Ozano Rokov
"This is a small step for man, but a big step for FOI"
It took some time, but we finally arrived in Orlando. Pleasant 9 hour flight with a pause of a few hours in London, at the terminal, flew very fast. Excitement among my colleagues was clearly visible since for most of us this was our first trip to the “new continent”, and for some, even the first flight. After the check-in at the Zagreb terminal we headed towards the plane, by bus, just so we wouldn’t have to walk for few meters to our aircraft. We flew smoothly, and soon were beyond our beautiful country. Seeing the Alps from the plane is really something special and it is almost impossible to describe the feeling when you look beyond the horizon, across several states.
We flew over the La Manche and we started dropping in London. The terminal was, as opposed to domestic, full of various airplanes and we had a good 15 min walk until we reached the first counter. Inner London terminal layout is reminiscent of shopping centers in Croatia, so we split into smaller groups and headed out to buy some occasional things. After a quick meal at McDonalds, we rushed up to our second flight.
Virgin Atlantis Boeing 747 is a beautiful "small" little thing, which we hosted in the next 6 hours. The flight was excellent, without any turbulence, and with pleasant and attractive flight attendants. I have not slept the whole way, because I watched at all the current movies that were at the box office over the past few months. It was a nice feeling to see the Atlantic from the air, and also to pass along the eastern coast of America.
At around 17:00 we landed at Orlando's international terminal, which is twice the size of London's XD. If the London looked like a shopping center, this looked like a small area with hotels and a train that goes by the terminal. We were pleasantly greeted with the inscription "Dobro došli kući," and our old friends took us at the Rosen Campus where we are currently located.
The difference between the time zones has affected us all, and we are slowly getting ready for the rag. The time is 23:40, which would mean that back home is around 04:40 AM. Everyone have a good night, and expect for my new blog post very soon. Just until I get some Internet.
See ya
There and back again
After yesterdays, endless day finally came the morning. We have slept for just a few hours and already we had to get up. I have to admit that the change of time zones has affected us all, and most of us have risen with no problems at 05:00 AM because it is 11:00 AM in Croatian. After a light breakfast we headed up to Jacksonville, a city in northeast Florida. The road trip passed painlessly, and we even had time to stop for a cup of coffee at world famous Starbucks. We have not entered the center of Jacksonville, because we were heading for the UNF (University of North Florida), which is at the entrance of the city. We were lucky that we could take part at the 1st Annual Florida Statewide Student Research Symposium. Thus, we were given the opportunity to socialize with various students from different areas, and to inquire about some of their research. Also, we listened to a presentation on how do you display and present your research properly, which was presented very professionally in a true American style. The university, as such, is large and spacious for Croatian standards, with lots of buildings, green spaces, and even animals (ducks, squirrels and wild geese). We spent the entire afternoon at the UNF, and after a good lunch, we headed up to the south.
Next destination for us was St. Augustine, lovely little town on the east coast of Florida. St. Augustine is known to the world for two things: first is the fort, Castillo de San Marco and the second is the fountain of youth. Place as such was established back in 1565th year, and was founded by the Spaniards. We started our tour in the fort itself. The fort is made of the specific stone blocks typical for this area. Blocks are mixture of gravel, sand and shells, and as such are very sensitive to weather and other stimuli. During the tour we had the opportunity to participate in the traditional cannon firing. After touring the fort we went to the City where we walked through the streets that are reminiscent of pirate village.
With the end of visiting St. Augustine, we headed back to Orlando where we had dinner. It was a great day, but a bit tiring one due to the fact that we slept only for 4 hours.
Greetings from the warm Orlando
Universal fun
I waited for this day since I first heard that we are going to Florida. Today we were at Universal Studio Park, specifically in Adventure land. It is very difficult to describe what we went through because it had so many rides and other interesting stuff in it. We stayed in the park trough the day and went on all those "dangerous" rides. Personally I was looking forward to the Harry Potter Land and it really hit all of my expectations. From adrenaline-charged roller coaster ride to the thrilling 4D rides. We had to change all of our wet clothes after the wild river rides at the Toon lagoon. One of the last things we visited is the Marvel City. For me this part was very exciting because I’m a huge Marvel fan, especially of the character Spider man. The roller coaster called Hulk is the wildest roller coaster I ever drove on, and we had a bit of luck, because we managed to ride it as much as 3 times in half an hour. I also bought most of my souvenirs today, so I will have to save my money for the next couple of days if I wish to buy anything else. Icing on the cake was definitely Hard Rock Cafe Orlando, which, according to their claims, is the largest in the world, and even if it is not, it’s really big for our standards. This of course is not all we did today. We had some more great rides, but generally these were, for me, the best of them all.
The rest of the evening passes peacefully, and I’m slowly starting to prepare for the serious part of this trip, and that of course is my presentation. Me and Matija are ones on the line, on Tuesday, so you can already feel some tension. Until Tuesday, there is still little more than 24 hours so we can relax a little by then. I’m saving up myself for a long night tomorrow.
