Schiphol Airport

I am sitting here at the airport in Amsterdam after a three week business trip to Austria, France and The Netherlands. Hard to believe it is over all ready. What a wonderful experience, meeting and networking with so many great educators. We are creating international opportunities for our students that far surpass anything they can learn in the classroom.

On Monday, I head back to the Pictou Campus to assume my role as academic chair, but will keep working to ensure these possibilities come to fruition. All in all, a great three weeks.

Groningen, too has canals. I am now in Groningen, The Netherlands and am looking forward to our bike tour of the city tomorrow. I spent 2 days in Annecy, France this past week talking to the staff at the IPAC university. They are proposing a 2 week summer school for our tourism students and we also talked about student exchanges for a semester. These discussions Zoran and I have been having are going to give our students so many international opportunities to explore and understand many different cultures. Nine of our students arrived yesterday in Holland to start their 3 week program “Doing Business in Europe” put on by the Hanze University in Groningen. It will be a full time learning program and will be an enriching experience. There are talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday morning with the Hanze University faculty to strengthen our working relationship with our two organizations. More to come when I get to Amsterdam on Thursday. View high resolution

Groningen, too has canals.
I am now in Groningen, The Netherlands and am looking forward to our bike tour of the city tomorrow.
I spent 2 days in Annecy, France this past week talking to the staff at the IPAC university. They are proposing a 2 week summer school for our tourism students and we also talked about student exchanges for a semester. These discussions Zoran and I have been having are going to give our students so many international opportunities to explore and understand many different cultures.
Nine of our students arrived yesterday in Holland to start their 3 week program “Doing Business in Europe” put on by the Hanze University in Groningen. It will be a full time learning program and will be an enriching experience. There are talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday morning with the Hanze University faculty to strengthen our working relationship with our two organizations. More to come when I get to Amsterdam on Thursday.

Zoran and I spent about 91/2 hours on the train today traveling from Linz, Austria to Geneva, Switzerland. We passed through Germany and Lichtenstein on our way. We arrived in Geneva around 6:30pm and hailed a cab to take us to Annecy. What we didn’t expect was that it would cost us 170 euros to travel the 35 kilometers. I heard things were a little more expensive here, but really! After we checked in we strolled through the old city and found a pizzeria and had a beer and pizza. We have a full day of meetings tomorrow and I am looking forward to the possible summer school arrangement we are trying to forge. View high resolution

Zoran and I spent about 91/2 hours on the train today traveling from Linz, Austria to Geneva, Switzerland. We passed through Germany and Lichtenstein on our way. We arrived in Geneva around 6:30pm and hailed a cab to take us to Annecy. What we didn’t expect was that it would cost us 170 euros to travel the 35 kilometers. I heard things were a little more expensive here, but really! After we checked in we strolled through the old city and found a pizzeria and had a beer and pizza. We have a full day of meetings tomorrow and I am looking forward to the possible summer school arrangement we are trying to forge.

I spent 3 days in Steyr Austria and enjoyed the city very much. I explored much of the area and took some nice photos of the city. It is a very tipical Austrian city and has lots of charm. Zoran and I met with some people at the Steyr campus this morning and discussed the possiblility of student and faculty exchanges. I have alot of work to do in order for this agreement to come into play, but I will be a great opportunity for our students. This picture was taken near the Upper Austrian University in Steyr. Off to Annecy, France tomorrow by train. View high resolution

I spent 3 days in Steyr Austria and enjoyed the city very much. I explored much of the area and took some nice photos of the city. It is a very tipical Austrian city and has lots of charm. Zoran and I met with some people at the Steyr campus this morning and discussed the possiblility of student and faculty exchanges. I have alot of work to do in order for this agreement to come into play, but I will be a great opportunity for our students. This picture was taken near the Upper Austrian University in Steyr. Off to Annecy, France tomorrow by train.

Town Square, Steyr on Flickr.This is the main tourist area in Steyr. A lot of shops and cafes are set up in the square. View high resolution

Town Square, Steyr on Flickr.

This is the main tourist area in Steyr. A lot of shops and cafes are set up in the square.

Steyr, Austria

Today is Saturday, May 19th, and I am now in Steyr, Austria enjoying a weekend of warm weather and sunshine. The past international staff training week in Upper Austria was an excellent way of networking and getting to know what other institutions do for their students. The week consisted of a series of workshops and visits to each of the four campuses. Some of the topics included recruiting international students, cultural communications, double degrees and social networks. We also spend Thursday traveling to Hallstatt at the base of the alps. While there we took a cable car up the side of the mountain and had a tour of one of the ice caves. Some of the participants had a snowball fight because we were walking through an area that had about a foot of snow. 19 countries were represented in the week long training and it is always great to get to know about other cultures and share some of my culture. I stayed in the city of Linz for the week during the training and enjoyed the local culture and food.

Today, Zoran and I are doing a walking tour of Steyr on our own and hope to see many of the back streets and cafes. The weather has finally warmed up enough to walk about without a jacket.

Steyr, Austria on Flickr.This is a shot I took from a restauant high overlooking the city. View high resolution

Steyr, Austria on Flickr.

This is a shot I took from a restauant high overlooking the city.

Day 1 of the staff training week - May 14, 2012

The day was mostly used for networking amongst the 30 participants. There are 18 countries represented and it is good to meet the people and get ideas from them. We heard about the education system in the country and more specifically the Upper Austrian University of Applied Science. We had a few official guest speakers from the university and met some government people as well. We had a tour of the provincial parliament house where they conduct the official business of the state/province. Supper was also included and sponsored by the government. An interesting day.

A local pub on Flickr.We enjoyed a local meal and a couple of Austrian beer on Sunday night View high resolution

A local pub on Flickr.

We enjoyed a local meal and a couple of Austrian beer on Sunday night

Lost luggage

I made it safe and sound to Vienna Saturday afternoon and Zoran was there to meet me. The only problem was that I had no luggage. They said it was in London and I should have it tomorrow, boy I hope so. We took the train to Linz from Vienna around four thirty and checked into our hotel after six. The two of us went for supper at an Italian Restaurant after walking 20 minutes in the pouring rain to find it. The city of Linz is a very sleepy city and there is nothing open Saturday night and I understand nothing open on Sundays either. I hope the weather clears so I can take a few pictures while I am here.