Final Post

~Caitlin~

Although I miss Europe because of the wonderful views, the wine, and the endless adventures I love being back home.I love being able to see my family, my fiance, and my dog. I am in the process for a moving with my fiance so I'm super excited because we bought a house. So it wasn't like I felt like I was dread coming back home because I had so much to look forward to. I also, got to attend my brothers 8th grade promotion. All good things after the trip and I am looking for an even more eventful summer. Thank you all for reading the and checking in on my journey. It's been wonderful talking about it ! :)

The joys of being back at work

~Caitlin~


In addition to my preschool job during the week I also work at Walmart in the bakery. With it being Memorial day weekend and the weather is hot, but beautiful it has been super hectic. I have been decorating cakes left and right. I have made ones the look like an orange, strawberry, watermelon, and many more. Today's task is doing Memorial day cookie cakes and doing Fathers Day stuff. Needless to say I miss the wonderful days of being in Europe and sitting a long the river drinking wine. I wish that could be me right now, but it's not. My life is go go go since I've gotten back.  Well here is some pictures of my work today. Enjoy!

Opportunities - Final Post

As I reflect on my experiences from traveling abroad I can only be grateful and appreciative that I was able to take the opportunity to go on this trip. I have always wanted to study abroad and it is crazy to think I was able to do so only a year before I graduate. Traveling to Slovenia has made me want to continue to travel to other countries to learn about the culture and language, and to also try new foods. It was an amazing experience with a great group! I could not have asked for a better group to travel with and I am thankful for that.  I hope to continue to travel as much as I can to gain experiences such as I did on this trip. 

Thanks so much for reading!

Jess White

 

The Experience of a Lifetime

Stephanie:

After arriving home over a week ago, I am thankful for my experiences abroad. I have met some amazing people, learned ways to improve my teaching, and discovered new ways to be inclusive in my classroom. This entire experience has been magnificent.

Going into this trip, I did not know I would feel such an impact as I do now. With graduation behind me, I am ready to take on my career and become the best educator I can be. I believe this experience has helped shape me into who I will become in my own classroom.

Ending on that, all I can say is thank you.

Stephanie💜

Summing Up!

Hope

This is officially the last day of our blog posts! It is pretty bitter sweet. I enjoyed writing about all of my experiences and am glad I had this outlet to be able to freely reflect on them. Our trip to Slovenia has taught me about everything from knowledge that will help in my career to new insights on myself. This trip has let me get out of my comfort zone and become more confident in myself as a person. I have gained so many new friendships with people I will forever share the bond of studying abroad together.  I am very glad I decided to go on this trip, and am so grateful for the professors, Dr. H and Dr. Lorelle, who organized this trip to give us all of these amazing opportunities and experiences in Slovenia (as well as in Croatia and Venice). Thank you all for reading our blog, I hope you enjoyed all of our adventures! 💖

The Sun!

Hope

A couple days ago, my blog post was all about how I missed the weather in Slovenia and how gross the weather has been here. Well, it is not gross anymore! The sun is out so it is beautiful and warm outside. We have now been home for one week - the time has flown by. Though I am overwhelmed with assignments from my summer courses,  I am making it a goal this weekend to get out of the house and do something fun. This is because of my blog yesterday about how Slovenia showed me how to relax and enjoy myself. I will probably get together with some friends this Friday and take my puppy, Theo, out to the Farmer's Market on Sunday. I am glad to be home and ready to take some time for myself.

Adventures

Jessica D.

Europe was an amazing experience and I genuinely hope that I will be able to return one day and explore more of the country. However, I am more than happy to be home and having adventures with my family. Last weekend, I graduated college. This weekend, my brother will be graduating high school, the last in the family to do so. I'm grateful that I returned in time to see him reach this milestone (especially because he is not going to college next semester) and celebrate with our family this weekend. I loved the memories made on this trip, the new experiences, and the beautiful landscapes throughout so much of Slovenia, Croatia, and Italy. At the same time, I love the memories I make with my family and I love the opportunity to relax and enjoy this summer while searching for teaching jobs.

