So behind

This week was crazy busy and I just haven't had the energy to write much down.

We visited a bull at a farm that works with "organic" principles; for example, they feed organic food to the entire herd and will not treat any of the animals going to market with antibiotics.  However, the bull that had a case of pinkeye was able to be treated with antibiotics injected into the scelera of the eye.  Do to the location of the bull, we had to bring the chute to it for restrain.  I am amazed every time one of the doctors here maneuvers their truck into each of the farms.  This time we had the chute attached to the back of the truck going through rained out fields.  It was a MUD pit.

I snared my first hog last Friday to treat erysipelas in a 4-H hog.  The hog presented with large red welts on his back along with a nasty fever.  The biggest worry for treating this guy was the fact that the fair is coming up and that any treatments we give had to be out of his system by fair.  Luckily, the treatment plan that was chosen gave him a few extra weeks between treatment and the fair.

Natalie and I tag teamed a visit to an alpaca farm and learned more information about alpacas then I will ever need to know.  The owners were amazing at answering all of our ignorant questions including: what is a male alpaca called? (male)  What is cushing? (showing mating behavior) What's the difference between a llama and an alpaca (llamas are bigger and have banana shaped ears).  We helped geld four the the males and restrained a few females to check for pregnancy by ultrasound.

Today, I was volunteered to help float teeth on two horses.  By help float teeth, I held the head of two horses for about an hour each while Dr. Amity floated their teeth.  Floating teeth is the only way to maintain good dental health in horses due to their ever growing hypsodont teeth.  Basically, we file away the sharp points that are produced by the grinding motion of eating grass.

Also one of the highlights of this past week included seeing a Scottish Highland cow in real life because they are the cutest damn cows I have ever seen (even though this one had pinkeye and was feisty as hell.)

Rolled & Toggled

So far every farm call I go on becomes a marathon.  Today's started out as a sick cow visit with Dr. Miranda.  Her owner thought she was mildly ketotic after having milk fever after calving.  When we got there it was she definitely looked sick and there was definitely some metritis going on.  As we did our exam, Miranda hear the "ping" on the left flank of a displaced abdomen and let me try to find it myself. AND I DID IT!!! (there have been so many moments so far in the first two days where I have actually been able to apply what I have learned in class and finally understand the noises that professors make)  So after hearing the ping, the options to treat her would be to either 1-open her up and perform surgery, omentopexy or abomasopexy, or 2-roll & toggle.  Due to logistics the owner elected to try and roll & toggle.  This procedure involves rolling the cow onto her back and allowing the abomasum (full of air) to rise up to the abdominal wall back to where it should be.  After the abomasum has returned to its proper location, the veterinarian inserts toggles that will "keep" it in place and it hopefully wont flip again.  Easier said then done since you are turning a fully grown holstein on her back for the entire procedure.  After watching it being done, I am amazed at how strong the farmers and their families are along with learning different methods of restraining the animal that can make it go a whole lot smoother.  For examping casting the cow (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWPn0QuJ1ok#t=16s) to have them lay down on the correct side.  It uses pressure points to make the animal want to lay down.
Once she got up from the procedure, she no longer had pings on the left side and hopefully it will heal with time.  We also gave her fluids to help increase her appetite, to reduce the chance of her flipping again.

Sorry no photos :-( I really need to get in the habit of taking out my phone.

Side Note: I placed my first Endotracheal tube in a dog being neutered!! :-)

First Day at East Holmes

I have survived my first day at a mobile clinic.  I am completely tired (mind and body) but I loved every minute of it.  I saw a lot of first today: first herd check, first jerry-rigged cow restraint, sadly my first horse euthanasia and my first visit to a commercial dog breeder.

