Where in the World is Meredith?

Today we switched it up and had our lessons in the morning and did our chores in the afternoon. Between lessons and lunch, we started observing the animals we are going to be planning enrichment for. My group was assigned the Black-Backed Jackals so we sat and watched them for an hour or so and recorded their behaviors. We also watched them give the wild dogs their enrichment that we made yesterday (and cardboard animal filled with food). After lunch, we did "camp cleaning" which was making fire barriers (getting all the dry leaves and grass away from the edges of the cheetah enclosures so if there ever was a fire it wouldn't be able to spread between enclosures) and taking down dead branches and trees. For dinner, we watched the sunset and had burgers and fries on the plains. Tomorrow we leave for Kruger for a few days and I am so excited!

Pictures from today! Not pictured is our morning of making blood popsicles in balloons and giving Bliss (the baby white lion) some already made blood popsicles for enrichment.  Vallen the Black-Backed Jackal getting a physical exam  Spot the Cheetah Brenan and Rainah Nova getting some acupuncture Me and Nova 

After spending roughly 36 hours in travel I made it to South Africa safe and sound. Today was our first day and we took a tour of the wildlife center and had our first lecture. My bed in the little house we are staying in   Kolobe - the name of the house we are in (it means warthog) One of the Cheetahs (Nova I'm pretty sure) Spike the porcupine She loves to be scratched behind her ears and on her chest. She also loves to give kisses. Here she is licking my leg while I scratch behind her ears. We are now best friends One of the Bat-eared Foxes The pack of wild African dogs  One of the wild dogs waiting for food Free roaming Giraffes on the plain This little guy thinks if he hides behind this bush we can't see him Me and the giraffes  Beautiful animals with a beautiful backdrop Doing the splits to pick up a bone to munch on (they chew on them for calcium) Molly the caracal

In just a few days I will embark on my next journey, this time to South Africa! I will be volunteering at Feracare Wildlife Centre for 2 weeks and going on a safari in Kruger National Park for a weekend. I am so excited and cannot believe that I have yet another fantastic opportunity to see the world. This time around I am going to try something new and do more photo based blog posts. I am going to try and take tons of pictures everyday and post the best handful from each day with a caption to put together a little walk through my day. I hope it works, I hope you enjoy it, and I hope it gives you peace of mind (mom ♡ ). T-minus 4 days! XOXO Meredith

I am sitting at my kitchen counter writing this last post after my long journey home. I am so thankful to have been able to go on this trip and I learned and did so much, veterinarian related and otherwise, honestly more than I thought I would. I will never forget this trip, my experiences, all of the amazing people from Loop Abroad and in Thailand (both at Spicy Thai and ENP) that it made it not only possible but fantastic, and of course my fellow College Vet 1B girls (and Julia!). Although we have only known each other for 16 days it feels like we have been friends for years, and I know they would agree with me. I couldn't have asked for or imagined a better group of girls to experience everything with. Having the right people with you and on your side males everything so much better and they did just that. I was worried I wasn't going to fit in or I was going to have problems making friends but that wasn't the case at all. These girls were all so amazing and so open and ...

Monday, June 30th 2014 Today was our last day in Thailand. We started off with a light breakfast and packing at the hotel then an early lunch at a delicious vegetarian buffet. Then we spent our afternoon at the airport mall before. I got a massage for a little because I didn't have much shopping to do and got some snacks for the plane at the grocery store. We all got beaded bracelets together to remember each other by, even though we knew we would have remember each other anyways, and we all pitched in and got one for Julia too! Then we went to the airport and checked in. On the way to Hong Kong I'm sitting with Dani and Sam and for the rest of the way home I'll be with Megan and Tatum. I am so not ready to go home and I am going to miss this place, these experiences and the people so much. I had such an amazing time and I am so glad I was able to do it. 

Sunday, June 29th 2014 Today was one of the longest, sweatiest, and most rewarding days I have had. We started off our day with an early breakfast and then began our long trek up the mountain to the Doi Suthep Temple. The first half took about an hour, hour and a half or so and we thought that part was hard! The second half took about two hours and was crazy steep! There were points where we were more climbing than hiking and essentially going straight up, but we did it! It was so rewarding and I couldn't have done it without my girls (and of course the music we played over portable speakers helped!). We were all so encouraging of each other and I honestly don't think any of us could have done it without each other, much like many parts of our trip. Even though, or maybe because, I was drenched in sweat by the time we got to the top lunch was delicious. But we weren't quite done yet, we still had 300 steps up to the temple, that we had to climb in temple wear (shoulders a...