So Long, Farewell

It's been two months since I've returned from my European adventure, and I can't even begin to describe what an impact this experience has had on my life. I've thought about some aspect of the trip pretty much every day since I've gotten back. Within the first few days of being back at work, a professor had me read research papers written by veterinarians from Utrecht, and a lot of people I worked with over the summer attended vet school at some of the universities we got to visit. That really put into perspective how truly interconnected everyone is and how important it is to understand and appreciate other cultures.

I miss a lot of things about Europe. I miss being able to walk everywhere, I miss hopping from one train to the next, the weather, the history, seeing/hearing different languages, and eating either gelato or stroop wafels every day. I love that Europe truly has an appreciation for their history. Instead of moving on to the latest and greatest, they take the time to preserve their past for future generations. It seemed like every time we turned around we saw something of historical significance, and that is not always the case in the United States. I also miss going to a new place every few days, and believe it or not, I miss living out of my backpack and having just the essentials with me.

At a restaurant on the last evening of the trip

One of the biggest differences I noticed after arriving home was just how much we use our cars. It's one of those things that I've never thought twice about, but after walking upwards of six miles per day for four weeks, that really stood out when I got back. It seemed almost silly to have to drive myself everywhere, even if it was just around the corner! We spend a lot of time sitting in the US! I also really appreciated being able to have water (with ice!) for FREE anywhere, and being able to just swipe a credit card at stores.

Besides those small cultural details, the similarities and differences in the education of veterinarians really stood out to me. The main difference being that here in the US, we go to an undergraduate college for four years, and then attend veterinary school for four years. Over in Europe, they get accepted into veterinary school straight out of high school, and attend for six years minimum. Both forms of education definitely have their pros and cons, but in the end, the product is very competent doctors.

I really loved my time in Europe. There is no way I could pick a favorite place. I got to visit Germany, Belgium, France, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and the Netherlands and I enjoyed each country for different reasons. They were all unique, whether it be because it was beautiful, historic, cultural, or just plain interesting. All the people we met were very welcoming to us and were proud to show us where they were from. I had such a great experience, and I hope I make it back one day!

The End

One month ago, as my plane was landing in Chicago and I listened to a girl behind me tell a European that Michigan was "so hilly" (nice sentiment, but not true), I could hardly believe that I had just spent nearly two months in Europe. Where had the time gone? It felt like yesterday that I had showed up in Germany and followed a tall blonde woman around everywhere. Today, it still feels like a dream as random memories keep coming back and I think, Oh yeah, I was actually there. Bonn, Cologne, Paris, Hannover, Berlin, Prague, Büsum, Copenhagen, Utrecht, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, London, Gießen, Marburg. 6 countries in 7 weeks. It sounds like a long time, and towards the end, I was indeed looking at my "turtle shell" backpack with disdain and starting to miss home. The last night in Germany was 100 degrees, on a top floor apartment with no AC or even fans (why, Europe? Why??), so I did not sleep at all as I lay in a pool of my own sweat. I was ready to get on that plane - by myself, this time - and make the long, nearly 15 hour trip back to Michigan.

My connecting flight from Sweden to Chicago took about 9 hours, during which I had a broken TV and was sitting next to a family with 3 infants/toddlers that threw things (food, shoes, whatever) in my general direction and made some noise. So, I read an entire book, listened to music, and slept 0 hours. After one final flight to Detroit, I was relieved to be done traveling. Except I wasn't! My mom picked me up and drove me 4 hours to our lake house for the holiday. I chattered about my trip in a sleep-deprived delirium. My friends and relatives were all very interested in my travels, and I did my best to provide them with interesting stories and my experiences. The question I seem to get the most is, "What was your favorite place?" It's difficult to answer because I liked different things about each place - Germany was the most interesting, Scotland was beautiful, the Dutch students were so accommodating, Prague was very vibrant. I honestly did not feel much of an adjustment or weird about coming back to American society; it just felt like home.

My insights about the differences between American and European society are probably not anything new or inspired, but I do think that veterinary students offer a somewhat unique position. We are a little bit older than our European counterparts, a bit more educated and very much in debt, yet all of us are driven by the same desire/passion/calling to be veterinarians. As I've mentioned, vet school is different in every country, but they all start after high school and finish after 5-6 years, with or without a DVM depending on the school. And, of course, education is free. On the flip side, taxes are higher and incomes are lower in Europe. Americans are so driven by a need to succeed, work hard and earn what we deserve, which is a great ideal I share. However, I'm going to be drowning in hundreds of thousands of student loans for the rest of my life because of it. I do feel like I'm getting a better secondary education in the US, but I'm going to pay for it. Literally.

Something else I loved about Europe that is a bit obvious was all of the history right in front of your face. I felt like I was constantly learning something interesting in every place I visited. Giessen was a small and sleepy town, its Bavarian architecture destroyed in WWII, but it has one of the oldest vet schools in Europe (200 years) and invented the method of plastination for arteries and veins. Marburg is the home of the University where the Brothers Grimm studied. It's pretty interesting that a 3 hour train ride in any direction will land you in a different country with a different language, culture, and landscape. I miss living in the moment, getting lost in a new place, walking everywhere, and interacting with my international peers. I do not miss living out of a backpack and being at the mercy of public transportation. I fell back into my life with ease, but I won't ever forget my experiences abroad. I can't wait to go back someday.

Auf Wiedersehen to Germany and my new friends from Texas, and of course Mira with her yoga posing for these group photos

Farewell,

~Andrea

Hola from Holland- Week 4

This week is a bit shorter because we come back from our weekend on Tuesday instead of Monday. Either way, this was a week that was funner and more intriguing than what I thought it

would be. I was hoping my host would be nice and very helpful. She ended up being just that. My host Baukje Andela, was really  great. She made sure that I was comfortable and taught be a lot about Holland.

We had some interesting lectures while visiting the faculty. I enjoyed comparing how the curriculum  of Holland and Europe is very different compared to the US. In Europe they have 6 years of straight study of veterinary medicine while we get 4 years of vet med education after 4 years of undergraduate studies. Even if US vet students don't get started earlier studying vet medicine, we are a bit more well-rounded because we are forced to study other subjects like political science and technical writing. We also get more time to figure out if we really want to do veterinary medicine. European vet students are just coming out of high school and don't have time to explore other subjects. However, education is covered in Europe. So even with the competitive nature of veterinary medicine, they have one less guilt of being more into debt. I cannot wait until universal education is accepted in the states. We had lots of discussions with the other hosts about all the differences. Both curriculum are good and bad in their own ways. Maybe in the future the two can be combined to make a nearly perfect curriculum.

My favorite lecture was the lecture about the Lab animal research section of the facility. The professor talked about a lot of small mammal handling in which I had learned in my lab animal club wet labs. It was very exciting to hear some of the similarities and differences. I really enjoy all of the tools and cages they had out to show what they did in their research. I kind of wish that I could of showed my rat handling skills but I do understand them wanting to prevent issues like the rats possibly biting someone, even if they were pretty friendly.

