Education Abroad in YOUR Residence Hall!

One of our intern initiatives this semester at the Education Abroad office has been to share our experiences with fellow students about study abroad by visiting the residence halls. AJ, our fabulous Marketing and Outreach Intern who came up with the idea, discusses below the experience at Pickard Hall in March.

Next Education Abroad night: May 30th at McGregor Hall

"Tuesday, March 4th 2014 was the first night we introduced Education Abroad into a residence hall setting. The idea was to bring Education Abroad to the students, rather than students having to come to us. I found this to be a more effective approach. In doing so, we had to figure out a way for the night to be attractive for students. We had to make students leave their dorm room after a long day of classes to come to the basement and get involved in an activity. How could we possibly do this?

Food! Food is a huge motivator, especially for college students. This was not one of those pick up a trey of cheese and crackers from Walmart and bring that along. No, it was cultural food that we brought. Since we are representing Education Abroad, I found it to be unique and corresponding to the theme to bring in food from another culture. Staying true to this idea, I made a Dutch appetizer referred to as bitterballen. Bitterballen was one of my favorite Dutch snacks, and was served at almost every occasion while I was overseas.

The night began with an introduction of our goal, and mission behind being there. Then we mentioned to them there was going to be food passed out shortly....everyone’s ears perked up and we knew it was a great start. Once the food was passed out, and prior to them taking their first bites, I read some background information on the famous “bitterballen.” This information included how it got started, and how it has been transformed from its early history to now. Then they were given some time to converse and try the snack. During this time my fellow intern, Hannah, and Derek, an Education Abroad Ambassador who studied in Fiji, and I began to figure out the final details of the activity we were going do with them.

Playing Barnga at Pickard

Once the food was finished and the activity was finalized, we were ready to get the night started. Each table was spread out across the room as far apart as we could get them. Then we played a game referred to as Barnga. In Barnga, nobody is allowed to talk. Each table has a deck of cards and a rule sheet. After giving people a minute to read through their rules, we take the rule sheets away. Once the game begins, we rotate players between tables depending on who wins and who loses. Even when you change tables, though, you’re not allowed to talk. The thing is, when we passed out the rule sheets, each table was given a different set of rules. We played a few rounds of Barnga until everyone got the gist of what was happening.

After a few rounds we asked the students a few follow up questions on what they experienced during the game, and how it made them feel. Then I explained why the game was chosen for an activity, and linked it to the experience individuals can gain while studying in another country. Lastly, I asked the students if they enjoyed the night and then left the floor open to any general questions. After this we stuck around cleaning up the place a bit, and students actually approached us informally with questions. This was an excellent twist that I didn’t expect, but it was a great learning experience for students. Overall, the night was very successful. It was good to get the faces of people in the abroad office out in this type of setting. Interacting with the student population like we did will hopefully make them feel more comfortable about approaching or emailing us here in the office."

A few weeks later, Bridgeway also had a night featuring Education Abroad. This time, we played trivia including many questions about countries around the world. A few were easy, most were difficult, but everyone learned something! For example, did you know that in Iceland Dominos offers a pizza with reindeer sausage? 

A big thank you to the RA's at both Pickard and Bridgeway for setting these nights up! The next evening will be in McGregor on May 30th. We hope to see you there!

Meet our Education Abroad Ambassadors!

Time flies when you're having fun. Or if you're running from class to class trying to keep up with this semester! But, if you are considering studying abroad at some point in the near future, take a moment to slow down and begin learning about the different programs available to you. In her post "25 Things I Wish I Had Done Differently When I Studied Abroad", post author Rachael Taft says that she wishes she would have researched programs more extensively before choosing. While we at the Education Abroad office want you to research programs extensively, we also encourage you to use the people resources available to you! UW-P program alumni can provide invaluable information on culture, costs, classes, what to seek out, what to avoid, what to expect and much more. This semester we have several fabulous student interns and ambassadors who are specifically interested in sharing their experiences and happy to answer questions about what it is like to study abroad!

Derek Harmann is studying software engineering and spent a semester at the University of the South Pacific (USP) in Suva, Fiji on the UW-Platteville Education Abroad program. Derek plans to keep traveling in the future with plans to go to Asia, Europe, and South America once he has the money to sustain himself. He loves Chinese food and dancing till he hits the ground, and  his favorite travel experience was learning to scuba dive in the beautiful coral reefs of Fiji.

