College of Agricultural Sciences

Danita Dahl is majoring in Animal Sciences through the College of Agricultural Sciences. To experience research in the field, she traveled to one of the remote places on Earth, Antarctica! This OSU faculty-led program combined in-class instruction, online activities, field activities and assignments to learn more about this interesting place. To read Part 1 of her entry, click here!

Many of us stayed up to see the promised first ice of the journey, and it was worth the wait. The first glimpses of frozen land and ice was not only a great feeling of being found within the expanse of ocean, but also the realization that we were on the cusp of our achievement of a goal to get to the remotest place on Earth. The next morning we awoke to the grandiose Lemaire Channel and all stood on the bow and watched as the captain navigated the narrow waters. Between the ice patches I saw the profoundly deep blue water reflecting the snow-capped cliffs and I could feel the truly untouched beauty and danger of the Antarctic. Standing on the bow, there was a charged feeling running through my body – we were so close now that we would be at our first landing site within the next couple of hours.

The bird watching shift just after leaving the bow seemed like a blur. We had stopped seeing as many birds circling the vessel and more penguins in the water and on floating ice. Right after breakfast I ran to my room, gathered my gear, and was the first down to the gangway –20 minutes early. Entering the zodiac I was reminded of the younger brother from the movie ‘A Christmas Story’ since I and everyone around me were so bundled up it was slightly difficult to sit down. Once off the vessel I wasted no time readjusting my gear as I wanted to be one of the first up to the untouched areas around the penguin colony. I, however, was rapidly slowed since every step I took I sunk into the snow up to my knee. As soon as I got up to the penguins I forgot about watching them and started stripping layers. After I felt as if I had broken through a high fever I took a moment to remember where I was and enjoyed watching the penguins waddling purposefully on their “penguin highways” as other passengers passed my location in the search for a larger group of penguins further into the excursion site.

For the next few days we continued our journey in much of the same manner with two excursions a day which allowed enough time for us to watch the comedy of the penguin behaviors, sleepy seals, and some quiet solitary contemplation among the wilderness and ice. As we continued our observations we found that Gentoo penguins ruled the area and the circling pelagic birds were getting harder to find. We camped in the Neumayer Channel, built a snow penguin, acted like tourists with the penguins similar to locals watching our hilarious absurdities, and ended up waking up to strong winds making packing up an adventure in itself. On Christmas day I took the polar plunge with a few of my new friends I had made on this journey. The cold did not hit me right away, but rather seemed to wait and hit me all at once like a thousand needles jabbing into my extremities. Looking back, I regret nothing.

When we finally calculated all of our data for the research paper the seemingly noticeable trend was very unnoticeable on paper which led to a lot of “insignificant trends” in our final evaluation. The classroom experience prior to the trip related greatly to both the landscape, ice, and wildlife as well as the on board lectures. It gave a great base knowledge so that we could understand the magnitude of what we witnessed along our journey. In the end, Antarctica is truly a remote and untouched gem of the world and I am proud to state that I am an ambassador in keeping it that way and hope to inspire others to do the same.

To learn more about international opportunities at OSU, click here!

Wes Brown is studying Bioresource Research through the College of Agricultural Sciences and International Studies. Last summer, he participated in the IE3 Global International Internship Child Family Health International (CFHI) in Ecuador. This entry is an excerpt from his blog post for IE3 Global about a particular experience that stood out and made a lasting impression.

Me and two other students in the program set off on an 8 hour hike through the Amazon Jungle. It was possibly the most difficult backpacking route I have taken. A foot deep layer of mud constituted our trail for a majority of the trek, we got stuck in the mud and our boots pulled off, we walked over steep hills and through rivers, and even got our path blocked by a poisonous snake that can jump a meter.

We hiked all this way because we wanted to stay with a Shuar family and learn about their lifestyle and culture. It is humbling to have learned that the same trail we hiked in 8 hours, a Shuar family will hike in 3-4 hours, carrying a box of chickens, and children. When we arrived we were greeted by a Shuar man named Gustavo and his family. Gustavo has a wife and 8 children. Once his children grow up, they get married and make a home next to the original so the children and their families all live together. Needless to say, we were surrounded by adorable children.

They let us stay in a beautifully constructed Shuar hut and provided our meals, which consisted almost entirely of bananas. The first day we spent trekking through the jungle to a sacred waterfall. The Shuar have an interesting ceremony they use when they want to know what the future hold. The person must fast for about 4 days then journey into the jungle to the waterfall. At the waterfall he/she must drink a prepared concoction of herbs and jungle plants that act as a hallucinogen. They sit at the waterfall and say that the user can see visions of themselves in the future or potential future husbands or wives and children. This is in fact what Gustavo has done before and found out who he was to marry. We said goodbye to Gustavo and his family and headed back to Puyo exceptionally dirty and covered in mud from the hike.

