Before Auburn Takes Germany

So, I leave. For Germany. In 5 days. That is so crazy to even think about. I can't even begin to describe how I'm feeling. I've never been overseas, so it's definitely a mix-up of emotion: EXCITED, scared, eager, tentative. I've actually never really traveled anywhere, so this is a big stepping stone in and of itself. Secretly, I've always wanted to study abroad but have just never had an opportunity. So, naturally, I have a lot of expectations from the trip but at the same time, I literally have no idea what to expect. Confusing? Yes, I know. Basically, I am hoping to learn more about the veterinarian profession but also learn more about myself. I hope to expand my knowledge in the field of medicine but also of different cultures and people. I want this trip to give me a different, more understanding and knowledgeable outlook on what it means to be a veterinarian and be a part of that community. 

This trip is literally so out of the box for me. I've always been somewhat of a home body with a small part of me that wanted to travel. When Dr. Wasser offered this opportunity to Auburn, I had to jump on it. I decided within minutes of hearing his presentation that I just had to be a part. I had to see another part of the country and another part of our profession. I want to be a well-rounded doctor, and I believe this trip will be an incredible and valuable part of my journey to do so. It'll be a total adventure, and I couldn't be more ready to hop on the plane come Saturday.

Pre-Germany Nervousness

There is a little over one week until we leave for Germany.  I am excited, scared, happy, sad, and a bunch of other emotions all rolled into one.  The only other country I have been to is Mexico.  That doesn't really count, because it was spring break, and it was just a big party in another country, and everyone spoke English.  I am excited for all the learning opportunities this trip presents itself with.  Knowing classmates that went last year, I have an idea of how the program goes.  I am exited about meeting Veterinary students from other countries, working in clinics in Copenhagen, taking weekend trips, and having the opportunity to stay after and travel to Paris and London.  I am a little nervous about the weekend trips, being in a different country, with only a small group of girls.  I am scared for Nils, because there are 13 girls going on this trip, and frankly, that is A LOT of estrogen.  I am hoping that by the end of the trip we become closer and not want to kill each other.  I am sad that I am leaving my family.  I have a 1 yr old son and will miss him every hour of every day.  Just thinking about leaving is making me tear up.  I am worried he will forget me when I come back.  I am worried that I will not get to talk or see him as often as I would like.  I am worried that I will cry myself to sleep at night because all I want to do is hold my little boy.  I know this trip is the opportunity of a lifetime and he will not remember that I was gone for 6 weeks, but it is gonna be my biggest struggle of the trip.  I am also scared about the language barrier and the food.  Being a vegetarian, I am hoping I do not have to eat too much meat to survive over there.  Right now, I am thinking of the immediate future of packing and not having enough, or having too much.

Germany Summer Program

                Whether I am travelling within Texas or globally, half the fun is anticipating the adventures and excitement that I will have exploring new places. Before the trip to Germany, I tried to imagine all the things we would see and do. Frankly, it was a great mental escape from studying. What I failed to think about was all the knowledge I would get on this trip. Yes, I learned a few fun facts about animals, but what I really learned was how many possibilities are out there for veterinarians. I got to see how interconnected the veterinary field is with all other aspects of life. Of course you think of farming and ranching, but public health, government, research, wildlife preservation, and many more opportunities were presented. I knew about a lot of these careers in a peripheral way, but I got to meet with individuals working in these fields and really ask them questions. Furthermore, I got to see how much they loved their jobs, and how passionate they were to share that with our group. What really intrigued me was that some of these people were in their second (or third) career within veterinary medicine. They may have been a large animal practitioner and were now working on government  policy. It made me realize that the choices I make now in regards to my path within veterinary medicine are important, but not final. Lastly, after returning home I started an internship. I had a mentor doctor who was polite and nice and we worked well together, but we weren’t social. One day not long after I started, I brought my lunch in a canvas tote I got at the Cologne Zoo. I walked in the door and my mentor doctor got really excited and started asking questions about my trip to Germany. It turns out that she had gone on the same trip 5 years previous to mine. After that we became friends and I got lots of experience working with her. I guess it goes to show that what you get out of an experience isn’t always immediate. Sometimes you have wait and see where the experience takes you...

Trip To Deutschland

Oh boy, where do I even start. I guess I'll begin with the fact that I had never been out of the country. I had always felt a strong interest for Germany and the history behind it. When I heard about this opportunity to go with my classmates and learn about the profession I love, I had to take it! I had no idea what to expect, and was so excited. From the moment I arrived in that beautiful country I was instantly in love. (Even though it was the WORST weather ever) I love that this trip gave me the opportunity to travel to 6 amazing countries and experience so many different cultures. Visiting the different veterinary schools and interacting with the students in different countries was one of my favorite parts. They were all so accepting and it was nice to know that they shared the same struggles in Veterinary school as we did here in America. My absolute favorite part of our trip was our time in Leipzig at Burgfest (spelling). It was such a neat tradition, and I was so happy to be able to celebrate a milestone for these veterinary students. What a blast it was for them to invite us to be a part of such a fun week. Then there are all of the Zoos. Despite the rain the zoos were fantastic. I have never been so close to elephants, and that was a touching experience for me. Hmm...so many fun things. Busum!!!! What an amazing little town. Clean air, clean mud, and seals! Need I say more. Necropsy on a porpoise and seal and a walk in mud that is spa quality, Yep! Then there is Dr. Wasser, the walking encyclopedia. This man knows everything...and I mean everything! Hey. Dr. W, what's that bird, that turtle, that building? He would spit out answers left an right. The best tour guide of the trip! There are so many more things to talk about, the beautiful cathedrals, the history of Germany, and all the crazy stuff that happened, but I would have to write forever. To summarize, this was such an amazing experience. I learned so many different opportunities about the veterinary profession, I forged a great relationship with people I least expected, and I can't wait to go back abroad to seek other possibilities in my field.

