{"id":6728,"date":"2015-01-18T12:42:02","date_gmt":"2015-01-18T17:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=6728"},"modified":"2015-01-18T22:30:10","modified_gmt":"2015-01-19T03:30:10","slug":"around-the-world-and-back-an-experience-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/6728","title":{"rendered":"Around the World and Back: An Experience Abroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0518\"<\/a>By Jenni Beaver–<\/strong> Leslie Werden, professor of writing and rhetoric, and her three sons, Walter, Owen, and Eli, recently returned from a semester abroad in Switzerland. The four of them spoke to a group of students and professors, as a part of Friday is Writing Day on January 16.<\/p>\n

Eli (age 12) spoke predominately about his schooling experience in Lucerne, Switzerland. He began by telling the group that instead of a big, yellow, American bus, he rode an electric, public bus that was connected through two wires above the city. One bus took him from the area of his family\u2019s apartment to a bus stop where he switched busses and continued to school.<\/p>\n

Eli made it seem like a simple journey, but his mom interjected, \u201cThe journey was 45 minutes one way and 45 minutes back.\u201d This was one of Eli\u2019s biggest experiences. \u201cThat experience improved his independence and maturity,\u201d said Leslie.<\/p>\n

Walter (age 15), much like his younger brother, talked about the school experience. \u201cI really miss the breaks . . . I think it gave a better quality education,\u201d said Walter. After a certain amount of class time, the students were released for a few minutes to get a snack, use the restroom, or fill up their water bottles. Walter explained that by having breaks every hour and a half hours, he was able to come back into class and focus on the lesson at hand. It made school last longer, but the quality was better.<\/p>\n

Owen (age 14) talked about a trip the family took to London. He was able to stand on platform nine and three-quarters. \u201cIf you\u2019re a Harry Potter fan you\u2019ll understand platform nine and three-quarters,\u201d said Owen. His funny story from London revolved around a Ron Weasley wand that he tried to convince his mom to buy for him. \u201cThe attempt was incomplete,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One of the stories Leslie shared was about driving up a mountain road, taking Owen to a weeklong school trip. The road was narrow, winding, and treacherous. Based on the blog post Werden wrote, the experience was less than desirable, but it gave everyone in the room a good laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would recommend this experience to my friends,\u201d said Walter, \u201cbecause these kinds of opportunities don\u2019t come around every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI may recommend the trip to my friends,\u201d said Owen, but he added that\u00a0the language is hard to learn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say go for the experience,\u201d said Eli, \u201cbecause it was a great one. But don\u2019t go during school, because the rules are a little too strict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leslie Werden closed the program by saying that the experience was great, and she is very proud of her boys. Eli developed\u00a0independence by riding the bus every day for school. Owen broke out of his shy, middle child shell by doing videos about the trip. Walter maintained his first-born reputation by requesting extra German lessons from a school professor.<\/p>\n

As for her growth, it sounded like she learned a new method of teaching that required no handouts, no assignments, and no grading, but she may be ready to start reading Morningside student papers again.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jenni Beaver– Leslie Werden, professor of writing and rhetoric, and her three sons, Walter, Owen, and Eli, recently returned from a semester abroad in Switzerland. The four of them spoke to a group of students and professors, as a part of Friday is Writing Day on January 16. Eli (age 12) spoke predominately about…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":6731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56109,203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-morningside-people","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6728"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6746,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6728\/revisions\/6746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}