Study Abroad Trip 2008

Introduction

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This is a blog about the 2008 Study Abroad Trip to Sweden, the Netherlands, and Belgium. For more information about the program, visit http://www.aug.edu/teacher_development/studyabroad.htm . See the menu on the side to start with Day 1.

If you are thinking about participating in the program, I would truly recommend it! It was a wonderful, once-in-a-lifetime experience that teaches a lot about differences in culture, as well as the differences in the education systems.

Day 11: Antwerp, Belgium

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Tuesday, April 15, 2008

A Belgian Waffle!

These are pictures of the train station! How beautiful!

The school we visited in Belgium. They also requested that students are not in the pictures, so I have pictures of the classrooms and hallways only.

Their student mailbox system! How neat!

A Belgian Chocolate shop

This is where we ate dinner.

Day 10: Leiden, Netherlands

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Monday, April 14, 2008

These are pictures at the schools that we visited. At their request, I did not post any pictures with students in them.

A lot of their car dealerships are inside, which is pretty neat, I thought. It saves a lot of space.

This is at Hogeschool Leiden University.

Day 9: Leiden, Netherlands

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Sunday, April 13, 2008

We took a bus trip to Keukenhof Gardens. The pictures speak for themselves. It was AMAZING!

At the gardens: Lauren, Aundria, Virginia, Me, Lauren

How much does this statue resemble Sissy? For those of you who do not know who Sissy is, she was a dog we use to have who passed away last year. She was a Yorkshire Terrier who always had her tongue sticking out.

Lauren and I in a giant shoe!

Wooden Shoes!!!

They had a little petting zoo inside of the gardens too.

Shannon, Sheri, Me, and Brittany

Sheri and I

Mrs. Beaty

I wrote my name on the beach at the North Sea!!! How cool is that?

A picture of Dr. Wilson, Dr. Pendergraft, and Mrs. Beaty.

A lighthouse at the North Sea

Day 8: Leiden, Netherlands

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

At our hotel, Hotel Leiden

This is the train station in Leiden.

Pictures of the beautiful city of Leiden

This was probably one of my favorite days of the trip, because it was really relaxed, and the city was amazing!

Rijksmuseum Pictures

This is one of my favorite pictures from the trip! This picture was taken while I was on a bridge, and it was just absolutely beautiful!

These pictures are of the Windmill Museum!

Inside of the Windmill... Each floor of the windmill had ladders you had to climb to get to the top. That wasn't bad, but coming down was another story!

These pictures were taken from on top of the Windmill Museum. What a view!!!

We had dinner at the Pannenkoeken Boerderij (The Pancake House). This restaurant had pancakes with anything and everything possible on them! It was a local, famous food that everyone insisted we tried! It was pretty good!

Inside of a McDonald's in Leiden. They have a Euro Menu (like our Dollar Menu); I thought it was neat!

We were unsuccessful in finding Laundrymats. So, we had to wash our clothes in the sink and bath tub.!! There is a first time for everything! And, for future note... clothes do not always dry overnight... right Dr. Pendergraft??? = )

Day 7: Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Friday, April 11, 2008

This is a picture of the train we went on to
get back to Stockholm for our flight. The train left at 5:20 am!!!! We arrived at the airport around 9:20am in Stockholm.

We made it back safely to Amsterdam around 2:15pm. If you haven't heard by now, Sheri's boyfriend flew all the way to Amsterdam to propose to her!!! It was incredibly sweet, and of course, my camera was completely dead!
The hotel was extremely nice in Amsterdam! This was the view from the hotel room. The hotel was called Moevenpick Amsterdam. Down below is also a picture of some of the streets in Amsterdam. The restaurant we ate at was on the right.

This is on the Canal Tour in Amsterdam. We were in a boat, so the pictures did not come out very clearly. Also, we visited the Anne Frank House (after getting lost in the Red Light District), but cameras were not allowed.

Day 6: Harnosand, Sweden

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

Morning Pictures!

This is on our way to the museum: Janice, Lauren, Brittany, and Sheri.

These pictures were taken at the Torsaker County Museum in Kramfors. The buildings outside were not open during this particular season.

This room was full of huge canvas paintings of distorted faces. It was really neat!

That is Lauren and I on a replica of a boat.

Pictures from the bus... as we head to the High Coast Area.

It's kind of hard to see, but the small line on the right hand side of the picture is a boat traveling through the all of the snow and ice covering up the waterway.
This is where we ate lunch at before heading to Witch Mountain. This is also where a local sat down with us and informed Bird that she may go up Witch Mountain, but she may not make it back down! The look on Bird's face was priceless!

I thought it was so neat that they actually have to plug their cars in, so that the cars won't freeze. The little boxes are what they use to plug in their cars.

These pictures were of a church where some of the witch trials were held. We were planning to go up Witch Mountain, yet the weather was not working with us. However, we were in this huge bus going up and down the icy roads... I think it was a good call. = )

This bridge is a replica of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco.

Brittany and I decided we would be better off not looking out! Thank you, Lauren, for taking such beautiful pictures of the bridge (and for the lovely postcard)!!!