To learn more about international opportunities at Oregon State University, click here!

Jeannie Sullivan is a Junior in Agricultural Sciences with a minor in Speech Communication. Last fall, she embarked on the journey of a lifetime with Semester at Sea. Currently an Ambassador for the OSU Office of Global Opportunities, Jeannie is fully versed on how to make the most of a study abroad experience. Read on to learn about her incredible voyage and the opportunities SAS has to offer!

Everyone asks if life on the ship was like “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody” and I always say no, not at all. When we were at sea, we had classes every day. That means we had homework, midterms, and finals to go along with that. When we were in port, we got to go explore the countries and do independent travel. For my program, I was able to see an array of countries. I boarded the ship in London and from there I spent the next three and a half months sailing and having the sea as my campus. The countries that I was able to visit on my voyage were: Russia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Italy, Brazil, Barbados, and Cuba. We were supposed to go to Ghana and Senegal, but since that was during the height of the Ebola crisis, we were rerouted to go back to a different region in Spain and Italy. While I took classes on the ship, I had a required field lab that I went on for each class. These field labs were hands on learning experiences that brought the classroom and reality together. On my voyage, I was able to go hiking and see flamingos in Tuscany for my invasive species lab, learn about the history and architecture of Portugal for my architecture class, learn about Ireland’s health care system and how the LGBT community is treated for my public health class, and learned how history and communication correlate with each other in Russia.

Living on a ship is pretty much like living back in the resident halls. On my voyage, there were a little over 600 students and 150 professors and faculty on board. One thing that I thought was awesome was that the professors and faculty got to bring their families on the ship, so occasionally there were little kids running around, which was always fun and a nice stress reliever. I was always surrounded by people and it was really hard to get quiet time, but it was nice to always be socializing with people at the same time. For my program, I was still meeting people on the last couple days of my voyage. I was able to meet people from all around the States and the world. Being on a ship, I got to see everyone in their best attire, and their not so best attire. So it was always interesting walking around the ship (I always wore orange sparkly slippers when we were on board). With tight quarters, I got to know my professors very well. I loved having lunch or dinner with them. I got to know them on a personal level, and they did not seem as intimidating as they would have back at Oregon State. While living on the ship, I was able to be put into a “family.” This meant that I was grouped with a faculty member and other students. It was nice to be able to have a group to have dinner with, hear their travels, and meet people that I would not have met otherwise.

Being able to go on this voyage was a chance of a lifetime and full of once in a lifetime opportunities. I was able to go to Cuba two weeks before Obama eased the embargo. I learned how to salsa dance from the locals, I got to meet students from The University of Havana, and got to see the site of The Bay of Pigs. I was able to sail down the Amazon River and sip on coconuts on the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema in Brazil. I was able to ride a camel in the Sahara Desert (and it just happened to be a Wednesday when I did that). I was able to experience real Belgium waffles, crepes, pierogis, Brazilian barbeque, and Italy’s pizza and pasta making skills firsthand. I was able to see festivals and listen to local music in Russia and Belgium. I was able to see the filming site of Michael Jackson’s song “They Don’t Care About Us.” I got to overcome my fear of heights by zip lining the boarder from Spain to Portugal. I saw the iconic symbols of Paris and the ruins of Rome. I was able to see a Champion League match between FC Barcelona and Ajax at Camp Nou. But most of all, I was able to meet lifelong friends, see beautiful sunsets and sunrises, whale watch, see pods of dolphins and fly fish, and be able to star gaze while in the middle of the Atlantic and see the end of the Milky Way Galaxy while looking at shooting stars.

I could not find a better program that fit what I wanted to get out of my experience abroad. I wanted to see as many places as possible, learn to put my preconceived notations aside, and to take advantage of once in a lifetime opportunities.

Recent College of Agricultural Science graduate Kasey Moore not only received a B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences from OSU, but also had the opportunity to study abroad twice during her college career. As a sophomore, Kasey traveled to Valdivia, Chile to study at La Universidad Austral de Chile for a term, and during fall of her senior year Kasey hopped on a plane again, but this time to Africa to participate in the School for Field Studies’ Wildlife Management Studies program. Now, having explored the world as an undergraduate, Kasey is embarking on her grandest adventure yet—traveling the world with Cavalia.

