The Hannover Experience

Yesterday we all went to Hannover for an overnight trip. The trip over there was about 4 hours and of course everyone slept most of the way. We have discovered the important truth that a bus ride equals nap time. I know I needed that nap because I stayed up too late the night before. One reason was that we always stay up late talking with Gerd and Christa, but that night Katie and I also did a video journal and I called my boyfriend and my parents. I didn't get to bed until 2:45, so needless to say, I was very tired.

Anyways, when we got to Hannover, we went to the Reproduktionsmedizin Mariensee, which was a cool genetics and cloning exerimental farm. My two favorite parts of that tour was seeing a cow beginning to give birth to her baby and seeing a cloned cow. I thought it was cool because the cloned cow was made from a breed of cows that is going extinct. After this we went to the Vet school in Hannover for a barbecue with the vet students at a frat house. The barbecue was really good, and it was fun hanging out with and talking to all the students. I also loved playing with Carston's dog, Odin. He was this weimer who loved to play with his ball. We couldn't get him to let go of the ball at first and then we realized that he listens to German commands...of course!! Anyways, we learned that "aus" means drop, "sitz" means sit, "platz" means lay down, and "bleib" means stay. I had fun playing with him for a little bit that night!! Everyone was having a good time drinking and talking, but I was tired so I went to bed early. The party, however, continued for a few more hours, and apparently it involved some crazy dancing!

The next day in Hannover, everyone was really tired from the night before, and of course we had a packed day. First we toured the Institute for Pathology, in which we got to see a necropsy of a cow! It was really kinda disgusting, but it was neat to see how big the Rumen of a cow is. It was also funny because the guy who took out the liver, dropped it on the floor! The saddest part, though was seeing some dead siamese twin piglets and the head of a dog who choked on his toy (and the toy was still in the throat)!! Later, we went to another research farm where we got to see this robot they use to milk the cows, and the whole technology is simply amazing to me!! The cows come in on their own accord, and the robot finds the utters, milks her, and when she's done, it washes off the utters and the machine!! The last place we went was the clinic for small animals and the clinic for cattle. Of course we had to put on really hot clothes at each place!! At the cattle clinic we got to see a DA surgery and an ultrasound. They were both really neat, but it was so hot in there!!! Then when everyone was exhausted and hot, we got back on the bus to take a nap on the way back to Düsseldorf.