Greetings from this side of the pond!
And here we ….GO
Today we finally started with the main course. Getting up early and going to UCF (University of Central Florida) marked the beginning of our working day. The easiest description for this university campus, on which we will be holding our presentations, is that it looks like a small town. Of course, due to the spring holidays it looks empty, but despite all of that the size of it left me speechless. Our hosts made us retire to their McNair office, and Katarina, Alen, and Matija prepared for their presentations on the subjects Croatian education system, Varaždin, and FOI. The presentations were short and informative for students of UCF, and soon after that they informed us about their university and how their education system works.
After the presentations we were visited by the lady from the UCF library. She surprised us with the information that she is a native of Zadar, which actually shows how small the world is. After her extensive presentations on the data bases that they use, we went on a short lunch, and after that for a short walk around the campus. The only thing I can say is "WOW !!!". We visited several major buildings including the building of Student Council, and I was stunned when I learned that the position of the president of the Student Union is a paid position here. They showed us the basketball court and the football stadium with the capacity of over 10000 seats. We had to shorten the tour because we were late to volunteer at the arboretum of UCF. We got a bit informed about their vegetation and animals that they have, and after that we had some work ahead of us in the garden. We got divided into small groups and were given various jobs. Me, Matija and our new friend, Esteban helped carry the heavy pots with tangerines and oranges trees in them. We even got the chance to drive the vehicle, which they call the Gator (short for alligator). Because of our good work we got some fruit and vegetables from the garden, which we will of course have for dinner.
A couple of free hours that we had before dinner we used to purchase at the "outlets". Outlets are like shopping center with all kinds of famous brands, and you can often find very favorable actions such as two shirts for $ 25 which is around 130 kn. Of course the majority of us have left most of their allowance there. After shopping we returned home.
I must admit I'm thrilled because of their campus and the way they work and study there. It is very easy to lose yourself in the beauty of the environment and the conditions they have here. Right now I must finish my presentation for tomorrow. We will try to establish a video stream, and we will put the link on Facebook. Watch us tomorrow.
Bye
D day
It is here. The D day. I was a bit tense this morning when I woke up because I did not know what to expect of my presentation and how exactly will it go. I’m not so sure how good my verbal skills are, as well as the amount of content that I should exhibit. While the vice dean and my colleague Bogdan presented their presentations via Skype, I was trying to repeat and mentally prepare for the task ahead. ( By the way, we successfully launched a "stream" even with the two cameras) Lily announced me, and I finally went to present. Judging by the comments it was OK. I must admit that I'm pleased, that I managed to get by, despite few pauses that I had, and managed to present everything I needed. Matija completed our subject with his study and in the end it turned out very professionally. We got even a few "likes" on Facebook.
The worst part for me was over, so let the good times role. After the presentation, we visited the Barbara Ying Center, which is some kind of office for international cooperation and receiving foreign students. We had a brief presentation on how the foreign student can apply to their college, which we found, of course, very interesting. The rules are not complicated and in the end it all boils down to how much money do you have. We got a couple of informative leaflets, and we wandered a bit through the building.
After visit the aforementioned office we headed to the downtown Orlando. There we visited FIEA (Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy), which is actually some kind of college for making video games. They have walked us through some of their offices and places where they recorded "motion capture" parts of the game, and I thought to myself how many of FOI students would like to have this for their standard job. Upon completion, we parted with our guide and headed to dinner.
The hosts took us to a Japanese restaurant, in order to try something different. Of course I'm talking about the "sushi". I’ve never imagined myself eating one of those, but once you're in America… So, of course I ate my sushi and I can say that it was something completely indescribable as the taste is concerned, but in a positive way. We ate well, and after a short break from the lunch went to our last activity for today. Broadway Musical - Wicked. It was AWSOME!!!! The show lasted for about 2 hours and 30 minutes, and the plot followed the green witch from the Wizard of Oz and her side of the story. After the show, and a busy day, we headed toward our apartment, where I literally threw myself on the bed. You can probably imagine the rest.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz .... zzzzzzzzz…
…and now for the main event…
It is Wednesday. It marks the half of our time spent here. Today we did all our remaining presentations, which means that students: Alena, Katarina, Ivor and Jelena, did their part. All the presentations were very well done, and I think that some of them exceeded my performance yesterday. Congratulations! Now, when we all did our obligations, we could continue with our other activities (like writing this blog for example ;)).
Michael took us, after the lunch, for a walk to the main building where we met Vice-President R. Schell. He wished us to have fun and enjoyable stay in Orlando, and to continue this path we are all taking, because that’s the way to success. We left the Vice-President to go about his business, and we moved two buildings away for yet another good company with Ambassador Harriet L. Elam-Thomas. This woman is something special and I really admire her work. She talked about her job while we were having lunch, and 2 hours just flew by us. For me it was very sad that we had to continue with the program and say goodbye.