To bring you back a day... Natalie and I left Columbus around 1pm and began the drive to Holmes County. My phone decided to spaz out so we were down one cell phone and left with a phone that went from roaming to not a single bar.  So of course we made a couple wrong turns.  Traveled through some original towns of Ohio and slowly made our way through back country roads to find US-62.  We also found Ohio's Longest Covered Bridge.  Soon after we noticed an increase in horse manure on the side of the road and we were finally in Amish Country and close to our final destination.  Upon arriving and unpacking, we realized that we passed civilization and the source of food about 20 minutes ago on the road; hopped back into the car and headed to Wally World.  We spent the night at the "Intern" house next to the clinic with Amanda, one of the employees at the clinic.

This morning started at 7:45 with a speed tour and introduction at the clinic before Natalie and I split up to go with different vets on farm calls.  It was one blur of a farm call after another.  We saw a couple cows with teat injuries, a cow with a fever of unknown origin along with checking cows for pregnancy.  One of the interesting checks was at an organic dairy farm.  The farmer had a couple of cows with hoof problems that couldn't be treated with conventional antibiotics so a different treatment plan had to be created. Also at this farm there wasn't a tilt table or squeeze shoot.  We worked with the cow in a head lock and the foot elevated by a rope looped over a rafter and around a pole (I feel  like physics was involved in how I could hold up this animals foot, but I have blocked the physics out of my mind). During this visit, Dr. Aaron used an ultrasound to help determine if the cow was pregnant and I was able to see the screen.  I feel like I kinda new what I was looking out (OSU radiology professors would be proud) but I wasn't sure.  He pointed me to look at the drostproject.org to help me understand what I was seeing and it was amazing.

I forgot to take my phone out to take pictures, but I will try again tomorrow, but now it's 8:55pm and storming outside and I will try to brave the 20 feet from work to home.

A Week in Review

The past week was crazy and I was unable to find the time (or energy) to sit down and write this post.

At CAU, we were able to apply the information we gained from Dr. Liu during the first week and actually insert needles into a demonstration donkey and dog.  Veterinary acupuncture was first developed to solve the illnesses found in horses.  Ancient China, horses were very important because they were used as both work animals on farms and as calvary in war. In recent years however the horse has been replaced by cattle for farm work.  To practice the equine acupuncture points, a donkey was used.  I actually enjoyed having a donkey as a stand-in because it was actually "my size".  I don't think I will be able to treat a horse with needles unless I have a step stool to give me the height I need ;-)  The donkey's skin was so tough to penetrate with the needles that it was frustrating that I wasn't sure if this was for me.  One of the professors traveling with us stated that horse skin isn't that hard.

The next day, we learned the acupuncture points of the dog and were able to practice with a medium sized dog.  It was interesting how the veterinary professors at CAU interacted with this dog.  The culture of caring for dogs in China is very different from the US.  They are just beginning to consider dogs as "part of the family".  Many of the dogs, we saw while walking around the city were "owned" but were free-roaming. Applying the needles to the dog was a lot easier than the donkey and it made me feel accomplished that I can go back home and apply what I have learned.

Last day of class we learned about the use of massage as a preventative medicine.  The presenting professor began massaging her own cat as a kitten and the cat lived to be 24.  Many of the locations of massage are over a region of acupuncture points and she stated that the exact location is not as important as being thorough with each session.  I think this could easily be added to the the discharge protocols for many patients and will help enhance the human animal bond.

Along with class I traveled all over Beijing during my last week.  We visited the Olympic Park from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  It was really cool to visit the site of Michael Phelps amazing medal run and see the Bird's Nest and Water Cube up close.  One of my favorite parts was the wall of Olympians; they had every medal winner's name carved into a wall including those in the Para-Olympics.  I was also able to finally have Beijing Duck.  Everyone in class had talked about the city's iconic food but every time I tried to find a restaurant I was thwarted with poor directions, terrible weather, or lack of time.  I was finally able to enjoy it at the Olympic Village Roast Duck Restaurant and it was worth the wait.


