Bonn

Bonn is a much smaller town not far from Cologne. Our AIB dormitory was actually in Bonn, and during our stay we visited an organic farm, listened to a talk on homeopathy, visited a biergarten on the Rhine, and toured the city.


Early Wednesday morning we headed to tour an organic farm in Bonn where I learned a tremendous amount of what it means to be “organic.” Prior to the visit, I had the mistaken impression that organic farming was anti-scientific due to the rejection of genetically modified organisms. However, during our visit, I realized how much more there is to the organic label where the focus is actually on creating sustainable, environmentally friendly, closed system farms. The organic system seems much more efficient as nothing is wasted; cattle are raised and their manure is naturally prepared and used as fertilizer, other organic waste is used in compost, and often times, even the food for the animals is grown on the same farm. Pest control is often accomplished by allowing animals that eat the insects to live in the fields with the plants. Additionally, in Europe, organic farms are required to practice homeopathy, not only in the animals, but also for the plants. The farm even had a solar cooker!


At the farm, we were even allowed to try this strange vegetable, kohlrabi, which was delicious. It tasted like a cross between a melon of some sort and cucumber. I plan to look for some when I get back to the states, and I would recommend that anyone who has the opportunity should try kohlrabi.

After our trip to the farm, we headed back to the AIB headquarters where I was finally reunited with my luggage. We listened to a lecture on homeopathy, which also was eye-opening. Prior to vet school, I was familiar with the holistic approach to medicine; I knew that herbs and acupuncture were used for healing, but homeopathy was an entirely new concept for me.

The basic principal behind homeopathy is the notion that “like cures like.” So, a natural substance, such as a toxic plant, that causes disease is diluted and “potentized,” and then used to treat the same symptoms that the substance would normally cause. During preparation, the substance is actually diluted to the point that it can no longer be detected in the water or alcohol. A special mixing procedure is used between each dilution to potentize the mixture. No one quite understands how or why it works, but a good deal of scientific and antidotal evidence suggests that it does. Homeopathic treatments can be used along side of traditional medicine and have few, if any, side effects.

The scientific studies regarding homeopathy are called “proovings.” Participants are given a new homeopathic remedy or a placebo and they record their physical and mental symptoms. Without knowing what the “active ingredient” in the remedy is, participants often have dreams of the source of the ingredient and experience the expected symptoms.

I am definitely interested in learning more about homeopathic treatments. For many patients, the remedies might help, and they certainly won’t hurt, so I feel it is worth looking into.


After the lecture, we went on a city tour of Bonn. In addition to the Beethoven statue, we saw the old city gate, the cathedral, and the university.

After the tour, we met up with Nels from the AIB, who took us to a Biergarten on the Rhine. Finally, we ended the evening with shots and beer in a little bar downtown. Thanks to the delicious drinks, good conversation, and hearing Siouxie Sioux on the radio, I had a great time at the bar despite the exhaustion I felt.

So far, Bonn has been one of my favorite stops in our whirlwind tour of Europe!

Happy cows live in Germany!!

Holy Cow!! They are keeping us very busy!
We went to Hanover and stayed with veterinary students for a couple of nights, they were amazing! My host, who had stayed with me in Texas in March, is so nice and extremely helpful!! We got to tour their brand new small animal clinic, which only opened a couple of months ago. It is really big and spacious and state of the art!! The facilities are really nice, very clean, and pet owner friendly. I really like how they have special rooms for clients to sit in with their pets when they get treatments, or can even get some sleep in! It seems like they have all of the latest gadgets too! Their new equine clinic is just as impressive! It felt nicely set up, and very convenient.
After seeing their farm where the cattle can literally get milked when every they want to, eat when they want to, and wander around, I am convinced that they are very happy cows! They have an amazing milking machine that reads the cows tag when she comes in (on her own) and knows everything about her, including when she was milked last and how much milk she gave! It even cleans not only the cow before and after the milking, but also itself!! Really interesting!! Even just riding on the train looking out at the fields, all I see are nice fat healthy looking dairy cows. They get to graze in lush green pastures and they all look so content!! So I am convinced that Happy Cows actually live in Germany!!