We had tours of two of the facility’s hospitals, the Horse and companion animal hospitals. The horse one was rather interesting but the companion one caught my interest a bit more. I really like the aesthetic of the waiting room. They even had some poles that could be used to tie dogs to. We got to look into the exam rooms and the main treatment area that is also used for vet students and veterinarians to talk about the student’s cases. There was even a area on the first floor (second floor for the US) that had computers and a study area for the vet students in the companion hospital. That would be great to have whenever someone needs to research something. We got to see a few other rooms but the one that impressed me the most was the intensive care unit. It had clean cages that were off the ground. There was vets in the room to watch the patients and there were even cameras so that the owners can see their pets while they are in the IC unit. I understood though when they explained that they would cover the camera and leave notes when they were drawing blood or doing other procedures so that the clients would not freak out. I really liked the exotic ward. It was separated from the dog and cat areas and even had its own waiting room. I was kind of said we did not get to see much of the exotic ward but I was glad we got to see a bit of it at least.

One thing that I did not realize would make this week so great was hanging out with our hosts every evening. We did not hang with all the host every night because some of them had papers or rotations to do. Yet, the ones who did have time took us out to have fun in Utrecht.

After saying goodbye to our hosts, on the last day of our study abroad program we stayed in Amsterdam. We had a walking tour with this great tour guide. She knew a lot about Amsterdam and told us about some of the secret stuff that not many people get to know about. I loved it the best that we got to try some Holland cheese. That was delicious. She also told us about the symbol of the 3 Xs that does not represent the red light district. That symbol was meant to help sailors to know that they have been to or are in Amsterdam. That was really interesting to find out. I made sure to buy a shirt for my fiance.

Now is the end of the trip. I really enjoyed myself through this whole trip. I learned so much. However, I am really glad to go to Italy to visit my godfather soon. I am starting to miss the US. I can't wait to go back home.

Wadding in the Wadden (Northern) Sea- Week 3

This week was a lot more exciting for me than the past 2 weeks. We did a bit more traveling this week (which was very tiring) but it was for sure more fun. I am still amazed at how many beautiful and massive building there are. Most of built hundreds of yeas ago. Thank goodness we have been given tours so I don't get soo lost in these eminence cities. Later in the week we go to Busum and that was a big contrast to Berlin. Yet, it was still cute and I liked it a lot. It was funny that Busum is basically a  smaller Florida with having more elderly people, but much colder.

The Anatomy-Histology institut was very interesting to visit. It was cool to see how vet students in Germany have their classes, at least in Freie University of Berlin. The most impressive thing is that they has windows, WINDOWS, in the anatomy lab. Ours has no windows at all. They were big and let in so much light. One could see a some green pastures and trees. I would love to have that in our anatomy lab. Of course there are issues with rights activists that would ruin that in the states. I also really like the book stands. This allowed the students to have their book up and away from the dissections. The books would still get a little dirty but not as much as they can like in my anatomy lab.  The anatomy lab also had a second story ledge that allowed one to look down into the anatomy lab. There was of course skeletons and plastic models in the lab to help students study. I am kinda in love with that lab. In another part of the Anatomy-Histology insitut, there was a study room that had glass cases full of skeletons, plastic models, plastered models and lots of other neat anatomy models to help students while they were studying. It was amazing. We have something kinda similar in a hall way but we really cant take  those out to study.

The Jewish museum tour confused me at first. We were given a tour of the architecture of the museum. Once we got started I understood why we were. The architect who was making the museum was trying to make people feel and sense more how Jewish people over the hundreds of years felt. It was intense. The one sculpture that freaked me out was the falling leaves/faces one. I cringed when I climbed over all the metal faces. I did not stayed on very long out there. We had to rush through the rest of the museum but it was still awesome all that I had seen.

In the zoo and wildlife research institute, it was cool to see the institute but it was too bad we could not take pictures (I understand though).  We got to see a grand CT scan that produced 3D and 4D images. I don't know if we have something similar but I would be happy if Texas A&M did.  I even got to practice some blow darting and after 4 tries I hit the 'cheetah' on the tarsus. I was super excited!

Except for the way the Tour guide treated us while giving the tour, The National History Museum was pretty interesting. What I loved the most was the room/wall of exotic animals. I never knew what a tanuki (raccoon dog) actually looked like and was very pleased to finally see one (even if not alive). The museum had lots of hands-on stuff as well.

On Wednesday, we headed over to Busum and stopped by two centers. The first was the seal center where they educate people about seals. The center was very well put together. They had 2 main pools that housed about 5 adult seals that are unable to be released into the wild. One of the trainers/caretakers talked to us about the facility and the seals they take care of. They work with seal hunters to rescue abandoned seal pups and raise them strong enough to release into the wild. I was amazed at all the work they do here. Their educational areas were very well made too. They were able to explain how the immune system worked in an almost accurate but fun way.


The second center we went to was the Multimar Wattfourm center. It is a educational center that teaches the public about the mud flats and waters off the northern coast of  Germany. I did not think that there would be soo much creatures living in the mud. I was excited to see them in real life in the mud flat walk in the next few days. The part I loved the best was the basement which talked about whales. I knew that whales used sonar to find food but not to paralyze them; that was amazing!

The next day we went to the Aquatic Wildlife center. We had a few lectures about the facility and the research being done there. The research on monitoring the movement of wild animals was the most interesting. Afterwards, we went to the most anticipated part of the whole study abroad trip, for me at least. We got to do dissections on two 'fresh' marine mammals, one harbor seal and harbor porpoise. The seal was more fresh so it bled a lot more compared to the porpoise. We found that the seal was pregnant when it died and had aborted its pup. The pup looked nothing like a seal pup, more like a ball of fur. The seal also had its intestines twisted onto itself. The veterinarians believed that the unborn pup was possibly dead before the mother died and that the twisted intestines most likely killed her. The porpoise had a more ironic death in my opinion. We think that the porpoise possibly died from choking on a fish. We found a fish in the bifurcation of the trachea. There was 2 more fish in the stomach and intestine. The veterinarians from the institute said it is unusual for marine mammals to choke on their meals. The end of the dissection consisted of helping the veterinarians make samples for them to sent to lab and finding parasites and preparing them to send off too. I very much enjoyed that dissection. The smell was tolerable, much better that formaldehyde.

The mud flats were one of the best things to happen this week. We first started off in an area with lots of shells from dead clams and mussels. We had to walk over these shells to get to the deeper part of the mud flats. I learned that day that my feet are sensitive and delicate. I was soo happy when we got to the more mud than sea shell part of the mud flats. The tour guide showed us many of the creatures that live in the mud like the lion worm and the pacific mussel.  He explained how many migrating birds stop here at the mud flats before going all the way to Africa. Who would of thought some mud is important for the ecosystem. It was hilarious to get knee deep stuck in the mud though.

This week was great compared to the previous week, for me at least. I am excited for next week and meeting the Netherlands vet students.

Holland: of stolen bicycles and wounded thumbs.

I have 15 minutes of free internet (so generous....) on this train, so I am going to use it to start my last post about the program! Right now I'm somewhere on the east coast of the UK, looking out at the seaside cliffs on my way from Edinburgh to London. None of the last few days in the UK were part of the study abroad, but Scotland was absolutely amazing and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to travel after class ends!

