Week 4

When we arrived in Bonn we figured out our way to get to the hotel, and then met Nils for a tour of Bonn.We got to see the cathedral and lots of other parts of the town.We walked by the gardens near the university and also got to see the seminary. Under the seminary there was remnants of the Roman sewers and that was really neat to see. It makes me wonder what is underneath the rest of the city and countries of Europe! Once this was over, we ate at an outdoor restaurant, and I had a salad.Then we headed back to the hotel.
The next day we got up early to head to the train station to go to the zoo in Cologne.This was a really neat time because we got to go behind the scenes at the zoo! We first got to see the elephant facility and got to see the trainers work the with elephants and even trim their feet.We then got to feed a baby elephant! After that, we saw the bird exhibit, and walked around the rest of the zoo.We got to see an anteater and her baby, and that was really cute! When that was over, we then got a tour of the city of Cologne.The tour guide was excellent, and I really enjoyed the tour. She told us about Agrippa,Agrippina, and her son, Nero.That was really interesting to hear about. She also explained to us how one of the subway stops was useless, because no one used it, and they had built it under one of the buildings that held archives of the city.At one time, the subway collapsed, and the building on top of it went down with it, and alot of the notes and diaries from people were lost with it.When the tour was over, we went back to our hotel, and got ready for another day.
Wednesday we went to the animal shelter in the first part of the day.The visit was enlightening to me, as it was a completely different setup from the shelters I have seen in the US. It was a no kill shelter, and the yards and kennels were very nice for the dogs. I think the US could learn alot about the setup of shelters from this shelter.The shelter director explained to us that sometimes they get dogs from Spain, and that they can adopt them out since Spain doesn't want the dogs. The cats have a very nice room that they could play and exercise in, which the man said cost about 20,000 euros.That is crazy to me! They also had rabbits, rats, guinea pigs, and turtles. Some of the rabbits were infected with Pasteurella, and so we could not touch them.They also have quite a few cats with FIV or the herpes virus, and so they keep them separate from the other cats and will adopt them out to homes with only cats or other cats who are sick as well.They have a very nice intake procedure, with a quarantine regimen to ensure that no diseases are brought in and spread around. Once the tour was over, we went to visit the Gut

Ostlar, which was a unique place. It is equivalent to such a thing as an organic farm in the US.The lady running it explained that the authorities were involved, and that they had to do away with alot of what they were doing at the farm. She stated that they had first had programs for special needs people to come and work on the farm, and that this was very good for these people because it allowed them to feel like they were able to contribute and have a great life.Then when the authorities came and investigated they were no longer able to offer this aspect of the farm and that's really too bad.The lady showed us around the place, and we got to see her ducklings and goslings, as well as pick and eat fresh strawberries! Then we got to see the chickens, sheep, and donkeys. After the tour was over, she offered us some fresh water and that was really good. I enjoyed learning about how they do organic stuff in Europe. She did mention that the ducklings that she got had something wrong with them, because they had chewed their wings off.We were thinking that it could be due to stress of the transport. Since it is an organic farm, they were not really allowed to treat as aggressively as a non organic farm. I think they could have treated the ducklings since it was a medical cause, but hopefully with some water and stress free environment, the ducklings can pull back. Once this tour was over, we went ahead and went to bed, since we had to go to Utrecht the next morning.
On Thursday we arrived in Utrecht about 11:30-12ish.The hosts met us at the train station, and we went to the university and got a lecture of the history of veterinary medicine in the Netherlands, and then got a tour of the small animal clinic. It was interesting to learn about the history of vet med, because it's always intriguing to hear about what other countries and schools do to develop vet med and education. After this, we went to the DSK student hangout and had a wonderfully cooked bbq dinner. I met my host, and after a little bit, we decided to go back to her house so we could sleep.The next day we got 4 total lectures about the development and teaching at the vet school, admissions and demographics, and then about the public health industry in the vet school and around in the Netherlands.We also got to hear a lecture about handling lab animals, and how they teach about animal welfare and things like that. I enjoyed the lectures, but I felt like some of the were repetitive. It would have been nicer had we had some actual classes on what they got taught, kind of similar to what we did at Leipzig with the anatomy groups. Once this was over, we had a bit of time to go into the city and we got some dinner before we headed back to the school to watch the game with DSK.The Netherlands won the soccer match, 5-1, so most of the students were happy.
The next day, Saturday, was our last day in the Program.We did a canoe tour of the city, which was really neat because it was nice to canoe. It was tiring after a

while, but I canoed when I was younger, so it was refreshing to try it again.We went into the city again, this time to shop. It was a pretty bustling city, with lots of shops and people and little carts selling flowers.We didn't have all that much time to shop, as we had to meet Nils for the farewell dinner at 545.We met for the dinner, and had a nice meal, and discussed the program and filled out evaluations. It was a bittersweet meal, because everyone knew that we were all leaving the next day, yet we were so ready to go home.After the dinner was over, we went and all got ice cream together.Then we went to the grocery store to get some goodies for the ride home. Once I got back to my host house, I packed up my stuff and went to bed.We got up at 615 to have a host bring us to the train station, so that we could get to the airport to go home! We took one flight from Amsterdam to London, and now we are on the London to Houston flight home, and I can't wait to see my family. Europe was definitely a life changing experience, and I hope to go again sometime. I used to tell myself that I hated traveling and going places away from home, but this has been a positive experience.Tschuss!