Most people find a job within their related field of study after they graduate from college. This is how I imagined my life after college would go, but things took an unexpected turn a couple of months prior to graduation. Instead of moving straight into a job within the field of fisheries and wildlife science, I will be running away and joining the traveling circus.

The show is called “Cavalia” and was created by Normand Latourelle, who was also one of the original co-founders and managing director of Cirque du Soleil. Cavalia is very similar to many of the other Cirque du Soleil shows, except for the fact that there are horses as well as acrobats in the performances. The main idea behind the show is to give tribute to the relationship between horses and humans and to document their place in history through an artistic and visually stunning performance.

I first heard about this job opportunity through an old friend of mine who I grew up riding with in the United States Pony Club. She is currently on tour with Cavalia and working as one of the team’s veterinary technicians, and in April she sent a post out on the Oregon Region’s Pony Club Facebook page advertising the position opening. This seemed like the perfect fit for me, as it incorporated the two things I am most passionate about: traveling and horses. I have spent most of my life around horses and involved in the world of 3-day eventing and dressage. My 13 years of involvement with Pony Club has allowed me to achieve all 10 certifications within the organization, and given me countless valuable skills for working in the horse industry. I have also been lucky enough to participate in two study abroad programs during my four years at Oregon State. The first was in Chile during my sophomore year, and the second was a program through the School for Field Studies in Kenya and Tanzania during my senior year.

Both my horse and travel experiences helped me to obtain this position within Cavalia, and now everything is becoming very real. I will be leaving for Brussels, Belgium two days after OSU’s spring commencement ceremony and begin my journey working for this incredible show! I will be working as a groom, meaning I will be taking care of the 47 horses that Cavalia has as they tour the world. Daily routines will include basic barn chores, exercising and warming up some of the horses before each show, and getting the horses ready for each of their evening performances. After the show ends in Belgium, our next stop will be Singapore, and then other major cities throughout Asia for the remainder of the year. Needless to say, I am extremely excited for this opportunity and to work with these talented horses and tour the world at the same time!

For more information on Cavalia and their touring schedule, visit: http://www.cavalia.net/en

Sarah Proffitt is a recent graduate of Oregon State University, where she studied Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences through the College of Agricultural Sciences. Sarah interned at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia through IE3 Global Internships during summer 2013 and served as an IE3 Global Internships Student Ambassador after returning to the States.

Many of us have heard the phrase “everything in Australia is trying to kill you,” but I would argue just the opposite—that everything in Australia made me feel alive! In the summer of 2013 I ventured to the Northeast coast of Australia for an IE3 internship working with several species of bats.

As a wildlife science major, I had been training for the past three years to conduct my own research and decided on a behavioral project observing a colony in Cairns. Each day I would sit in front of the colony, which consisted of about 700 large fruit bats, and observe them for 6 hours. I wrote down aggression behaviors, grooming, sleeping, etc. The idea was to find out what these bats were doing all day. As a nocturnal species I expected to observe sleeping bats all day but I found they were much more active and took intermittent naps throughout the day.

When I wasn’t at the colony I took part in other studies such as mist netting for small blossom bats to determine diet and volunteering at a local bat rehabilitation center. Each experience had its own challenges but with every challenge comes a great reward. The experiences I gained from my IE3 internship have led me to my first job as a college graduate. As of May 2014, I have been working for the Forest Service as a bat surveyor in the Missouri Ozarks. Without my IE3 internship I wouldn’t have even been a candidate for this job. My future boss was impressed with my experience and told me I was her first choice, right off the bat (no pun intended).

Now that I’ve graduated, I would eventually like to go back to school to pursue a Master’s degree. As for now, I am planning on taking a few years to work in my field. Maybe I will find new inspiration or maybe I will find myself abroad again. That’s what is so great about the future…it is life’s greatest mystery.

Lauren Eyrich is a third-year student in the Oregon State University Honors College majoring in Animal Sciences with an option in Pre-Veterinary Medicine, and is a member of the Pre-Veterinary Scholars Program. During Summer and Fall of 2013, Lauren studied abroad at Lincoln University. At this University located outside of Christchurch, New Zealand, Lauren participated in an animal sciences focused program through OSU’s College of Agricultural Science. She also detailed her term-long experience abroad in her own personal travel blog.