Anyway. After a rendezvous in Amsterdam, the group headed to Utrecht, a town known for its big university about 30 minutes south of Amsterdam, "the center of the Netherlands". We met some of our hosts, who were very friendly and enthusiastic to have us. We went on a brief city tour then had a boat ride down the canals, which was relaxing and a neat way to see the town. I met my host, a second-year vet student interested in equine medicine. We got along and spent a while getting to know each other on the canal tour and at a "BBQ" dinner.
Our days in Utrecht were mostly spent in the veterinary school, learning about their program - which is very different from ours - and touring the clinics. Their students apply to a weighted lottery system directly after high school and do a 3 years bachelor's, then another 3 years of a master's/DVM. Each student has different odds of getting in based on grades and then are randomly selected - overall the odds are about 1/5 to get in since they take 250 students per year. It's nice that they get to start relevant coursework so soon, but on the other hand, starting such a difficult program at age 18 is not ideal and contributes to an attrition rate of something like 15%. The facilities are very modern and spacious. Obviously I loved the equine hospital... though I think the Dutch are a bit insane for riding a horse on an indoor treadmill! (...I would still do it...) 

The best part of Holland was spending time with the students. It was nice to stay in an apartment and get to know my host, who got up every morning to have breakfast with me. I felt awful when the bike she lent me got stolen the very first night I was there, even though I locked it right outside the door for just 5 minutes! We also went water skiing and played laser tag with the students, which was a ton of fun even though I failed at both of these activities. The opposing team we played in laser tag was a group of dirty Dutch cheaters, and I ended up falling rather spectacularly down a ramp and busting my thumb wide open. Worth it.  

Open Air Museum

Burger Zoo

The last morning in the area was spent at the Open Air Museum in Arnhem, which is an outdoor exhibition of old farm houses and windmills representative of Dutch history. It was very neat, and I prefer being outside in the sunshine anyway. Afterwards, we went to Burger Zoo and had a guided tour of two of their "ecosystem" sections. I actually think this zoo had some of the most natural exhibits we've seen, and I would have preferred to explore the entire zoo at my own pace instead of with a guide. Nevertheless, I'm glad I got to visit. 

Shannon and I in Amsterdam

After a farewell dinner and breakfast with my host, the very final day of our program was in Amsterdam. I've heard a lot of interesting things about the city, so I was pleasantly surprised at how clean and quaint the city actually is. Our city guide was a sassy young woman who did a great job showing us both the historical and modern aspects Amsterdam as to offer, including the Red Light District, which isn't as seedy as it sounds despite girls in windows literally right next to the cathedral (sin and forgiveness had to be close together, as our guide explained to us). I really enjoyed strolling along the canals lined by ridiculously narrow and crooked houses, including the Anne Frank house, and I wish I had another day or so there. But, again, I'm still happy for the experience. 

And so we arrive at the end - after eating pancakes one last time together. I still can't believe how fast it all went! This was a great way to see Europe for the first time, and one of the best things about it was meeting vet students and people from around the world. The experience has given me confidence that I am not totally incompetent at navigating a foreign country and has inspired to me travel more in the future, and I really hope I will be able to see everyone I've met again in the future. Traveling - experiencing new cultures, getting lost in a different language, and seeing how history can shape a country (which is what makes Germany especially cool) - is something priceless that no one can ever take away from me. I am lucky to still have two more weeks here at Giessen University, where Rebecca and I have already started in the vet school clinics. I will fly home on July 3, after which I shall write my last post about how sad I am to not be in Europe anymore. 

~Andrea

Week 4: The Last Week

Nyhavn

The past four weeks have flown by, I can't believe it's the end of the trip already! We spent the weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark. Several of the vet students from the university there were kind enough to host us, even though it wasn't officially part of the program. We spent Saturday wandering around Rosenborg Castle where we got to see the crown jewels (!!!), and the botanical gardens. That evening our host drove us around Copenhagen and showed all the sights that we never would have seen just by walking! We saw the beach, The Little Mermaid statue, palaces, parliament, and Nyhavn. The next day the vet students scheduled a tour for us of their large animal clinic, and we were even allowed to go on rounds! We got to observe a guttural pouch endoscopy and an EKG on a calf. In the afternoon we visited the royal stables, went back to Nyhavn, and went to Tivoli, which is the second oldest amusement park in the world. It was a blast!

After Copenhagen we went to Utrecht, Netherlands and stayed with host vet students there. Once again I was impressed with how welcoming everyone was. The first day they took us on a canal tour and to a BBQ hosted by students in the equine department. For the rest of the week we had lectures at the University of Utrecht during the day on various vet topics, such as public health and history of veterinary medicine, and had tours of their clinics. In the evenings we hung out with our hosts. We had another BBQ and played laser tag one evening and they took us water skiing the next! On Friday, we took a train to Arnheim, and went on a tour at the Openluchtmuseum, or "open air" museum. We learned about the history of Holland as we walked through homes from different time periods. After that we went to the Burgers' Zoo and learned about the bush and ocean regions.

The narrowest house in Amsterdam!

Gouda cheese

For our last hurrah of the trip we went to Amsterdam. We went on a guided tour of the city and learned about Amsterdam's history as well as the unique aspects of its architecture. Many, many years ago home owners were taxed on how wide their houses were, which is why all the houses are so narrow and so tall. Because of this, the staircases in these homes are almost vertical, which as you can imagine makes moving difficult! Furniture has to get brought into the homes through the windows by a pulley system. The soil is so soft that the houses will eventually start to lean, and pillars have to get placed under the houses to hold them up. The Netherlands is also the home of Gouda cheese, so of course we sampled some on our tour! We had some free time after the tour so I went by The Anne Frank House and Rembrandt's grave. Our group ended the study abroad program in style, by eating traditional Dutch pancakes of course! Overall this was a fantastic program, and I would definitely recommend it to any up and coming veterinary students. There was a good mix of learning about both veterinary medicine and cultural/historical aspects of the countries we visited. I can't even begin to describe all the amazing things we learned and saw. We met wonderful people and animals and this is an experience I will never forget. I already want to visit again!

Week 3: Seals, Sun, and Sand

The third week of the trip found us in a place completely different from Berlin. Büsum, Germany is a small town located on the North Sea. We jokingly referred to it as the Florida of Germany, if that gives you any indication of the demographics there :) I loved it there. We stayed in a cute, resort style hotel just a few minutes walk from the sea and the center of town. On our way from Berlin to Büsum, we stopped at the "Seel Center" in Friedrichskoog where we got to view the different types of seals (seehunds) and watched a demonstration on how they are trained. The center is also the place where injured seals and seal pups are brought if they are found stranded on the beach. There is a quarantine area where the pups stay initially. They are then rehabilitated and can then hopefully be returned to the wild. Later in the day we went to the Multimar Wattforum Centre, which is the information center for the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park. Our guide was very knowledgable and taught us a lot about the ecology and creatures that live in this area.

