Flavors, Smells, and Textures #HogsAbroad #FoodieFriday

If you ask my mom, she will probably tell you that I used to be the pickiest eater before I studied abroad, and I have to say that she is right. Many times, human nature prevents us from experiencing new and exciting things, but we need to challenge what is familiar, embrace the new, and keep an open mind, especially when it comes to food. Food is probably the single most distinctive feature of every country, and region of the world. Flavors, smells, and textures awaiting to be rediscovered is one of my motivations to travel. Travelling has become one of my passions, and so is eating, but it wasn’t until I first left to another country when I learned to appreciate the exquisiteness of a foreign cuisine.

One of the most exciting food experiences in my life was food hunting in Denpasar, when I went to Indonesia. I did not speak Bahasa at all, but I was hungry. Almost every time at a restaurant I would order something that I had never tried. In fact, most times without knowing what the food was made of, but every time I discovered flavors that I didn’t know existed, and I loved it.

Remember, never say that you won’t like any regional dish of whatever country you travel to until you have tried it!!!

-Jean Morales

Jean studied abroad at our U of A Rome Center and with our U of A Exchange program at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

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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).

The end of a journey #HogsAbroad in Bali

Hi all,

I am so sad to see this summer end, but ecstatic to be back home! My last day in Australia I booked a tour through my accommodation, and went all over the place. I got to play with kangaroos and wallabies, cuddle with a koala for a bit and view the “penguin parade” at night. Side note- kangaroos like to be petted and wallabies DO NOT.

Tried to take a selfie WITH this cutie..
failed, but love it :)

On the bus in between stops I got to see a lot of amazing scenery. Australia is gorgeous! (I already can’t wait to go back.) It was probably the best day of the whole trip- and a great way to end on a high note. I still have a hard time comprehending all of the places I went and the experiences I had this summer. I went to four continents, to six countries in twelve weeks.

I got to see all kinds of animals for the first time, hiked some amazing trails and (accidentally?) made a few of my own. I got to research business and economy, things I want to  do in the future, and learnt so much about the environment, environmental issues. The biggest bonus were the amazing people I visited with and met along the way. From old friends to new ones, I hope that we can stay in touch for many years to come.




But all good things have to come to an end- or maybe a pause, at least. The trip home was definitely that! It took 32 hours (including the time change) to get home. I flew American Airlines, and all three flights were delayed for varying amounts of time; they were overbooked, mechanical issues, etcetera etcetera. They even forgot to stock the plane with food for one of the flights!

But it’s great being home. I spent a couple of days in Tulsa, before heading to Fayetteville. I started an intersession course on Monday, and am in the process of getting back into the swing of things. This semester is going to be pretty tough class wise- but I’m so close to the end! Finally a senior! (Where did the time go??)

more scenery… because, why not

I have a lot of goals ahead of me this year: working on both my theses, continuing my research from this summer, classes, work and of course planning for next summer. Who knows what it could hold?
Until my next adventure,
Ta :)
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.
Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.
Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Great Ocean Road #HogsAbroad in Bali

So, picking up from where I left off before, because I got tired. I went to St. Kilda, which was really nice. It was sunny and warm and I didn’t need to wear five layers. I walked along the beach and the reserve. I went looking for penguins on the pier and finished my afternoon at the market.

Melbourne skyline from St. Kilda pier

I rode the tram back in and had an early night- spent most of the time planning for today. The Great Ocean Road. Rachael, the girl I’ve been running around with, and I wanted to see if we could do it only on public transport instead of with a private company. We got up early to catch the train just a bit after 8 am and did the first leg- which is simply getting to the starting point. That took an hour and a half by itself.

gorgeous coastline

Then we switched over to buses. The first one was three hours and didn’t have any tourist stops, but it did have great views. We got to see kangaroos and whales! There weren’t as many people as we thought that there would be. We were the only tourists- everyone else was a local using the route. We chalked it up to weather; it was raining off and on all day. We did a really good job at avoiding the showers.

We grabbed a quick lunch in Apollo Bay and then hopped on the next bus. This one was almost four hours, but did have several stops along the way. We waited and waited for the bus to fill up but it didn’t. We were the only two people for the whole route. We ran into lots of charter buses and tourists along the way, but that bus was our castle for a short time. It was fantastic.

