, but I was ready for it! Luckily, I was fortunate enough to live with another student from our group, Vanessa, to help me out. Our host family lived about 30 minutes away from the University and they drove us to school everyday. Our family was a married couple with 2 daughters close to our age. We always ate dinner together at the table. We also had a dog, two cats, some chickens, and two turtles.

Dara, a Chemical Engineering major, studied abroad with our U of A Faculty-Led: French in Perpignan program.

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To find out more about the French in Perpignan summer program, visit http://studyabroad.uark.edu/perpignan.
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/