Before going to the place where the Information Fluency Conference presentations (IFCP) is held, we stopped by the building of the Honors College. The institution as such is intended for students with a better average and offers them to work in smaller groups of max. 30 students. The students, who greeted us there, shared their experience with us in one of their study rooms. We said “Bye!” to our new acquaintances, and went to the venue where was held IFCP. Professor Violeta, together with Michael presented FOI and the exchange program that is currently in place. There were actually few people who approached and asked various questions, mostly related to where Croatia is.
After yesterday, which made me very exhausted, this day was very pleasant and calm. Tomorrow we will continue with the IFCP, and then after that we are going to Miami. I can not wait.
ADDED:
I have decided to allocate part with the presentations and IFCP held on Thursday (10.03.2011.) and put it under this title to go with the new title when we travel to Miami. Basically we had a morning program at UCF again, where we listened to the couple of presentations and viewed some of the posters with the researches that people have worked on. We did not have any major part in all of this except for some questions that we posed to the students.
…I’m going to Miami, Welcome to Miami!!!!
Oh, yeah. After some work in the morning at the UCF, we went on a journey to the sunny beaches of Miami. The only drawback was that the RAIN was falling. The Weather was sunny trough our whole stay in Orlando and just when we decided to go to the beach the rain strikes. Hmm, is there a hidden message in all of that? It was not so bad, considering that we were mainly driving in the van during this part of the day (Thursday). From Orlando to Miami is a 4 hour drive so it was a long afternoon for us. When we arrived it was already dark. We checked in our hotel (which was wonderful), and spent the night mostly in our rooms. Candice and Lily took the opportunity to explain to us a little about them fraternity function, and showed us the choreography that they call saluting and that presents their sisterhood. Later we went to sleep.
Finally morning, and sunny one, too. Jej ! We hurried with our breakfast, left the room and headed toward South Beach. Ahhh, sand, sun, sea gulls and the Atlantic Ocean ... beautiful. Strolling in shorts on the beach, in the 3rd month when the snow falls in Varaždin, really feels weird, but that didn’t bother me much. We left a few "FOI" footprints in the sand and thrown ourselves into the ocean. Some needed a little persuasion because the wind was really problematic, and because of that it was a bit hard to determine how much wise is to bathe. In the end we were all wet. The temperature, in my personal estimation, was around 20 degrees Celsius, and it was so nice and worm that we stayed in there for the next hour and a half. Rest of the day we spent at the beach, sunbathing and walking around.
Around 15:00 o clock, we left the beach to change our clothes, ate and headed back to the Rosen (where we are staying for those who have forgotten). Tired from our trip, we didn’t think a lot, and we all retreated to our bedrooms.
To boldly go where no man has gone before
Our last adventure takes us to the Kennedy Space Center and NASA. This part of the trip was also something I really looked forward to since ... well ... it’s NASA!!!!!! Last space shuttle launch was 20 days ago, and according to what they told us recently, a crew landed down. The whole complex is made as an amusement park so that you can freely visit and walk around the place. We started our tour in the IMAX Theater, where we watched a 3D movie about the space station and astronauts who are up there, and how they live. After that, we listened to the presentation of the real astronauts who shared with us his experiences and revealed the biggest mystery of them all ... how astronauts go to the toilet. The gentleman presented all of their professional work in a fun way, so that at times it all seemed perhaps to easy. To get some real astronaut experience, we decided to test the rocket launch simulator, which is, how the experts say, the most credible form of the true launch simulation. Honestly, I do not know if this is true, because except for a little back massage I did not feel anything too horrible. I assume they don’t make you experience all the forces involved in the simulation since the children can ride it. Short break at a nearby restaurant (I'm tired of fast food), and taking some photos, marked the rest of the day. We managed to buy a few souvenirs, and watch the Star Trek live show without the original cast L.
The deal was to finish our tour around 16:00, and we, along with other students, went by bus to Orlando. We spent the afternoon packing up, and we got the evening free. We decided that after dinner we will go out and experience the nightlife of Orlando. According to what, our dear friend Marcus said, we visited that night only "the peaceful" places, and he warned us that there are places where it can be really dangerous. We had fun that night. We danced and hanged out with other students, and around 02:00 AM, i.e. 03:00 AM because of the time change (+01:00) we went home. It was a perfect night to sum up our stay in America.
Soon, we will be heading back. People, see you soon.
Live long and prosper!
Time to say good bye!
There it is. The last day. In the morning we had our last breakfast in the form of American pancakes, which Lily and Laura made. I thank them for that and for everything they have done for us along with everyone else that I mentioned trough my blog posts. For my final thought, I will write: "You can go everywhere, but don’t forget to come home! “ Corny and pathetic, I know, but it is true. The beauty of this is that it's once in a lifetime. Well, maybe not once, but very few opportunities are in life when you can go, show yourself and others in a positive light, while at the same time have fun and gain new experiences and friendships. I’m finishing with my blog writings and I hope that with everything I wrote, I somehow managed to evoke all of those who read at least a little, with everything that happened here in the last 10 days.
Farewell to the new continent!
Postscript
I thank to all of those who have enabled us to experience all of this!