Science and nature

Agility course for dogs!

Pretty cool, eh? 5-10 minutes from the vet school.

 Hi, friends! So the theme for today's blog, despite being the name of two very famous scientific journals, is science and nature.

First, science. Today and yesterday were my first days introduced to the lab environment here, and they've been great. My professor is out of town with her other two interns on an experiment, so it has been up to others to welcome me. And welcome they have - everyone here is SUPER nice, and they all seem really happy to meet the newest joinee. Additionally, everyone is quick to compliment me on my French and ask how I learned it so well, so that's a big confidence boost and a big thanks to my French teachers and friends over the years!

On Thursday I met up with some of my professor's colleagues, and after some discussion about the lab we all went together to the weekly meeting of the Toxalim team - essentially, they all work together in food toxicology and have weekly meetings/presentations and discussions from the various members - whether students or lab heads. I was introduced and welcomed, and then a  Ph.D student presented her master's research since she had only just arrived to start her doctorate. The subject involved hydrogen sulfide and was only vaguely related to toxicology. It was interesting, but I was still very jet lagged at this point (11 am local time and 4 am home time), so I kept having to struggle to stay awake...shame on me, right? I managed, however, to follow along quite well, considering the material was very dense...and in French. I do have a slight lack of more technical vocabulary, but the people here are very forgiving and insist that this will come. It's better that I have the essential speaking skills down pat, and I can pick up the lingo as I go.

So that ended at around lunch time; I was famished, and a very sweet intern from Lebanon joined me for lunch at the Resto-Universitaire. Veal for the main course, with peas and pork, potatoes, salad and dessert plus a bread to go for only 3 euros? Yes, please! Afterward I went home for a nap, and woke up to enjoy the rest of the day (which I'll recount later!)

Today I went to the pathology lab to visit with the people there! I was supposed to observe an autopsy but, alas, there were none scheduled for that day so it was straight to the lab for us. I got buddied up with a very friendly researcher who showed me what they do after the autopsy - essentially, take chunks of any organs or tissues of interest, preserve them, then make cuts to fix them in wax and eventually make slides to be stained and viewed under a microscope. It was cool to see the entire process, and the woman I was with and I had great conversation while there. We helped remediate some of my lack of French scientific vocab and her lack of English, and we laughed especially over one thing in particular - dog breeds. You know the French bulldog, right? Well in French, it's essentially pronounced the same way, except its spelling is super silly - it is a bouledogue français. Isn't that fun? For what it's worth, a Labrador is both pronounced and spelled the same.

Besides all of that, I'm very glad I know my histology! Because this lab relies on it considerably. So when I joined a very sweet French vet student/master's student at the same time (who also gave me her cell and invited me to hang out sometime! Yay friends!) to go over her slides on the ovaries of mutant mice (that lack a particular estrogen receptor) with her professor, I knew exactly what was going on and only needed to worry about the translations. They weren't super different, so I can be glad that all this science-y stuff comes from Latin! Part of her work involved counting and classifying the follicles found in each cut, so anyone reading who has taken histo with me will know that I'm glad to know what primordial, tertiary, and atretic follicles are! We also reviewed some of the mice's other organs, and they seemed pleased that I was able to tell them the different layers of the adrenal gland exclusively from memory. Yay, histo!

So that's science, now nature! I heard through the grapevine that there is a gorgeous hiking/jogging trail that runs along the river called Le Touch (pronounced "toosh"), and after some hunting and more asking, I found it! It is less than a five minute walk out my door, past the rugby/soccer field and equestrian center (lots and lots of horses!), and it literally goes for miles and miles of beautiful, wooded path that runs right alongside this lovely river - ensuring it's impossible to get lost. I walked for about an hour yesterday and jogged today, feeling very happy and serene. I've got a ways to go to get back in tip top shape, but with such beautiful scenery it seems like a certainty that I will! I'll upload more photos, later, but here is a pic of the beginning of the trail:

Trail marker. Not sure what the head band is doing there!

Not on the trail, but a pretty little windmill on the way to the dog park...that doesn't work!