Tag: Airport

What to do in an Airport: Mikaella’s Moments

mlk491In-Country Sharing

One of the best and worst things about traveling almost anywhere is the flight.  Sometimes you get lucky and can fly straight though, sometimes not so much and you have an outrageously long layover. 

As we were landing in Amsterdam we started asking if we had a layover or if we had a long one.  We came to find out that some of us had an EIGHT hour layover.  What does a person do in an airport for eight hours?!  Well, there is a variety of options for this.

Option 1:  Walk Around

Some people choose to walk around because they have been cooped up in a plain for so many hours and they still have so many more to go. 

Option 2:  Shop

Airports are filled with little shops that are great to stop in and look though.  This is a great way to waste some time and maybe even find some cool souvenirs to take back home to your family and friends or even yourself.

Option 3:  Eat

Lets face it.  If you have flown internationally before we both know that airplane food is not the best thing ever.  Sometimes you’re just hungry and the airplane food isn’t gonna cut it.  Airports are filled with a bunch of different food options and a bunch of variety of food options. 

Option 4:  Sleep

Sometimes sleeping seems like the only way to pass the time.  Sometimes some people just don’t sleep the best on plains.  Sleep is my personal favorite.  Here I get to catch up on a few hours that I may have missed out on or I just drifted off because I can. 

Option 5:  Catch up on work

For some this is a time that they finally get to sit down with internet connectivity.  This is a great time to relax, catch up on some emails, and even finish up some work that is needing to be done. 

These are five options on what a person can do while on a layover in an airport and have a significant amount of time to burn.  Everyone may pick something slightly different, while some may pick the same thing.  Everyone also has their own preferences and ways that their body may handle travel. 

My personal favorite is sleeping.  What is yours?

Landed: Let the adventure of learning commence!

Daniel Douglas FosterIn-Country Sharing

After 4 years of focused effort and borrowing a popular phrase from one of my childhood favorite shows, The A-Team, with Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, I LOVE IT SEEING A PLAN COME TOGETHER!

We are so thankful to have the support of the USDE Fulbright-Hayes to be able to offer this specialized transformative learning immersion for agricultural teacher candidates and agriculture teachers from Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan and of course Malaysia.

Most people do not realize the tireless effort and planning that was required to reach this the point!  An experience like this does not just happen by jumping on an airplane. In 2014 (in-route to #AgEd2Korea), Melanie Miller Foster (@GlobalMelanie) complete the scoping trip to Malaysia that helped solidify the grant application submitted in Fall 2014. The application was rejected at that time, but great feedback was given! In 2016, we resubmitted and were awarded to conduct the experience in Summer 2018.

As soon as we learned of acceptance in early 2017, work began with the Global Teach Ag! Consortium from the learning design team of the Penn State Global Teach Ag! Initiative (@GlobalTeachAg) and Hawkeye Community College Global Agriculture Learning Center (@GALC_Hawkeye) to the host team of the University Technology Malaysia, (@UTMeduc) much much work has been done.

Because of all that work (and after 2.5 days of traveling with 20+ flying hours traversing nearly 10,000), this great photo of 30 passionate, positive agents of change for food, fiber, and natural resources through youth agriculture development is possible!

This is a learning journey we are super excited to share with you. We really hope that we can be ambassadors for goodwill through agricultural education. To do this, we believe open conversations are critical. We strongly encourage you to subscribe to the blog, feel confident in posting comments/questions on anything we share, and maybe (just maybe) even engage with us on Twitter at #AgEd2Malaysia!