Summing it up

Now that I have been back in the states for about a month, and have gotten back into my daily routine I have had a lot of time to reflect on the Germany Study Abroad trip. I had such a wonderful time! I learned so much about the German culture, as well as how veterinarian medicine is practiced there. I found it interesting how different their curriculum is compared to ours. For example, we get a lot of hands on experience and plenty of opportunities to visit the clinics all four years of our schooling, but in Germany even after 5 years they do not have near as much hands on as we do. Something I thought was really neat was when we were in Berlin and took a Pathology lab class, it was structured just the same as our pathology course at A&M! It amazed me that even though we were in a total different country, some parts of the curriculum were similar in structure. One thing I did not care for in Berlin was how the students would talk a lot in class. This is something that apparently goes on all of the time. While I know that we whisper in class sometimes, we would never be allowed to openly talk in the middle of class. I felt that it was very disrespectful to the professor.
Another part of the trip that I enjoyed were the corporate visits. I never realized what a huge role veterinarians play in the drug and pet food companies. There are a lot of opportunities for veterinarians at any point in their career. I do not know if that is anything I would ever be interested in, but it did certaintly open another door of opportunity. The most interesting place to me was Novartis. I really liked their parasite breeding facility, and how much work goes into making sure their parasiticides are safe and effective.
The Cologne Zoo was another awesome experience. It is amazing how different the zoos in Germany are from the zoos in the U.S. In the U.S., there is so much distance between you and the animal on exhibit. There may be like 3 barriers, but in German zoos like at Cologne and Hannover, there are exhibits where you could reach over the fence and nearly pet the animal. I loved this! It makes it such a real experience. Also, the way the animals live is different. The zoos really put a lot of time and money into making their environments identical to their natural habitats. I just really liked the zoo experience. I do not think you ever out grow going to zoos.
Besides all of the educational experiences, I absolutely loved the cultural ones as well. This was my first trip to Europe, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I learned so much about the people and European culture. I have a new respect for another part of the world, and definately a new light upon the United States. I would reccommend this program to anyone. It is well worth every penny and second spent.