TravelStream™ news feed for member elizabessie on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/elizabessie en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:05:48 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1235919360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1235919360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1235919360/tpod.html Sun, 01 Mar 2009 10:05:48 -0500 I found the cows. Now I have to treat them. And learn German.

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Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States

Well, well. I thought to myself the other day, I should make a pretty little end to this blog, for those who might be just reading for fun on the internet. Most people have seen me and heard stories in person, now that I am back in the US. Although, it's mildly disappointing, as it's incredibly difficult to work great stories into a normal conversation without sounding like a pretentious fool. "One time, I was in Berlin..." "The funniest thing happened to me on a farm in Germany..." People tell me my story would make a fabulous book. Maybe someday.

For now I am living and working in Elsie, MI. I work for my old vet school uni, in cooperation with a big dairy farm. It's been interesting so far, and maybe the adventures I have here will become a new blog; 'my intern year' or some such thing. We'll see.

I do have big plans in the works...a backpacking trip, job plans for after this year, short little weekend camping jaunts through this year... So keep checking back. You never know where I'll be.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1229788680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1229788680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/germany_2007/1229788680/tpod.html Sat, 20 Dec 2008 11:14:16 -0500 I found the cows. Now I have to treat them. And learn German.

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Hofheim in unterfranken, Germany

Hi all. Apologies for the lack of updates lately, it just is. Work is just work, it's stressful, but it's going. I think the thing I'm most excited about moving is that there's a change-up in my work routine. And, of course, moving into my new house with Kat! I'm a bit excited to live with someone (especially such an awesome someone!) again. I like having my own space, but sometimes it's nice to have other living beings around.

This weekend (in addition to working) I am moving the most of my stuff out of my apartment. I'm moving in with a friend at the end of the year, as my lease is up then, and this is the only free time I have before the 31st! It's amazing how fast one can tear apart a room, and yet it takes so long to put it in orderly boxes...

Last night I learned of the goodness of Swiss Fondue (the country, not the cheese). Veit was appalled when I had never tried it in my short 25 years on this earth, and vowed to correct this huge failure. A few of us got together last night and poked, dipped and ate our way through the cheesy goodness. It tasted amazing!

Plans for the next week include a few different things, one of which I'm most excited about is spending Christmas in the black forest. I was invited to a family Christmas by someone who knows what spending long chunks of time in faraway lands can be like.

I was all motivated to do Christmas baking. Mostly, I wanted to make Chex mix. But, Chex cereal doesn't exist (that I can find) so I'm debating making a modified mix...without cereal. Hm. Tried making puppy chow using a different cereal, it tastes ok... And now I've lost all motivation to bake anything else.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1124820780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1124820780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1124820780/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:14:25 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Lansing, Michigan, United States

Sooo...tales of more trips...I'm working on planning my
international clerkship rotations. I think I am going to do one study
in Denmark, and one in Germany. Then, I am also planning a trip to
Scotland during one of my vacation blocks. How exciting. I must always
be planning...So, Denmark is on reccomendation of my professor
in public health. I would be learning all about their national vet med
structure. They have a database that every farm call gets entered into,
so they can nationally track disease, and also antibiotic use and
residues. Neat stuff. Germany is my own brainchild, helped
along by one of the Doctors from the clinic here, on a yearlong
exchange from Germany. He works in the dairy cattle clinic at the
school in Hannover, and gave me some info on going over there. I'm
excited about going back to beautiful Hannover for 3 weeks, rather than
3 days. And, Scotland...who knows? There are no plans from the three of us going, except that we are going...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119550260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119550260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119550260/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:11:50 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