The second day in Büsum was spent at the Aquatic Wildlife center. Several of the professors and vet students there gave lectures about their research involving marine mammals, and we got to participate in two necropsies! One was on a porpoise and the other was on a harbor seal. The porpoise died from choking on a fish, the fish was caught in the larynx. The seal died from a volvulus but also had a necrotic placenta. All of the organs were removed, parasite samples were taken, and the amount of blubber was measured for a student's project. These necropsies are important in that they help  

give veterinarians and biologists an idea as to what the health of the population of the seals as a whole is. Dinner later in the evening was amazing. Our study abroad group plus several vet and masters students went to eat at Kolles Alter Muschelsaal where we ate a delicious meal that consisted of several courses such as asparagus soup and stuffed fish. The restaurant is owned by what is known as a "seal hunter," which is a misleading name. Seal hunters nowadays are the ones that are called out when a seal or other marine mammal is stranded on the beach. They evaluate the health status of the animal and then transport the animal to a seal station where it can be cared for and hopefully nursed back to health. Last year alone seal hunters were able to help over 200 seals!

The last day in Büsum ranks as one of my favorites from the entire trip. For the first half of the day we did a mud flat hike led by a guide. We had so much fun finding our way through sand, mud, and all of the seashells while our guide pointed out different kinds of birds and other creatures living in the mud, such as jellyfish, little crabs, and lugworms. There were areas where we sunk in the mud all the way up to our hips! It was amazing to essentially walk on what makes up the ocean floor for part of each day. The second half of the day was beach time! It was the perfect day for it. Everyone spent most of the afternoon just reading and napping on the sand, but some of us (even the Texans!) swam out into the North Sea, if only for a few minutes, it was so cold! Later that evening we went out with a couple of people we had met at the Aquatic Wildlife center and ended up at a German karaoke bar, and I will never listen to Proud Mary the same way again. All in all, it was a great few days and we got to learn a lot and meet several interesting people!

Ich bin ein Berliner

Hallo!

Wow, it has been an even longer break between blog posts this time. It is amazing how fast time flies when you are having fun. I had initially written this entire post but then my tablet decided that it would be awesome and crash forcing me to perform a factory reset and lose everything that I had written while during one of our previous train rides. Oh well. Now on to more interesting topics, our adventures in Berlin!

We were forewarned by our tour guide, Mira, that when coming to Berlin not to expect a pretty city like all of the ones we had been to prior but that it was really rather ugly. This is indeed the view that we got from the windows of the train as well as during our bike tour throughout the city - a lot of gray and graffiti covered buildings. However, thinking about the fact that the city was basically leveled during the second world war and then subsequently divided into an East and West Berlin it is understandable that it will not have the charm and beauty of the the other German cities that received significantly less damage. Even though the buildings of the city were not all that aesthetically pleasing there was so much history around every corner that it was still an amazing place to visit. The entire city has this mixture an eery and depressive remembrance of the horrors that once took place along with a sense of hope and joy for the future.

The next morning after our bike tour we left the main city and went to an area outside of Berlin called Bad Saarow where we visited and took a tour of a horse clinic associated with the University of Berlin. At this clinic they focus mainly on reproductive medicine and we got to watch a couple ultrasounds of some mares. They were checking to see if they were in estrus and it was really neat to watch and learn about what to look for. They also showed us some ultrasound images they had taken the other day on a mare that was 65 days pregnant and got to learn how to differentiate the sex of the foal. Along with this while we were touring the facilities we got to see a group of Warmblood foals playing in the fields, and they were so adorable.  Afterwards we took a walk through the woods to a restaurant located on the lake. While we were eating outside we got to watch sailboats just drift along, it was so relaxing and just a wonderful time. After a great pasta dish and a glass of wine Mira told us that we had to speed walk back to the bus stop otherwise we would be late, and of course, upon getting to the bus stop we ended up having about an 8 minute wait.

The next day we went and took a tour of Sachsenhausen, one of the first concentration camps to be built. I had a lot of mixed and strong emotions while walking around the area and the impression it made up on me is something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. On the iron gates, directly under the watchtower, leading into the camp are the words Arbeit Macht Frei which translated means "Work Makes You Free". In the early days of the concentration camps this saying had some truth to it, if you kept your head down did what was asked you had a chance to get free. Of course later on many of these people ultimately ended up back in a concentration camp for one reason or other and then even if you worked hard it was unlikely you would ever leave and if you did it was often to go to someplace worse. One of the places that really hit me hard was when we walked to what little remained of Station Z and saw the double-walled foundation of the rooms where thousands of people were systematically shot or even the gas chamber that took their lives to only be dragged by other prisoners to the crematory. This area was named Station Z because the gate where you entered was A so in order to exit you had to go through Station Z. We also walked through the old medical buildings, now turned into an exhibit on medical practices and experimentation, and by the end of these rooms I was literally sick to my stomach of the horrors that took place. And to think it was done by medical professionals and highly educated people just makes it all that more difficult to swallow. Overall, this was a life changing experience and even though I had known about all of this happening before hand just being in the place where it all happened makes it all that more real.

After the tour of the concentration camp we headed back into the city for a visit of the "Bundestag" or the German Parliament Building. Here we were able to climb the glass dome top of the building and learn more about how Parliament functions. The view was very pretty and you could even see the Brandenburg gate from above.

On Monday after returning from our free weekend trip to Prague we went and visited the Anatomy Building of the Veterinary School as well as took a guided tour of the Jewish Museum. We took a tour of the anatomy building with one of the Veterinarians that work there. It was really cool to see the collection of specimens that they had on display so the students could use them at any time to study.

In our tour of the Jewish Museum the guide talked a lot about the architecture of the building and how the building in itself was a piece of art and used to tell the story of the Jewish people in Germany. I'm certain if we didn't have a guide to help explain the architecture and how it merged with the rest of the museum I would not have gotten as much out of the experience. I really enjoyed this museum and it was very well done, I wish we had more time in our schedule to explore it further. One exhibit in particular that I found fascinating was off in a corner and not obvious. As you approached all you could hear was the sound of metal clanging together and I wasn't sure what to expect as I turned the corner. Inside were thousands of metal faces and you were encouraged to walk across them to explore the entire area. This particular part was to represent all of the thousands of Jewish people that were killed in wars.

Our last day in Berlin consisted of a visit to the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research as well as the Natural History Museum. At the institute we got to learn about a lot of the different research projects they have going on there as well as their dedication to help with conservation efforts. We also got to learn how to use a blow dart and even were given some to practice with. I missed on my first shot and then actually managed to hit the target on my second attempt although still not on a part of the animal that would have allowed for tranquilization. There were some parts of the Natural History Museum that I found interesting but overall I was not all that impressed. I imagine some of this had to do with the fact that I have been to the one in New York City which is amazing and makes it hard for a lot of the smaller ones to stack up. One room I really liked was where they had floor to ceiling shelves full of different specimens that had been collected. I liked that they had this on display for the public because normally you can only see these type of collections if you go behind the scenes to areas where they perform research.

I really enjoyed my time in Berlin. It is an amazing city with a ton of history. There is so much to explore and I feel to fully understand everything there is to this city would require more time and hopefully someday I can come back.

Until next time,
~Rebecca

Genau.