Our last weekend, we traveled to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors.  We traveled as a small group and took the slow overnight train to Xi'an.  The train ride was actually very comfortable.  The four of us had a small cabin and we were able to sleep as we traveled the 12 hours from Beijing to Xi'an.  When we arrived in Xi'an, our tour guide met us at the train station and we were off.  The warriors were amazing to see.  The site was discovered by a local farmer while he was digging a well on his property.  To stand at the front of the first Pit that was excavated was breath taking.  Only a small portion of the warriors have been fully excavated and restored and the rest are waiting to be removed by the archaeologists.  For me this was similar to when I visited Pompeii and the archaeologists were still in the process of finding new artifacts and learning new things about a site that is hundreds of years old.

My last day in Beijing was a day of accomplishment.  Kat and I were able to navigate the subway and bus
system to visit the Harley-Davidson Store and Central Perk.   The coffee was good and the continuous loop of Friends re-runs made me feel like I was back in the US.

With my trip over and safely back in the land where pedestrians have the right of way, I am glad that I was able to participate in this adventure.  My other trips abroad have been "easy" compared to this one.  My first travels were with my family and it was easy to allow them to figure it all out.  My first trip solo was to a country that spoke my first language and it was easy to ask directions and get help.  Traveling to China with a completely different language and alphabet made me expand my horizons and become a global citizen. (wow that sounds cheesy)

(Getting a nifty certificate at the end didn't hurt either)

China Update

I am having so much fun here.  We have been super busy so I haven't been able to update in a while.  Last week, we finished up the theory behind TCVM and over the weekend we had our sight-seeing tour of Beijing.

The first day we traveled through Beijing and learned the history of China's Dynasties.  We visited the World Heritage Site of the Summer Palace outside of Beijing.  This Palace was built as a gift to the emperor's mother and includes a 2.2 square kilometer man-made lake and the Long Corridor that is over 700 meters long.  We also visited the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven.  Both of these sites are within the city of Beijing and are continuously being restored.  The amazing bard of the two sites is though Beijing has had earthquakes that have toppled the majority of the city's high-rises at some point, the Temple of Heaven have never been destroyed by an earthquake.  This is because the completely wooden structure "sits" on the surface of the earth and is not cemented in place.  When an earthquake occurs the building shakes like a table on each of its leg instead of breaking apart.  We finished the day at Tienanmen Square which is the location of Mao's speeches and the only public square in the world that can fit 600,000 people.

The second day I was able to check off another Wonder of the World off of my bucket list.  I climbed the Great wall of China.  It was not what I thought it would be.  The section that we traveled was mostly unrestored, so that means we were going up and down inclines without handrails, with the rocks sliding underfoot, crumbling stairs and an outstanding view of the mountain sides.  On top of the already perilous wall, Mother Nature decided to give us the extra challenge of rain.  It rained from beginning to end creating a now slick, surface to walk on.  he scariest part of the entire section was the stair leaving the "Flowers Tower".  This descent had an incline of 78 degrees and no hand railings.  In the end I would not have missed it for anything. 

This week we have been learning the specific acupoints of the horse and got to actually use this knowledge on our demonstration donkey.  The donkey did pretty well until the last couple of minutes when he had enough of us poking him.  

I will try to update a couple more times this week as I am able.

2556-Long Corridor

2758-Temple of Heaven

2813-Great Wall

Day 1 of Class

Day 1 of Class:
Chinese Agricultural University is a few stops down the road from our hotel.  It's a little too far to walk so we have to take the bus. Not an easy thing to do with 19 Americans during rush hour in Beijing.  From exploring the city I have found it is very inconsistent with whether the directional and stop names are given in both Chinese characters and English characters or just Chinese. The hardest part of moving us from point A to point B is making sure we get off at the right stop.

Our first day of class focused on the theory and history behind Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine.  The history goes back so far that is is incredible to think that it has continued till today with very little change. Dr. Liu gave us a tour of his teaching hospital and showed us over 2,000 different herbs that are used in common remedies. Herbal medicine in China can include plant, animal, or mineral; so along with ginseng root and lotus flower, there was also cicada shells, garter snake, stink bugs and gypsum stone.  This definitely gives a new perspective to the herbal remedies at the clinic.