Ahhh, it is always good to come home. I got in last night after yet
another adventure(remember what I said about that word?) Our plane was
supposed to leave at 12:30pm, so we all boarded at 12, and then they
told us that there were "technical difficulties" and we ended up
sitting there on the plane for another three hours before we could take
off. A 7.5 hour plane ride was suddenly a 10.5 hour plane ride, and
full of not-so-happy people. I ended up home safe and sound though, and
got to see most of my family last night as they were all in lansing for
4-H exploration days at State. So let me tell you more about
Holland. You've only heard the grumpy complaining things that I wrote
either early in the morning or late at night, so here's some good
things...We went into the town of Amsterdam on Sunday, that was
fun, and rather eye opening. Amsterdam has a bit of a reputation for
some not so great things happening there, full of coffee shops where
coffee is not the main thing on the menu, and a rather large red light
district. We wandered around, and did some shopping -happy to have
found some stores actually open when we were not in lectures! We've
been in lectures most days until 5, and that's when most stores close.
Then a group of us wandered off to find the VanGogh museum, a very neat
place, I might add. It was interesting to see the progression of his
work, and the speed with which he painted. He was only an artist for
about 10 years, and rapidly progressed from dark and dreary things to a
french modernistic brushstroke oriented way of painting still lives and
bright and cheery things. Outside of the museum was a great park area
full of people sitting with a picnic lunch and playing ball. Next to
that, in front of another museum was a really neat pool that everyone
went wading in, or sat on the edge and dangled their legs into the
water. It was a great (and popular) cooling off break from the
unusually warm weather they were having in Holland. After drying off in
the sun, we wandered the city some more, enjoying all the canals
running through the city. Some of our girls took a canal tour and loved
it, I prefered to walk and see the sights that way. Amsterdam was fun,
and I loved the park, but overall it's not really a city I would need
to see again...The next day we had lectures all day, some good,
some really boring...do we really need to know the four different
curriculum changes you have gone through in the past 10 years, utrecht?
I didn't think so... But, the school redemed itself by the tour of
their new equine facilities...all you equine people out there drool
away. The place was only 6 months old, and designed impeccably. Their
exam areas are well designed, with different types of stocks for
different purposes, and quite rooms for auscultation. They have easy
trailer access to their colic stalls, and nice ob stalls. They have
monitoring equipment that will tell them when a horse with foal is
lying down for more than a few minutes and will send a page to the
on-call tec, so they can check on the foaling progress. The iso wards
are fabulous, as well as the other stalls...incredible place I must
say. And, the horse doc that led us around was the only genuinely nice
faculty member that taught us. (From Utrecht, that is). Tuesday
was a pretty good day. We had lectures in the morning again, a great
one from a professor at the vet school in Pretoria (S. Africa), who
gave us an overview of foreign animal diseases-an incredibly nice guy.
He does short courses at Utrect, and Cali, and Wisconsin...maybe we can
get him to come to State. That would be really neat. The afternoon was
spent going to a dairy farm, but not just any dairy farm, we went to
one with robotic milkers. That's right, it was incredibly neato. They
have 2 milking machines that are always on standby, and the cows go
into the stall, the machine reads their number and if it has been
enough time since their last milking, the machine turns on and uses a
laser to guide the cleaners and milkers to each teat. It was super cool
to watch working. Kristi took video of it, so any of you out there that
want to see this working, I'll have a copy of that soon. It's a really
neat idea, but I'm not sure how applicable it would be to large dairy
farms. You have to have a machine for each 70 cows that you have. The
thing id full or technology, though. It analyses the milk, and alerts
the farmer if there is any abnormality (ie. mastitis or injury to the
teat). So, that was fun to see. We spent the rest of our
afternoon shopping in Utrect, and ate dinner at a fabulous restaraunt
called Casa de David, and David himself served us dinner. And also
asked Hilda out for drinks...she was wearing that perfume
again...whenever she wears that stuff the men just come to her. In
Canterbury after two different episodes, she swore off the perfume for
a while. The samples she got were like gold for some of the girls on
the trip...Lol, not me, all I need is a cowboy hat and some peonies...
sooo...funny story. After our great Italian dinner, I some of us were
walking home and I had on a (rather spunky) cowboy hat that Barb and I
bought for a friend, and I was carrying two bright pink peonies that
Hilda bought for us girls. We were standing on the corner waiting for
the light to turn when this guy rides his bike past and falls over
turning the corner. I was laughing (on the inside...I'm not that mean)
because it was amusing, when Sara turns to me and says, "You know why
that guy fell? He was staring at you while turning the corner." That
was just too much and we all burst out laughing. Poor guy... So, I've
been told not to give the hat away because it suits me...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119377280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119377280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119377280/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:09:18 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