If you had asked me while I was abroad what I was taking away from my experiences in New Zealand, I would have talked about rugby matches, cooking venison, driving on the opposite side of the road, and jumping off of a bridge. What I’ve come to realize after the fact is that, these were all just experiences. Don’t get me wrong, the experiences were amazing and nothing I would have traded for the world. I got to see so much in such a short amount of time, but the true impact of my time in New Zealand wasn’t realized until I was packing up my room and heading back to the U.S. after five and a half months.

I have always been a planner. I’m a pre-vet student, and between a full course load, 10 hours of work per week, and a job shadowing, I have a very strict schedule. But, if New Zealand and the Kiwis taught me anything about life, it’s that you shouldn’t have everything planned out. If you have everything planned all the time, you have no room for adventure.

This became incredibly clear while I was touring the South Island on my mid-semester break with three friends. We took off on the few highways that the country possesses and didn’t really have much of a plan. We “freedom camped” a few nights on the side of the road, ate mostly-cooked spaghetti off a burner that didn’t always work, and drove thousands of kilometers with no true destination. We knew we had two weeks to cover as much ground as possible and that we had to have our rental van back by the specified date. For the girl who always has to have everything planned, there was something very freeing about not knowing what the following day held.

You are able to enjoy life so much more when you’re not concerned about having to meet deadlines. Being able to pull over on the side of the road and take in the sunset, without the pressure of needing to get to a campsite or hostel made the experience that much more enjoyable. I mean, I was able to go bungee jumping! Never in my wildest dreams would I have planned something like that into my schedule. And I can say now as a bungee survivor, I am really glad that I didn’t count that one out from the get go.

Overall, the Kiwis taught me to plan a little less and improvise a little more. My future career as a veterinarian will be filled with schedule changes and missed deadlines, and that’s okay. I have begun to learn how to roll with the punches so to speak and not get overwhelmed when things don’t completely abide by my schedule. It’s okay to improvise. The greatest moments in life are the ones when you are able to sit back and relax, without being distracted by the bustling world. Although I have gotten sucked back into my busy schedule, I try to find some time every day where I can simply let life happen and slow down to enjoy the people and things around me. My time in a small town outside of Christchurch, New Zealand is continuing to impact my life in ways that I didn’t expect!

Kimberley Preston is a junior in the Oregon State University Honors College studying both Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences and International Studies. During Fall 2013, Kim studied Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management at the School for International Training (SIT) in Madagascar.

My whole life I have been a naturally fast walker. As soon as I decide on a target destination, I charge forward, taking long strides, and moving with purpose. After spending a semester in Madagascar, however, my technique has changed. As a student in a biodiversity and natural resource management program, I spent the majority of my four months abroad trekking through rainforests, spiny thickets, deserts, mangroves and the infamous tsingy (stone forest). All the while I learned about nature and immersed myself in the diverse environments and cultures of Madagascar. But, in a country rooted in the theme of mora mora (slowly, slowly), where success in life is measured by zebu count, family and land, where people live and breathe the environment around them, no one goes out hiking for fun. For most Malagasy people, hiking is not an activity of pleasure; it is a necessity of daily work.

In every new region we explored, the theme of mora mora persisted. Nearly three months into our semester, we reached Le Parc National d’Andringitra. This place was unlike any others we had seen yet. We hiked to base camp with all of our gear on our backs. The elevation gain revealed itself in the hours of steep climbing and in the cooling air around us.

The very next day, we woke with the sunlight hitting the cathedral mountains that formed a ring around our little plateau. Packing plenty of water and layers to shield against the cold, we followed our local guide to the trail head. Before leaving, Fidel, our guide, explained rule number one: he would set the pace. Composed of experienced hikers, the group was antsy to charge the mountain to reach our final destination, Peak Bobby, but we respected the rule and obediently kept pace with Fidel throughout the hike.

I soon realized, though, that this was not the usual, aggressive Western pace I grew up with. This was a hiking experience following the rhythm of a Malagasy man. For the first time I truly felt the heartbeat of this amazing place and I realized the value of living by the pace of mora mora. It gave me time to taste the cool, moist air; to hear my shoes scuff the dirt; to exchange ideas with my peers and live in the moment.

Today, back in the U.S. it is easy to fall into pace with those rushing around me—everyone charging forward with a purpose. Now though, I slow down every so often and appreciate the value of experiencing not only different places but different paces as well.

OSU Abroad

knowledge without borders

Category Archives: College of Agricultural Sciences

Antarctic Study Abroad – Part 2

Selvas y Playas

The Voyage of a Lifetime

Life’s a Circus

Bat Habitat Down Under

Livin’ Life Kiwi Style

A Feeling of Place and Pace

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