2016 Summer

Ryan Kluk: Post 5

Ryan Kluk CIEE Perth, Australia Summer 2016 Blog 5: Cows (Mother Humpbacks) vs. a Hungry Pack of Killer Whales Killer whales (orcas) are apex predators that work as a pack to attack their prey. The same is true for the killer whales that predate on humpback calves in the Ningaloo Reef. Humpback cows (mother) and calves (child) migrate from Antarctica up the western coast of Australia, past Ningaloo Reef to their final destination-the Timor Sea in northern Australia. During their migration, killer whales will follow and hunt the humpback calves to feed the entire pack. John Totterdell (the guest lecturer […]

2016 Summer

Ryan Kluk: Post 4

Ryan Kluk CIEE Perth,  Australia Summer 2016 Blog 4: Clams! Clams! And more Clams! While in Ningaloo Reef, we conducted research on clams, specifically the Tridacna maxima and the Tridacna Ningaloo. These two species are both part of the giant clam family and are very similar with the only difference being a genetic difference. These giant clams live all along the coast of Western Australia, not just Ningaloo Reef. The giant clams obtain food through two separate processes: filter feeding and photosynthesis. To undergo photosynthesis, the clams have a mutualistic relationship with zooxanthellae, a microscopic algae that lives in the […]

2016 Summer

Ryan Kluk: Post 3

Ryan Kluk CIEE Perth, Australia Summer 2016 Kluk Down Under Blog 3: A day in Freo Fremantle (Freo for short) is a suburb of Perth just to the west. Freo is located at the mouth of the Swan River and is a port city off the Indian Ocean. This small suburb of Perth is a hustle and bustle town containing around 27,000 people. Freo is home to the Fremantle Dockers, and Australian Football League team. Freo is also home to two local breweries: Little Creatures and The Monk. I have eaten at both and I would have to say that […]

2016 Summer

Ryan Kluk: Post 2

Ryan Kluk CIEE Perth, Australia Summer 2016 Kluk Down Under Blog 2: Diving in Ningaloo Ningaloo Reef has been a World Heritage site since 2011 and is gorgeous, but not nearly as popular a reef when compared to the Great Barrier Reef. Ningaloo is on the northwestern side of the country near Exmouth. Ningaloo reef is a fringing reef. A fringing reef is a reef that lies close to the shore, no more than 3 kilometers from land whereas the Great Barrier Reef is anywhere from 15 km to 165 km. Ningaloo reef is a very healthy reef that has […]

2016 Summer

Ryan Kluk: Post 1

Ryan Kluk CIEE Perth, Australia Summer 2016 Kluk Down Under Blog 1: Welcome to Perth, Western Australia Hello, I am Ryan Kluk. I study at Hampden-Sydney College in rural Farmville, Virginia. I am a rising senior but for this summer I am studying at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. I am taking two marine biology courses during my five week tenure here. Perth is so different from home back in the States. Perth is home to skyscrapers, 2.02 million people, and next to the beach. Perth is like Chicago, Illinois with its skyscrapers and enthrallment with sports but Perth […]

2016 Summer

Korbin Bordonie: Post 3

Korbin Bordonie H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Week 4 The last week in Spain we visited a few other castles and famous landmarks. The biggest breathtaking memorial we went to the last week was Franciso Franco’s grave. The memorial and church inside this mountain was absolutely amazing. Franciso Franco was a fascist leader in Spain despised by many of the natives. Franco was a Spanish general and the Caudillo of Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975. People despised him for his views and support of the Nazi group. His grave place was built by slaves, […]

2016 Summer

Nick Browning: Post 4

Nick Browning H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Hasta la proxima (Until next time) After finally getting into my routine, it’s already time to leave Alcalá, but this past week has been awesome. On Sunday, my class went to Madrid to go to El Retiro, the Madrid equivalent of Central Park, and afterwards we stayed in Madrid to go to a bull fight. The bull fight was exactly what I thought it would be, and although it’s becoming a controversial topic in Spain, I really enjoyed it. Classes this week were interesting because they were more of a […]

2016 Summer, May Term

Nick Browning: Post 3

Nick Browning H-SC May Term  Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Finally Getting Accustomed Classes this week have been more interesting in the sense that we’re finally being able to see how Spain’s history is affecting life today. Most of the issues that Spanish people are dealing with are due to a combination of medieval history and the struggles that the country faced over the last one hundred years. For nearly forty years, from 1939-1975, Spain was ruled by the dictator Francisco Franco. I’m not going to go into all the details of his reign, but just know that some of […]

2016 Summer

Nick Browning: Post 2

Nick Browning H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Work Hard, Play Hard Our second week in Alcalá was a little less exciting than last week, but that’s because we had to do all of our classwork in the first half of the week, so that we could enjoy a vacation during the second half of the week. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were each days full of six hours’ worth of class. For us, that meant covering Spanish history from the medieval times until the early 1900’s. This completed our crash course of 2,500 years of Spanish history that […]

2016 Summer

Korbin Bordonie: Post 2

Korbin Bordonie H-SC May Term Abroad Madrid, Spain Summer 2016 Week three Week three was quite an adventure. We visited many very important Spainish landmarks. The first landmark and most fascinating landmark we visited, in my opinion, was the Royal Palace. You may think your own personal house is big, but try a 1.45 million square foot one. We were not allowed to take any pictures of the inside of the house, but let’s just say the chandeliers were as big as cars and everything was gold. To put it into perspective of how much money is in this building, […]