Day 2:
Today we learned about Yin, Yang and the Five Elements that are the basis of Chinese Traditional Medicine.  The Chinese believe that everything belongs to either the yin (female, dark, static, cool) or the yang (male, light, dynamic, hot). By classifying the world this way, they would describe disease as either an excess or deficiency causing the body to shift out of balance.  So to treat a disease you would need to correct the imbalance and to do that they use the theory of the five elements.  They believe that the everything in the world is made of the native elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water.  The elements are normally arranged in a circle where the preceding element supports the following in a mother-son relationship.  For example, water supports wood (plants growing) while wood supports fire.  Along those lines there is also a grandparent-child relationship that controls an element and decreases. For example, water controls fire (by putting it out) and fire controls metal (by melting it down). By supporting an element, the Chinese were able to treat diseases.

After class, my roommate, Kat, and I decided to wander through the Houhai district of Beijing.  This area was originally a hung but has now been turned into a tourist area filled with coffee shops and restaurants.  There were a ton of outdoor venders that I did some (bad) bartering with but had a blast.  The Ada surrounds a lake and has a few bridges that span the water making it a beautiful place to visit. 

Day 3:
This morning we had class and began to learn the meridians and acupuncture points used in veterinary medicine.  It is great learning from Dr. Liu because we are not only learning the points but the history and the stories behind the points (and sometimes the funny stories of his classmates or fellow practitioners).  We also learned about the different types of acupuncture, some which I had never heard of before.  The main form of acupuncture in the United States is filliform acupuncture.  This forms uses is very thin needles to stimulate the points along the animal and can be left in for 10-30 minutes.  In China, this method is used along with, round-sharp needles, three-edged needles and wide needles for blood-letting, fire needles and hollow needles.  Each of the needle types have an indication of when to use them.  We also learned about the different methods of inserting needles.
After class, Kat, Kristen, Phillip and I traveled to the Qianmen Cultural District to explore the area.  We kinda played it by ear, so I have no idea what I actually saw there.  It seemed to be an older street that was recently renovated to look new-old.  Many of the shops there were western shops like H&M or Lacoste.  We found a small candy shop (or at least that is what we were assuming) and browsed through the many different candies.  Halfway through our browsing, one of the shop girls started to help us pick out the candies that she thought were good since we seemed be completely lost.  We started taste-testing each of the candies as we walked through the district and we realized, what we consider candy, is not what everyone in the world considers candy.  It was definitely an interesting trip trying to determine how to eat each of the candies and what they were supposed to taste like.  I tried all of the different types that were bought but I think I'm going to stick with my Snickers.

Day 1

My feet hurt is the understatement of the century.

We walked around Beijing today to sight see and help to get over jet lag.  We braved the subway system with our amazing host student Hu.  Each subway ticket is read by a RF reader on the way in and on the way out you place it into a slot to take it back.  This system is really cool since it recycles the card as you leave and it can then be used again by another patron.

Our first adventure was through Tanggong Hutong. A hutong is a narrow street or alleyway between homes.  They were initially spacious residences of officials that decorated the doors and roof tiles according to their rank but now they have become more run down due to years and the availability of modern living spaces.  Many have been torn down but many are now protected by the government to save the cultural heritage.  While we explored our guide explained how to tell the gender of the stone lions that littered throughout Beijing: Male lions have their paw crushing a ball, while Females have their paw on a cub and a ball in their mouth.  The ball has to be carved inside and shows the talent of the carver.

Our next stop was the drum and bell towers.  The towers were used to signal time throughout the city.  We were able to catch the end of a drum show and get a view of the Beijing skyline from the balcony (albeit there was a bit a smog).  The Bell Tower sits just North and houses an enormous bell that used to be rung throughout the day marking time, but is now only rung once a year during their Spring Festival.  The steps up to the bell and drums were STEEP.  The stairs were also uneven and this was to deter enemies from storming the top levels.  

We visited the Yong He Gong Lama Temple.  This temple was built within the a palace complex and each building had different Buddhas.  The statues were huge and gorgeous.  Each temple building had altars for gifts and there were practitioners offering incense at each altar.