Büsum & Copenhagen

The group said farewell to Germany last week, even though I will be returning to the vet school in Giessen after the program ends. Genau (something along the lines of "exactly") has turned into a joke word to us, because the Germans say it constantly but scoff when we don't use it appropriately. Anyway, after Berlin we traveled to the area of Büsum, which is a tiny town the North Sea. The landscape became quite flat and full of quaint little farms and windmills as we rode through the countryside in a big van. The first stop was at the Seal Center in Friederichskoog, where one of the trainers told us about their rescue program and resident seals, who live there permanently for various reasons. Unfortunately, we did not get to see any of the newly rescued seal pups since they were in quarantine. It would have been nice to see more of the veterinary work and facilities that the public does not, but it was still really neat to visit a seal rehabilitation center. 

Next we drove to the Multimar Wattforum museum in Tönning, located in a sea of grass with sheep grazing placidly outside the front door. It is an informational center and aquarium featuring the species fauna of the salt marshes and tidal flats in the region, which was pretty interesting since I didn't know much about it before. After a series of sharp turns down narrow country lanes, we finally arrived at our hotel in Büsum, a quaint yellow house with lilac bushes surrounding the door. The rest of the evening was spent walking casually though the small city center, which was lined with nautical-themed shops, and out to the beach. At low tide, the water recessed for miles and left behind soft but firm mud full of shells and jellyfish. 

The following morning, we walked to the Aquatic Wildlife Center, which is an extension of the vet school in Hannover. One of the veterinarians explained their research of marine mammals - mostly disease patterns, tracking, and population monitoring - before we suited up in white garb and joined some students and vets with a harbor seal and porpoise necropsy. It was awesome seeing not only the anatomy, but also parasites and cause of death (intestinal volvulus and undeveloped fetus in the seal, and a flat fish stuck in the trachea of the porpoise) of these animals. It's something I've never done before and enjoyed doing, despite the buckets of blood and aroma of fishy-death. We also got to meet the students and young vets working on their research there, and they were so friendly and happy to have a group of young people to interact with since Büsum is clearly a retirement/vacation for the elderly hub. They joined us at the group dinner of the seafood restaurant where the local "seehundjäger" ("seal hunter") cooks. The seal hunter actually rescues the abandoned pups who howl on the beaches and brings them to the seal center. One of my favorite things so far was actually just getting to know the students, who came from Denmark, Portugal, and the UK. They were so interesting and were in turn very interested in everything about the US, from vet school to politics. We talked for several hours and had a lot in common despite being from entirely different parts of the world. 

The final day in Büsum dawned sunny and only a little windy - perfect conditions for the mud flat hike. I won't lie, I did have reservations about walking around in mud and stepping on a bunch of shells, but once we reached the soft, more sandy areas near the streams and rivers flowing through the flats, it was actually pleasant and quite pretty, really. Our guide was a cheerful Biologist who let us catch a bunch of critters, including the tiny little shrimp that they eat locally after sending them to Morocco to be peeled - which no one understands why. We played around in the deep mud and everyone left in high spirits. After lunch, we hit the beach and spent all afternoon relaxing in the sun and swimming in the chilly North Sea (I did anyway - most of the Texans were wimps) before meeting the students again in a pub and karaoke bar for drinks. It was one of my favorite days of the entire trip. 

On Saturday, we began our trip to Køpenhavn, a long, long train ride north. I was in a bit of a daze about halfway through, when the train suddenly rolled into a container of sorts and one of the staff told us to get out. We were inside a ferry! I spent the entire 45 minute crossing up on the deck in the sun and wind. When we arrived, we split up to find our vet student hosts. Rebecca and I ended up in the dorm and partaking in a very strange Danish floor party (complete with costumes, games, and themes in each room) with our hosts that evening. The next day, we rolled out of bed late and met everyone in town, toured the Rosenberg castle (very cool!), and wandered though the botanical gardens. The last day, one of the students gave us a tour of the large animal clinic of the veterinary school, and we got to join rounds and watch a few neat procedures, including a gutteral pouch endoscopy and EKG on a calf. Then we returned to town, toured the royal stables (!!!!), walked along the part of the canals where Hans Christian Anderson lived, and finished the night at Tivoli, an old amusement park in the middle of the city. With all the brightly painted structures, vintage lights, and lovely gardens, I felt like I stepped into a 1930s circus. We watched a very strange outdoor ballet (some Danish folk tale) and I even rode the 100 year old roller coaster with manual brakes. It was quite the experience, and I'm really glad we spent the weekend with students there. If anyone decides to go, we can hook you up with the vet students there!

Currently, the program has actually ended and I am sitting in London Heathrow airport, waiting for my connection to Scotland. Since I am experiencing technical difficulties with my laptop (I typed most of this on my phone...), I will attempt to add photos and finish my last post about Holland if and when I can get that sorted out. I can't believe the four weeks are over!

Until then, proost! [Dutch is like a weird combination of English and German]

~Andrea

Week 1: All the Gelato!

The last week went by so fast that I almost can't believe it.... this may be somewhat due to German relationship with time which is basically be on time, or early but DO NOT be late. I was a bit worried about this at first as I have spent most of my life running late but we have done very well so far and I think Mira is pleased with us. Now for some of the wonderful things we were on time for this week.

On Monday we visited the Bonn animal shelter and the Museum König/Exotic Animal Zoo. Both were really interesting but I think I enjoyed the animal shelter more. The Bonn animal shelter was pretty large in size but not near as crowded as animal shelters I have seen before. The plan and layout were interesting and gave each animal a good amount of space and natural type of living conditions. The whole time I was there it seemed more like a pet resort or boarding type of facility. I say this because the staff and volunteers at the shelter took such great care and show such compassion for the animals. I really liked the cat houses where they had rooms for the more sociable cats to live together with access to a yard outside and so many cat towers and walks on the walls or suspended from the ceiling. While we were hearing about the cat houses and looking at them, I actually thought to myself, "They have so much to do here, if they get adopted they will probably be bored!"

Tuesday was fun filled with a visit to a Dairy research farm outside of Bonn. It was so nice to see some countryside (my favorite type of area), and to hear about some differences, struggles, and success of German agriculture, which was one of my main interests and reasons for coming on the trip. I especially thought it was interesting that the Holstein dairy cows in Germany have been bred using American Holstein genetics to yield about twice as much as they originally did. This apparently sounder good to the dairy men who introduced the genetics in Germany but then there is the point that the high yield cows can only be used for 2 or 3 years and with the current state of the dairy industry, many think it would be better to have cows who produce less per year but can be used for up to 8 years.

Wednesday we had a presentation from an animal homeopath which, while interesting, was hard for me to give much credence to because none of her treatment or therapy seemed to be backed by hard data. If you want to convince me of something,  show me numbers. We also toured a house where Beethoven was born as well as a city tour of Bonn, both of which were very interesting.

Thursday we had an internship day which was so wonderful from the staff to the vets to the picturesque stables and landscape. I was able to assist with an endoscopy on a horse with vague colic and GIT dysfunction history of at least 2 years. I also scrubbed in on a surgery to repair torn umbilical structures in a foal with severe edema of the ventral abdomen.... I had never seen anything like that. Aside from the cool cases,  the veterinary staff was very approachable and answered all of my questions, even the things I didn't think to ask about.

