Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hannover Animal Clinics / Switzerland

July 15 - 18

We checked out of the hotel early this morning and then toured the small animal clinic, horse clinic, and the cattle clinic (all in Hannover). Although I am not interested in animal medicine I think it is interesting and beneficial to see the other side of medicine, which really isn't all that different than human medicine when you look at it. The technology is just as advanced in animal medicine. THe horse clinic was interesting because like I said earlier the technology is just as sophisticated, the only difference is the size of the equipment. For example, we saw a small portion of a surgery and the heart monitor was beeping and flashing red because it was a meant to be used for humans and a horses heart rate is different than that of a human. The cattle clinic was just as interesting. As strange as it may sound, we all got the opportunity to do a rectal palpation on a female cow. They say it takes 50 or more palpations to understand what your feeling and the importance of the palpation. Like they said it would be it was just a dark, warm and strange feeling.
At the end of our week in Hannover, shortly after the cattle clinic, we packed up our things and headed out to catch a train back to Bonn (for a night then to Switzerland the following morning). I feel that I have spent a third of my time in Europe on a train or tram of some sort.
We had our long weekend in Switzerland which was quite enjoyable. We stayed at the Mountain Hostel which required taking a train, bus, and gondola just to reach the location of the hostel. Time consuming and expensive but well worth it. The location of the hostel is second to none. Interestingly we ran into some guys from Rice which I found to be funny. Our first full day in Switzerland we signed up for Canyoning. We originally signed up for the most extreme of the four Canyoning options but that morning the guide told us it was too dangerous to do because of the rain the night before. Fortunate for us the second option (6hr option) was perfect for us. We repelled down a cliff into the freezing cold Swiss water, then jumped off cliffs, swam through streams, and zip lined through canyons. Quite a thrilling experience. On the last day we spent in Switzerland, we went on a hike in the Mountains behind our hostel; we almost made it to the top but didn't have enough time because we had to catch a night train to Austria so we could meet up with our program in Vienna. We slept in these little rooms on a train with 6 per room with very little space but quite comfortable considering how exhausted we all were that night. Each week it seems like I have more and more fun...

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