June 8th 2011
June 8th 2011
Tuesday started off with us taking our bags back to the train station and storing them for the day. We then took a bus to the Arnhem zoo and had a tour of their Bush and Ocean exhibits. The tour was nice, but again, I would have enjoyed a shorter tour with more time to explore the zoo on our own. After the tour we only had about an hour to have lunch and explore on our own L I did get the chance to see a Blue Duiker walking around an exhibit! The Duikers I used to work with usually hid in the underbrush of their exhibit, so it was really cool to see. After the zoo we walked and took a bus to the De Hoge National Park. There we grabbed a bike (a famous white bike!) and rode to the museum located in the park. The ride was nice, but long when you aren’t feeling well and having trouble breathing! I was so happy when finished the 10+ km ride. The museum was interesting. The building is set back in the woods a bit, which was nice. However, the artist that they had on exhibit was disturbing. He was definitely a modern artist and his choices of materials to use were bizarre! I can say I’d never pay to go back and see his works in the future. The permanent works of art were nice to see- all the Monet and Van Gogh’s J After the museum we headed back to the station and took a quick train to Utrecht. There we met up with the veterinary students who would be hosting us for the next few days. Miki and I ended up staying with Anne (pronounced Anna). She told us that on Tuesday nights she was part of a painting group and asked us if we wanted to go. I’m so glad we went! The group is a group of veterinary students in their farm animal club (sort of like our BP and SRP) and they were painting pictures of animals that they would auction off in the fall. All the money they get from their paintings will go towards funding for vaccinations in Uganda! Their paintings were very good and ranged from cows and pigs to tigers and peacocks J While we were there Anne took us on a tour of the farm. We got to see the sheep and the cows- and even got to pet a few, including Mona (the students favorite). We then took the bus back to her apartment that was on the other side of the city. By the time we got back I crashed for the night.
Wednesday morning Anne introduced Miki and I to a typical Dutch breakfast topping- chocolate sprinkles! They are fantastic on toast with peanut butter J Our morning at the university started off with two lectures about Utrecht University faculty of veterinary medicine and the history of veterinary medicine in the Netherlands. Both lectures were interesting. After the lectures we went on a quick walk around the campus grounds- a lot of what we got to see was what Anne had showed us the night before. Following the tour was lunch then off to another lecture about the history of veterinary medicine and a tour of the museums that are located throughout the different buildings on the campus. Unfortunately, I spent most of the day not feeling all that well so I just wanted to make it through the day. After the day was over all the host students made us a Dutch dinner of mashed potatoes, endive, and bacon. It was really good- I’m going to attempt to make it when I get home. We then watched Wall-E and headed home for the night.
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