Friday was busy but for me the highlight was absolutely seeing the elephant house and hearing about the history of elephant handling in zoos. It was amazing how much care and thought went into taking care of the elephants mentally and physically, while maintaining a safe environment for the zoo keepers. The few keepers who work with the elephants are so passionate and diligent in their work, it was really an awesome experience to meet and talk with them.

Oh yeah.... and I ate at least 3 kinds of Gelato every day... so my lesson of the week is: Gelato is wonderful, eat as much of it as you can stomach :)

Happy in Holland

The last portion of the program was spent in Utrecht, which is a university town in the Netherlands. I was excited about this portion because we stayed with host veterinary students. My host was great and he really showed me a great time around town.

 We got to listen to lectures from the vet school professors regarding how their education system works and even some veterinary medicine history. The process for veterinary education in Europe is much different in the States in that the students enter the program after high school and complete their bachelor's and DVM degrees in 6 years. I don't know if I would have been ready for such a heavy course load right after high school so I'm pretty happy with the way our system works right now. It sucks that it takes longer and costs more, but I think my maturity level now is more conducive to studying such hard material.

The hosts we stayed with also planned nightly events while we were in town and they were great! I think this was some of the most fun I have had in the evening during the entire trip. The students had two different barbecues for us and even invited us to some vet school parties. We also got to go play laser tag in town in an awesome arena that was bigger than any of the ones I've played in back home. The one thing I definitely didn't think I would be doing in Holland would be water skiing, but our hosts knew of a place about 30 min away from town that had a cable water skiing/wakeboard system. I've skied behind a boat back home so this was a great way to have some fun out in the water and it wasn't too cold! Our hosts gave us all a memorable experience in Utrecht and I am so happy that we were able to visit.

Our program also consisted of visiting a Dutch Open Air Museum to learn about Dutch culture and history and a trip to the Burger Zoo. These were great excursions that were just the icing on the cake for an already amazing week. 

This is pretty much the end of the program and I am sad to see everyone go. I have had so much fun and great experiences over the past 4 weeks that I will never forget. I'm lucky in that I have the opportunity to stay for an extra 2 weeks to travel around Europe and I am looking forward to those experiences as well, but it won't be the same without my study abroad group. I can't wait till we all meet up again and relive our time here with each other. This has been an amazing program and if you are thinking about joining next year, DO IT! I promise you won't regret it and you'll have the time of your life. 

Tchüss!

A Trip to the Sea

Sadly, our time in Berlin came to an end and the next stop on our program was Büsum. This town is located in the northernmost portion of Germany and is on the North Sea. I didn't really know what to expect from Büsum because everything I heard about it was that it was a vacation spot for....the older generations. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised and had a great time over the past few days.

We started off by visiting a seal center that takes in abandoned seal cubs and nurses them back to health before being released back into the wild. Unfortunately, all of the seal pups that the center had when we visited were still in quarantine and we were unable to see them. Even though we couldn't see any seal pups, it was really neat to see how the center worked and learn about the work they do. They do have a small amount of permanent resident seals because they are unable to be returned to the wild.

The coolest part of the Büsum visit was getting to help out with some necropsies at the Aquatic Wildlife Center, which is a part of the Hannover veterinary school. We were able to perform necropsies on a seal and harbor porpoise! I have never worked very closely with marine mammals, so this was very exciting for me. We were pretty lucky in that the animals we were working on had died from some interesting causes. The porpoise actually chocked on a fish (didn't know that could happen) and basically suffocated to death. The seal had an intestinal volvulus and was found to be recently pregnant.  I liked that I was able to make comparisons between the marine animals and the animals that I had previously dissected. The necropsies took several hours to perform but it felt like no time at all! This is definitely the best hands-on experience I have had so far on this program and am looking forward to learning more about marine animals in Dr. Pine's course in the fall.

We also got to go to a really nice restaurant for a fancy dinner that is owned by one of the seal hunters in the Büsum area. I know, I know....I did just say "seal hunter," but don't worry, he is a really cool dude! This man owns a restaurant (and cooks delicious food by the way) and works as a seal hunter to go out and rescue abandoned seal pups and take them to the local seal center. The name "seal hunter" comes from historical context, and he is actually one of the people responsible for keeping many seals alive. He can euthanize an animal, if necessary, if it is too sick or wounded after being abandoned and wouldn't survive the recovery process. He had some really great stories and we were able to find out more about all of the seal hunters and their cool jobs. Everything he does as a seal hunter is voluntary and actually takes time away from his real job and earning money. I have a lot of respect for everything he has to do to keep the seals well.

Büsum also has some of the largest mud flats in the world after the North Sea draws out during low tide. The program arranged for us to have a mud flat hike and it was like being a kid again! We walked through the mud flats barefoot with a biologist showing us all of the different species living in the mud. The mud got pretty loose in some areas and I sank in to my knees! It was a lot of fun stomping through the mud and getting stuck.

Büsum was great and we were able to meet a lot of awesome people while we were there. Looking around town it was definitely a vacation spot for the older folks, but I had a really awesome time. I don't know if I would go back simply because I think we experienced most of what the town has to offer but I'm glad I got to visit!

Arbeit Macht Frei

Berlin & Prague 

A terrible shot of me at the Brandenburg gate

As our train drew close to Berlin on a cool, dreary day one week ago, Mira warned us that it was an "ugly" city, but we would soon understand why. My first impression through the window was indeed unappealing - an urban setting with gray buildings and graffiti, almost post-apocalyptic. I was a bit unenthusiastic about doing a 3-hour bike tour after waking up at 6 am and traveling all afternoon. However, I started having fun as soon as I swung onto the orange Dutch-style bike labeled "Coco Chanel". It was a very welcome change of pace from all the walking we do, and this allowed us to see many fascinating points of interest around the city such as Bebelplatz, Checkpoint Charlie, Brandenburg Gate, the site where Hitler's bunker used to be, and of course the wall. The site of the book burning and the wall affected me the most. Reading is my second-favorite pastime, after horseback riding of course, so it is appalling to me that people would deliberately destroy literature. Putting a wall around people is also despicable, and it blows my mind that my own life began just one year after it came down. The tour was great - it showed how Berlin is a place where it's impossible to forget the history. It is eerie and unsettling but also...hopeful. 

lovelovelove

Even though I was enjoying Berlin, the following day outside the city was refreshing. We took a bus to the small town of Bad Saarow to tour the University of Berlin Pferdezentrum ("horse center"). They specialize in reproduction, so we got to see ultrasounds on pregnant mares and watch Warmblood foals playing in the picturesque rolling hills - my own personal heaven. We also saw some of the Uni students training some ponies outside and sat in on the behavior class in the indoor arena. After the tour, we took a hike through the woods to the town on the lake, Scharmützelsee. The fresh air, sunshine, and eating lunch by the water with sailboats drifting by felt like home to me. (I'm from Michigan, remember?) When we returned, we visited the East Side Gallery - the paintings on the Berlin wall. It's a shame there's so much graffiti, because some of them are pretty amazing.