We did all the major stops- the 12 Apostles, Loch and Gorge, London Bridge and Bay of Islands. We had to keep to a pretty strict time table, since it was public transport. However, we got to see the main points at each site. We even saw some penguins at Bay of Islands! So many animals in one day. We finished the route around 5 pm, and then had an hour before our train would take us back to Melbourne.

The return trip only took 4 hours, but we were starving at the end of it. All of the restaurants were closed so we went to the store and got stuff to make some dinner and then rushed back to our accommodation so we could make it before the kitchen closed. Now, it’s time for bed. Today was exhausting!
Ta for now :)





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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Endings and Beginnings #HogsAbroad in Bali

The last few days of my program in Indonesia were bitter sweet. In between writing my final exams and papers, I got to see my homestay family several times. I really enjoyed spending time with them, and I’m hoping to visit them again someday. :)

We also had a few final excursion- a retreat, of sorts, if you will. We spent a few hours and had a nice dinner in Ubud before going to Mount Batur. I did attempt to bring back a piece of chocolate cake from this little bakery we found but it ended up melting in my lap, almost falling through the bottom of the carry away box and leaving an interesting stain on my pants… Lesson learned- eat when you buy in a tropical country.

don’t trust the cake

We spent the night in some pretty swish* digs (which had hot water!). The other students got up at 3:30 in the morning for a hike timed just so they could see the sunrise over the peak at the top. I had to sit it out due to the difficulty of the trail and my bad ankle, but the pictures were fantastic. I didn’t mind the extra sleep, though.

Our flash digs

The next day we went to Seminyak where we had rented an airbnb villa (which was the most luxurious place I have ever stayed in), very flash*. Our very last excursion was a surprise visit to a turtle conservation organization, where we each “adopted” a baby turtle and then released them.

So many turtles- I may have died of happiness

We also had a great dinner (basically all the food there was awesome (as long as it wasn’t too spicy for me)) and enjoyed spending one last night together. The first departure was at midnight, followed slowly by the rest of us. We are all going different places and continuing our journeys in different ways. I was very impressed with my peers on this program and can’t wait to see what all they do next.

Our professors were also great. I learned so much on the program and wish I could have spent more time out in the field. I have done quite a bit with my research- but have so much more that I want to do. Realistically, it probably won’t see much progress until I’m back in the states. But that’s only a week away. I can’t believe that I’ve been gone almost eleven weeks now!

I am currently on the last leg of my trip, and have spent my first day in Australia. Stopping off here is definitely worth the shorter flight back to the states. I am going to be spending the week in Melbourne, which is currently freezing. Literally. I may be going to the beach but I doubt I will get in. I hope to get out and do some exploring in the next few days. I will keep it posted!

Ta
*Australian slang taught to us by our program coordinator. Equivalencies: cool, nice, awesome, luxurious, expensive.
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Nusa Lembongan and Penida #HogsAbroad in Bali

I am finally back on mainland Bali- and therefore, back in the land of wifi. We spent the last two and a half weeks on Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Penida (mostly on Penida).The islands were great- lots of snorkeling and sitting by the ocean. Both islands were beautiful, but Nusa Penida was much less touristy.

loving the island life

On Lembongan, we met with a diving company to learn about local initiatives to preserve the reefs. There main one seems to be Lembongan Marine Association. They work with the Coral Triangle Center and do annual surveys of 20 areas to monitor the reefs and fish. We also spent the time working on our individual research projects.

After a couple days we island hopped to Penida, where we were based for two weeks. We stayed at the Friends of National Parks Foundation and volunteered for a couple of hours each day. Volunteer activities included working on a road, gardening and teaching English to locals.

view from Yellow Bridge at low tide (Lembongan/Ceningan)

I used this time to work on data collection for my research (also updating the research section in a bit). I collected over 75 surveys in about three days- one day spent on Ceningan (my favorite island!) and two spent on Lembongan. Interviewing business owners and managers and navigating around the area gave me a lot of practice with Bahasa. Ceningan, which is in between Lembongan and Penida for tourist numbers, was the best. I have nothing to back this up with but that I just loved walking around it.

Penida was also fantastic. We got to do some cultural activities in addition to our research- we went to a cave temple, and yesterday we went snorkeling at Manta Point. I saw three mantas- one was really up close! For me, the only negative was that I had a run in with a jelly fish. A couple of the other students were sea sick by the end of the excursion.