Cologne

Our whirlwind visit to Cologne was absolutely amazing. We toured the city, enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of the Cologne zoo, visited the Cologne cathedral, and took a roof-top tour of the cathedral.


On the Cologne city tour, one of our most interesting stops was this archeology site. Throughout history, when buildings have been torn down and new ones built, the rubble was not cleared away. So, beneath each building lies an archeological history of the city. The pyramid pictured is an old Jewish ritual bath house, and this site will become a Jewish museum, as it was one of the first Jewish communities.


We also saw this bridge over the Rhine. Even from the distance we were standing, we could see the glittering gold of hundreds of locks attached to the bridge. According to local tradition, a young couple can buy a lock, have their names engraved, lock it onto the bridge, and throw the key into the river; as long as the lock remains, the couple’s love will last.


I especially enjoyed the behind-the-scenes tour of the Cologne zoo. In addition to seeing lions, tree kangaroos, giant rats, camels, merecats, flamingos, turtles, and a variety of other animals, we learned a tremendous amount about the elephant care and medical treatment. Their caretaker was kind enough to take us through their new facility. We saw the squeeze shoots and the office from which the elephant enclosure can be monitored. The elephants even approached us, and we were allowed to pet their trunks.

We also got to see the kitchen area where food for the animals is prepared and we got to see and learn about many of the current breeding programs happening at the zoo.


We also took both ground and roof-top tours of the Cologne cathedral. The cathedral took 632 years to build, and prior to the building of the Eiffel Tower, was the tallest building in the world. The cathedral houses the remains of the supposed "Three Wise Men." The stained glass windows pictured above were designed by the famous artist Gerhard Richter and caused quite a bit of controversy. Richter decided the stained glass should be abstract instead of a more traditional scenic window; so, to design the glass, he studied each window already in the cathedral and found 72 common colors. Each of these colors was incorporated into his design. At first glance, the window appears to be a haphazard collage of these colors, but each column actually mirrors another column representing the timeless reflection of the religion.

During the roof-top tour, we learned that the cathedral has quite a lot of character. Different architects over the years have left their mark in tiny ways that cannot be seen from the ground. For example, one of the many gargoyles is actually a man in hard hat.


The view from the top of the cathedral was absolutely phenomenal.


We ended our day in Cologne with a meal at “The Torture Chamber.” The food was great, and I discovered a German drink which I have become quite partial to called Apfel Schorle. It is a mixture of apple juice and bubbly water, and it seems to have become quite popular among our group.

Schnelling and riding on the back of bikes...

Apparently on Sundays, people in Germany just shut down everything. Everything that is except for the food places....Yay for food!! Now I get excited over any food cause I don't know when the next time will be before I get to eat! On the first day of the actual program, Stephanie and I got to get a tour of Bethoven's birth house. It was amazing to see some of his actual possessions and to learn that he was nearly deaf by his late 20s. When the majority of the rest of the group arrived, we quickly learned the word "Schnell," Olafs favorite word meaning hurry. It didn't take us long to learn that when Olaf tells us to shnell, we schnell!!! We then took a guided boat tour of the Rhine river and traveled up to the Drachenfels which was the castle ruins on top of one of the seven mountains.

Let me just say, I discovered muscles that I never knew I had that day after the "small" hike up the mountain. It was so rewarding though even in the rain and cold to see the sight we got to see at the top!! After the Drachenfels we went to dinner and I had my first German Schnitzel and it was love at first bite!! Since then I have had two more schnitzels prepared in different ways and might I say that I have yet to find a schnitzel that is bad.... The next day was a busy one. We got up early to hop on a train to go to Cologne, a nearby city, to get a historical city tour where we learned about the Cologne Cathedral, a magnificent masterpiece, and the history of how the city came to be. Once again seeing these monuments and realizing they are older than America was an amazing experience and really hard to take in.

