I have already experienced significant cultural differences between the US and Morocco. At the mall, I left a bag beneath my feet, and a worker tried to throw it away. I was shocked, and I put my foot on the bag. I looked at her in confusion, and she motioned to me to not have…
Honestly Might Get Back Into Painting
My favorite outing thus far in Greece was definitely my time in downtown Athens at the Benaki Museum! This museum was filled with a rich density of culturally significant items, such as ancient Mycenean pottery, orthodox artworks, and Byzantine clothing and furniture. As someone who grew up going to Sunday school, closely observing the orthodox…
Reflections on Moroccan Buildings and Architecture
Today was the first day of Plus3 Morocco starting in Casablanca. While driving from the airport to the main city area, I was surprised by the wide variety of buildings I saw. Some were more modern, while others had an older look in terms of structure and materials. During the ride, I realized that I…
Day 6 ~
This morning we started out the day with a visit to Hospital Basturto. We began our visit with a few presentations from various nurses and an engineer. The nurses discussed their education pathway and how nurses in Spain can specialize in different areas of patient care. Additionally, we listened to a presentation by another nurse…
Harnessing Energy & History
We started our day by taking the train to Zaandijk Zaanse Schans, a historic Dutch village just outside of Amsterdam. The neighborhood features windmills, clog making, and cheese tasting. In the 17th century, the windmills located here became the first central industrial zone. Over 600 wind-powered mills served as sawmills, pigment mills, oil mills, spice…
Day 1: From the Airport to a Mosque
Stepping off the plane in Morocco, I was not super sure what to expect. While we did have classes to prepare us beforehand, there is only so much you can teach. When we first got off the plane and headed to find our baggage, it was already pulled off the baggage claim and set in…
Visiting Cathy’s Moroccan Cousin
Before coming to Morocco, I had a very different image of what the country would look like. From looking at pictures, I expected the people to be much more conservative in the way they dressed in public. I assumed most women would wear hijabs and that there would be a stronger expectation to dress formally…
Day 1
Today we landed in Casablanca, Morocco at 7:15 am. I couldn’t believe we were supposed to start our day right away after nearly 10 hours of traveling before arriving. Initially, when we first landed at the airport, I noticed that my surroundings had a similar bustle to America, but the airport and nearby areas felt…
Enschede day 3: water management, farmers market and exploring University of Twente.
Today was more relaxed as we had a tour around Enschede and then had the rest of the day to explore the city and the University of Twente. We began our day by taking a bus to the city center. Here we met with our tour guide, who took us around. As we explored, we…
Seoul Much Happened Today, Completely Seoul-real
Day 5 Hey guys, I can’t believe it’s already the fifth day in Seoul. Today was definitely a long one, so sit tight and enjoy my blog. I started my day pretty early so I could get ready and head to breakfast in time to take pictures for the SSOE Instagram takeover. If you haven’t…
Seoul Good at Archery
Day 4 Today we started our day by hopping on a bus for about an hour. Our first stop was learning archery at the fortress, which was honestly so much fun. I think I did pretty well, I had 10 arrows, and I stuck 4 of them, with 3 actually hitting the target. I also…
Shopping In Korea
Hey guys! Today was our fourth day of the trip, and we got to do lots of fun stuff! First, we took a bus ride over to Suwon Fortress to do some archery. We each got about 10 arrows to fire at the targets, and I hit the target a total of 0 times. I…
Day 6 – Train to Busan 2: Going for Golgulsa
The vast majority of today was spent going to Golgulsa temple. We started the day by packing everything up and vacating our home base of Ibis Styles Hotel. Honestly, I liked that hotel a lot, but I think it’s mostly because of the bidet and smart toilet. The rooms themselves were mid as they were…
Enschede day 2: windmill farm and visiting Elburg!
Today we continued to explore the University of Twente and learn more about sustainability. We also went to the largest windmill farm in Holland and learned more about how windmills operate. We began our day with a lecture learning about windmills. I learned about two types of windmills, drag, and lift. Drag windmills are designed…
Wind Turbines and Medieval Cities: Day 5
Our day started with a lecture at the University of Twente about wind turbine design and the physics behind them. We then took a sustainability walk around campus and explored the different ways Twente used energy efficiently. We then had our site visit for the day at the Pure Energie wind farm in Flevoland. We…
Bilbao Day 5-Hospitals and Hikes
My day started with breakfast and then a bus ride to a private hospital called Bizkaia This hospital looked more like what a typical hospital in the United States looks like. We went into the hospital and then we learned about some new innovative medical devices that are being implemented in the hospital. We learned…
Horticulture, Houses, and Human-Focused Buildings
After another morning of bread, yogurt, and cheese, our group departed for de Tulperij, a family-owned tulip farm in Voorhout. Grown there are a variety of tulips for the purpose of selling their bulbs and stalks locally and nationally. A unique aspect of the farm is how it utilizes the environment of the Netherlands to…
Dynasties Old and New: Joseon and Samsung
Today was probably my favorite day of the trip so far. We started off by going to Suwon Fortress, which was utilized during the Joseon dynasty, where we got to try archery with recurve bows. This was my first time ever using a recurve bow. I have used a crossbow and a compound bow before,…
Plus3 South Korea 05: SIM
Today, though relatively short compared to some of our days filled with activities from 9 am until 7 pm, was equally interesting. We started by exploring more of South Korea’s heritage through Joseon-era structures. First, we rode a charter bus to Suwon Fortress, a fortress in the same style as the other Joseon temples we…
DMZ and Baseball
To start off the day, our group got into a charter bus, and our first stop was the Korean Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. The DMZ is the zone or line separating North and South Korea. When first entering the DMZ, a Korean military soldier had to come on our bus and check if our ID…