Much to my surprise, the sun came out last evening and it is a beautiful day here today!  I will go for a walk this evening, or if I can suck it up and brave the cold, a run.

Today, I went to the vet school...

which is about as old as the US.  

We necropsied an Oxford sheep today...maybe her herd was from Oxford!  

 

This painting caught my eye in the library, as it is pretty and quite famous.  George Stubbs painted it in 1769. He's one of the most renown equine painters in history.  The horse is Eclipse, one of the founding thoroughbred racehorse stallions.  There is no doubt that the thoroughbred is one of England's finest works.  

 A statue of Eclipse.  

 This sticker and a couple of jade plants are in my kitchen window.  

Goodbye Spain.  Hello England!!

 The view from my flat in Spain.  

 Bamboo-like grass in Spain.  

 My last morning in Spain.  

 And my last look at the vet school there.  

 And now I am here and I love it!  This is the view from my kitchen--a field of a dozen of the cutest Welsh ponies and even more bunnies.  Everything is small and cute here.  The roads are narrow and bordered with overgrown hedges with many different kinds of berries.  There are small pastures bordered with wood fences and hedges containing old oak trees and horned sheep or beef cattle.  The soil is brown here--better than the tan soil in Spain--and the land is flat.  It is strange to see seagulls in the fields.  They have more agriculture here than in Spain and grow wheat, corn, and lots of hay.  The houses are all brick and the people are very nice here.  They speak English!!  Although Barcelona was exotic and exciting, I feel much more at home here in the country.  At the same time, London is only 15 minutes away by train, which is quite nice.  My journey here was interesting. The flight attendants would say "bonjour" and call me "mademoiselle".  I could see the Pyrenees as we crossed into France and then the large farm fields in the flat part of France.  The airport in Paris smelled like perfume and I could see the Eiffel tower in the distance once my plane to London took off.  Then, I could see the English Channel and white bluffs on the British shore followed by small green fields dotted with towns.  As my plane descended, I could see London sprawling and the skyscrapers of central London.  

 This is cute.  

 This is the hall I'm staying at.  

 Buddies.  

 This is a sculpture of three horses fighting in the big yard.  

Today, after snapping this pic of a gray pony, I walked three miles to church in the nearest town, buying an umbrella along the way.  A couple of British men rolled down their window to yell "hello darling" at me despite the fact that it was a Sunday morning in Podunk, England and I was wearing no makeup and a trench coat.  At church, the priest welcomed me and told me that a little while ago two American girls about my height had come to Mass and they were runners in the Olympics.  Alas, I told him that I am not an Olympic athlete but simply a veterinary student.  I am fast, but not that fast.  During church, I prayed for my bag to arrive, as it, unfortunately, wasn't put on my flight.  Then, I went to the parish's post-Mass tea and biscuits where the older British ladies all found me quite interesting.  One asked me if I was American after not more than five words come out of my mouth (apparently, according to a girl that I met today, I have a such a cool accent).  During Mass, it had begun to rain as expected and one of the ladies offered to give me a ride home which gladly I took.  There, my bag had arrived five minutes before me!  

The readings today were noteworthy.  It was refreshing to hear them in my language!  The second said that jealousy and relentless fighting arise when we want badly what is beyond our control.  This has definitely happened to me before.  I would pray for what I wanted and thought was best to no avail.  The readings also mentioned that prayer is for naught unless it is unselfish prayer that looks beyond what you want and opens you up to serving God in whatever manner He wants.  I'm sure that much heartache and anxiety can be avoided if we keep this wisdom in mind throughout our lives.  God has left me broken and desolate before, but only to recenter me on Him and doing His will.  Like a good father, He doesn't always give me what I want but does give me what I need, like my bag, and answers some of my other prayers too if they are in line with what He wants and knows is best.  For instance, I am incredibly thankful for my boyfriend, John and I hope that I bring him the same amount of joy that he brings me.  I am also thankful to be able to travel right now and very content to study pathology.  God leads everyone to some source of joy and peace if they follow Him.  

Today at lunch, the Catalans told me about this, castell building, which is a tradition here.  They make the little kid at the top wear a helmet now because the towers fall sometimes.  One of the pathologists said that she used to do this and that they have to practice.  They can make really neat-looking ones and it's kind of an art.  I love their food here too.  Lot's of tomatoes and olive oil!  I will miss Spain.

If there is one idea that will stick with me forever from my travels over the last few months, it is that there are beautiful people everywhere.  My coworkers here are all friendly and fantastic, but there is one that I will particularly miss seeing every day.  Llorenç , one of path residents, I have grown to love.  He is gorgeous, caring, funny, smart, and perpetually smiling.  Despite being his third language, his English is great.  Today at lunch, he informed me with a laugh that an electrical box had blown up and started a fire during someone's PhD dissertation as well as that the Spanish president had simply said  "no" to the Catalans' request for negotiating their independence.  Llorenç is very Catalan.  In fact, we randomly ran into his brother at lunch today and one day he gave me a tomato from his parents' garden.  Like the majority of Catalans, Llorenç wants independence and he thinks it will happen in three or four years.  He said that they need a couple of referendums and time to set up a new system, but Spain will eventually be forced to listen to the people's request.  

Today, I necropsied one of these:  a Friesian stallion.  

He died in anaphylactic shock after admin of colloid and an antibiotic.  That's the down side of medicine, you really never know what will happen when you tinker with animals' bodies.  We also necropsied four dogs, all with classic lesions:  splenic hemangiosarc/hematoma, lymphoma, pyothorax, and mammary carcinoma.  

At lunch, one of the pathologists informed me that there is some corruption in the universities of Spain.  Some of the techs are near impossible to fire, yet very unmotivated to work.  He also said that he thinks it would get better if Catalonia got independence but another pathologist said that he didn't think that much would change.  This discussion made me thankful to be an English-speaking American.  

I've finished reading Exodus in bible and I'm into Leviticus.  I often find that what is in the readings or what I'm reading in the bible correlates with my life at the moment and this is no exception.  The end of Exodus and beginning of Leviticus is all about building the first church and animal sacrifices.  The church building, in all its glory, is described in exhaustive detail and I have seen three amazing churches lately here in Barcelona. The amount of work put into the churches here parallels that of the early Jews in the building of their temple.  The animal sacrifices are also described in detail and remind me of what I see everyday on the necropsy floor.  In truth, the farm animals that come to us are often a sacrifice for the health of their herd mates and continued food source for us.  I always think the same with research mice.  Their lives have inherent as well as monetary value, and they don't go unnoticed or without thanksgiving.  

I went to the art museum today.  I love art museums and this one was enormous, beautiful, and filled with wonderful, old pieces.  

 Cleopatra.  

My favorite pieces are Baroque paintings.  They are realistic and dramatic.  This one is called "The Annunciation".  Painted in Madrid in 1664.  

 St. Agnes.  1635.  

 Some saint.  

 Venus and Cupid.  

 Ruins.  

 Great Pyrenees.