Jellyfish are bullies.
I have more of the same on the other arm.

Today, it was back on the boat and heading to Bali. We spent a couple hours in Sanur where we got gelato and ice cream galore. We are back at the center base now and working on putting together our research and preparing for our finals. We will have them all on Monday- and then go for a hike on Tuesday to finish out the program. I can’t believe that 5 weeks have already gone by!

Until next time.
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Blimbingsari, Barat and Baluran #HogsAbroad in Bali

Almost caught up… Almost.

Looking over the top of a waterfall

Blimbingsari was our second home stay; the village was very interesting. The main industry is tourism and the main product, homestays. The village runs the only homestay in the area with a network of over twenty houses and room for over 100 people. They function as a business- with add-ons groups can purchase, tour packages and the like.

The money stays completely local- there are no restaurants so the locals take turns cooking, there are no hotels so people who have additional rooms rent them out. The village is considered one of the most sustainable developments for village-based tourism in Indonesia. The coolest thing, though, was definitely the plastic bank.

It’s another local initiative- the community organizes the curb side pick up for plastic recycling. They somehow manage to keep it separated by family and the refund value for each bottle is placed in a bank account for that family- which they can withdraw once a year. I think that this is such a good way to help clean up the village and to show just how much the refunds add up to- and how much plastic we all use. The second coolest part of Blimbingsari was it’s proximity to Barat National Park. My homestay coordinator was also the local trekking guide- each morning we all went on a nature trek looking for local species and finding some great places.

Where the monsoon forests meets the savanna

After Blimingsari we went to Baluran National Park in Java. We had to take a ferry between the islands and then drive into the park a good distance.

The differences in was really cool. The park starts out as monsoon forest, then deciduous forest, which leads into the savanna area and finally, at the coast there are mangrove forests.

The macaques (monkeys) are everywhere. And super aggressive since they are used to people feeding them. They stole some of our luggage as we were unloading it.

I also had to defend a watermelon at one point- fruit was scarce, since it was a national holiday and the shops were closed, and I was not about to let them have our dinner. The other animals were cooler- bantang, black monkeys, kingfishers, civets and even a wild dog!

Ferry crossing!

Sadly, we got kicked out early due to the accommodation being overbooked and we were scrambling to leave, catch the ferry across to Bali, drive across all of Bali to take the ferry to a different island in the east…
Which really deserves its own section. So that’s where I will end today. Hopefully, I will get the next one up this week, as well. Ta
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Homestay, Bedugul and Pemutaran… #HogsAbroad in Bali

Yes, I know, I am so far behind in posting. So here’s a really long one! (And now, I’m another week behind. Wifi is far and between here.)

Our last three nights in Kerambitan were spent with our homestay family. Each student had a different family, but all located relatively close together. I was neighbors with two other students and their familys.

My family consisted of the ibu (mother), bapak (father), and two daughters. My homestay fathers’ parents also lived with them. In Balinese culture, it is normal to eat your meals alone, and to be social the rest of the time. This is quite a change from the states where socializing goes hand in hand with food.

In addition to this, the structure of the houses are very different. At home, everything (the kitchen, living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms) are all located in a single building. Here, each one has its own. Many bedrooms are also located in individual buildings, as well. My bedroom and bathroom were completely separate from the rest of the house. The bathroom, which they are currently building is an “open-air” bathroom. I had never seen one of those before!

My area also had a great lookout area on the upper floor that was great for studying. The breeze felt awesome and the views were fantastic! In the evenings, my homestay family took me to local events. The first night, there was a traditional dance ceremony to welcome some important visitors from Japan. The night after that, one of the other student’s homestay sister had a dance recital. I went with my bapack and the other student’s family. The events were really interesting, and were centered around many of the traditions that exist in Balinese culture. In addition to attending these events in the evening, I was also getting up pretty early to conduct research.

We started our first field study project during our homestays. It was about fruit-eating birds in suburban settings- namely, the amount of traffic of birds in fig trees which are a keystone species, to indicate seed dispersal and biodiversity within the city landscape. Figs are sacred in Bali and have been left mostly undisturbed even in urban settings.

Our projects / papers were due as we were heading out for Bedugul. Bedugul is located in the mountains and was waaaay cooler than the lowlands. The weather was great! we stayed in the botanic gardens, and I was able to start collecting data for my individual research project over Eco-Tourism. We spent three nights in the gardens, of which the highlight was definitely us attempting a four kilometer hike that turned into fie miles and ended with us being so lost we scaled a cliff face for about 400 feet to make it to the nearest road.

