Adelante Abroad: Ecology Summer Study in Scotland

I really enjoyed all of the cultural visits. Castles and forts are my favorite places to explore and we had plenty of those during this trip. We were constantly busy either with field trips or working in the classroom. A typical day would include about one to two hours in the classroom; going out to a site to picnic in the grass or outside a castle; then exploring and learning about the site.
The work load was very reasonable and we were provided with all of the information we needed to complete it. Also, we were given feedback on our completed work and were given the opportunity to make revisions. This extra step was incredibly helpful for me because it allowed me to better understand certain concepts and truly understand the processes that take place during habitat management.
The only difficulty I encountered was when my foot started hurting the first week and remained in pain for about a week. So this made hiking up hills very difficult, but our instructor was very accommodating and was willing to walk at a slower pace.
Overall, this was a great experience and would recommend it to anyone who is interested in this field. It is a great way to learn about the policies and practices of another country.

This has been a wonderful experience. We have seen so many different ecosystems and historical sites. They had each day planned with something different and exciting. Everything went really well, I have no complaints! Generally, all of the people were very nice and accommodating. I have learned a lot about different ecosystems over the past four weeks. This course was beneficial as well as fun!

Our day to day life during the four weeks was different everyday. We would spend some mornings in the field or in the classroom; this was different almost every week. All of the field trips were very educational and a lot of fun. We learned about different types of habitats in Scotland and learned how to properly manage them. We meet with different site managers and got to learn how they got their job, what they do at their job, and what they hope to see in the future for their site. This has been the best four weeks out of any summer I have ever had, I wish I didn't have to go home yet! This program taught me a lot of new skills, and it was fun and exciting at the same time.

The ecological program in Scotland was a great experience for me. I really loved seeing all the scenic parts around Scotland- the Highlands, nature reserves, castles and so much more. Even the campus itself that you stay at has some gorgeous landscape. The two program courses were very informative and showed me a lot about habitat management and conservation.

Overall, I had an amazing time in Scotland and in this specific program. The other students in my program were definitely the highlight, since we all got along so well. I have made so many new friends who I hope to see in the future. Seeing Scotland was even more beautiful than I remembered it to be, and we got to see many areas of Scotland that I would not have seen if I was just on a regular tour. The college itself is a wonderful agricultural college with really cool opportunities for students in a beautiful area of West Lothian.

This experience has overall been very rewarding. The program was a bit a more unstructured than I had thought, but looking back that is what should have been expected as this was the first time this program was being run.

I love how there were cultural visits built into our weekly schedules alongside our coursework activities. Also, the coursework largely consisted of conducting outdoor fieldwork - which I was very excited about. It was a good way to cultivate this fieldwork skill as well as spend time outdoors in the beautiful Scotland countryside.

I'm not sure how the selection process worked for accepting students into this program, but whatever you're doing you're doing it well. All of the ecology students were very fun to work with and we got along well. They were also pretty low maintence and able to go with the flow - an important trait when dealing with a new program such as this.

A few unfortunate things:
The canteen/dining hall was under construction nearly the entire time we were here. The food selection was not what I expected, not a lot of fruits and vegies which can be difficult for people, like myself, with dietary resrictions such as gluten allergies and vegetarian options.
The airport pickup was a bit uncoordinated as well. I was told to arrive at certain time and that an Adelante/Oatridge representative would be there with a sign for me to meet until we had a large enough party to head back to the college. There was no one waiting, and I ended up just having to blindly seek out students in the airport who might be part of the same program. And we were waiting for a while. Which would've been fine if we knew that some help was on the way. The phone numbers we were given to contact Oatridge upon arrival weren't working either - which made it even more difficult to tell if anyone was on their way to get us.
Some of the coursework was not explained in full. There was a big project at the end of the course and everyone in our group thought we were doing something different than what was actually assigned. The organization/coordinatino between different instructors seemed to be lacking a bit - but not too much.

Overall, the ecology program at Oatridge University was a good learning experience for my major at the University of Arkansas in environmental, soil, and water science. The biggest aspect of the program I enjoyed was learning about the cultural heritage of many of the practices used currently in Scotland. I found it particularly interesting concerning the use of cattle and other grazing animals over strimming or mowing to control dominant vegetation and general maintence.

Overall, this was an amazing experience! What I loved most about this experience was not being in the classroom except for a couple times out of the four weeks. We traveled to many different country parks, nature reserves, and cultural sites learning the whole time from proffesionals in that particular field. If you love to learn about different habitats, how to sustainably manage a habitat, and enjoy being outside then this will be a fantastic experience.