We took a guided tour inside this majestic cathedral and I learned that even in WWII when bombs flattened everything around the cathedral, it remained standing with not one piece of stained glass that depicts the old and new testament from the 13th century was harmed. Towards the end of the day, we got a tour of the roof of this cathedral which stands over 60 meters tall. I don't think I have climbed that many stairs in my life and my hips agreed with me the next day! We also went to the cologne Zoo which was pretty much fantastic because I got to get up close and personal with an actual elephant. We got to go behind the scenes and actually touch the elephants when they came to greet us. That was an experience that I will never
forget! The zoo was amazing, all of the animals were so social and happy very unlike the ones in the state that usually hide where you can't see them. The landscape was gorgeous and peaceful too. I got to see a red panda, which was one of the cutest furry things I have every seen, and many others.

The night ended with dinner where I had yet another schnitzel. I could stay in Germany just for the food, but there is so much more. The next day we went to an organic city farm, which was very different from the ones back home. I saw a cold blood horse which was absolutely beautiful and also an attack horse that almost got Cosmo, Olaf's dog, which was rescued by the one and only SUPER OLAF!! He had this look like a mom has when her child is in danger but Cosmo lived and it became a great story. We did a lot of schnelling, a new word that I made up and is now commonly accepted amongst the group and even Olaf said he liked it, and then we had a lecture on Homeopathy which was very interesting.

After the lecture we got a historical city tour of Bonn by the AIB director and finally found out that the big yellow building was actually a university but not before a Prince Elector lived there. Later on Neilz took us to some pubs that are popular with the German students and we began to demonstrate how lame vet students
are when they are exhausted. Once we got on the tram to get home we quickly realized that after the first stop, it began going in the direction away from where we wanted to go. So what should have taken us 20 minutes or less to get home took us a little over an hour. I will say this, we did find our way back which was a huge accomplishment since the group relied on the most directionally challenged person to find the way back and guess what??? I actually did a pretty good job, at least I can say we did find our way!

The next day we traveled of to Utrecht University. Their equine facilities
were super impressive!! It was interesting to see that their school symbol arised from a myth that there was a slave man who had escaped and found refuge in a lions den. After he got comfortable there he realized that he wasn't alone. The lion that lived there was injured with a thorn in his paw so this man decided to help him. Since this man helped the lion, he decided to let him stay. Later on
the slave was caught and thrown into a lions ring or something they used to watch slaves get torn apart for their wrongdoings. It just so happened that the lion that was in there was the lion that he helped so he let him live yet again. This act is believed to be the first act of veterinary medicine by the Utrecht faculty. It was a very good visit, their anatomy lab was outstanding. We had a great party with some of the veterinary students there and I crashed a bicycle twice...I hadn't ridden since I was like 9.... I also learned how to sit properly on the back of a bicycle to avoid the painful postition I was sitting on it before.... It was a very successful trip to the Netherlands and who knows, I may try to get an internship there!!!! Until the next adventure...

Days 8&9: If you bottled a Christmas tree and some mulling spices with cheep vodka it might taste like Becherova

I spent my first free weekend in Prague in the Czech Republic. It was a very quaint town but a definite tourist trap. We stayed at a nice hostel that had free beer tasting as well as the local drink Becherova. The only way to describe that stuff is psychedelic Christmas in a bottle of spirits. I bought a small bottle to take home and inflict on my friends. Prague castle was really interesting and I took lots of pictures. The astronomical clock was neat but was a letdown from all the hype. All in all it was a good weekend.

So much to say...

