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!