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Dr. Bill Schindler's Eat Like a Human

It’s not about WHAT we eat, but HOW we eat it.

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chindlers in front of Airfield ready to go back

Year Abroad

In August 2017, we rented our house, sold our car, left our dog with Christina’s Uncle, donated countless boxes of “stuff” and started off wide-eyed on our year-long adventure.

You are here: Home / Year Abroad

Everything Changed after Living Abroad for a Year in Ireland

In August 2017,  we rented our house, sold our car, left our dog with Christina’s Uncle, donated countless boxes of “stuff” and started off wide-eyed on our year-long adventure. 

We were immersed in Irish culture – the kids attended Irish school (St. Olaf’s for Alyssa and The High School for Brianna & Billy), played Irish sports, and said phrases such as “grand” and “lads,” plus we used this chance to find out how we truly could live “The Modern Stone Age Family” life. 

How could we blend FaceTime calls with family and friends back at home with foraging walks or time to sit down and play a family game?  How could we try and make the most of our food from scratch, but still splurge on a special sweet treat when out for dinner or at a party? 

There had to be a balance and it blended into every aspect of our life – especially how we were trying to deal with digital media  . . . yep – Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook – oh my!  

With an elementary, middle and high school-aged child, we had all types of issues to tackle – then we added on the layer of living abroad!! 

Year Abroad Stats

Educational Linkages:

  • Brianna and Billy attended The High School in Dublin (which is a private school) for their 8th and 6th grade years. To be 100% honest, they actually skipped a grade since the years didn’t match with our American system and we did not realize until they were enrolled – whoops!
  • Alyssa completed her 4th grade year at St. Olaf’s National School in Ballaly which is a public school yet they still wear uniforms and practice Catholicism.
  • 1st Day & Last Day Pictures
  • Alyssa and her St. Olaf’s Buddies
  • Heading off the LUAS – what a change from an American bus
  • At the Center for Experimental Archaeology with Dr. O’Sullivan
  • Getting ready to walk to school

Bill was a Visiting Professor at University College Dublin working on our Food Evolutions project while on sabbatical from Washington College.

Jason Aidan and Billy by the fire

Food Evolutions

Mayo Field

Timeline

Jason Aidan and Billy by the fire

Partners

We literally rested our heads all over the world!

  • We called Ireland home for the year where our main residence was a quaint cottage on the 38 acre property in Airfield Estates. We had a 5 minute walk to the LUAS (train station) that could get us into City Center (Dublin) in about 15 minutes. The 2nd largest mall in all of Europe was a 10 minute walk from the house, yet we were living on the only working farm in any European capital. It was quite the extreme but gave us an opportunity to live a split live between city living outside the wall of Airfield and then quaint country living inside its stone walls.
  • We traveled to over 15 countries from South Africa to Thailand to Germany maximizing school breaks for the kids so we could complete our food research with traditional groups.
  • Agrigento, Sicily
  • Mount Elgon National Park, Kenya
  • Lewa House, Kenya
  • Stonehenge, England
  • County Maigheo, Ireland
  • Our home in Dublin
  • Bangkok, Thailand
  • Last flight of the year from Greece to Dubling
  • Elephant Cave, Kenya
  • Cheesemaking family in Sicily
  • Blood Mixed with Milk in Kenya
  • Mitte Cheese in Zeitz, Germany
  • South Africa for Archaeology Conference
  • Ash yogurt in West Pukot, Kenya
  • Visiting an weaver ant farm in Thailand

The Schindlers played on many Pitches

  • Brianna stayed true to field hockey and played it year round, rain or shine on the turf through The High School
  • Billy picked up rugby through The High School and also played soccer for the Lakeland’s soccer club.
  • Alyssa tackled the biggest change in our family and played Camogie and Irish Soccer through Naomh Olaf’s GAA Club.
  • Brianna’s team played Argentina!

If you’d like to take a deeper look into a year abroad, check out our blog posts. All 5 of us wrote about our adventures!

Landscape of Mayo

Beginning Our Journey in Ireland

Mayo Field

Ireland’s Ancient Grains with Seamas Caulfield

Yogurt in Ireland on shelf

Acquiring Starters from Neil Barrett

sea foraging with Brian Gannon in Ireland

Coastal Foraging with Brian Gannon

Village Dairy Milk being bottled

We Love Our Raw Milk – Time to Visit an Irish Dairy!

Airfield Food Fest Roundstone Tent

Food Literacy: Unearthing the Knowledge Gap

Butter bite of sourdough

Airfield Estate Festival of Food: Cultured Butter Demonstration

Foraging Walk with UCD Students

Sea Foraging with Marie Power, The Sea Gardener

Meeting the UCD Experimental Archaeology and Material Culture MSC Students!

Beyond Baking with Kevin Thorton

Washington Ideas Interview

Fall Foraging with Kevin Thornton

Fermented Shark: Bucket List Item Checked Off!

The Original Cheesemaker

Food on the Edge

It’s Not Just About the Food!

Guest Lecturer for UCD Archaeology Students

Feta Cheese Molds, Food Evolutions & A Proud Professor Moment!

Halloween – Italian Style

A Quarter Way Into Our Irish Year

We’re Doing This

Where to Start?

Found a Way to Say Goodbye

Busy With B! Thanksgiving – Irish Style!

Connecting Over Bone Broth

OMG! We Hit “Post!!”

It’s a “Wonder” What Can Happen When You Talk to Strangers

Off Again to Eat Our Way Across Germany!

January 2nd Had a Whole New Look This Year!

Planning a Trip? Use “My Maps” to Maximize Every Minute!

A Half Day Every Wednesday??

Flintknapping with Billy

From Flintknapping to Ravioli Creations

Whoa We’re Half Way There! Whoa! Livin’ on a Prayer

Bugs on the Menu?

Never Thought We Would be a Fake News Story . . .

Warning: When You Make an Offer for Us to Visit, We’ll Take You Up On It!

Making the Most of your Animal: What Nose to Tail Can Really Be

Earth, Ash & Blood: The Unlikely Components of a Nutrient Dense Diet (Part 1)

Finding Connections in Kenya . . . . in the Most Unlikely Way

A Classic Twist on Living Abroad

Dietary Game Changer

Our year abroad was all about finding that sweet spot where we could take the most powerful messages from our ancestral past and merge it with the high-tech pace of our modern world . . .

After 371 days abroad, we landed back in Maryland with:

– 25 bags/boxes
– countless memories
– heavy hearts, and
– thankful spirits

Here’s to learning to live and #EatLikeaHuman wherever we are in the world!

It was quite a travel-filled year abroad!

Check out all the locations where our family has visited. Use the key to see which trips were for the The Great Human Race, our year abroad or other family travels.

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