Holly Sutcliffe was one of our excellent student interns last fall. She is an animal science major with minors in international studies and German who studied abroad twice.  Her first experience was on the UW-Platteville Renewable Energy Best Practices short-term faculty-led program to Germany and was followed by a semester at the Dronten University of Applied Sciences in Dronten, Netherlands on the UW-Platteville Exchange program.  Her favorite travel experiences to date were in Germany, England, Ireland, Netherlands, Italy, France, and the US, and in addition to returning to Europe, her travel goals include experiencing Asia.

 Kayann Johansson is studying business administration major with emphases in marketing and international business, previously interned in the Education Abroad office, and is currently a tour guide on campus.  Kayann has studied abroad three times:  on the UW-Platteville Chinese Business Practices and Culture short-term faculty-led program, on the UW-Platteville History of Science and Technology in Europe short-term faculty-led program, and for a semester at Schiller International University in Heidelberg, Germany through UW-Platteville’s affiliate CCIS. She loved getting to explore the Heidelberg Castle where she lived in Germany and thought it was really cool to learn about the history and how a family feud had part of the castle being blown up by a hundred pounds of gun powder.



Kayla Steffel grew up just north of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin on a small dairy farm, where she also owns a small herd of Brown Swiss dairy cows, which inspired her animal science major with a dairy science emphasis.  Kayla participated on the UW-Platteville Agriculture and Cultural Exchange short-term faculty-led program to the Netherlands where she was able to tour multiple farms, gain a new perspective on agriculture and experience a new culture.

Nate Frentzel is a senior studying Business Administration with an emphasis on International Business and a minor in International Studies. Nate spent a semester at the Mahidol Univeristy International College just outside of Bangkok, Thailand through UW-Platteville’s affiliate GlobaLinks Learning Abroad. He is currently studying Chinese, Thai and Khmer (Cambodian).







Katy Lang is senior history major and political science minor.  Katy studied abroad twice: on the UW-Platteville Chinese Business Practices and Culture short-term faculty-led program and for a semester on the UW-Platteville Exchange program at the Windesheim University of Applied Sciences in Zwolle, Netherlands.


There are many on campus organizations and events that also allow you to meet study abroad alumni, as well as international students. Check out International Cafe on Monday nights at 6 p.m. in the Oasis in Brigham Hall, International Students Club on Thursdays at 5 p.m. (next meeting on the 17th!) in Doudna 143, or Global Lunch Hour at 11:30 a.m. every Friday in the Pioneer Room of the PSC.

Interns AJ, Hannah and Nichole are also here to help answer questions and share experiences from a student's perspective. Stop in at Royce, or check out our website for more information! 

The German Club, a cake, and the Pioneer Planet Video Contest

German Club right before devouring the cake

Last semester Interns Holly, Nate and Hannah organized the Pioneer Planet Video Contest. First place went to the UW-P German club, who enjoyed their ice cream cake prize at the first meeting of the semester last night.  The German club is currently hard at work organizing and collaborating with the French Club to plan the Fasching/Carnival celebration that will take place on March 4th in Velzy Commons. For those of you that have studied German, studied abroad in a German speaking country or just have an interest in the German culture and language, be sure to check out this awesome group on campus! It's also a fantastic place to get help with German homework, or practice your language skills. They meet on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. in Ullrich 112. For more information, contact Holly Sutcliffe.

Once you've tasted flight...

“Once you've tasted flight, you will forever walk with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return.” –Leonardo Da Vinci

What is it about living abroad that makes it so hard to leave behind? Perhaps it's all the new sights and sounds,or the adventure of exploring cities and towns, old and new. Maybe it's learning new languages and the everyday challenges and triumphs. I was recently talking to one of my professors about it, and she put it perfectly, in that living abroad is a kind of "hyper-living" in which you never waste a chance and live each day to its fullest.

As of today, it’s been about nine months since I've had the chance to travel anywhere…and I’m getting restless. I've been trying to remind myself about things like responsibility, and budgeting and that I've already been fortunate enough to study abroad not once, but twice. Despite my best efforts, however, I'm not always convinced. There are just some days when I would love to get online, buy a plane ticket, and go anywhere!