We all had some pretty heart-stopping moments on our ascent, but our Indonesian guide for the trip (Yudi), did the whole thing barefoot! It was really impressive. He also won the contest for collecting the most leaches (so happy I lost that one!). We also visited a famous temple in Bedugul, located right on the water.

Afterwards, we headed for our current location, Pemutaran. Located on the coast, we are staying a couple of blocks from the beach. We have been snorkeling for the past couple of days, collecting data on marine biodiversity for our current FSP. This project looks at coral cover in relation to fish communities. We have been spending lots of time in the water and have the sunburns to prove it! Ouch.

Today I will be working on catching up on everything (like this post!), my field journal, writing my research paper, etc. And just maybe if I have enough time, I’ll be able to treat myself to a massage.

Yay for motivation!

Until next time. (Which will probably be really soon, since I’m already behind again).
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Field Studies in Bali #HogsAbroad in Indonesia

Hello! I have been in Indonesia for 6 days, with the School for International Training (SIT). We had an interesting time meeting each other at the airport – no one from the program was there to greet us – so some of the students made their own sign on notebook paper with highlighter, very official looking.

We are currently in Kerambitan, staying in a converted palace. We are attending classes everyday and are having lots of fun exploring the area. The local market has just about anything we could possibly want. Add in a convenient store and wa-la.

One of our first assignments was to go to the local market and to buy whatever we could for under 10,000 IDR (about .80 cents), to practice the language and our bargaining skills.I was able to buy a roll of green tea bread and a package of fruit pies. Some of the other students bought mangosteen, papaya and incense.

We are trying lots of new (and different) foods, which sometimes, seem best left untried. Other activities in the area include walking (lots of walking), eating ice cream and studying. The group favorite is definitely going to the beach. The beach closest to us is great, but the waves are too strong to swim in.Wading feels great in this humid climate!

It’s just over an hours walk each way to the shore, and on our first trip a storm broke on our way back. We were walking in fast moving water, flowing against up, calf deep. It was incredibly hard to see in the down pour to navigate our way back, but we survived. The locals cheered us on as we passed them, and offered the advice of “run, run!”.

In our more daily routine, we take morning walks and learn about the environment around us. We are avid binocular users and constantly trying new things: from licking ants to picking fruit. On Saturday, we skipped our typical morning walk and took an excursion to a sacred temple nearby. Afterwards we visited the rice fields in Tabanan and a monkey temple.

The monkeys were everywhere! Many had babies and lots of them were very curious around visitors. The temple even had flying foxes that we could see. Currently, we are all preparing for our home stay, which will start on Wednesday.

We have all also had preliminary meetings for our individual field projects. Here's an update for you on mine: I have received approval from the UofA Institutional Review Board! I’m so excited to start my research. I am working closely with the SIT Professor to arrange for field opportunities and to figure out the best approach to the project. I will have two weeks set aside at the end of the program specifically for research. I will soon start researching potential participants and sending out / conducting surveys, etc. I’m hoping to start digging in as soon as possible.

In addition to these larger projects, we will each be doing two or three smaller field studies starting this week. Our first one will be over fig trees and the fruit eating birds that depend on them for a food source. More on that to come, later.
Until next time!
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Here, there, everywhere. #HogsAbroad in the UK.

Today is my last day in the UK! I feel that I have seen a good amount of the UK, but still have several places I wasn’t able to make it to on this trip.

View up to Arthur’s Seat

From my time in Edinburgh, I spent a lot of it simply relaxing. I went to Portobello Beach, hiked to Arthur’s seat and visited Holyrood Palace. Oh, and of course Edinburgh Castle and Old Town. After leaving Edinburgh, I returned to London.

I spent the majority of the last week here, relaxing and exploring. For London itself, I saw a lot of the tourist attractions a few weeks ago. This time, I tried to experience more of the museums. My favorite was the Natural History Museum- they had so many dinosaur fossils.

I took a day trip to Brighton to visit  my friend, Caitlyn, who had been studying at a university near Brighton. It was great getting to see her, and I got to meet a few of her friends from uni as well. We had a ton of fun going out to eat and ending the night with ice cream.

