The Netherlands!

The trip to the Netherlands was definitely worth it (and the bus ride was actually a great opportunity for a nap). Most people may not see the beauty in a mud walking tour, but luckily vet students are not like most people. Sludging through knee deep mud was a blast, despite the minor battle wounds attained along the way. My personal favorite part of the mud tour was our guide and his short-shorts. Its great getting to meet all sorts of interesting people while traveling abroad and I’m glad we were able to impress the guide by surviving his mud tour.

Our second main activity in the Netherlands was the seal rehabilitation center in Pieterburen. The animals were so cute and I was very impressed by the staff’s dedication to rescuing seals in need. I was surprised that the hand raised seals do not get attached to people and are even quite dangerous to their caretakers. The veterinarian we met with had completed some interesting research projects assessing the center’s success rate, which was very high. They also divide the seals into different categories based on their presenting problem (ie orphaned baby, adult caught in netting, etc.) and have done studies to determine if certain categories are less likely to succeed in the wild once released and found that there is no significant difference. I found this interesting because I would have thought the experienced adult who had a mishap with a net would be more likely to survive once it recovered than an orphaned baby who was not taught to fend for itself in the conventional manner.

For our free weekend, we continued the tour of the Netherlands with a side trip to Amsterdam. We depart for Hannover around noon tomorrow but it has been a fun weekend. My favorite part was visiting the Anne Frank house/museum. Standing in the exact rooms where the two families in hiding lived for two years was eerie. I have seen the play a couple of times but it really brings the story to life being in the city where they were trapped. I also enjoyed the Van Gogh museum with the special “Starry Night” exhibit. Seeing the original paintings and knowing the actual famous artist spent hours looking at that exact same canvas makes the painting seem a little more magical. It was fun seeing the paintings I was familiar with, but I enjoyed seeing the less famous Van Gogh paintings even more and listening to the (free, woohoo!) audio guide describing different interpretations of the work.

Today we met Steve the Australian turned Amsterdam tour guide. He gave us the low down on the history and culture of the city and threw in lots of interesting extra stories. It was great doing the (free) walking tour because we were able to see the city and get a lot of background information we would have missed if we tried to tour around on our own. Overall, Amsterdam is about what I expected. We had a mystery man break into our hostel room in the middle of the night and steal our roomie’s ipod right off his bed. There are “coffee shops” everywhere and our walking tour took us through the Red Light District today. Visiting Amsterdam is an experience, and that’s what it’s all about!!