My time Sachsenhausen, one of the earliest concentration camps located outside of Berlin, is hard to describe. The words Arbeit Macht Frei, "Work makes you free", are a part of the iron gates as you walk through the entrance. The word "free" on a prison gate is so paradoxical, and that lingered in my mind as we walked through the open spaces where buildings used to be, the remaining barracks, the "prison within a prison", the track of uneven surfaces where prisoners walked 18 miles a day to test boots... The hideous Soviet monument in the center was something I did not expect, but it didn't entirely surprise me that the camp was spun into propaganda about the exploitation of Soviets during the Nazi regime (without giving proper recognition to the other groups of people who suffered there until the 1990s). My mood shifted from curious but aloof to more and more disturbed the longer we stayed in the camp. Only the foundations of "Station Z" remained, but it still left an impression. Thousands of people were shot point-blank in these small, double-walled rooms or killed in the gas chamber, then carried by prisoners to the crematorium. Knowing that this actually happened is disturbing in itself, but standing in the same space is another thing entirely. When I walked through the hospitals where medical experimentation took place, I started feeling sick to my stomach. I left with a new appreciation for what happened there.

That same afternoon, we visited Bundestag, the German Parliament building, and climbed to the glass dome at the top. It was an interesting structure to see, and the views from the roof of the big park and the city were quite nice.

The Charles Bridge

How to take a scenic selfie: we don't know

On our free weekend, the entire group went to Prague. As we entered the Czech Republic, the landscape became hilly and the vibrant colors of Prague were a sharp contrast to the drab Soviet buildings of Berlin. We found our way around easily enough, and headed to Old Town Square for some lunch and sight-seeing. As soon as we arrived, there was a parade of international costumed/singing/dancing/instrument playing people streaming by and other musical performances on a stage going on, with a raucous crowd gathered around. It was fun to just sit and watch! Half of the group, including myself, decided to go on one of the group pub crawls that evening, which was a cool way to meet people from all over the world. The following day, we simply wandered around the city, crossed the bridge and walked up the hill to the castle, where the views of the city were excellent. The cathedral was beautiful - the stained glass was exquisite and golden light filtering in made the alter seem to glow. Although Paris had more things to do, I enjoyed the cheery people, impromptu festivals and street performances, and general "feel" of Prague even more.

The anatomy collection

We returned to Berlin on Monday and visited part of the veterinary school campus (the anatomy building) and the Jewish Museum. The vet who gave us the tour was great to chat with about their school, and their laboratory and specimen collection was pretty impressive. The rows of glass cases with malformed fetuses, plastinated circulatory systems, and skeletons was an awesome tool these students have access to. Something interesting she commented about veterinary medicine is that the Germans are paid less, work more, and are generally less respected than what she observed in the States and the UK. I was fairly surprised, because I think we have all these problems at home, not to mention the ridiculous amount of student debt we face.
We also visited the Jewish Museum of Berlin, and the tour focused on the building's architecture instead of the exhibits. It was pretty interesting, and I definitely would not have understood some of the aspects without the information that the guide provided. It is meant to be a place of remembering all of the lost Jewish people of Germany, in addition to their entire history within the country. The shape of the building, lighting, "voids" (large empty rooms), and the maze of uneven flooring are all supposed to evoke feelings rather than mean something definitive. It was modern and weird, but I did find it interesting.

My old friend, Archaeopteryx

The final morning in Berlin was spent at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo & Wildlife Research, where we got to learn about their different research projects they are conducting all over the world and learn how to use a blow dart at a target. I of course failed spectacularly. After some free time (shopping), we went to the Natural History Museum. I am a nerd and love Natural History Museums, so I thought it was pretty neat even though our tour guide was quite strange and clearly used to talking to children. Some of the cool things they had were the original Archaeopteryx fossil (I wrote a paper about Archaeopteryx and the evolution of flight in undergrad), and the preserved quagga and thylacine specimens, which are some animals that went extinct in the 19th and 20th centuries due to over-hunting or habitat destruction.

I can't believe another week is over! Time needs to slow down; even though I'm exhausted I am having a blast experiencing all the new things. The times between postings is not really indicative of where I am, but rather where I can access internet that keeps a connection for more than 5 minutes. We have already traveled to Büsum and Copenhagen, which I will write about soon!

Skål, 

~Andrea

Another Week Down!

The past couple of weeks have been so much fun and Germany is absolutely amazing. We have spent time in both Hanover and Berlin and they were both amazing cities. 

Our first stop in Hanover was to have a tour of the Hanover Zoo. After visiting several zoos throughout the program its pretty obvious that the Germans have a very different mindset when designing their zoos. They try to get the guest in as much contact with the animals as possible. For instance, guests can go into the sea gull enclosure and one of the birds has become so acclimated to people over the years that she'll walk up to guests and let them touch her. Also, all of the peacocks in the zoo are free roaming and can go into any exhibit or path that they wish. 

The barriers to some of the other enclosures are still very minimal compared to zoos in the  States. Our guide openly admitted that the gazelles could easily jump over the barrier into the guest area but they haven't so far and the zoo isn't too worried about it. The mindset seems to be that if a guest does something stupid they deserve the consequences whereas in the U.S. we try to do everything we can to make sure the idiots don't have the opportunity to do something stupid. 

Our guide did say that this does cause some problems for their animals because guests will often try to feed the animals whatever they brought to the zoo. Since the barriers are so minimal it's pretty easy for something to be tossed into the enclosure for the animal to eat. The worst consequence of this happened several years ago when one of the zoo's hippos ate a tennis ball someone threw into the enclosure. Unfortunately the zoo didn't know about it or catch it in time and the hippo ended up being euthanized because the impaction caused by the tennis ball destroyed the intestines. I would think that this would be enough of a reason to make more significant barriers between the animals and guests but our guide says that out if the millions of visitors only small fraction try to give things to the animals. For the zoo it seems that it's better for the people that behave to get a more intimate experience since there usually aren't too many problems. 

The other strange thing was that the zoo allowed the guests to bring their dogs into the zoo. This isn't all that surprising since Germans can take their dogs just about anywhere but it's still a little shocking. He dogs are required to be on leash the entire time, which is good because I could see some problems occurring if a dog found one of the free ranging peacocks. 

Unfortunately we weren't able to meet with the veterinarians at the zoo, which was a little disappointing, but I'm still glad we were able to visit. Each time I visit a zoo here it is obvious that the U.S. and the Germans handle their zoos a little differently and I can't decide which I like more. It seems like the German zoos give the guest a better experience but I don't know if that is necessarily good for the animals. 

Hanover is also the first city that we have visited that actually has a veterinary school. We spent some time at their cattle clinic, which handles mostly dairy cattle.  The school really wants there to be cases for the students to learn from and they do some pretty cool things to accomplish this. First, the school has drivers and trucks that will go up to 200km to pick up cattle that need treatment from the farm...at no charge to the client. This makes it incredibly easy for a farmer to send their sick cattle to the vet rather than put it off until they have time. The school also sponsors all lab work costs that are done at the school so that clients are t discouraged from pursuing further diagnostics and if the clinicians convince the owner to keep the cow at the clinic longer because it's an interesting case they won't charge for their services.  It's really important for the school to have cases so that the students can learn and these are definitely ways to help keep the case load up. The clinic has seen some hardship due to some financial trouble in Germany and the case load has gone from about 1500 cases a year to about 1200. 

