Are We Being Idiots?

Thursday our class had a field trip to a chicken slaughterhouse and to two veterinary clinics. Like the pig slaughterhouse, at first all went well. The only room I really could not take was the room where the chickens were being loaded on before they were killed. The room was dark with only red light (to keep the chickens calmer..... yea, if I was a chicken I would not be calm) and a layer of liquid on the floor. None of us have any idea is it was water, feces, blood, etc; it was too dark. Anyway, the smell of some of those rooms made my list of the worst smells I've ever dealt with before, coming in second place to the pig slaughterhouse. Going to the veterinary clinics afterward delighted me. I was so glad to be back in an atmosphere that I am familiar with. The first vet clinic was much smaller, with only one doctor and an assistant, while the other was much larger. The two reminded me exactly of Dr. Brown's clinic and NEAMC back home. There was a neuter being finished up, which I guess is exciting to many but I've seen so many that it was not as fascinating.

After we got back from the field trip, many of us wanted to walk downtown to do some shopping. Other groups had walked downtown and it took them about forty minutes, including an ice cream break. So, we should be able to do this right? Wrong. We got very lost and it ended up taking us over an hour to get downtown. Not only that, but it was sweltering outside - over 100F that day. Angie, Elise, and I did some shopping (mostly window shopping) and the rest of the group ate and watched the futbol game. We then came back to the apartments (in a taxi) and had dinner in our apartments.

During orientation, one of the leaders, Thanos, told us to always ask ourselves "Are we being idiots?" before we tried anything "stupid." Granted, we were not drinking and going wild, but walking downtown in that heat definitely constitutes stupid. Were we being idiots that day? I'd say yes. BUt hey, at least we made it back safely - without heat stroke.