Our last stop during our tour was Bei Hai Park, a large Chinese garden.  It was built to imitate multiple regions of China and has a large lake and yet more steep uneven stairs to the White Temple pagoda.  Each temple we visited was gorgeously made.  This is also the location of the Nine Dragon Wall.   Which is the only wall ever found with 9 dragons on each side and smaller dragons linking around the outside totaling over 600 dragons on this single wall.  

The food here is AMAZING!!  Our host students have been fantastic about helping us order food and all of our meals have been family style with a lazy susan in the center to share.  It has been a great trying new food and learning to become competent with chop sticks. 

Best part of the day: I spent about 200 Yuan or $32.58

~Katie

♫My bags are over-packed, I'm ready to go...♫

Oh, the Places You'll Go! Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

Every time I head off on a new journey, this book quote always pops into my head.  My mom, in her great wisdom, gave me the Dr. Suess book "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" as a graduation gift after high school and it has never led me wrong.  I was able to study abroad 3 years ago in Boston (I swear it is a culture and country unto itself) and Ireland and I will add to my passport the People's Republic of China.

I will be arriving at 1:45pm in Beijing Airport (1:45am OhioTime) and hope to get over the jet lag by Monday morning for the opening ceremonies at the Chinese Agriculture University for my Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine Course.  We will also get to sight see around the Beijing area along with visiting Temple of Heaven, Tian’anmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Palace and The Great Wall of China

I will try to update as much as I can and share photos.
And with the lyrics of John Denver: "♫My bags are over-packed, I'm ready to go...♫"

13.1 Miles in 2013

My top New Year's Resolution was to run a Half Marathon in 2013. (I thought 13.1 miles in 2013 was quite poetic).  Due to finals, I did not have the time to "train" during the last two weeks leading up the race and was worried about my ability to finish. I was in the last starting corral of the morning with all the other slow pokes (passing people gives me the needed ego boost to continue on), and was able to get into a good rhythm in the first mile or so.  I was chugging along pretty well when I realized I was halfway done and still feeling good.  Then mile 10 rolled around and the foot pain I had been dealing with for the past few weeks flared up as my tape started to slip and cause a blister.  This is also was also at the last uphill before the finish line was in view.  My cheering section appeared (with the lovely quip from my dad: "Keep Going! You can see the finish line from here! or well you would if you were taller").  That finish line was a God Send I was so happy to get over the line and finish the race.  All in All I finished, without walking in 2 hours and 33 minutes and was smiling until the very end.  The people who came out to cheer on their friends and family along with complete strangers was extremely touching for me and each sign made me laugh harder than the last.  However, the most inspiring sign I saw throughout the race was a poster carried by a group of soldiers in full uniform and packs marching to complete the race in under 3 hours and 15 minutes to honor their fallen brothers.

I had been training on and off throughout the school year and with the old proverb of "It takes a village to raise a child", it took a huge support group to get me in shape to run.

Tucker and I at the Vets 4 Pets

I want to thank my best buddy Tucker for always pulling me forward whenever I wanted to give up;Kate S. for running with me at an extremely slow pace and not complaining when I asked to walk;  Pam S-G for first coming up with a training schedule, running a 10k dressed as green idiots and biking with me on my long runs after you hurt your knee; and lastly my parents for showing up to cheer me on at Mile 3, 8, 10, and 13.
I could not have finished without all of your help and cheering.

Pam and I at the St. Patty's Day 10k

Mom & Dad-My best cheering section

The Tart with the Cart

Sorry for the late update. It has been a crazy few weeks but I will try to get up to date with everything I am doing.



Galway

Galway was amazing, Simply amazing. I arrived Friday night and booked into my very first hostel. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be and actually was a great chance to meet people. While I was waiting around in the lobby I ran into the Dan, the guy I sat next to on the plane ride over the Atlantic with. He was staying at the same hostel as me with his brother, his friend, and a girl they met in Dublin. They invited to go out with them that n

ight and I had a fantastic time.

