Vets into the Wild

One of the first vet related trips we took was actually inside Romania. It has nothing to do with wild animals, but it was part of the “begining”. It was in March 2004 and the ones I have to thank for are Andreea and Mihnea. They (together with Alina) were the model of the perfect, motivated vet students, some of the very few who knew what to do with a case, who were already in contact with “western” medicine and always took the initiative. Ovidiu and I looked up to them (obviously still do).

That year we decided it would be a great idea to go to Cislau stud farm and see the foalings, since it was exactly the middle of the season.

And…well…we would have seen one…but we got there one hour too late for the ONLY birth that weekend. The exact one hour Ovidiu was late because he insisted he has to take a bubble bath before we went (lame hygene reasons…). Until this day he argues that he HAD to take that bath. That bath was “imperative” for his well being and our “sense of smell safety”. That bath was… an epic failure.

But it was fun nonetheless. We were housed in an old annex building, without heating, bedding or actually anything inside (which made it even more fun). Thank God for good sleeping bags and good disposition. And electricity. ‘Cuz we used the water boiler to cook the famous instant soups, the only hot meal we had those days. We were in the stables all day long, with the stallions, or outside with the yearlings, who I think were as curious as we were.

One of those days we went to Vidra lake nearby. To spice things up, Ovidiu thought it would be “cool” to take a lame excuse for a raft we found on the coast, and just “sail” away… I couldn’t be less “cool” so I yelled at him until he took me on. And we happily floated until we realized we are ankle deep in water and the current was drawing us twoards the centre of the lake. A cheerful moment when we paniked and started to “navigate” to land…

The begining of a wonderful friendship Aaaaaaaah… Those were the days…

Ioana Popescu