Wow! I can't believe it's the end of the first week of the program! We have already seen and done so much! I don't even know where to begin. I'll try to keep it as short as possible.
First of all, Germany is beautiful!!! The countryside and the cities alike are absolutely gorgeous! And the amount of history here is amazing. I really got a sense of how young America really is in comparison.
Melissa and I had a wonderful time in Heidelberg. We climbed lots of hills and stairs, but we made it. :) We had some trouble with trains and such when we were travelling to Bonn, but we did our best to navigate, and everyone was really helpful when we asked them where we were supposed to go next.
I was glad we got to Bonn early so that we could see some of the city. One thing that I didn't realize (and I suppose I expected) is that we don't have time to enjoy the cities we go to. By that I mean, we don't really have free time to go around the city and be "tourists". At first I was a little disappointed by this, but then, of course, I realized that we are here to learn. This is a class, not a vacation. So, with that perspective, I take in as much as I can while we are being giving guided tours and soaking up a lot of European history along the way. It's been fascinating so far.
The first city we travelled to as a group was Cologne. They have an indescribable cathedral right outside the train station. I wish I had my own computer so that I could post a picture, but even that would not do it justice. We learned about the history of the city, the cathedral, and even got to take a rooftop tour of the cathedral. That was amazing! We also visited the Cologne Zoo and got a behind the scenes look at the elephant exhibit. Since I am interested in large exotic animal medicine, this was definitely a highlight. I think I got a little crazy with the picture taking. :)
The next day in Bonn, we spent pretty much the entire day learning about homeopathy. I had heard this term prior to this trip, but never really understood what it meant. I'm not even sure I could explain it now. It was difficult to wrap my mind around, but there is evidence that this approach to treatment of animals, and even in growing plants, is effective. Needless to say I learned a lot (even though I don't completely understand it).
So, moving on to Thursday when we travelled to Utrecht in the Netherlands to visit the vet school there. To my surprise, it was considerably more modern than the cities in Germany. Their campus seemed pretty small, but in comparison to A&M, most college campuses are. I was thoroughly impressed by their Equine hospital. It was huge! They had state of the art equipment, and innovative methods for teaching their students. For example, they had preserve horse limbs mounted to a table in different positions to allow their students to practice trimming feet and doing joint injections. In other parts of the campus we were introduced to their approach to veterinary public health, a research project they are doing on emotions and cognition in animals, and a history of veterinary medicine in The Netherlands. The Veterinary Student Association threw us a "barbecue" and we all stayed overnight with some of the students in their apartments. My host, Mathieu, was great! We found out we like the same music, so we had a bit to talk about. I wish we could have seen more of the city, but maybe some other time. I really do hope that they will be able to come over to the states and visit A&M. Now, I and 6 others are in Amsterdam for the weekend. I've heard only great things about this city, so I'm excited to see it the next couple of days.
That was just a brief summary of this past week. It's been a blast and I am really looking forward to the rest of the program. Hopefully I will have time to post before the end of next week. :)

Europe

Wow, we have been running around like crazy!! So far I have really enjoyed everything :-) The Cologne cathedral is amazing...even the roof tour was really interesting. The Cologne zoo is really a nice zoo, they have by far the best elephant enclosure of any zoo I have ever seen, and probably ever will see! It was so exciting to get the behind the scenes tour, especially when the elephants came up on there own and reached through with their trunks so we cound touch them!!! This was a very special tour because they NEVER let people do this!! :-)
The veterinary students in Utrecht were SO nice. Their school system in very very different from ours and there equine clinic is huge! The students we stayed with were a few years younger than us and they took us to a Vet-Inn party, which lasted quite a bit longer than we are used to and we ended up dragging our hosts away!! It was a lot of fun though, and most of us got experience in riding on the back of a bicycle...remember, ride it 'side saddle' dont straddle!! Luckily I had seen other people ride on the back so I knew this..Their living conditions are much smaller than we are used to, I think most of us slept on air mattresses in our hosts room and that pretty much took up all of the room! It was a great experience though and like I said, they were incredibly nice people!
I have so much more to write about, but there is a line for the computers so I better get going!