Dover Castle

Yesterday I visited Dover. Luckily, I arrived just as the rain ended, and got on the bus to return right before it started up again. Dover Castle was fascinating. The site is rich with history, intrigue and romance. There was a continuous fog that descended, receded, and then descended again.

I was able to explore several sets of tunnels within the cliffs, including the underground hospital from WWII. The construction of the castle itself was very interesting- it functioned more as a hotel, before becoming important to the defense of England. I did manage to slip while angling for that “perfect” picture, and slid down a hill.

I have a nice bruise and grass stained pants for my efforts. Furthermore, I had a slight panic attack when the bus started heading towards the ferries- it turned out just to be a bus stop that looped around the ferries. I was so happy to get back last night so I could face plant  into my pillow.

I’ll be up early tomorrow to catch my plane to Bali. It’ll take about 18 hours (excluding the time change, it’s a full 24 hours if you include it!) to get to Indonesia. I am pretty excited- now I’ll not only be able to visit a beach, but actually get in the water!
Until next time.
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

On the move… #HogsAbroad

Since my last post, I have been constantly on the move. Leaving little time for anything but adventuring and sleep. When  I last posted, I was on my way to Bath (I think). I also went to Bristol, before continuing on to Swansea and Cardiff. From there, I went to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth and Inverness.

As a result, I have over 600 photos for this last week, alone. And I am incredibly tired. I am back in Edinburgh for now, and will stay here for a couple days. The plan is to catch up on everything- including sleep! So- for an abbreviated version, here’s what I’ve been up to:

Bath: the best part were the assembly rooms! They were pretty close to how I imagined they would be, but not nearly as large. I can’t imagine having all those people crammed in there- or how they managed to dance in such a crush.

Bristol: the museums! The museums like the Red Lodge and the Georgian House were great. They were very interesting and interactive. I love seeing houses and buildings that have been preserved.


Swansea: Mumbles. Mumbles is a small village on the Gower Peninsula
on Swansea  Bay. It has a Victorian lighthouse and pier, overlooked by Oystermouth Castle. Oystermouth Castle was interesting in that visitors have access to almost every area. The catwalks, the chapel, the quarters and towers, all the way down to the cellars. It was fascinating weaving through the passageways, getting turned around, and figuring out how everything connected.

Cardiff: surprise, surprise, my favorite thing was the castle. The facade is the thing of fairy tales, and it has a history to match. Multiple Roman forts were constructed on the site, followed by the building and remodeling of castles until it reached its present form.


Edinburgh: more on that, later.

Glasgow: sadly, I did not take into account a random bank holiday when planning my trip. So, the majority of attractions were actually closed when I was in Glasgow. However, I still made it to the People’s Palace and Winter Gardens, and many of the parks.
 
Perth: the iconic Scone Palace. Scone Palace is a place where the kings of Scotland were traditionally crowned, and has a fascinating history. The village/city of (old) Scone is steeped in legend and mystery, and the surroundings lend the legends an air of reality.

Inverness: was absolutely amazing. The highlands are beautiful. Besides the bus breaking down in between Perth and Inverness, this was by far the best place. I went to Clava Cairns, an ancient burial site, which is dated between three and four thousands years ago. Each burial mound was ringed by large standing stones. In the afternoon, I went looking for Nessie in the loch, but had no luck sighting her.

Edinburgh: (Again). I was so tired the first night I was here- I slept the whole time. So, I had to make a point to come back and do all of the touristy things. I have many attractions on my to do list ranging from (you guessed it) castles to day trips from the city.
So, I’ll have that to talk about next time. Ta!
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Hello & Goodbye #HogsAbroad

As sad as I was to say goodbye to Iceland, I made the most out of my last two days. On my way to Olafsvik, I explored canyons, gorges and waterfalls. The hostel I stayed at was an old fish factory which now doubles as a professional theater and accommodations. The atmosphere was tons of fun, and they had a show that night about a local legend of an alien invasion from the 90’s.

I spent my last day in Reykjavik. I meandered around the area, looking at the houses (which are really cute!) and enjoying the historic feeling of the city. I spent the evening relaxing, reading and working on school stuff.

Then, I flew to England! The first act was to go out to Brighton where the sun was shining. I spent the majority of my time laying out on the beach, continuing my reading and relaxation period. The coast was beautiful, and the weather was fantastic. The only negative- I should have booked  longer stay. I would like to go back and explore more of the town in the future.

