We spent the day exploring Chicago. On our own we went on an adventure: we visited China Town, the artistic part of Chicago and other areas. Chicago is a beautiful city, full of life, energy, young people and has something special. On every corner is something new, so we do six days was not nearly enough to fully meet. We agreed that we will be back someday. In the end, I want to thank everyone who made it possible to realize this unforgettable experience: the administrations of faculties and students from DePaul University in Chicago, Central Florida in Orlando and the Faculty of organization and informatics University of Zagreb and their leaders - Dr. Luciano Berardi and Brian spittle, McNair and A. Mithchem F., De Pual University Chicago, Michael Jeffries Aldarondo with McNair University of Central Florida in Orlando and others. Fabrizio Balcazar from the University of Chicago.
Friday was a day to Friday was a day to visit the Croatian consulate in Chicago. We warmly welcomed by the Consul General Ph.D. Jelena Grcic Polic. After a presentation and exchange of first impressions in Chicago, the conversation was focused on the connections University of Zagreb and DePaul. We concluded that the existing relashionship is strong enough, but in the future they can be further strengthened in order to be exchanged include other communities from the American continent and Croatia. Lots of ideas, such as linking with schools in which we can introduce Croatian customs, then connect to various contacts throughout our beautiful country, which have a link in Chicago - University of Rijeka and University of Dubrovnik will enable even better cooperation in the coming years. We agreed that the importance of this kind of international exchange invaluable because in addition to the research work includes exploring the culture and customs of the host country.
On Thursday at FOI was held 8th Day of international cooperation in which we should participate in Skype meeting , but due to technical difficulties we recorded a video with American students. This was followed by a staff meeting at DePaul, in downtown Chicago. An interesting discussion, exchange of experience, relaxed atmosphere, and the main topic was the education system in the Republic of Croatia and the United States. After the end of the meeting we went to explore Chicago from the tourist perspective. We visited Lake Michigan, Wills Tower and enjoyed the company of American students.
Wednesday - a day for a visit to the University of Chicago. We visited Northwestern University, which is located just outside of Chicago. Beautiful view of Lake Michigan. We had the opportunity together with the students who are part of DePaul McNair program to learn more about the life of the candidate, prcesu applying for doctoral studies, the choice of mentors, thesis topic and the like. Very instructive and interesting.
In the afternoon we visited the University of Illinois Chicago. There are prof. Vidaček and colleague Tadija Bagaric had presentations related to persons with disabilities and their status in Varazdin County. To all the participants was very interesting to hear about the good Croatian practice and efforts made to people with disabilities integrate into society. The discussion after the presentations allowed us to get to know the situation in America.
After a wonderful 3 days in Orlando, it was time for a new destination: Chicago. Monday we spent in the air. Over Atlanta, the busiest US airport we arrived in Chicago - windy city.
We were warmly welcomed by dr.Luciano Berardi. After that we had settled in a hotel, we prepared for the big day: 6th Student’s Symposium: Research Topics on Intercultural learning in the International Contextto at DePaul University.
We participated in the Panel of Experts, where panelists, including professor Violeta Vidaček - Hains spoke about experiences and the importance of student exchange. We have seen how exchangeof DePaul works with Kenya, Tanzania, Argentina and of course Croatia. Interesting and inspiring presentations completed the discussion in which we get answers to all questions. More about the great teachers you can find in the pictures from their distinctive CV.
After lunch, it was a time for presentations of the posters of De Paul's and students of the Faculty of Informatics Organization. Great experience, exchanging ideas in one place, discussions, introducing students and networking for future research - that's it in a nutshell.
After the symposium, we toured DePaul which is beautiful and offers students numerous opportunities for learning, relaxation and recreation. The day we finished with delicious dinner.
After a busy Friday, Saturday was reserved for a visit to the Disney World. It's hard to describe the experience, the organization of the park, the kindness of the people and happiness that you can feel on every corner. It was definitely a fun experience, the best in my whole life. Pictures below speak louder than words .... :)
Kennedy Space Center - Mission for Sunday. Together with McNair students, we went to a place where the vision of man in the universe was created and it is still developing today. Simulation of a missile launch, then instructional film about the way the Apollo 13 went on the Moon and many other things and for a moment I thought that I was part of an expedition to travel beyond Earth's orbit. NASA center is an amazing place to look the world from a different perspective. Innovation, technology and research are key factors which enabled people to be part of the unimaginable things.
It is interesting that the system of McNair scholarships who spent time with us during our stay in Orlando was named after the one of the astronauts who tragically died on the launch of one of the spacecraft into the space. In his honor, a program was established and it helps excellent students in achieving their academic goals. I would like to thank everybody from MCNair for being great company in Orlando. It was really nice to meet those amazing people and I hope they will come to the Croatia soon.
An incredible day is behind us. The UCF campus has around 60,000 students and in fact, it is like a small town. Meeting new people, volunteering, but of course the presentation of research are just a few highlights of the day. After walking around campus and getting to know the main facilities, it was the time for presenting. People are so friendly and kind to immediately feel like you're at home, so we were very confident while presenting.
The title of my research is The importance of digital information in the international environment. I’ve decided for this topic because I think that students today are surrounded with a lot of digital information and it is important to recognize what is important in a sea of potential knowledge.
Next on the schedule was a meeting with Mr. Elliot Videos (Interim Vice Provost & Dean for undergraduate students at UCF). A Pleasant conversation in which we discussed education in Croatia and the United States, customs, and as well as past and present experiences of exchange students with a strong vision of the continuation and expansion for future cooperation. We agreed that the benefits of this type of exchange are priceless. Networking students from different continents and countries is crucial for the creation of new ideas and a stronger knowledge society in which ICT has applications in every area.
Next stop: volunteering. We cleaned the MC Nair road. It was fun and useful to volunteer, and after our work, everything was clean. In addition to cleaning, we had the opportunity to meet social self-service for students, which is well designed at UCF.
Also, we’ve visited UCF training center that is in full compliance with the saying: Mens Sana in corpore sano. The first day we finished dinner at the campus and went to sleep early to be ready for Disney World adventure. More About Disney's adventures in the next post ... :)...
