Europe from home

Europe and the United States are two completely different countries, but they have at least one thing in common veterinary medicine. In both countries veterinarians work to improve the well being of animals. It's been a little over a month that I've been home from Europe and I still reflect back on my experiences. It was a great opportunity to see veterinary medicine from a different perspective. Visiting Europe opened up new job opportunities I didn't realize we're out there. It was a wonderful experience getting to visit zoos, research facilities, farms, and vet schools. Somethings were the same and others completely different. In just one month we visited more facilities in veterinary medicine than I have been to in the past four years. A few of my favorite highlights were: the small animal clinic in Utrecht, the mud walk in busum, all of the different zoos, and seeing the Holstein Calves. Each facility showed something a little different even if it was the same type for example the zoos. We were warmly welcomed and able to experience things differently than from the United States. I was amazed by the small animal teaching facilities. It was a wonderful clinic and great place for the vet students to learn veterinary medicine. The mud walk in busum was educational and a fun energetic was to start the day off. We were able to learn about wild life while receiving a spa treatment. The zoos were a great look at behind the scenes caring for exotic animals and every day management. It was amazing to see the different enclosures and how animals were separated from people without bars and with a more pleasing view. I also really enjoyed learning about all of the care provided for the dairy cattle, it was great seeing the equipment, and procedures that were used to provide care for them. It was also a wonderful experience getting to meet the European vet students and see the vet schools. The vet students were a lot like Aggies, overwhelmed at times and enjoy relaxing after working hard. It was also cool to see how the curriculum was very similar. We all start with anatomy and end with clinics. They had wonderful anatomy facilities with lots of windows and computer screens to add to their education. They also had amazing models and molds to study. Europe was a great experience that has opened my eyes to all of the roles and wonderful opportunities in veterinary medicine.

Times to remember...

Germany... seems like forever ago since I was there.  The summer has been so busy so I never had a chance to get culture shock in either direction.  In Germany, we were always on the go which was good and bad; I would have loved to spend more time at some places (like the Zoo and Wildlife Research Center), but then we wouldn't have gotten to see as much.  When I got back to the states I almost immediately started working at a veterinary clinic keeping the time rolling away until the Fall semester starts back up in a few weeks.

What to mention about Germany...  There are a few majors things that stand out; going behind the scene at the zoo elephant house and feeding the baby elephant -- awesome; BergWeek at the Leipzig Vet. School -- party every night; seal dissection -- messy but very interesting; and just getting to visit all the different Vet. Schools over there -- they all had different perspectives to offer.

As for the free weekends, they were just long enough to give you a break, maybe get some laundry done, and see some more of the culture of Europe.  Depending on what you like to do, I would really recommend Zurich and up into the mountains -- glaciers, hiking trails, and beautiful towns to see.

Overall, be prepared to go, go, go the entire trip, but don't worry you'll really get the hang of the public transportation over there.  If your going with a large group of classmates, try to plan out your free weekends ahead of time including the trains or buses that get you there and back to the next meeting location; check times and connections if you can.  There are lots of things to see and do and not enough time to do it all, so pick your favorites and one or two new, strange, of different kind of places to do and you'll always have something to talk about.