For the next two days I became a diehard tourist. I took a bus tour up in the Burren and along the Cliffs of Moher. The Burren is one of the national parks of Ireland and is home to very rare flora and fauna. It also contains dolmens which are ancient burial tombs.

The Cliffs of Moher were by far the most beautiful place I visited. The cliffs rise from 400 to 700 feet straight out of the Atlantic Ocean. The

y have been used in many popular movies including “The Princess Bride” and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. At this point of the tour I also got my first taste of Irish weather. As we arrived I was able to get a few photos of the cliffs before it started to pour rain. The other tourists and I quickly went to the tourist center for shelter to wait out the storm. While waiting for the bus we wandered around the center which was built into a hill like a hobbit hole. As we left the fog had fully set in and I could no longer see the cliffs from the center. It amazed me how quickly the weather changes on this Island.

The final stop of the tour was at Aillwee caves, which means yellow cliff in Gaelic. The caves were any different from caves in the US and there wasn’t any “wow” factor that I hadn’t seen in other caves. The one interesting nugget that was in the caves were complete skeletons of European Brown Bears that have been extinct in the UK for ce

nturies.

The next bus tour I took showed me Connemara. This area of western Ireland is home to the Twelve Pins, Maumturks Mountains and Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only Fjord. We stopped at Kylemore Abbey, which was built as a honeymoon estate by Mitchell Henry for his new bride. The abbey was fairytale like set into the mountain side and had an elaborate walled garden.

Connemara is also home to the Connemara pony. These little ponies are known for being extremely hardy and good tempered. We were able to spot a few while we were traveling up to the coast.

Dublin

Living in Enfield has been great because I am so close to my work, but man, its in the middle of nowhere. So I hopped on a bus and fled to Dublin for the weekend. I booked a hostel in Temple Bar area of the city which was the perfect location. I just down the alley from The Temple which although it was loud, I got to listen to music till I fell asleep.

I did not have a plan of attach to see all of Dublin so I jumped on a tour bus and saw it all. My first stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It was built near a holy well where St. Patrick himself might have baptized early Christians. Jonathan Swift was a Dean of St. Patrick’s and this is the location of his grave.

The next stop on the bus tour was the Guinness Storehouse. This place was absolutely amazing. I myself do not like Guinness but drinking that stout at the top of Dublin was the best drink I have ever had. The storehouse is the original site of Sir Arthur Guinness’s brewery. He rented the land in 1759for 9,000 years with an annual rent of £45. The brewery has been producing their well known stout ever since. The museum now sits on the original location of the brewery and has a 7 story “pint glass” that you wind around as you go step by step through the brewing process.

After leaving the Guinness store house I wandered over to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a medieval manuscript created by Celtic monks around 800 A.D. I wasn’t able to go in and see it but I was told that it has magnificent illustrations.

I went to Marrion Square which is home to a famous Oscar Wilde statue. The houses that line this park have the famous Georgian style townhouses which have many famous residents.

I wandered through the National Museums of Ireland. The Natural History museum is also called the “Dead Zoo”. It is very similar to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. except the animals are not placed into “scenarios. It was also interesting to walk around the natural wildlife of Ireland and finally be able to name the annoying birds nesting outside my window.

For my last night in Dublin I hung out with two Kiwis I met at the Guinness Storehouse. We began our night at Putry’s Kitchen and listened to an Irish band perform covers of American Music. I never thought “Sweet Home Alabama” could be sung in anything other than a Souther drawl, but an Irish lilt gave it an interesting twist. The guitarist was by far the best musician I had heard in Ireland. After the band finished their set, we moved on to Oliver St. James Grogarty which is known for its traditional Irish music. We stayed there until 2 AM listening to these guys play. They were absolutely astounding and the atmosphere was perfect.

My last day included epic wandering around Dublin and finding a little piece of home in a cup of Tim Hortons Coffee. I walked around St. Stephan’s Park. Dublin Parks are very different from city parks in the US because they have these elaborate ponds with bird islands in the center. I joined a free tour of Dublin and learned some history of the uprising and of the Vikings that called Dublin home.

