EQUINESTUDYABROADPURDUE2012

When asked to sum up this trip in 2 sentences, this is what the studentsof Maymester 2012 had to say: “I am thankful for this trip because it not only allowed me to learn more about the horse industry but it gave me the opportunity to see some beautiful sights that I might not have been able to see otherwise.” – Kelli M “I learned so much about the Irish/British and Welsh culture and horse industry, as well as my capability to survive in these foreign countries. Insightful…educational….enjoyable.” James D “This trip has been full of great adventures, people, memories and of course- horses! It is one I will never forget!” – Erin G “This trip has been full of many exciting adventures. The landscape has been breathtaking, the sites amazing and the horses-magnificent!” _Jessica P ... read more

Unfortunately I got jipped in the blog department, my day was the second to last day in Ireland so it was full of traveling and not much else. The day started awakening at our beautiful location in Whales to go to some gift shops/walk around the town before we headed to the ferry to begin our sea excursion towards beautiful Dublin. Once arriving on the ferry we realized we were dealing with a full ship and wouldn't have the extra room to sprawl out and nap like last time. This was fine because there would be no sleeping on this ferry ride anyway. The waves crashed upon the rocks, shore and ferry as it released loud thuds and provoked nauseousness from its motions. Rocking back and forth, side to side and occasionally a large tip that ... read more

As the trip comes to a close we head back to Dublin. A lot of us are excited to revisit the city with that has a great night life. Whereas others are excited that going to the city means we will be on a plane heading for home very soon! The different places that we went each had ups and downs. In Ireland the group enjoyed the night life. The food there was great and the people were very personable. Especially Paul our bus driver for the activities in Galway. The kildangan stud tour was amazing and I think everyone really enjoyed the time there. The highlight of Ireland was definitely the cliffs of Moher. We then had a quick stop in bath to see aintree grand national race course. The course was beautiful. We learned ... read more

On this Saturday in Wales our original plan was to go to ironbridge gorge and a historic farm. However, the group was quite happy to find out during our 7 am breakfast that we were going to cancel the day's plans and just have a free day in the middle of nowhere. I decided to catch up on sleep while some people decided to go out for an early morning hike. They did not have a goal originally but ended up reaching the top of a summit before turning back. Many other groups took their free morning to hike or chill around the hostel. After a short nap, I finished reading a game of thrones and ate a quick lunch before going out on the trails with Jennifer. We decided to not go very far, so ... read more

Hello everyone this is Jessica Peters and I am writing about our adventures we experienced this past Friday. First off this is my first blog ever so bear with me everyone. Hopefully I don’t put you all to sleep. Second off, our days in Europe are dwindling down! We only have four more days here. Today marked the first official day in Pen Y Pass and the view is amazing. When I ate breakfast this morning I could gaze out each window and see beautiful sheep covered mountains in the backdrop. Breakfast was filling for a change with more choices than just toast. After our full meal of eggs, sausage, hash browns, and backed beans (a normal breakfast choice in Europe????) we all boarded the bus. After a good trek across Wales we found ourselves at ... read more

Alysa Goeke here.... Two forty five AM, we were woken up from a fire alarm that felt like it lasted hours. Eventually we found out was not worth leaving our rooms or beds; We suppose some one thought they were being fun pulling the alarm. To top that off we all had to wake up around 6 or 6:30 AM; needless to say the whole group was cranky and fell asleep right away on the bus. As we traveled through the country side we all stared out the windows. What a sight! First thing coming into Wales we cross a bridge over the beautiful Bristol Channel. Beauty has just engulfed us since the day we arrived in Europe, but how gorgeous Wales is! In my opinion Wales has given the best first impression. I love the ... read more

May 30th- My day starts off fairly easy due to the fact that I get to blog on a free day in London. So today was the day I decided it was a good day to sleep in. I finally get my self out of bed around 9:30 and make my way to the sky lounge which is on the 8th floor of our hostel. I find a couple friends upstairs and start to make plans on what we want to do on our free day in London. After making some plans I make my way to the 4th floor to the common room to see if anyone wants to do something or to see what other people are doing. An hour passes and I decided to start getting ready for the day and to head ... read more

Captain’s Log... 28.05.2012 Picadilly Circus, London 12_35: Waiting outside the local Coach store for our coach bus to pick us up to go see Liz Haliday, a three-day eventer, race car driver, and news anchor. Our group has been having a lot of bad luck lately, especially with busses. But today is a brand new day; our weekend has been pretty crisis-less so our good luck is sure to continue! 12_58: Still waiting… 13_08: Jordan called our bus company, a bridge somewhere has been closed down, and so our bus has to take a detour to get to us. So no worries, and Ms. Haliday knows that we are going to be a little bit late. 13_30: Our coach bus has arrived! With air conditioning, and a bathroom! We’ve all loaded on and are now on ... read more

Saturday was our first free day in London. Although many of us wanted to see the same attractions, we split up into multiple smaller groups. Each group had very different experiences at places such as the London Eye, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, and Harrodsburg for shopping. The London Eye is a giant ferris wheel on the river Thames. It over looks most of the city and gives a very nice view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. One of the first things some of us did on this lovely morning was stand in line for two and a half hours to get onto the London Eye. It was well worth the wait however and riding it gave us a spectacular view of the city. The Tower of London was another popular stop. ... read more