Its crazy to think that our program is now half over. We have done so much that I lose track of what day it is, when we've done what activities, how long ago we went to certain cities, etc. It just all runs together after a while since everything is so hectic.
Earlier last week, we visited the veterinary school in Leipzig, which was super nice. We were able to see a collection of old vet instruments as well as partake in an anatomy lab with some German vet students. It was pretty cool, especially since it was a clinical anatomy elective class where they were actually doing medical procedures instead of just memorizing body parts and functions. We also were able to visit the zoo, which was amazing. The animal exhibits, especially for some of the apes and monkeys, were very spacious and natural for the animals.
After Leipzig, we made our way to Berlin. The city as a whole was cool because of the history of it all, even though I'm not a big city person. I really enjoyed the bike tour, and even though it seemed dangerous at times, it was nice to have a break from walking. The zoo in Berlin was also my favorite zoo so far out of all that we have seen. The feline exhibit was outstanding. The outside areas opened into a cat house that you could walk through and see all of the cats hanging out in the air conditioning. I absolutely love all cats, and they definitely had the largest variety. I even got to see a sand cat! I've read about them and researched them in the past, but I'd never seen one in person until Berlin! We also visited the IZW Leibniz Institute, which opened my eyes to a new side of research. I never thought I'd be interested in research at all really, I wanted to do more clinical or even surgery type work, especially on exotics in zoos. But hearing about some of the projects going on at the institute and reading about others on printed posters throughout the facility made me extremely interested in some of their projects. Hopefully, if time allows, I'll be able to come back for an internship for some sort of feline research project!
My free weekend was spent in Prague with the rest of the group. It was a really pretty city, but honestly, I wasn't too impressed. Its definitely not a place I would recommend over any city we've been to in Germany. It was extremely touristy, and though most people seemed to know English, they weren't the nicest people to interact with. We did visit a concentration camp though, which was pretty cool.
We made it back yesterday to Hannover, and then had another busy day today. It was the most hands on day so far, we were able to pet several animals including a -very- adorable baby goat, and then we got to dehorn cattle! And we also were able to watch a basketball sized lesion get drained, so that was pretty awesome also.
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