European Jackrabbitss Blog on RealTravel

Wicklow journal: Last Day in Ireland

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:21:14 GMT

We can't believe our final day in Europe is here. A group of us decided to venture out into the Irish countryside on a bus tour of the Wicklow Mountains. Everyone had a great time and our tour guide was very fun and even announced that Justin Timberlake (aka Obadiah) had joined us on the tour. The countryside was beautiful and it's easy to see why so many movies are filmed in Ireland. We saw the locations where movies such as Braveheart and Excaliber were filmed. We had a final group meeting tonight and everyone felt it was a good learning experience but we're ready to get home, see ...

Dublin journal: Irish Free Day: My Goodness, My Guinness

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:09:21 GMT

After our travel to Ireland, visit to Boots, and fun festivities of last evening, it was nice to be able to sleep in for a bit this morning! The musical pub crawl provided the group with a lesson in traditional Irish music, some fantastic tunes, and endless laughs. I think it is safe to say that a good time was had by all! Today was a free day in Dublin which gave everyone a chance to explore Ireland’s capital city. Most of the group decided to head off to the world-famous Guinness brewery today for a tour of the facilities and a fresh sample of the brew.

The Guinness Storehouse, ...

Dublin journal: Breakfast, Boots, and Bar-Crawl

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:55:09 GMT

Our first morning greeted us with some sunshine and an Irish breakfast buffet provided by our hotel. This consisted of sausage, bacon, runny scrambled eggs, steamed tomatoes and mushrooms, fruit, cereals, etc… and what they call ‘white or black pudding’, which was of questionable origin!

After stuffing ourselves full, we found our bus to the downtown city center where we were introduced to the Boots Pharmacy staff. The Boots pharmacy chain is similar to our pharmacies back home. It offers not only prescriptions, but also other convenience items such as make-up, clothes, toiletries ...

Dublin journal: The 9:15 with Dramamine

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 05:00:58 GMT

There is nothing better than waking up to a hot shower and a box full of breakfast (consisting of yogurt, a bagel, cereal, milk, juice, and a croissant) your fridge, and that is exactly what we started with today. Full of pep and the desire for a new country, we left our hotel for our 9:15 train to Holyhead. The entire group boarded rather uneventfully, considering the past difficulties the group has had traveling. The train took us at a rapid pace through the English countryside. We whisked along the bright green countryside of Britain, past gently rolling hills, grazing sheep, and ...

York journal: Climbing our way slowly to the top!

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:37:42 GMT

Our first morning in Manchester began with only a minor catastrophe. Stacy started the morning out by cutting her finger while slicing her bagel, and then almost fainted at the sight of her own blood. But, a good thing for everyone is that the day went much smoother following that incident. We all met Martin and his wife Anna in the lobby of our hotel at 8:40 in the morning. Martin is a professor at Manchester Metropolitan University and has taught at SDSU in the past and both have friends in Minnesota and South Dakota. Martin and Anna brought us on a day trip to York. Before going to ...

Manchester journal: Royal Infirmary

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 04:37:12 GMT

Tuesday started off as usual, the group taking a wrong turn, or maybe more correctly, not taking the right turn on our way to the infirmary in Manchester. It was alright, though. We had the chance to check out a few more blocks of the hospital and some of the college scene as the infirmary is located just across the street from Manchester University.

In the end, we made it to our final destination at the infirmary pharmacy. Once there, we were split into groups of three to four and sent to visit different areas of the infirmary with our pharmacist tour guide. Among some of ...

London journal: Ancient History

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:40:17 GMT

Today we navigated our way through London’s underground to visit the British Museum. It boasts an impressive collection of historical artifacts dating all the way back to about 6000 BC. One day in this museum is not nearly enough time to study all that it contains, but I tried my best to take it all in. There was a large collection of ancient Greek statues which, interestingly enough, were replicas that the Romans had created from the original works. There also was a large collection of pieces of ancient Greek and Roman architecture to enjoy.

The museum also contained a massive ...

London journal: We're going Ware?

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:35:57 GMT

Today, in my opinion, was one of the most educational days of the trip so far. We visited the Glaxo Smith Kline manufacturing facility in Ware, which is located in the English country side. This is one of several GSK manufacturing sites.

Our day started out quite early and after we became experts on the British rail and tube system we arrived at our destination. Ware was a lot quieter than London and not really the setting you would expect to find a manufacturing facility that is making pharmaceuticals for over 130 countries and employing about 1800 people. The facility itself ...

London journal: Another Learning Experience

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:12:43 GMT

Everyone slept in a little longer this morning since we did not have to leave the hotel until 9 am for King’s College. The pharmacy school was much closer than our previous scheduled activities and we only had to take a short train ride to reach our destination. We found out that London still has a rush hour at 9 am! The train we needed to take was so full that five students could not squeeze in. Then only two of the remaining five students could fit on the next overcrowded train. Even though our morning transit was hectic, we managed to regroup without losing anyone and made it to ...

Huntingdon and Peterborough journal: Monkeying around in Huntingdon

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:09:50 GMT

Today was yet another fast-paced, activity-packed day in London. The day was beautiful, partly cloudy with temps in the upper 50’s. Leaving our hotel at 7:15 this morning, we then traveled another two hours on the Tube and the train to arrive in Huntingdon, where Huntingdon Animal Life Sciences is located. After arriving in Huntingdon we were met with several very official-looking employees of Huntingdon who drove us to the facility. For many of us, this was our first time riding inside a European car, and it was very interesting! Some of us (ahem) tried to hop into the drivers’ side, ...

