Opole High School

Today we visited Opole High School. This public school is attended by high achieving students who aspire to attend university and do great things with their lives. They all spoke excellent English and German.

Here are some things I learned during my conversations with them:

1. They like hip hop music.
2. The food served at the school during lunch isn't very good.
3. Some of them travel up to 22 km on public transportation to attend the school.
4. They are not supposed to show any public display of affection during school but when teachers aren't looking they will hold hands and sometimes kiss.
5. They aren't supposed to use their cell phones and/or text at school, but they do in the hallways and outside of class.
6. There are no parking lots for kids. They only use public transportation or walk to school.
7. Any interscholastic sporting events occur during school hours. Coaches (who are also teachers) don't want to stay after work hours for games. Kids only attend the games if their teachers will let them out of class.
8. There are no classes in music or art. If you want to study these things you do so after school hours during private lessons.
9. The main courses they take are science, math, languages, and social studies/history.
10. Their behavior in the classroom was respectful and attentive. They seemed thrilled to interact with and listen to Dr. Garrahy's presentation. And she had a ball back in a public school with high schoolers.


No parking needed for students, only teachers and staff.








Outside areas for basketball and soccer.








View of the high school from the sidewalk.








Some high schoolers. Their English was excellent.








Pepsi and Lays do school sponsorship business in Poland, too.








Getting warmed up before basketball.








History class poster projects: Nazi occupation of Poland, 1939.







Dr. Garrahy talking to students at the high school.

Opole University of Technology

You don't need to enlarge this pic.











This was taken at the sport and recreation facility at the university. This particular faculty (or college) is located on a former military base that was first occupied by the Germans during WWII, and then by the Polish army after the war. In 2004 the university purchased the barracks and has begun transforming the space into residence halls, academic classrooms, and recreation facilities.




We each gave a presentation. I spoke on tourism and recreation issues in the US.







Dr. Garrahy presented on the Physical Education Teacher Education program at Illinois State.








Dr. McLoda discussed his research on ankle injuries. The audience was comprised of students of physical education, physiotherapy, and recreation and tourism. Also present were several faculty members, a dean and the vice rector (VP) of the university.




We discussed curricular matters with several faculty over coffee and sweets.







In Poland you don't have to save your silverware after the appetizers. It's kind of funny thinking how hard we work in the US to guard our forks and knives.









This Catholic church was built in 1230.









This picture shows what is left of the original wall that surrounded the city.

City landscape at dusk.

Opole, Polska, Monday 26, 2009

Here we are at dinner with our fearless guide, Ela. She is a lovely person with a great sense of humor.







Meat, potatoes, and Pivo Tyskie. Tasty!









We visited a class of first year management and engineering students. Here is their dean.









Lunch. We work hard but we also enjoy time with our new Polska friends over good food and drink.







Neighboorhood near the unversity.








Todd, Deb, Margaret, Ela, and Gosia, and the latter 3 represent the Office of International Relations.










Opole City Center







Student residence.








These 2 young women are studying physiotherapy and are from Romania. They speak fluent English and said they are having a great experience in the study abroad program here at Opole University of Technology.







Here are some cabbage and mushroom pierogis. I ate every single one.

Image from the city center.

Opole, Poland: Sun, Oct 25, 4:30 pm. Our Polish-speaking driver met us at the Krakow Airport and delivered us to Opole on what seemed like a Polska-Autobahn. Tom would love the fine roads and fast speeds. Hotel is very nice. We will dine with Opole University of Technology folks this evening. the fall colors are great. Rolling hills, agricultural region (I saw a Gleaner combining corn), and beautiful fall colors. Ok, time for some tasty Polish food!

Testing the mobile blogger.

Polska

So off we go to Poland this weekend to see about setting up an exchange program between Illinois State and Opole University of Technology. This means my classes won't meet next week. The students are thrilled!

My bag is packed and I'm ready to go.

Every evening I plan to strike out into Poland to find Internet cafes so I can record some observations and share pictures.

Canadian Thanksgiving

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend








Creative photography



















Game of Horse










Air Dan








Hat party







It's all in the facial expressions.