Greetings from The Netherlands everybody!!

I am currently studying at The Hague University in The Netherlands! I am here just for 1 semester but it has already been a BLAST so far!

This Dutch school took me some time to get adjusted. It was difficult to schedule classes but once I got the hang of it (with the help from UofL staff) everything was perfect!

I absolutely love my dorm. I live by myself which is nice when I want privacy but this building is 20 stories high fill with exchange students so I always have someone to talk to!

I have been here since August 22nd and I have already traveled all around The Netherlands (Amsterdam, Naarden, Volendam, Rotterdam etc) and I have also been to Brussels, Belgium.

This weekend I am going to Croatia! I can’t wait. I will be gone for 5 days. Stay Tuned for pictures!

My name is Joey Bonura and I am studying in Panama city, Panamá for about a year. I have already been here for about 2 and a half months and I have been having a great time. I am staying with the family of a Panamanian friend that I met at U of L and they have been really welcoming.  I also brought my dog Riley with me since I am going to be gone for so long I couldn’t leave him at home.  I am doing an internship at Philips as well as taking four business classes that I can apply towards my marketing degree. I really like the school I am going to because the class sizes are really small (about 13 people per a class) so the individual attention makes learning the material easier. At my internship I do a lot of research on market predictions for some of the different categories at Philips. Doing research for data in central america is a lot more difficult than other places because many of the countries are still developing. Panama is a great place to be studying business right now. The are so many construction projects going on and the city currently has about 150 skyscrapers. During my first week here Donald Trump held the inauguration of his first international hotel. The building is in the shape of a sail and currently the tallest building in Central America. The city also has a historic district called Casco Viejo that had Spanish colonial architecture and good cafes and restaurants to go. There is a track on the waterfront that I like to run on and it goes from the city to Casco Viejo. The beach is about an hour and a half from the city so I’ve been able to go there a few weekends to relax.

Since I have been here I created a website for students traveling to Panama because I noticed there wasn’t very much information on the internet. If you want to check it out you can go to www.panamastudentguide.com.

Also, a tip to everyone who is studying abroad and wants to save on foreign transaction fees: Capital One doesn’t charge any fees for foreign transactions so you can have a debit card and use it freely without having to worry about converting money or paying the high fees that banks charge. Panama only uses US dollars but my bank was still charging a foreign transaction fee which was $6 so I did some research and found that Capital One is one of the only companies that doesn’t charge any fees, so I set up an online checking account with them and it actually works.

I will try to be more consistant with my posts on here and keep everyone updated on new things that happen. If anyone has a twitter account and wants to follow me you can go to twitter.com/joeybonura. Its a lot easier for me to post updates on there because i can do it straight from my phone.

My name is Robert Rixman and I am studying at Bordeaux Ecole de Management in Bordeaux, France. I have been here two weeks and can already tell this is going to be an amazing experience. I’m learning a lot about French culture, but even more about other cultures from the other international students.

Living in Bordeaux
I live in a flat on rue Bouffard in the city centre (I quickly realized nobody understood what downtown meant. “Downtown to what?”) I have a roommate from Seattle. Also living in our building is a guy from Copenhagen, Denmark named Nikolas, his catchphrase: “Who cares, we’re in Bordeaux!” and a very Turkish guy from Istanbul, named Cem (pronounced Jim or gem…)

We were really lucky to get a place downtown compared to by the school (in Talence). All the activities so far have taken place in Bordeaux and the city is beautiful. Don’t tell the landlord, but one night a few of us took a bottle of wine to the roof and gazed at the city. It was literally breathtaking.

Orientation Day
Orientation was at the beach. We had canoe races, sand football (soccer), sand volleyball and more. Met a ton of cool people from all over the world. It’s really interesting to hear what they think about Americans; like we love having barbeques, enjoying a responsible amount of alcohol, and then going to church. I have learned so much about them as well, even a lot about the English and Canadians (“eh?”).

Just about everyone would say, “Oh Kentucky Fried Chicken?!” when I told them where I was from. Nobody has heard of Louisville and cannot understand what I say when I don’t pronounce it “Loo-E-ville.”

The night after orientation, a group of us went to dinner on the Rue Saint Remi, a famous street that leads to the river in Bordeaux. In official French Tradition, we had a two and half hour meal; three course, sangria, and a bottle of Bordeaux Wine. That’s how every meal is. I would get frustrated at how long everything takes, but it’s not like I really have anything better to do. So we sit and enjoy the weather, the city, and talk about the differences in our cultures.

Tour of the city
The Melting Potes, a student organization that is in charge of international student activities, set up a tour of Bordeaux. We got to see the touristy sights and learn some interesting facts. Also at famous landmarks we would play games. We “mimed” in the park and posed for a funny picture in the Place de la Bourse. And at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux we all sang our own National Anthem. It turns out I can’t sing. We also had about 8 Germans in our group who proudly belted out their anthem. An Englishmen leaned over to me and said “The last time Germans were singing that song in this square, it was 1944!” wow…

Other Activities
The Melting Potes have been putting together activities all week. We had a poker game. I was able to knock out all of the international students, but was finally knocked out by one of the Melting Potes despite flopping a full house. But it’s not like I’m still mad about that or anything… A KING ON THE RIVER?! COME ON!

Anyway, the next night was redemption at “Laser Game” or “Laser Tag” as we would call it. Quick side note: there was a pool table in the Game Room and apparently in Europe they play on a tiny pool table with small pool balls and no numbers. That’s why I lost… The Laser Game was another story. My American roommate and I had the highest scores out of any of the 100+ international students. I was feeling really good about it too until an Austrian girl said “The reason you are so good at Laser Game is because you have nothing better to do in Kentucky,” and walked away.

Our flat mate, Cem, came up to us after his match and said happily in a thick Turkish accent, “I cover up sensor, and was dead-less.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or be terrified.

Classes
I just started my Human Resources in a Globalized Environment class. It turns out its even more boring than the name… but “Who cares, we’re in Bordeaux!” st-remi.JPG