week #1 Euro trip!

The trip thus far has been really exciting! Arriving in Basel a few days early was a really good idea because we were already rested for all of our group activities and had a chance to get to know the transportation system. Basel was a very beautiful city and I enjoyed getting to spend time with the other girls along the Rhine just relaxing before the craziness of the trip began. This city is very quirky and has a rich history like many of the towns in Europe. From Basel we rode on a train to Leipzig Germany and met up with our host students before we attended Bergfest which is a big party that the students throw when they are half way through with their education.  This veterinary school functions very differently than ours does in the states. They have 12 semesters or you could say 6 years rather than having 4 years of undergrad then 4 years of veterinary school. We had been told that the German students could party and that is very much the truth. The parties went from about 7 p.m. until 4 or 5 a.m. which were very long days for us when we got up early to go see the city. The host students that had us in their homes were very kind and helped us get around the city so that we didn’t get lost. On Friday after the clinic games for bergfrest a big group of us took a train to Prague to do some sightseeing there. Visiting this country was very different because it’s unusual history. We were a little more uncomfortable here because of the possibility of theft but after we got accustomed to it the city’s beauty overcame our nervousness. I really enjoyed the city tour of Prague that enable me to more fully understand the hardships and successes that this country has undergone.  We are now on the train from Prague to Berlin to catch a plane to Copenhagen in the morning. I think that this coming part of the trip is the part that I am the most excited about because we get to be here the longest and spend some  time with the students and practitioners that are in this area.