Day 5: Harnosand, Sweden

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Wednesday, April 9, 2008
A Day at the Schools~ "The Sun School"

Morning Pictures

This was in the classroom where we spent most of our time. As you can see, their desks are very high. The students practiced their English as they asked us questions (some questions were about pets, t.v. shows, favorite food, and a lot about hockey). The most interesting thing about the way the classrooms are set up in Sweden is that the students on this level are not on the same level academically. Meaning, that some students are on level 4, others are on level 7, and others may be on level 3. The students are given a list of requirements for the day, and they plan their own schedules. They do their work when they want to, and the teachers are merely facilitators. I was not able to see any whole group instruction, as most of their learning is independent.
Books in the classroom
This book is one of the stories in their English book. Unfortunately, many students (and adults) have the idea that everyone in America is extremely rich.

This is a map of Sweden that was posted in the hallway.They had a United States map that was a bit distorted, though. Georgia was in Alabama's spot and the Carolina's were stretched across a lot further than they actually are.
Classroom posters (Religion, Addition, Subtraction)

These are some of the pictures of the school library.

These two pictures are of textbooks in geography, as well as their English studies books.

Students are encouraged to play, a lot! They provide a lot of opportunities for children to play and be comfortable.

There were couches everywhere! They feel that it is extremely important for children to be comfortable as they learn.

In addition to children being comfortable, teachers are given two or three 30 minute coffee breaks a day! The children are left in their classrooms to play while the teachers get a break.

These show some of the children playing outside. By the way, teachers were not required to go outside with their children!! The students knew where to play, so the teachers did not have to monitor them as they played.

Home-economics is extremely important to schools in Sweden. The students learn to sew, iron, and chop wood.

In the woodshop class, the students used real saws, hammers, and other tools! It was shocking! However, the Vice Headmaster told us that it was because it is extremely important to teach children to become self-sufficient. It is important for them to learn how to chop wood to build fires. Everything is so practical, and it truly prepares the students for real life!

These were some wooden dolls that were on the window sill in the woodshop class. The students at this primary school made these! Wow!

These two pictures represent some of the posters around the school. These posters, in particular, represent what traits are found in a good friend. Some of them say that a good friend listens, helps, and shares the ball.
These posters were really interesting! A lot of teachers in Sweden are not required to receive any form of professional development. That is the complete opposite as in America. We have learned through the past few years, the significance of graphic organizers. It is interesting that I saw many graphic organizers in the school, yet their teachers are not required to receive professional development.

These pictures only represent a tiny bit of the enormous amount of art in the school. Art is extremely important to these students, and it is displayed everywhere! It really livened up the school and gave the students a sense of ownership.

This is myself, Virginia, Bird, and Aundria at the pizza party on campus. All dinners (at least that we experienced) were accompanied by candlelight and wine. It was very unique.

The next few pictures are an update of the view from the hotel room after being at school all day.

On our way home from dinner on campus (the Department of Education at Mid Sweden University threw us a pizza party)... Virginia, Aundria, and I found this enormous pile of snow on the side of the road. So, here I am!
Here is Virginia!

Here is Aundria!

Day 4: Harnosand, Sweden

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Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Everyday I took pictures outside of the hotel room's window. This was what Harnosand looked like when we woke up on Tuesday morning! What a change!

These pictures were taken on the way to Mid Sweden University's campus. How beautiful?

Inside Mid Sweden University. We learned about the Swedish School System. A lot of their education program at the university level is similar to ours. Both require core classes, as well as areas of specialty. Also, in the Education Department, they require their students to participate in lab experiences as well.

So, with all of the snow, it was completely necessary to initiate a snowball fight! The first real snowball fight of my life!

The following set of pictures is of the city. Some of them were taken from a balcony on one of Mid Sweden University's buildings.

Sheri and I in the apple at the children's corner of the library.

This is at the public library. It was also the library on campus. It is completely free to all!

This is a room at one of the buildings in the university. He showed us how to do live feeds. It was really neat! He said that a lot of teachers hold video conferences, and some of the classes are held via the internet.

Day: 3 Harnosand, Sweden

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Monday, April 7, 2008

This first picture was taken when we arrived at our hotel, First Hotel Stadt. We walked from the train station to our hotel, and it was sleeting and snowing! It was such an extreme shock, weather wise. I had never experienced such cold weather before arriving in Harnosand.

The next three pictures are of Virginia, Aundria, and myself. We were able to have a free day, so we explored the little city of Harnosand. It was FREEZING; you can start to see the snow sticking to the ground.

Day 2: Stockholm, Sweden

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Sunday, April 6, 2008

This is April 6th. We arrived in Stockholm at 11:20am. We went immediately on a tour of the city. The pictures above are of more of the "city" part of Sweden that we saw. On the tour we were also able to see the "country" part of Sweden. We stayed at First Amaranten. We had the night free to explore Stockholm. It was a lot of fun; however, my camera died, so I was unable to get a lot of pictures of the actual city of Stockholm.

Although this picture is a bit blurry, it was taken on our train to Harnosand, Sweden. We left Stockholm at 8:30 am on Monday, April 7th. It was about a four hour train ride to Harnosand, which is a little further north. The trains were so incredibly nice! I had no idea they would be so clean and nice. There was even a little Bistro on board! It was my first time on a train, but by the end of the trip, we would all become pros!

Day 1/2: Getting There!

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This picture is the very first picture! It is taken of our very first

airplane of the trip, at the Atlanta Airport. Our flight left Atlanta at 4:40pm. Our flight arrived in Amsterdam at 7:25 am on April 6th. We then flew from Amsterdam to Stockholm at 9:20am. We finally arrived in Stockholm at 11:20 am.

The four pictures above are in Amsterdam, flying to Stockholm.