But since I can’t do that, I came up with eight ways to satisfy the travel craving without dropping everything. 

• Get involved with international organizations on campus! I know, it sounds like I’m just using this as an opportunity to promote…but seriously! There are plenty of cool options right here in Platteville and chances are you’ll either meet students that are studying abroad here from another country or Platteville students that have also studied abroad. To start with, check out Café International or Global Lunch Hour.
• Reach out to International students on campus. Take a moment to say “hi” if you have an international student in one of your classes. Ask them a few questions about their home country, about how their semester or year abroad is going or about their field of study. And, did you know that there’s a program called Global Amigos at Platteville in which you can apply to be a mentor for an international student? Check it out here.
• Keep in touch with people you met abroad. A disclaimer: I have lots of good tips on this, but only because I've learned from experience what not to do. Do let them know you've got home safely and start scheduling Skype sessions right away. Don’t let too much time go by without checking in! Do send pictures and tell stories about being back home again. Don’t pass up the chance to visit them!
• Get a pen pal! After I got home from Germany last September, I was going through travel withdrawal big time. So one thing I did was get two pen pals, one from Poland and the other from Turkey. And, while I unfortunately haven’t had the opportunity to write a letter in a long time, it was fantastic to learn about these new people and the wider world again! For the record, I used Couchsurfing.org to find pen pals. If you go this route however, please, please remember to use your best internet common sense. :)
• Read travel blogs. Do some Google research and you’ll come up with more blogs than you could read in a year. But there are some really great ones out there and you’ll probably even pick up some tips for your next trip! (I recently stumbled on Matador Network, which describes itself as a "fully interactive online travel magazine" rather than a blog, and I would highly recommend checking it out! I've also been enjoying a blog called Destination Unknown, which has a fantastic post answering the question "Why do we travel?")
• Experience your home as a tourist would. I bet you've lived several years or maybe even your whole life in an area, but haven’t checked out some of those nearby tourist attractions. Well, why not? Have fun and you might even learn something new! (Have you been to the big M in Platteville? What about the local museums? Did you know that about twenty minutes from Platteville is Mineral Point and the main street is full of art galleries and studios? How about a mini road trip down to Dubuque?)
• Actively continue to learn about the world! Find out what music or films are playing around the world right now. Watch T.V. or listen to the radio from other countries by streaming it online. Read the news from international sites, and in a foreign language if you've studied one!
• Start planning your next trip! :P Think about ways you might be able to accomplish your upcoming goals and incorporate travel! Do you have relatives to visit? Could you take a trip with your family this year instead of buying presents for each other for the holidays? Maybe there is an internship or work opportunity for you abroad! 

One last note: there is a quote attributed to Marcel Proust, a French novelist, that says "the real discovery voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes."  So, if you are a recent returnee from a study abroad program, ask yourself how you can use that experience to see your everyday life here in Platteville with the new perspective that you have gained!

Pioneer Preview Saturday

This may be one of the most beautiful Saturday mornings ever! Hopefully you are all out getting some of that fantastic fresh air! My morning was spent at Pioneer Preview telling prospective students all about the adventures that are waiting for them with study abroad! Thanks to Kyle who studied abroad in Limerick, Ireland, and Gabriel, who studied abroad in Seville, Spain for volunteering and sharing your experiences!

Increase your understanding of current international issues! Check it out!

Photo Contest Preview

Hey Pioneers!
Take a gander at these fabulous pictures and be sure to stop in at our table in Heritage Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to vote on your favorites!

All photos taken by UW-Platteville students while studying abroad.

Also be sure to check out "Eating in China" tonight from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in Doudna 146. Learn about the food and customs of China!

Routeburn Track, New Zealand

Chestnuts Roasting, Rome

Heidelberg Valley, Germany

Hobbit Hole, New Zealand

Nina Brillante, Spain

Two Towers, Chile

Welcome to PioneerPlanet, UW-Platteville's Education Abroad Blog!
International Education Week kicked off today with the beginning of our 2013 Photo Contest voting, and a Peace Corps Information session! If you missed it, but are interested, be sure to check out www.peacecorps.gov! And definitely don't forget to stop by the Markee to vote for your favorite travel pictures from 11:00 to 2:00 all week!

Check out our events all week long!