I (didnt actually) kissed an elephant and I liked it

So today I touched an elephant. And I liked it. A lot. In fact, I was so affected by this experience that I shed a tear... Or ten. We learned so much about the social hierarchies of the elephants and the roles of females within the group; for example, if there is one calf in the herd, all of the females take care of it. The phrase "it takes a village to raise a child" holds more than true in this species, which is something I hold dear because I, too, was raised by a "village". I thought our tour guide was spectacular and she was so passionate about her job. You could see the light in her eyes as she talked about various subjects to us. You also saw this same look in the keeper of the elephants. He loves his work immensely and it is blatantly obvious. 


And this leads me to my main topic (or controversy) for this blog post. I love animals. I have a special respect for the social cultures of various species of animals and find it fascinating to study. Ever since I was a little girl, I watched shows like "Zobomafoo" or "The Wild Thornberrys" (both of which are horrible child examples) and always awed at animal behavior. From this point, I dreamt of being a veterinarian. I dreamt of having a house filled with crazy, exotic species and at least 100 dogs. However, when I got to high school I quickly changed my mind to focus on human medicine. I went to a medical high school that allowed me to explore the realms of human medicine, and I fell in love. I've always had a give-back type of nature, as well as a love for the body and its functions. NB: this isn't my personal statement so I won't go into detail about why I love human medicine. So, short and sweet, I fell in love with human medicine. Vetmed fell to the back burner, as something I loved to do but never would. 


Certain events spark this interest back up again: VIBS 305, where our dissection was on a dog and I got to learn about canine anatomy; aquarium visits, where I get to visit with the veterinarian and learn all the different *AMAZING* things they get to do; or, most recently, an incredible encounter with an elephant (or THREE!!!!). I'm so torn between human and veterinary medicine, though I'm confident I would be happy doing both. How do you decide between two things you love? It's a feeling I've been burying for awhile but the older I get and the more experiences I have, the more fervent and irrevocable this feeling becomes. So, I'm at a fork in my life, very confused about which path to take. Do I continue on the path I've focused the past 7 years on, working on my goal to practice human medicine? Or do I go out on a limb and dapple in my other true passion, the passion I stay up late watching YouTube videos about? It's definitely a hard decision and one that I'm not able to ignore now that I've come to Europe and opened my interests up a little more. Nevertheless, I'm grateful that I've started opening my eyes instead of being afraid of doing something different than what I've planned. Who knows, I might still end up being a doctor. I also might end up becoming a veterinarian for elephants. Either way, I guess it's cool. ;) 

Till next time!