Enjoying the Sun

Stephanie:

One thing I don’t miss from my trip is all the rain! I had no idea it rained so much in Slovenia. I know it is spring time and this is common, but it rained almost every day!

It has rained a few times since I’ve been home, but we’ve also had a ton of great, rain free, sunny days! Today for instance, is going to be 80 and sunny. Yesterday was also 80 and sunny!

Although I could leave the rain, I am still missing being abroad!

Something Learned

Hope

Another thing I learned in Slovenia is to take the time to enjoy what is going on around me.  Currently, at home, I am super stressed and only thinking about the future and all of the assignments I have to do. When I started to think of something to write about for this blog, I reflected on how I acted and felt in Slovenia. I was certainly not stressed like I am now. The lifestyle there is so much more relaxed in a way that was comfortable. There was no rush from the people there. Every restaurant we went would take time because they want us to enjoy each other's company while we prepare to eat a meal together. Of course, there were times when we had places to be at certain times and deadlines, yet none of that stressed me out while I was there.  I think this was because I wanted to soak in all of the experiences as they came. Now, at home, I have nothing 'new' to experience, so I am just stressing out about the future. I need to relax, do something fun, and not lose sight of the people around me or the small, new experiences that I could create for myself. Thank you, Slovenia, for showing/teaching me this new life skill.

Other Feelings

~Caitlin~


Well tomorrow will be officially a week I have been back from Europe.  I was surprised that my sleep pattern adapted pretty well. I feel it's my food schedule that is so out of wack. I need to tell myself its 7am here and it's breakfast time, but in my head back in Ljubljana it's like lunch time so my body is like so confused. So needless to say, I am really happy that my body is starting to get back on track with eating. It is also really nice that I am eating American food again. haha. Even though I felt I had pizza quite often and such. I guess for next trip abroad my goal will be to try and be more adventurous when it comes to food.  Well until next time! (:

Memories

Jessica D.

The curiosity of children is so amazingly innocent. Today I went to visit the students in my student teaching classroom. After being completely attacked by 21 little people in the doorway, I spent some time talking about my trip and showing them pictures. I loved talking about my memories from the trip with the kids, especially as they enthusiastically asked about the castles ("Why are there so many castles in Europe?") and the food ("EWWWW what is that??"). Their reactions made me see the trip in a whole new way...through the eyes of a child. When I showed them the pictures of Predjama Castle and explained that the caves were used to escape in case of an attack, one of the students said "That's so smart. They were smarter a long time ago," while another said "He sounds like a wimp." They also thought that eating dinner in a castle was the best experience ever, because obviously it is. Honestly, I loved Europe, but I can't believe how much better my day became the second I walked into that classroom. I missed my students.

Almost Feeling Recovered

I have been home from Europe for almost a week and I still feel as if I am recovering from the jet lag. I am also fighting a cold that I have had since being overseas. While I feel a lot better than I did since I first returned home I still feel a little off and not all the way there. I feel tired throughout the day and at about 7:00 pm I start to feel like I could go to bed for the night. Last night my boyfriend was cooking dinner and I fell asleep before the food was even done. I hope I start to feel normal soon because I really need to focus on my summer classes. I wonder if anyone else is feeling this way also.

Thanks for reading!
Jess White

Adjusting

Stephanie:

After beginning the trip extremely jet lagged and exhausted, I don’t think I ever fully recovered while abroad. Now that I have been home a week, I think I have finally recovered. I am back to my normal sleep schedule, which is great!

Luckily I have had no issues getting to bed at a decent time. If. I had, it would be a problem because my dogs are up and ready to eat before 6! 😑

Adjusting to my routine back home was a lot easier than adjusting to a new routine abroad! The one thing I would like to implement back home is all the walking! I’m still trying to figure out how to implement that kind of walking into my lifestyle when my only options are to do circles around my neighborhood!

Pictured: my early bird pups!

Weather

Hope

I actually miss the weather in Slovenia right now.  Here, it is rainy and chilly. In Slovenia, it was sunny and so nice outside. It did rain a couple times when we were there, but not for a long period of time (that I remember anyways). One day we were there, we went to eat sausage and a few of us were sitting outside (sausage pictured below, of course). All of a sudden, it started pouring rain. We were, thankfully, under umbrellas - so, our sausage and wine were mostly safe. The down pour only lasted a few minutes, then it cleared up and the sun came right back out. Now, at home, it is rainy, foggy, and humid. I can't wait until we have nicer weather here - or I guess I'll just have to go back to Slovenia!