London journal: Free Day!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:02:50 GMT

After a few full days spent learning about pharmacy practice in the UK, our schedule was rearranged a bit. We expected the weather to be nice here in London, well…at least not raining. What would be best to do with such a day? Well, free day of course! As we ventured out from our hotel we were met with brisk winds reminiscent of a blustery South Dakota day. Although the wind was cold, the rain stayed away.

Despite the mediocre weather, much of the group decided to take a trip to the English countryside to see Stonehenge, Bath and Avebury. The group traveled via train to ...

Lund journal: Crossing the bridge to Sweden

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:28:49 GMT

Today, (Friday, April 11th) marked our adventure to Sweden. We started off the day by catching a train to Lund. Surprisingly, Denmark and Sweden are connected via the bridge-tunnel Oresund Bridge which only takes approximately 10 minutes to cross.

Once we arrived in Lund, Sweden (said like Loond), we made our way to Lund University Hospital. There we met with Tommy Eriksson, a Research Pharmacist and Professor for Lund University. He explained the pharmacy hospital system and some key differences between Sweden and the United States in regards to pharmacy.

Sweden's pharmacy system ...

Copenhagen journal: Exploring Denmark

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 07:29:04 GMT

Today was another free day so of course we took full advantage. We (Maren, Melissa, Stephanie, Alissa, and Molly) ventured out to the town of Hillerod which was a 45 minute train ride. It's a town of about 46,000 people with a nice pedestrian street shopping area and the main attraction is Frederiksborg Castle.

The shopping area had thrift stores, a fresh flower and produce market, street vendors, the typical clothing stores, and my favorite part......the chocolate shop. The only downfall being that, of course, the signs in the shop were in Danish. It was like picking chocolates from a ...

Copenhagen journal: Highlights of Copenhagen

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:39:13 GMT

Today, April 9th, is another day of rest that is much needed after the Nordic Pinse. Most of us needed the extra rest after the late night. The day started with the sun shining...the city looked and felt beautiful. We all set out in different directions to explore the city. Several of us decided it looked like beautiful day to walk around the city.

We first went to Christiania and saw a completely different side of the world. In 1971, the free-state of Christiania was proclaimed. It seems to have started as a social experiment of a community with its own business, social services, ...

Copenhagen journal: ANNOUNNNNNNNNCEMENT!!

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 16:23:22 GMT

Tuesday was a cool, rainy day which presented a new challenge - mastering the bus system. Our morning was to be spent learning about hospital pharmacy at the Danish Royal Hospital (Rigshospitalet). After catching the correct bus a few blocks from our hotel, we were able to find the pharmacy after having to stop only one person on the street. We were met by Eva, who took us to see the area of the pharmacy where they produce cytotoxic drugs and their new Italian manufacturing robot. She then explained about the Danish hospital pharmacies. Rigshospitalet is a 1,200-bed hospital with only ...

Copenhagen journal: Jordon: What do you want as your blog title? Mike: I don't care. Surprise me.

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:33:06 GMT

Sunday was our first full day in Denmark. We spent it exploring an outlaying town called Køge. There, we had an opportunity to walk about the town before meeting with Per and Eva. While walking around town, Jordon, Ryan, and myself found a open, community pharmacy.

The store was very neat, clean and bright. Working behind the counter was a pharmacist and a technician. The technician was quite friendly, spoke excellent English, and answered a few questions that I had about Danish pharmacy practice.

In researching Denmark's healthcare/pharmacy practices, I had read that Danes ...

Copenhagen journal: New Foods; New Friends

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:26:12 GMT

The Hotel Du Nord is very old, as are all of the surrounding buildings. Most of the rooms have twin beds and exactly enough room to fit the number of people. The first night in the hotel, everyone seemed to report the same problem of waking up around 2 AM and not being able to fall back to sleep. Breakfast is provided every morning. It is different than the typical cereal/toast breakfast. There are various breads (delicious), sliced meats (ham, salami), sliced cheeses, jams, cereals, yogurts, juice, and coffee.

Today we met with Per and Eva Hartvig-Honore. I was connected with Per ...

Copenhagen journal: Leaving Amsterdam and Arrival in Copenhagen

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 05:14:40 GMT

I will pick up where Kim left off. As we land in the Amsterdam airport, I am thinking "so far so good." All students were alive and accounted for, everything was on time, and we were finding our way to Customs. That's when things get interesting. As we make our way through customs, a few of us lucky ones received an over-zealous pat down by security. Let's just say it was thorough.... At least they let us through!!

We had another smooth flight from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, only around 1 hour. We found the train we needed and headed to down-town Copenhagen. With suitcases, ...

Amsterdam journal: Crossing the pond

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:04:51 GMT

Departure day is finally here; we're all excited to share some new experiences, make some memories, and learn a few things about European healthcare along the way. You know the trip is going to be interesting when your first attempt at boarding involves red lights and the words "Uh, oh, someone's in trouble." This was followed hours later by a flight attendant apologizing to everyone for having to reboot the entire flight entertainment system for the for the THIRD time. And finally, it was capped off with a crash of the entire Amsterdam boarding computer system seconds before the last members ...

Europe journal: SDSU College of Pharmacy International Health Service Trip

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:57:26 GMT

Join us on our trip to Denmark, Sweden, England and Ireland while we explore the differences between the health care systems of each country, and try to have a little fun along the way.