Germany

This trip has been my third trip to Germany, but it was by far the most interesting. My first week back I was glad to be home, it was nice to see my family again and sleep in the same place for more than one night. However, once I got back into my routine I found myself being nostalgic about many aspects of the trip. I loved getting to know the vet students in Germany and Utrecht, especially finding out that even though the programs are vastly different the students are just like us. They have the same cares and worries that we do and enjoy many of the same things.

My favorite part of this trip was truly getting immersed in the culture. We weren't just there as tourists, we got to be part of Germany. The people are so friendly, they don't treat you like a tourist but more like a friend. The food was one of the best parts and I couldn't get enough of it.

All of the activities we were given the opportunity to do gave me such a new perspective on veterinary medicine and all the unique opportunities there are available to us. There is so much work involved "behind the scenes" at the zoos we visited, I have now even considered that could be a pretty cool job. Overall this trip was life-changing and well worth the money spent. If I had to make the choice all over again to go on this trip or not, I would make the same decision in a heartbeat.

Now that school is starting again next week, I suppose I should write my blog before life becomes super hectic again. Choosing to go on this study abroad trip was definitely one of the best decisions I've made, not only was it a great learning experience but I'm so happy I got the opportunity to get to know some of my classmates better. Since I've been back I've been finding myself being the irritating person that starts every other sentence with "Did you know that in Europe they..." or "Well while I was in Germany..." and talking about how I can't wait to go back. I'm so glad we got to stay with host students in Utrecht and Leipzig, I feel like that made it much more of an immersive cultural experience and I loved talking with my hosts about how going to veterinary school there differed from how school is here and how so much is still the same. I'm also glad we got to be there during Bergfest because we absolutely need to bring that over to America and it was interesting to talk to the different students every night. Having to ride a bicycle with my host and talking with people who couldn't believe I hadn't been on one in 10 years also inspired me to bring a bike up to ride to class... we'll see how that works out.

It's hard to think of anything that I didn't enjoy on our trip but there are a few things that stand out. First off, my favorite was getting to go up to Büsum and do the seal/whale necropsies. I did primate necropsies every couple days during my internship this summer and enjoyed bragging about how I got help with a whale necropsy in Germany. Another highlight was feeding the baby elephant at the zoo, that was a once and a life time experience. In fact, getting to see so much behind the scenes stuff at all of the different zoos was pretty amazing. Also, even though I'm not really a large animal person, getting to assist in cow surgery was really fun.

This trip opened my eyes up to so many different cultures and to how veterinary medicine works in Europe. Things I miss the most since being back in the US: the food, the weather under 100 degrees, the super easy access public transportation, the fact that dogs can pretty much go anywhere, following Nils's orange jacket, and MARTIN! He needs to come visit us immediately. Going on this trip was a great experience, I'm glad I had the opportunity to take part in it and I can't wait to go back!

Germany: Looking Back

So I'll be honest, the first year of vet school was a little rough for me. Trying to juggle several part time jobs with 18 and 21 hours of class definitely wasn't easy, and by the time summer rolled around I was immensely grateful for the intellectual break. But I still wanted to do something veterinary related to remind me of why I'm putting myself through all of this temporary misery. For me, the Germany summer program was the perfect way to do that - I got to mesh two of the things I love most: vet medicine and travel. I had never been out of The States prior to this trip, so I figured I would make the most of it while I could still afford to do so relatively cheaply.

The trip was a good toss up between each city's cultural highlights and the veterinary related things found within them. I'm a small animal person myself, so I wasn't as stoked that the majority of our activities were large animal oriented, but I would have to say that those experiences are probably what taught me the most on the trip. See, I've always had this notion that one day I would move overseas, practice veterinary medicine, and then live happily ever after. But the more the trip progressed, the more I realized that for the niche I want to fill in the field, I would have to stay put in The States.

I am very passionate about pursuing a specialty in small animal orthopedic surgery, and there just isn't a great demand for that type of service in Europe. Nothing wrong with that, it's just a completely different lifestyle. People love their pets, but at the end of the day their pets are still just animals to them; whereas in The US people treat their pets like they would their own children the majority of the time. In Europe, the field of veterinary medicine is still heavily rooted in large animals, as compared to The US where people don't bat an eyelash to spend thousands of dollars on their prized pets. I suppose I had always expected that people would feel the same way about their pets over there as they do here, but that's the thing about different places - they're not the same.

I'm grateful to every aspect of this trip for getting me outside of my bubble and helping me to realize the types of things I do and don't want to do within the field. And although I don't have a huge desire to become a zoo veterinarian, the zoos were probably the highlight of the trip for me. I love going to the zoo in general, but all of the zoos we toured in Europe were absolutely exquisite. The enclosures were extensive, and it was awesome to get to see so many animals per enclosure - especially when there are usually only 1 or 2 at most zoos.

I think this trip also taught me a lot about life too. Here at home, I pay for everything with a card and don't really give too much thought to my expenditures because to me, the credit card is like pretend money. In Europe, I had to learn to be more accountable and responsible for making my money stretch for the time that I needed it to. Being in Europe taught me to take time for the little things, like just being quiet and enjoying a cup of coffee in the mornings - to make more time for myself even when things are really busy and stressful.

Overall, this trip was a very meaningful experience for me. It was a non-traditional learning experience that I'll never forget. It was a fantastic way to remind myself of my ultimate goals in life in a way that was both educational and exciting.