Hello all. I am still in Holland, and will be leaaving here tomorrow morning, and will get home sometime... :-)We
haven´t been having the greatest luck and or reception here, so when
you combine that with the fact that it is the end of the trip and we
are all tired, people are a bit grumpy. But, all is well. It makes it
more of an adventure. Someone found a quote that said, ´,adventure is
juust a romantic word for trouble., That´s half way true. I do
havee reason to be proud, though. We were supposed to take the bus back
toour hotel laast night from teh student bbq, and the problem is that
we have no idea where toget off. So, we got off the stop aafteer half
of our group got off (the ones that kneww wheere they were going aand
didn´t tell uus...) And, then I took control aand led us directly to
the hotel...how did I know where to go? The night before we got a
little lost and walked along the highwaay (seem tto be doign alot of
that this trrip) and then found the road wee needed, but we were a
level above it...so raather than jump off the bridge, we waded through
some stinging prickers... the story goes on, but the importantthing is
that I figureed it out !
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119204420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119204420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119204420/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:08:09 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

Yeah, Holland is an adventure. We ended up going to find a
restaraunt last night, and found one with a great waiter, named Mark.
He helped us find a hotel where they had rooms we could move to
(although not until today, so last night was quite the adventure in the
hostel). The reason this town of Utrecht is so full right now is that
we have managed to land here in the middle of a few happening times.
First thing is a youth soccer competition, also a world soccer
competition, and finally the Euro-games...aka the Gay Games. Like I
said, it's all one giant adventure. We were able to get rooms at this
Hotel Mit-land due to the fact that some of the teams are losing the
soccer competition and leaving, so although I feel bad cheering their
losses, Yay for the losers!So, anyhow. We are going into
Amsterdam today, hopefully to see some museums and find some good
shopping. I haven't had any time in the past week to look for
anything...hopefully there are some places open in Amsterdam on a
Sunday. There should be, but there isn't anything open here in Utrecht
today. Cheers for now!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118513100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118513100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118513100/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:06:57 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Canterbury, England, United Kingdom

Here
we are wandering around the Canterbury Cathedral...after the short
introduction by the walking tour guide we explored on our own. The
place was almost more amazing to me than Westminster, just because it
was less touristy and so much more open and high cathedral ceilings to
be amazed by. I love to stare up at the ceilings and be amazed by the
sheer height and amazing detail that exists so far above me. I also
love to explore all the nooks and crannies of the church. In the
basement, or crypts, it was very drafty/cool and dark, lit only by
candlelit. I sat there for a while pondering how it must have been way
back when, and enjoying the scenes created in my little brain. My
favorite part of the churches, though, is the cloisters...The covered
walkways around the church courtyard are my favorite place, both at
Westminster and Canterbury. It combines the beauty and architecture of
the grand old buildings with the outdoors filtering in...it's great.
What is it about certain places that make you feel wonderfully
peaceful? I have found this a few times in very different places;
Cathedrals in England, the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland, high on the
mountaintop Jain temple in India. I think part of it is that when I am
traveling and exploring new places, I take the time to contemplate
thoughts and ideas, rather than getting caught up in everyday things at
home. The Cliffs of Dover were very cool. Not very white, but
neat nonetheless. We toured the wartime tunnels that were used as both
a frontline ER unit and a place to plan very important missions like
the Rescue of Dunkirk and the Invasion of Normandy. After the tunnels
we wandered around the castle, albeit in a bit of a hurried fashion. It
made me feel like a little kid playing hide and seek in all the rooms
and stairways... The top of the keep was my favorite place, you could
see the city and English channel (and some of France!) and all the
sheep in the pastures. Finding the White Cliffs of Dover was
challenging, ask me for the story sometime...
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119117780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119117780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1119117780/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:04:36 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

