hometown and bought us all ice cream!! This was no ordinary ice cream; it was
the best chocolate ice cream I have ever tasted. It was a very nice surprise,
especially considering that the weather was pretty warm (upper 70s). I really
enjoyed the tour, especially since Nils knew our group pretty well by this time
and could show us parts of the town that he knew would be particularly
interesting to all of us. I really enjoyed seeing the remains of an ancient Roman
house that showed how such houses were heated under ground and insulated by
building two walls with a small space between. After our tour of Bonn, the group
walked to an outdoor restaurant on the river, called Alter Zoll. We had fun sitting
in picnic tables and chatting while drinking some nice cold drinks and eating some
good food. That night, we ventured home to Hotel Bonnox where Stormie,
Brenna, Bianca, and I shared a room. Since it had been so hot during the day, we
were a little concerned about sleeping with no air conditioning. Luckily, a storm
rolled in and cooled us off just in the nick of time before bed.
Tuesday was one of my favorite days of this entire trip - our visit to the Cologne
Zoo where we were able to feed a baby elephant!!! I have always loved
elephants. I find them fascinating, and I would actually love to work with them.
The only reason I have chosen to track equine veterinary medicine is because I
have grown up with horses and am most comfortable with that species. If I had
grown up with more exotic/zoo exposure, I am sure that I would be leaning really
hard toward becoming a zoo veterinarian. Anyway, this visit to the zoo was like a
dream come true for me just to be so near to an elephant. When they said we
could FEED one, I was so incredibly excited!! I really enjoyed watching the
trainer work with the elephants, and I found the filing of the feet and toe nails to
be very interesting. The soles of the feet and the toe nails looked very similar to
the soles and nail (hoof wall) of a horse's hoof. I even saw the caretaker use a
hoof knife just like the one my dad uses when he cuts away the old sole on our
horses' feet. I wanted to ask to touch the foot to see if it really was that similar
to a horse's, but I didn't want to overstep any boundaries - especially since the
zoo was kind enough to let us see behind the scenes. After the elephants, we
toured the rest of the zoo. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to go behind the scenes
to see how the zoo operates and how the animals are cared for. I wish we had
been able to have this experience at the Leipzig Zoo as well. After spending a
few more hours at the zoo, it was time for our Cologne city tour. I was
exhausted by the time we made it to the city, but our guide was hysterical and
really did a great job keeping our interest despite the fact that we were all
exhausted. We learned about Agrippa and his granddaughter Agrippina, who built
the city of Cologne and was the mother of the Emperor Nero. Apparently,
Agrippina had a couple of her husbands killed because they were interfering with
her agenda, and when her son Nero became Emperor, she "ruled" through him.
Nero grew tired of his mother and tried to kill her twice, failing both times.
Finally, he hired an assassin who got the job done. He only lived for a short time
after his mother's murder. We later saw a building with statues of important
individuals from Cologne's history. The figures were commissioned by a masonry
worker, and therefore had to be sculpted according to a specific design... but the
bottom of the figures were not commissioned, and this is where the masonry
workers let their creativity flow. On the bottom of Agrippina's figure was a
spider, which I associated with a Black Widow (since she used her husbands and
then had them killed to further her own agenda). The bottoms of other figures
were even more creative, and quite comical. After our tour, we were given free
time. Stormie, Brenna, and I traveled back to Bonn to visit the Haribo shop. I am
completely obsessed with gummy candies, so I bought a ludicrous amount of
them to bring back to the U.S. Before heading back to the hotel, we ate supper
at Casa del Gatto and got some ice cream at the same place Nils had
recommended the day before.
Wednesday's activities were lots of fun. Animal shelters in the U.S. make me
really depressed because I feel so bad for the animals who might not ever have
the chance to be loved by a human. I usually can't even walk through a shelter
without tearing up. The Animalshelter Bonn was different, though, because it is a
no-kill shelter with tons of room for lots of dogs, cats, rodents, birds, and reptiles.
The facilities were fantastic, especially for a shelter. The dogs in the kennels had
plenty of room inside, plus runs that went outside but were still covered. There
were outside play areas where lots of dogs could be turned out all together. The
tour guide told me that they have room at the shelter for over 100 dogs, but that
they only have about 50 right now. The cat rooms were perfectly arranged so
that the cats could socialize, play, exercise, or have some seclusion. I thought it
was really cool that the cats had a room inside and an outdoor patio-style area.
One room even had awesome play and lounge areas all over that had been
donated by the designer, but would have cost around 20,000 euro if they had
been purchased. I don't know much about birds or rodents, but the areas for
those species seemed really great, as well. I didn't leave this shelter feeling sad
and depressed because it was obvious that the staff members really cared about
the animals. Each animal had a card on its enclosure that contained thorough
history about the animal and the types of people with whom the animal would be
most compatible. The tour guide said that volunteers come every day to walk
the dogs and play with the other animals and that they sometimes even have
more volunteers than animals! A dog trainer even comes to work with the
shelter dogs and volunteers in a play area. This place was really awesome, and I
wish the U.S. could get more of a handle on the unwanted pet situation so that
we could have shelters like this for the few animals who lose an owner or
somehow fall between the cracks of finding a home and people who love them.
