It’s summer and that means that we have student groups from COBA studying abroad. We have one group in Australia and one group in China as I type. We thought you might like to share in their adventure so just for the summer, we’ll be posting daily blogs/diaries of their trips abroad. We hope you’ll find their stories interesting, intriguing, and that it inspires you to head out into the world for your own adventure.
Sydney Day 1 – by Dr. Ian Shepherd
Most of us slept until about 8 am today. Classes began at 9:00 am for Dr. Jinkerson’s class and my operations class had a delayed start until 11:00 am due to internet connectivity problems. We are lucky to be located in a downtown hotel that allowed Dr. J to hold his class in a conference facility room downstairs. My operations class didn’t require direct access to the web today so we started off in my room and after instructions on the next few days activities, dispersed to begin the practical applications of our course readings. The students have completed the readings from 18 chapters of our texts, have taken quizzes and exams and are now applying their readings to many businesses across Sydney that give them an insight into the Australian culture as well as how businesses operate here. Last night we distributed 4 flip cameras to students for additional video recording of interviews and activities throughout the week.
With their iPads in hand, my class set out across town to work on several of the required business assignments. Students had the option to do whichever topic they wanted to first.
We had lunch with my brother Steve Shepherd and Debbie Roper. Good to catch up with family.
The weather has been the coldest and wettest days in June in over 5 years. So, most of the students spent the day running around Sydney finding wet weather gear and enjoying their first day of shopping in Sydney. At one point today I was greeted at the door by four drenched students with huge smiles on their faces….all were excited about the incredible shopping mall that they had found. It’s the little things…..!
Another fun experience for me was just having some of the guys drop by, sit down on the couch and watch some rugby with me. Relationships 
that we build on this trip will last a lifetime. Tomorrow we are off on a day tour to the mountains. Pray that the weather improves for us.
We do have one other visit to Johnson and Johnson scheduled that will take all day Thursday.