T minus 10 to Lift Off

I arrived super early to the airport to quell my nervousness of missing my plane. After weighing my bag, I realized I packed 5 pounds too much. After a quick repacking of my luggage into my carry on my bag was out of my hands and headed to the plane. The 6 hour flight wasn’t too bad due to a personal touch screen located on the seat in front of me. Who ever thought that a touch screen on the head rest of the person in front of you was a good idea, I would like to talk to. Not only did the plane have movies and TV shows but also video games. The kid sitting behind my neighbor was playing some sort of fast paced “jabbing” game that kept my neighbor awake the whole trip.

To a Land Far Far Away….

After flying over mundane Atlantic Ocean, seeing land was beautiful. We flew over the entire island before touching down in Dublin and I was able to see the fields and hills that dot the landscape. I arrived in Dublin bright and early at 7 AM…Tell that to my jet lagged brain. The plane was touching done as the sun was rising and all my body was telling me was that it was 2 AM. After passing through customs and immigration, my next hurtle was finding my bag and getting on the correct coach to Enfield. Luckily, I was able to find CityLink buses and get on. CityLink buses are the public transportation that links Dublin to Galway to Cork. Half way to Enfield I dozed off, and almost missed my stop.

Home, Sweet Cottage

Mary, my landlord, came to pick me up and gave the 10 minute tour of Enfield…. That’s sadly all it needed. It’s a small village that has a post office, a market, two banks, and two pubs. Town is about 4 km (~ miles) from Ballinakill House and Mews, my home for the month. The big house and property is beautiful. Mary is an amazing gardener and a fantastic cook. I am staying at the cottage on the property. The cottage has everything that I might need. Mary and Michael have been extremely hospitable and have invited me to eat dinner with the family for my stay.

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to work I go…

My first day at work was interesting. Due to the regulations in Europe about hoof and mouth disease, I was unable to actually go into the bull barn but I was able to view the bulls through the glass. Collections come from the barn through a hatch in the window to be processed in the lab. The lab I will be working is quite small but has just enough space for everyone. Robert is the lab manager and Eamon is the technician. I will be working alongside of them and hopefully not getting in their way. I now understand why they couldn’t accommodate two interns at the same time.

3-2-1-ULTIMATE!

Eamon invited me along to go to his ultimate training in Athboy. Ultimate is very new to Ireland and the team is learning everything from the start. It started to drizzle once we started to play and didn't stop. It was the first Irish rain since I've been here. It was a great time hanging out with ultimate players and a couple of new girls showed up for the first time. It was great watching them learn the game and having a good time. I tried to help with some of the rules but was having trouble with analogies because when I was taught we used: you have a pivot foot like basketball, you score in the end zone like football... the girls had no idea what I was talking about. I still had a great time and was able to swap my Brickhouse disk for an Irish Ultimate.

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

~Dr. Seuss

June has been crazy. I have finished my first month of my internship here is Boston. It has been ghastly hot and humid for the entire stay but worth every minute.

I shall call him squishy and he shall be mine and he shall be my squishy!~Dory
My mom came up to New England to visit relatives and stopped in for visit. We spent the day gallivanting around Boston. I taught her how to ride the T and get from my apartment to her annual convention. We spent Friday at the New England Aquarium and stared at fish. The aquarium has a four story tank in the center that is home to multiple sharks and a few sea turtles. They are currently housing wild sea turtles that are recovering from the gulf spill. Unlike many other aquariums, this one has a large colony of penquins that loudly call it home. We arrived just at feeding time. These little blue penguins flap there wings as fast as possible to help their metabolism. If only that worked in humans...

Who's on first...
I made my way out to Fenway park and did a quick day of exploration. Surprisingly it was in a somewhat sketchy part of town. I did a quick lap of the outside and took some photos before jumping back onto the train.




Tomorrow I head of into the great, wide world and hopefully land in Ireland.

