Happy in Holland

The last portion of the program was spent in Utrecht, which is a university town in the Netherlands. I was excited about this portion because we stayed with host veterinary students. My host was great and he really showed me a great time around town.

 We got to listen to lectures from the vet school professors regarding how their education system works and even some veterinary medicine history. The process for veterinary education in Europe is much different in the States in that the students enter the program after high school and complete their bachelor's and DVM degrees in 6 years. I don't know if I would have been ready for such a heavy course load right after high school so I'm pretty happy with the way our system works right now. It sucks that it takes longer and costs more, but I think my maturity level now is more conducive to studying such hard material.

The hosts we stayed with also planned nightly events while we were in town and they were great! I think this was some of the most fun I have had in the evening during the entire trip. The students had two different barbecues for us and even invited us to some vet school parties. We also got to go play laser tag in town in an awesome arena that was bigger than any of the ones I've played in back home. The one thing I definitely didn't think I would be doing in Holland would be water skiing, but our hosts knew of a place about 30 min away from town that had a cable water skiing/wakeboard system. I've skied behind a boat back home so this was a great way to have some fun out in the water and it wasn't too cold! Our hosts gave us all a memorable experience in Utrecht and I am so happy that we were able to visit.

Our program also consisted of visiting a Dutch Open Air Museum to learn about Dutch culture and history and a trip to the Burger Zoo. These were great excursions that were just the icing on the cake for an already amazing week. 

This is pretty much the end of the program and I am sad to see everyone go. I have had so much fun and great experiences over the past 4 weeks that I will never forget. I'm lucky in that I have the opportunity to stay for an extra 2 weeks to travel around Europe and I am looking forward to those experiences as well, but it won't be the same without my study abroad group. I can't wait till we all meet up again and relive our time here with each other. This has been an amazing program and if you are thinking about joining next year, DO IT! I promise you won't regret it and you'll have the time of your life. 

Tchüss!