June 20, 2011
I definitely liked the Utrecht portion of our schedule the most. Academically, the lectures were pretty interesting, especially the one about public health. To be honest, I think I learned more in that 2 hour lecture than I did all of spring semester! The clinic tours were also the most informative and entertaining, especially the horse clinic. It was really interesting to hear how and why certain aspects of the equine clinic were they way they were (both for logistical reasons as well as ease of care reasons) versus the normal “here’s the MRI machine….[walk to next room] here’s our CT scanner….[walk to next room] here’s our waiting room” dribble we heard at other clinics. The small animal clinic tour was also very interesting because we were guided by an actual surgeon who allowed us to enter the surgery suites donned in surgery appropriate scrubs.
The Utrecht students were also the most welcoming and planned the most things for us to be involved in! They cooked us Dutch food to eat during movie night and even had a huge football (“soccer” to us Americans) tournament and after-party. In order to get to the football game, I had to ride on the back of a bike…that was really interesting and actually quite fun! I literally had to jump onto a moving bike and then hold on for dear life as we biked our way to the soccer fields. Haha The football tournament was especially neat because we got to see 2 of our very own classmates, Catherine and Diana, play on the field! Diana even scored the one and only goal for their team!!! I don’t think I’ve ever heard such loud cheering and screaming than when she made that goal!
The food was fun and very interesting. I have to admit, Utrecht University’s cafeteria food far outranks Critical Care Café’s! They had soups, sandwiches, and special pizzas made daily! It was delicious! Our first official Dutch dish, however, was mashed potatoes with lettuce, bacon, and cheese. Just by these ingredients you know this tasted awesome! Our next dish was pancakes with bacon and cheese, also yummy! Then we had French fries…with mayonnaise. That was probably the weirdest thing because when I asked if they had ketchup, I got some genuinely confused reactions! Haha
Utrecht, in my opinion, was a great way to end this trip! It was educational, interesting, and really fun!!
As a funny side note, our host student, Tom, taught us how to tell someone they are an idiot or moron in Dutch, thus the title of this blog. “Pannenkoek” is pancake in English, and “noodle” is noodle. However, in Dutch slang, it can also be an insult. Haha!!
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