Our group had some free time one evening and went on a self-led walking tour of the city. Hanover was beautiful, especially the “new” city hall. By new, I mean it was built in the early 1900s, but thats still pretty new considering how old the city is. I really enjoy spending the time to look around the old part of these German towns because there is so much history everywhere!

The next part of the program took us to Berlin, which is the city I was most excited to visit! Our first night was a bike tour around town and honestly, Berlin is a little on the ugly side. This is mainly because it was pretty much leveled during the second world war and everything that was built afterwards doesn’t stand up against the less damaged areas of Germany. Due to Berlin’s role in the war, the entire city is full of history and the tour was a nice way to see the highlights.

Another big cultural experience we had in Berlin was visiting one of the concentration camps used during the war. This was an experience that I will likely never forget. It was such a powerful place to be in knowing all that happened within the walls of the camp. A lot of the buildings had been destroyed after the war, but those that were left held exhibits showing the conditions of the camp. Looking through these exhibits and being in the place where it actually happened made me extremely uncomfortable. Its hard to describe the feeling I had knowing I was in a place that held the bodies of thousands of murdered people and knowing all of the other horrible things they had to endure. This experience left a lasting impression on me and makes me grateful for the place and conditions I live in today.

Some of the veterinary related activities we did in Berlin were visiting another equine reproduction clinic, touring the anatomy department of the Berlin vet school, and touring a wildlife research institute. My favorite was probably the wildlife institute because they gave us a really great presentation about all of the work they are doing to help promote conservation and environmental stability. The institute also has one of the world’s most expensive CT scanners and it was really amazing seeing how that worked. Its also cool to see the institute giving back to the community because they are funded with tax dollars.  They offer low cost CT scans whenever it is not being used for research and I think that its a great way to give back to the taxpayers that fund them. They also took us outside to practice shooting with a blow gun, which is typically used to tranquilize wild animals before they are examined. Let me just say that its not as easy as it looks. We weren’t particularly good at it, although toward the end a few of us managed to hit the target. 

Berlin was a lot of fun and now we are all not the train on our way to Büsum to see some of the North Sea area. It looks like we are going to get to do some pretty cool stuff with marine mammals, which I am really looking forward to. Coming on this program is one of the best decisions I have ever made and I can’t wait to see what else I get to do!

Week 2: Paris and Hannover

Hallo!

This trip has continued to be a wonderful experience.  We do so many different and interesting things each day that when I get back to the hotel each night and attempt to start another blog entry I somehow only manage a few sentences before falling a sleep. Even though I have been so tired I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. 

Eiffel Tower Selfie = Total Tourists

For the weekend Andrea and I traveled to Paris. I had mixed feelings about going there due to somethings I had been told by others that had been there before. However, I tried to keep an open mind and was really looking forward to all there was to see, knowing full well that two days was not enough. Sadly our first interaction with a local Parisian was not so nice. Andrea and I were in line to purchase our metro passes for the weekend and taking a little bit to make sure that we got the correct tickets when the man in line behind us literally grabbed our backpacks and moved us out of the way telling us if we didn't know what we were doing to get out of line and let others go. He was quite rude and it was a much different experience than I had with French when I visited Southern France a few years ago.

Louve Museum

This bad experience aside I enjoyed my time in Paris. Our first day there we visited the Eiffel Tower twice, both during the day and at night to see it all lit up. As well as visiting the Arc de Triumphe we spent the day just walking along the river and in the city center looking at all the amazing buildings and admiring the architecture. The following day was quite a bit busier, we managed to visit three different museums. Our first stop of the Louve, I was surprised at the sheer size of the museum. I had known before that it was large but even that didn't prepare me for how large it actually is. Of the three wings of the museum we only managed to see two of them before deciding that we didn't have the time if we hoped to see more places that day. However, before we left we did make sure to go see the Mona Lisa (such a small painting compared the the large floor to ceiling ones in the same gallery). Afterwards, we headed to the Musee d'Orsay and the Rodin sculpture garden (home of the famous 'The Thinker'). Overall, I enjoyed the last two museums better than the Louve just because the time period of the art is more in line with my tastes but the building of the Louve was a masterpiece in its own right. After the museums we took a walk through the Luxemburg gardens and visited Notre Dame. Overall, I really enjoyed Paris but there are still plenty of things I wish I'd had the time to see while there.
Monday we took a very early train from Paris back to Cologne where we met up with the rest of the group and then took another train to Hannover. When we arrived we checked into our hotel before heading to the Zoo for a tour. Our tour guide was a very nice man with quite the outfit; he was decked out in a safari vest and a hat with many feathers. He told us that the aim of the Zoo was to have as many different species of animals together in one exhibit as would be found together in the wild. Another thing that they try to do is to make the Zoo as interactive for both the guests and the animals as is possible as well as safe. For example, visitors are able to walk into the Pelican exhibit and interact directly with the birds, who if they didn't want to could cross the pond and go to the other side of the exhibit. I was surprised at how soft the pelican actually was. We also took a boat tour that allowed us to view the exhibits from a different perspective.

Jewish Holocaust War Memorial - Hannover

Tuesday morning we the Cattle Clinic that's a part of the Veterinary Medicine Department at the University of Hannover. We toured the entire facilty with one of the veterinarians that work there. The whole clinic was so large especially compared to what I am used to back home. I was also suprised and how little it cost owners to bring there cattle to the hospital. They would even go to the farms and pick up the cows and bring them into the clinic for free if they were within a certain distance from the clinic. I also really enjoyed getting to talk to the vet while we watch a hoof trimming on a dairy cow. It was cool to learn that the common lameness/hoof problems for dairy cattle in Germany is the same as that in the States. Afterwards we went to a Stallion Testing Center outside of Hannover. This was a really cool experience because we got to watch them collect a Stallion and then see how they would store the semen, check to make sure the quality was good and even determine how much they could dilute. The facities were very impressive and also had a lot of riding arneas where they would train also train the stallions. 

Wednesday morning we visited the Teaching and Research Farm associated with the University of Hannover. At this place they also do some stallion collection as well as a lot of reproduction research. Unlike the Stallion Testing Center they did a lot more work with mares as well. We were able to watch a few ultrasounds of some of the horses where they were doing estrus detection. Also they showed us a previous ultrasound on one of their mares that was 65 days pregnant and discussed how to sex the foal on ultrasound.  The entire area was absolutley beautiful and I didn't want to leave. We even walked through the woods afterwards to a restruant that was right on the lake for lunch. It was a gorgeous day outside and capped the end to a great time in Hannover.  

After lunch we had to head back to the hotel to pick up our bags and catch a train to Berlin. In my next blog I will talk all about our time in Berlin. Until then...

Bis Bald! 

~Rebecca