Lindsey | Europe

Lindsey Hankins is a UW senior who traveled to Denmark, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and Portugal during the summer of 2012 as part of AQHA’s International Horsemanship Clinics.

One of Lindsey’s favorite memories for her trip was helping others transform their riding abilities. She describes one on these trans formative experiences as follows:

“It was the first day of our clinic and a gentleman who clearly wanted to embrace the ‘Western’ lifestyle came riding in on a nice little Quarter horse whose origin he was unaware of. We quickly discovered that it was from a ranch in Texas that I was very familiar with.  Once we knew this, we were able to completely transform the rider. Watching the rider and horse work as a team, and improve so rapidly, was  one of the most rewarding things I experienced while traveling, but also in my life. I would not trade that memory for the world. " 

When the group wasn't riding, or participating in clinics, they had the opportunity to travel to Portugal. During the trip to Portugal, they visited a village where they helped the locals harvest a potato crop using donkeys and plows.  Lindsey reflected on this experience saying:

“This experience was absolutely incredible and turned out to be one of my favorite parts of our entire trip. I would highly recommend others to go to Portugal and spend some time in the rural parts. It was an experience that completely changed my perspective on a lot of day-to-day things."        

One of the greatest challenges of Lindsey’s trip was the language barrier she faced. To overcome this, she suggests that other US students, who are not fluent in their home country’s language, “either learn the language prior to traveling, or have a translation dictionary handy.”

Lindsey recommends that all people travel. She says, “If you have not had the chance to travel and explore this incredible world, you definitely need to. There are so many incredible experiences and opportunities right at the tips of your fingers.  I highly encourage everyone to look into opportunities abroad and take advantage of them!”     

If you’re interested in traveling to Denmark, Sweden, England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain or Portugal feel free to contact Lindsey at Lindseyhankins90@gmail.com.

Looking for more information about this trip, check out UW's article! 

Dennis Alm | Sweden

Dennis is a UW Senior who travelled to Sweden during the spring of 2011. He attended Linnaeus University as an exchange student. Linnaeus is located in Kalmar, Sweden along the Baltic Sea.  Dennis highly recommends Linnaeus University to other UW students. Linnaeus’ Exchange Student Office helped him coordinate living accommodations, social activities, and English courses. Dennis chose to live in off-campus ‘Kalmarhem at Stagneliusgatan’ apartments; he really enjoyed apartment-living in Sweden.

While attending Linnaeus, Dennis participated in the Erasmus Student Network Group, a network of 50 exchange students. As a member of the group, he attended city tours, dinners, parties, and even a snowboarding trip. Dennis’ favorite trip with the group was the ESN Sea Battle, a 2 night student cruise between Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia with around 2,000 exchange students from all over the Baltic Region.

Advice From Dennis

Dennis’ advice to UW students looking to travel abroad is to "be proactive before you go.” By this he means learning some of the language (before you arrive) in order to assist you with everyday tasks like grocery shopping and buying train tickets.  He also recommends completing your Visa paperwork as soon as possible.  According to Dennis, “the Swedish Consulate requires you to send your passport to them before you go… and this process may take a while.”

Dennis also suggests that you keep all important information, like your foreign cell phone number and address, in your backpack while travelling. Dennis kept this information in his checked luggage and then ran into trouble when his bags were lost!

Even with this setback, Dennis greatly enjoyed his study abroad experience. He says, “take advantage of what the study abroad program has to offer while you can. Enjoy being a student while the opportunities are endless .”

Because of his semester in Sweden, Dennis now has friends all over the world!

If you’re thinking of travelling to Sweden, you can contact Dennis at dalm@uwyo.edu