You will laugh....I am in my last country...Holland, and it
has been an adventure. We took the train from Hannover to Utrect, and
caught a taxi to the hostel, only to find that we are staying at the
same hostel, but at a different location. So we caught another set of
taxis to the right place, only to have to ring the doorbell for about
ten minutes before anyone answered. We finally found someone. and they
directed us to our room, which is a traditional hostel, 16 beds to a
room. You should have seen the look on some of the girl's faces. Yeah,
we've been very spoiled this trip staying in some pretty nice places
(Dr. Kumar would topple over). We're settling in now, and checking
things out, I think it will turn out well. I just have no patience for
people who complain about little things. And, the germophobes we have
on this trip, wow! You would think they hadn't ever dealt with messy
animals before....Okay sorry, I'll get down off my soapbox now. So,
we haven't actually done anything here in the Netherlands yet. But I
can tell you about my day yesterday in Germany. We started off heading
out to see this Horse Stud Farm, a famous breeding place of
Hannovarians. You horse people out there will know that this is a very
prestigious breed of horses? I don't know anything about horses, but I
know these were very pretty, and it was amazing to see the temprement
of these guys. They were all stallions housed next to each other, and
there was no animosity between them at all. So, we got to see all these
great horses, then we headed off to our next stop. The town of
Celle was very cute and reminded me alot of Canterbury, England. It was
small and full of history. There were all kinds of cool old buildings
from the 13th and 14th centuries. We got a walking tour of the city
from a great old lady, full of information and stories. Our
next stop was the Bergen-Belson concentration camp memorial. That was
interesting, to see the memorial. I have seen the Holocaust museum in
DC (I think it is) and the Atom bomb Memorial museum in Hiroshima,
Japan, and each one has been from a different perspecive. The country
doing the rescuing, the country being bombed, and the country whose
past leaders caused the violence against the vicitims. The place I was
most affeced, though was Hiroshima, that's the place where I realized
what war meant, and what the destruction left behind. But, back to
belson, it was very intersting, and mostly just left as a natural
monument to the many people buried in the mass graves there. On
that somber note we all headed back to Hannover, and found a great
little place to eat dinner. Once we lived up a bit again, a few of us
headed out to see one of the German vet studetns we met the night
before. Her name is Saskia, and she brought her boyfriend, Benni, and
two other friends, Anno and Ralph. We had a great time hanging out with
them and just exchanging a bit about our different countries and
cultures. Germany has been my favorite place, just from the point of
view that it has been the place where we have had the most interaction
with the students there. So, I will leave you there for now...and maybe
I will have time to fill in more details of this trip leter (with the
free internet we have here at the hostel!)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118944920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118944920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/elizabessie/5/1118944920/tpod.html Sat, 13 Dec 2008 14:02:57 -0500 Adventures of a Travel Addict - Europe veterinary study abroad

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Hannover, Lower Saxony, Germany

Hello...from Germanz. I will warn zou now that the kezboard I am
using is verz different and I donät feel like taking the time to search
for all the right kezs, so this is what zou get. We had a daz
of lectures todaz, most of them good ones, alot on BVDV. Interesting
stuff. Tomorrow we are going to see some things in the town of Celle, a
town that was not harmed much in WW2, so thez have lots of old
buildings and such. Saturdaz we head to Utrect, in Holland. That will
be our last stop. I realise that I have been a bit spottz in keeping
this journal (not a whole lot of interner acess) so I will keep posting
entries after I get back, taken from mz own paper journal, if zou like
to keep reading them. Germanz is alot like home, there are tons
of trees and the weather is verz similar. I like the atmosphere,
everzone we have met is incrediblz nice. We got to have a bbq tonight
with the students, the first of itäs kind on this trip, so itäs alot of
fun to actuallz interact with fellow students here. Allright, I have to
quit being an internet hog and share...I will write again, hopefullz. Love zou all,
Beth
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Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Hello from Scotland... The weather here is a bit cold and damp, but
it's still all good. I am going to write just a short bit in this
entry, because I only have 6 minutes left on my internet card, and I
have to leave in a few minutes anyway. I hiked up the craigs
(mountain-hills) yesterday that are right outside the city of Edinburg,
very fun and beautiful, even though I got sopping wet. I'm having a
grand time just wandering around the city and exploring. The city of
Edinburg is so quaint and historic, It's fabulous. We went on a ghost tour the other night, it was a little cheezy, but fun to hear lots of stories. :-)I
am headed to the airport again today, and then off to Hannover,
Germany. I'm excited for te next two countries, as I don't know
anything about them!
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