Brighton

I am now in London, for the third day. The first day I spent moseying through High Street, Mayfair and Grosvenor  Square- all places from those historical romance books I like so much. Yesterday (and so far the best day) I spent with Olivia. We met on the internship program in Beijing in 2014. It’d been almost two years since we had seen each other.

It felt like we hadn’t lost any time! Olivia showed me many of the sights and introduced me to many of London’s quirks. We had a fantastic dinner in Covent Gardens and relived many of our memories.
Today I spent recuperating- sleeping, talking to my parents and friends and of course- reading. Tomorrow I head out to Bath.

Ta for now!
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Read more from Claire at https://hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com/ 
To learn more about the SIT Study Abroad Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali, visit http://studyabroad.sit.edu/sn/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Making a splash! #HogsAbroad

The last few days have brought more adventures than I could have ever imagined! From driving through snow and sleet on a high mountain pass, to swimming in volcanic hot springs and to boating through the Fjords searching for whales- it has been pretty fantastic here.

Myvatn Namafjall

Myvatn, is where I stayed  few nights ago. It has many attractions in the area- most notably those arising from the high temperature geothermal activity.

In addition to the nature baths there is also Namafjall, a park filled with steaming outlets and pools bubbling up from below the surface. A couple kilometers from that is a cave system which was a lot of fun to explore.
It used to be used as nature baths as well, until the 1970’s when a magma stream opened up making the water too hot to use.

After Myvtn, I went on to Glaumbaer. This farm is from the 1100’s, but was moved from somewhere else, predating it’s current site. The structures below were built in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The farm has 16 rooms, most of which are connected by a central passageway. The structure is made out of turf and driftwood. The main living quarters could sleep up to 22 people!

Church near Glaumbaer

Glaumbaer

The church pictured was only few minutes drive from Glaumbaer. It is constructed during the same time period, but meant to reflect the structure which would have stood during the 11th century.

Yesterday, after exploring all morning I joined a whale watching excursion for the afternoon. Despite it being freezing on the water with lots of wind, it was a great trip! We saw at least 7 humpbacks and a few harbor porpoises as well. (Main photo).

So far, I have made it about two thirds of the way around the Ring Road. I have two days left, which will bring me full circle to Reykjavik. Today I am headed out to the far west coast, near Olafsvik.
Ta!
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Claire Beach will be traveling to several countries during her International Service Learning Program this summer. Her ultimate destination will be a seven-week stay in Indonesia where she will be observing and conducting research for her project, Community Nature and Conservation, through the Honors College.

Beach is studying economics and international business in Walton College. She is observing and conducting research on the profitability of ecotourism business and environmental preservation in other parts of the globe, particularly developing countries. She will be attending the School of International Training. You can read more from Claire at hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com.

Find out more about the SIT Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali (Summer) program at http://studyabroad.sit.edu/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/

Iceland! #HogsAbroad

Hi!

I have started my summer adventures. I arrived in Iceland yesterday, and have been very busy. My first day I drove from the airport to Vik, making many stops along the way. Today I drove to Hoefn.

Coast Line near Dyrholeay

It doesn’t get dark here this time of year- it just dims a bit at night. This gives us tourists more time to be out and about exploring. It’s 11 pm, and I’m sitting in a common room where the majority of people are just now sitting down to dinner.

Despite how many tourists are here, it still feels pretty empty. I am driving the Ring Road in a counter clockwise direction.

Fjadorargljufur

There are times where I go miles and miles without seeing another vehicle. The stop offs along the road including picnic spots, view points, points of interest and activities are every few miles.

Last night I stayed at a B&B on a farm near Vik. It was surrounded by sheep and goats, all with babies! It was a lot of fun watching the youngsters play with each other. The place was awesome- it had man made caves on the property (which is a thing here), waterfalls and all of the food served for breakfast was produced on the farm.

Hoefn

Tonight, I am in the “city”. I am staying in a small fishing town with a population just over 2,000 people in South Eastern Iceland. I walked around the main boating area earlier, and am all tuckered out!

Until next time!
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Read more from Claire at https://hogtrailsandtales.wordpress.com/ 
To learn more about the SIT Study Abroad Indonesia: Community Nature Conservation in Bali, visit http://studyabroad.sit.edu/sn/programs/summer/summer-2016/abe/