It really breaks my heart that so many innocent animals in the U.S. are mistreated,
left to fend for themselves, and eventually euthanized in kill shelters. I understand
that the euthanasia is necessary because of our surplus of unwanted pets, but
understanding the situation doesn't make it any less heart-breaking. After the
visit to the animal shelter, we toured Gut Ostlar, an organic farm that used to
host lots of educational outings for children in the area. The farm has been at this
location for a very long time. In fact, it was originally a farm amongst other farms;
now it is a farm within a city because the city has been built up to completely
surround it. The Gut Ostlar tour guide was a very interesting person. She had
gone to school in Frankfurt and was a sculptor and painter, but she came to work
at Gut Ostlar because she loved working with children and teaching them about
agriculture. She was very knowledgeable about the farm, and taught us lots of
interesting things about edible plants that you wouldn't even know were edible,
raising organic chickens for their eggs, bees - you name it, she knew it. I found
this visit very enjoyable. I was saddened to hear that the town tried to put the
farm out of business and in the process greatly reduced their ability to host as
many children's educational visits. Young people need to know about and
appreciate agriculture and agricultural products, and I believe that Gut Ostlar
would do a great job if supported by the city. I hope they are able to pull through
these hard times and continue the legacy of the old farm while continuing to
educate children who I'm sure are very grateful for the knowledge they would
gain from such a unique place.
Thursday was the start to our visit of Utrecht! When we arrived at Utrecht
University, we had a lecture on the history of veterinary medicine. I found the
lecture very interesting, especially since we have never had such a lecture or class
at TAMU-CVM. I think it's cool how Europeans are so interested in the history
and culture of everything, and I find it interesting to know how things like
veterinary medicine began and have evolved over the years. After this lecture, we
took a look at the school museum and then headed to the Small Animal Hospital
for a quick introductory lecture and tour. We weren't able to see as much of the
behind-the-scenes aspect of the hospital as I would have liked, but it was still a
nice tour. The hospital was very nice and welcoming for clients, and it had a very
cozy atmosphere. After the tour was our welcome BBQ at the Utrecht
University D.S.K. courtyard/bar/lounge area. The host students cooked us
hamburgers, chicken, and pork, and we all hung out and got to know each other
with beer, wine, and dancing until the early morning hours. During this party, I
met my host, Marjo. She was a little younger than me and has about 3 years of
school left. I was so excited that she lived outside of town on a dairy farm and
that Bianca and I would get to stay there!! It was such a cool place!! The
farmland was beautiful, and her apartment was so cute. There were cows, of
course, a Yellow Labrador named Kim, cats with kittens, and pigs. We even got to
witness the birth of a calf one morning!! Marjo was SO nice and super willing to
do everything she could to help us and to make us feel welcome.
Friday was a day full of lectures, which aren't my absolute favorite, but they were
interesting. We mostly discussed and tried to understand the differences
between European and American vet schools. After our first lecture, we learned
about the lab animal class that is taught at Utrecht University. We were able to
hold and learn how to restrain mice and rats, as well as "draw blood" from a
simulated rat tail. I enjoyed that part of the lectures the most. We grabbed a
quick lunch and then headed back to the university for our final lecture on public
health. The lecturer was quite passionate about this subject, and I learned a great
deal about public health issues in Europe, such as trichinellosis in French people
due to eating raw horse meat, vertical farming (housing pigs in buildings on
different levels), and he talked about animal rights activists and those who believe
we should stop vaccinating food animals because they believe the vaccines make
the meat unsuitable for human consumption. It was a long talk on a wide variety
of subjects that was very interesting. Later that night, we met back at the D.S.K.
for Sportsfest, which was a soccer game between Holland and Spain that the
Dutch take VERY seriously. Marjo bought lots of orange items for us to wear to
support Holland, and we even painted the flag of the Netherlands on our faces.
I'm not a huge fan of sports, but I enjoyed watching the game and experiencing it
with the students who were so passionate about it - and they WON!!! Needless
to say, there was lots of partying that occurred after the game finished.
Saturday was our last day of the trip. We took a city tour by canoe through the
canal system in Utrecht, and Stormie, Brenna, and I were able to share a canoe.
Although my muscles were tired and sore after canoeing for a couple of hours, I
thought it was really fun. I'm not sure that we got the best impression of the
city's history or sites to see from the canoe, but it was definitely cool. Afterward,
we went shopping until supper time, when we met back with the rest of the
group for our final meal together at Florin in Utrecht. Nils thanked us for a great
trip, we discussed our likes and dislikes of the organization and experiences on
the trip, and we completed our program evaluations during a very nice meal. Nils
then treated us to a final ice cream (which was so creamy and delicious), and we
all then ventured to a bar for a final drink together. Marjo joined us, and we just
sat and talked for a couple of hours until people slowly began to say their
goodbyes. It was quite sad, actually. We all had a great time and learned so much
not only about Europe, but also about ourselves and our classmates. I am so
thankful to the people who made it possible for us to be a part of such a unique
program. I will never forget it!
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