Well… it’s been a week since my last post, and things just continually get better. I’m posting a bit less because my trip no longer has a ‘vacation feeling’ to it… but more of an ‘I’m living out my dream everyday’ and I can’t post about everything 😉
This past week I’ve been in both the veterinary office and helping out the zookeepers. It’s really nice because the veterinary office is just below the staff room.. so I can hear when everyone goes on their breakfast break. It’s quite convenient because that’s when the coffee is made.. and that’s my cue to go upstairs 😉
Everyone here is so nice and inclusive. They all have very grounded, down-to-earth personalities, and are all very educated on the environment and animals (of course) and they all have such a passion for what they do. They also have a really good sense of humor… so there’s always a lot of laughter and smiling during work hours.
To name a few highlights from my week: I saw the wolves (finally)! I helped clean up and check out enclosures with the zookeepers- and was up close with a Scottish wildcat. I participated in a Pallas cat surgery. I helped hold an old species of bunny for blood work. I was able to learn about storks and birds in general and I did a necropsy on a baby stork. I was able to watch how they train the leopards and tigers for poke sensations (ie. needles), and, among many other things, I was also able to see newborn urial!
And.. just so it doesn’t seem like I’m only doing amazing totally fun things, I also sorted out all of the veterinarian’s frozen tissue samples and bodies. I organized their data onto a spreadsheet and then moved them into a new freezer. I also sorted through a lot of duck mouth photos and organized them according to the duck the photo was from, as well as created a progress report on the ducks’ mouths. But not going to lie… I also kinda enjoyed doing these things because I knew it was helpful and it was kinda therapeutic!
On top of all these things, I also had the opportunity to go explore the area!
I went to Smögen, Lysekil, Vamsriklandet, and Torp. Smögen and Lysekil are 2 tiny little harbour towns full of beautiful white or coloured houses. They were so fun to explore! And Vamsriklandet is an ecological reserve (and an island) that I hiked around. It was super neat because the terrain consisted of either flat rocks or meadows with cows. Some regions were covered in either yellow, white or pink wildflowers as well and it was beautiful!
I also went to an industrial town called Torp. This area had an IKEA.. and of course, I had to go into it. It was everything I dreamed of and more! They had vegan Swedish meatballs (better than the Canadian ones) and all their design rooms were full of plants and stunning wallpaper. The design rooms definitely had a ‘Swedish feeling’ about them.. and they were very different than the Canadian ones!
And last but not least, I walked around Nordens Ark’s eco-park. I saved this one for last because I think it deserves an honourable mention. The trail they created was so diverse and took you around some amazing places in the park. It took you to the fjord, on top of a mountain, to an old old graveyard, through fields, around sheep fields (with lambs!), and more! It kinda felt like the pirates of the Caribbean jungle cruise at times too with some of the forest terrain. It was also a very knowledgeable trail as Nordens Ark put a lot of effort into putting signs up with information about certain things along the trail, like trees, fields, history, etc. It was a great end-of-the-day hike!
That’s all for now!