Today we had an opportunity to go in Disney world. i don't know the words to express myself today. It's been more than awesome to see all these things that we saw. Disney world in Orlando is the largest Disney in the world and now I can really confirme that. This has been the fun day for all of us and for a moment we had a chance to go back in our child days. I am really happy to be here today, but I am also kinda sad becouse we are going home tomorrow. It's been great to be here but we need to go back someday and tommorow is that day. Nevertheless we enjoy to be in America and thanks once again everybody for hospitality. Thanks to Michael Aldorondo-Jeffries, director of McNair. He's been really good to us, supportive and he is a great host. Thank you Michael. Also thanks Natalia Sepulveda, Jennifer Walsh, Christy Clarke & Karla Colon Urquiola for everything. You guys have been awesome and it's been really great to get to know you all. Also thanks to University of Central Florida and thanks to University of Zagreb and our college Faculty of Organization and Informatics for this unique chance for us. Now we are going home with lots of story to tell. Goodby everybody and stay well. :)
I know that I'm using the words "really great" to often, but this day was more than really great. It's been awesome. McNair Scholars program is in charge for us in UCF, Florida. Name McNair came from Ronald McNair american astronaut who past away in one of space craft accident. Today we had a chance to visit his memorial place and to know as much as we can about all space facts. We had oppurtunity to learn about trip to the moon. About ships that went to the moon and in space. We saw so many things and I am astonished by all of this things. Thank to everybody who made this happened. I wont forget this day.
The people who welcomed us was so delighted with our presentations that they decided to take us on a trip to Miami. That kind a gift you can't denie. It was really awesome to know about Miami cluture in America from first hand. Entire day was awesome and I just want to say thanks to all people who made this day happened. It's great to be alive and to be in Miami. If anyone ever has a chance to visit this place i strongly recommend.
Today it's D day for us. We have our presentations today.
We are gonna present our research to americans students and teachers. I must admit i was a little bit nervous but when I started my presentation all that was gone and presentation itself was really great. They had so many questions that I answered and I exchange some contacts in order to continue my research with foreign students. Great experience for me, I am very happy to be here today. It was amazing. My college also presented very well and I think we all did our job very good. All people in conference was really happy and delighted with our presentations so I think it was really great.
Today we atended Information fluency conference. Before start, we had opportunity to meet great artist Dr. Cecilia Milanes.
This great person read some poems to us that she wrote and gave us a gift, her book and CD. It was really great, she is amazing artist and writter. We had opportunity to meer one extrodionary person as well. Her name is Ambassador Harriet L. Elam - Thomas. This amazing women told us about herself and it was really great to learn from such extrodionary person. After this unforgetable conversation we went to Information fluency conference and atend some interesting lecture by some university profesors.
It was really great to learn from this people. Working day is over, we are tired but also satisfaid with this day. Great day in any way.
Today it's a rainy day, but it's also a great day for us becouse we had the chance to know about UCF. This university is astonishing. It's size, it's amazing. The opporunity that studets have here for themselves are really great and admirable. The tour over the campus was present to us by student Vu Tran. She was amazing, ahe told us everything that is important in UCF. Tour was really great and I just wanna say thanks to Vu for great presentation of the campus. Amazing day, we had the chance to know student and their culture here. It was great, we learned alot. :)
After a rest from the road, meeting the Orlando, people, culture and all other relevant things here, it's time to get to know the people for whom we came here. The first presenter in agenda today was neither more not less, but the Croat. Her name is Laila Miletic-Vejzović. This lady is from Zadar works in UCF's library and it has been very interesting to listen about the library and the hole system about it. The library is huge, it is possible to drink coffee in the library, rent a laptop, tablet PC or camera. In the library we came about 10 a.m. and it was already nearly full of students who are diligently doing their jobs. Besides Mrs. Laila we met Meg Scharf, Associate Director for Public Services, which gave us a short presentation about the library, it's history ect. Really interesting experience.
Afterwards we had the opportunity to meet people, who were really amazing. Dr. Elliot Vittes who is vice dean for undergraduate studies and Dr. Rick Schell, Vice President and Chief of Staff. Very interesting people who helped us to understand better how the school system is working here in the U.S.. I learned a lot and I'm really fascinated by the opportunities that are provided for the students here.
Though, when it comes to the amount of the intuition that students pay a lot here, you can clearly see why the systems is so great. But in any case there are so much things in what they are more developed than us and it was really interesting to hear about all this. After the break, we had the opportunity to visit the Barbara Ying Center which is responsible for students coming from other countries and not from America to study at UCF. At UCF currently are 1600 students who study here from abroad. Listening to all the information I have to admit that I started thinking about the various new opportunities for me, and I got my answer to every question that interested me.
The presentation was led by Chris Legoullon, Mark Hartman and Angel Cardec. The presentation was very interesting, in the end we got some questions that we answered correct, and I won the pendant as a memento of the day. All in all, this day was very useful, I have exchanged a lot of contacts and met really interesting people. And nothing moving on to new conquests! :)
Third day. Sunday, but no rest for us.
Very early after breakfast, we headed to Orlando to make it a better look around. After the tour we arrived at Orlando's Bob Carr arena where it held true Broadway musical called "Wicked." See something like that is really something special ... actors, dance, music, singing, and it was a special event that is worth experiencing. If anyone will ever be able to see something like that, I recommend it warmly. After a show that lasted 3 hours, we went to a further visit Orlando and with the help of our host met some more sights, customs and people who live there. Sunday in each case was more than interesting.
A special experience for me, and tomorrow begins serious work. Exploring the campus, presentations etc. .. Follow tiring but interesting and exciting week. :)
The second day was conceived as exploring the environment in which we explore American culture. We had the opportunity to spend the entire day getting to know the culture of Americans and can say that everything is better than I expected. We visited Universal Studios in Orlando, and we have the opportunity to see from first-hand the ways and customs of the fun that Americans do.
In the U.S., everything is so enormous , from cars to buildings but also has plenty of space and I can say that the environment is very pleasant to live in. An interesting fact is that virtually thousands of people I have met and seen this day I have not seen any smoker. All the people that we had the opportunity to meet behaved friendly and kind to us. I am very happy that I had the opportunity to learn about American culture from firsthand.
The whole country is very interesting and each day brings a new adventure. I am very excited to be here and can not wait to meet the rest of Orlando and the U.S..
After a long trip of 24 hours we finally made it. First day in a United States.
I can't really hide my exicment because this is my first time on this continent. I must say this country is really different from Europe and awesome in so many ways. Even though this is my first day here and there is still a lot to see and learn this was really a great day for me. Our host has been more than generous and great. The Rosen campus where we are staying is really awesome. It's like I walked into a movie. Florida itself really suprised me. vIt's really enviroment friendly. First day at University of Central Florida we had campus tour and we learned a lot. We learned about their Experiential Learningc& Career Development. Ulla Isaac, acting director and experiential Learning talk to us about student interships, how it works and how exactly students use it. It was really interesting and I must say I'm very amazed how many effort this people invest in trying to help students. Another great presentation was from Dr. Bill Blank, Director of Career Development. He talk to us about career development on campus and it was really great. They mentor student in writing CV, they practise interview with them and they help them in every possible way. It was really great. Later we had Tour of Recreation and Wellnes Centar and then we had talk to Dr. Maribeth Ehaz, Vice President Student Development and Enrollment Services. It was really great talk in which we learned everything what they do here. Also we realized what are the differences between Croatia and USA in this matter.
First day was more than awesome for me and my gruop. I really can't wait other days that are coming. This hole trip would be more than great I'm sure. I will talk to you soon :) Stay well! :)