Missing the beautiful views

~Caitlin~


Like I have mentioned in previous blogs, what I seriously took for granted was the wonderful scenery in Europe. I loved being able to wake up and go walking and seeing the mountains in the distance. I loved how clean and crisp the air felt. I seriously am so disappointed at how polluted our air is (particularly in IL just alone).  One highlight I want to reflect on that I really enjoyed was going to the small village of Motovun, Croatia. I thought it was so beautiful and awesome that this small village was at this peak of a mountain. Although I didn't climb the mountain like originally planned, it was still nice to have the bus take us up. That would have definitely put me in shape had if we didn't have the bus. I was really disappointed with the rain storm that day. It would have been super lovely doing more exploring. Overall, though it was still a wonderful time spent and the food was great. I had some kind of sausage and it was wonderful.  Hope to visit Motovun again and Croatia overall because it is a beautiful country.

New Friends

Jessica D.

We've been home for about five days, but it seems like much longer to me. I'm enjoying my free time and time with family but I definitely miss Slovenia and the friends we made in Ljubljana. From day one, the students from the University of Ljubljana made us feel welcome. They were energetic, enthusiastic, and helpful. I enjoyed getting to know them, talking, walking around town, and taking in the sights. I think these are some of my favorite memories from the trip because we were able to experience the city of Ljubljana through the eyes of a native and just relax. After a busy day on the bus, at the University, or at site visits, it was so much fun to just talk and relax with people from another country who really aren't that different from us at all.

Some Other Favorite Memories from Slovenia

One of my absolute favorite memories from Slovenia was going out with Sara and our group of girls. We all had a blast and I am sure none of us will forget that night. I am thankful that we got to spend time with Sara and Urska because they were so friendly and easy to talk to. I also learned so much from them about their language, education system, and differences between Slovenia and the US. Another memory of mine was all the time spent with our group. I was the only person who knew everyone that was going on the trip, but I definitely got to know everyone a little better during the trip. I really enjoyed my time spent in Slovenia and I miss spending time with our whole group.

Thanks for reading!
Jess White

What I Miss

Stephanie:

Now that I have been home for some time, I am beginning to miss life abroad. I think I miss the food most! I can still taste the smoked ribs I ate over two weeks ago! 😂

I am still shocked at how much I truely enjoyed Slovenian cuisine. Everything was always packed with a freshness I have never tasted before. I’m not sure I will ever be able to eat eggs in the United States again. Nothing compares to that freshness!

This experience has pushed me to eat less processed food and more fresh foods.

I’m looking forward to seeing the health results of this!

Missing the Ice Cream

Right now, I am missing the ice cream from Slovenia and Venice. Cacao was amazing. The place at Lake Bled, amazing. In Venice, amazing. My freezer-burned carton of generic brand ice cream, definitely not amazing. Not only was the ice cream fantastic, but being able to get together with all the girls on the trip as well as the students from the University of Ljubljana to just relax was great. The night we got ice cream at Cacao with the whole group was a lot of fun. We walked around the city and got to know each other. A few of us even walked down the river and sat on steps leading down to the river for a while, just talking. It was a nice, relaxed night. In my opinion, this just shows that getting ice cream is a great way to bond and form new friendships!

What I Learned in Slovenia

Jessica D.

I loved our learning experiences in Slovenia, particularly the learning focused on the topic of education. I enjoyed visiting the three education centers including Livada Primary and Vodmat Kindergarten. I learned that education in Slovenia is very highly valued and high-quality. From a very young age, children are encouraged to take part in advanced learning opportunities that promote higher-order thinking. Activities are often based on the project-learning concept and build gradually on knowledge which pertain to the likes and interests of the children in the center. I also learned that education in Slovenia is inclusive and focused on benefiting the needs of the whole child. This system is based on the Swedish system, which has worked wonderfully for many years.