To all of my cousins who graduated this year... Congratulations! Good luck next year and do a study abroad program!

Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it

-- Henry Thoreau

Busy as a Bee
The past few weeks have gone by in a blur.
Work in the lab has been crazy. With Kyle being able to perform kinetic studies while in Ireland. I have been tasked with trying out the new biomarkers for any signal and determining how they bind together. It's been really nice being able to walk to the lab from my apartment. It's all down hill on the way to work....But that hill on the way home is deadly.


Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My! (minus the bears)
I visited the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston. Not the greatest zoo in the world but it did its job of keeping me busy for an afternoon. It was filled with elementary school students on their "End of School" field trip. Lots of screaming, lots of running, so the majority of the animals were in hiding, but I was able to get a few pictures. Left over from the previous owner is a large stone tower. It is called "Sargent's Folly", and is the only structure that predates the zoo. Basically is it a useless structure that the previous owner thought would look "cool" on his estate.

Library
I stopped by the Copley Library which is the oldest public library in the US. It is filled with amazing paintings and books. One of the upper galleries had small dioramas of famous art work. The artist put himself into each of the great art work scenes as if he were creating them. The inner courtyard was the perfect place to finish my book and get a great cup of coffee.

By the Sea
I had a free afternoon and decided to wander along the bay. I began at Fanueil Hall and somehow ended up at Fan Pier overlooking the bay. It was absolutely beautiful and calm. It was the perfect ending to a busy day in the lab, and made this whole trip worth it.



Count Down: 15 Days

The Journey Begins

Road Warrior
I have finally arrived and begun my internship in Boston.
I began my journey on Friday driving from Columbus, OH to Hartford, CT and finally Boston, MA. I traveled 663 miles in 10 hours and 33 minutes. Pennsylvania never seemed to end and the construction was terrible. According to my Aunt I am a "Road Warrior". I stayed the night at my cousins before traveling on to my apartment in Boston so that I catch up with my cousins who I have seen since I played with dolls and not look at grody when meeting my boss.

Boston Drivers are Crazy
The last leg of the trip from Connecticut to Boston flew by in no time, but dear god New England drivers are crazy. It took me 40 minutes to get through the toll road When trying to get off of the I-90 toll road a car crossed 3 lanes of traffic only to return to its original lane to pay his toll. The only good thing that came of the traffic was I made friends some of the fellow commuters while singing along to the radio.
I made it to my apartment in one piece and was fully unpacked before I went to pick up Kyle from the Airport. Yet again I NEVER want to drive with Bostonians again. With the help of my Garmin I finally got to Logan airport after circling it at least 3 times. Garmin also got lost in the tunnels of Boston and was of no use to us trying to get back to Watertown.

Respect the Scope
Today was my first day at my internship. Biomedical Research Institute is only a mile away from the apartment in Watertown. Kyle and I met with Dr. Cohen and Dr. Glass and learned the basics of the EnGender assay and got to view my first slide under the microscope. The microscope has a UV light that is used to visualize the cells that are ready to be frozen. Because the microscope emits UV light that could be detrimental to health, Dr. Glass stated that we need to "respect the scope".

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...No its a Red-tailed Hawk
After we finished the tour, Kyle and I decided to "discover" Boston, but really we wandered around Watertown looking for life and the T. Boston's metro system is called the T; no matter if it is the bus, commuter train, or subway. We used my Garmin to find the closest station to the apartment, however Garmin... was wrong. We walked for 5 hours to get to Alewife station. On the way, we found a group of people gawking up at the side of building. There were nesting birds up there and the people observing them were very excited about them and hoping to "see their first flight". I though hey maybe its an eagle or an osprey or some other threatened bird....nope...it was red-tailed hawk. Kyle and I quickly walked past before we started to laugh. Red-tailed hawks are every where back home and these people were treating it like the 8th world wonder. After a long walk to Alewife station and taking the Red Line, we arrived at Harvard Station and were surrounded my life. It was like ending up in Wonderland (which you can actually do if you take the Blue line)