Here's a look back at a day out with the 001 vet class, on a trip to Paris to study the Evolution Gallery and the Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy Gallery at the French National Museum of Natural History.
A morning in summer camp mode we'll remember for a long time!
8:00 am: The students arrive in groups at Rouen station, eyes a little puffy from getting out of bed, but super-motivated for this day under the Parisian sun.
8.20 am: the train departs, with the entire véto 001 class (nearly 100 students!), and veterinary anatomy teachers Charlotte Beerts, Paula Papa, and Lison Mauchant, in charge of communications, currently writing these lines.
9:00 am: it's the "madeleines" round, with everyone sharing their experiences at the museum, memories of the previous evening, card games and even a few anatomy questions for the teachers.
9:45 am: Arrival in Paris, the adventure begins.
12:15 pm: After an early lunch break, it's off to the Paris National Museum of Natural History for 4 exciting hours, divided into 4 different subjects.
The Gallery of Palaeontology and Comparative Anatomy
2 hours may seem a long time, but the students didn't want to leave the huge gallery!
On the one hand, there was an hour of anatomy presented by Paula Papa, and on the other, an hour of free time to explore the gallery and its various spaces, but also to work in pairs on a project: choose 1 domesticated animal and 1 wild animal and compare their anatomy and name the bones. Louise, for example, chose the rhinoceros and the foal, and Oxandre the wolf and the dog.
The Evolution Gallery
After a briefing on domestication, students were divided into groups and asked to complete a treasure hunt in the gallery on this theme. The winners received a Made in Normandy prize: 😉 kinders (for those who didn't know, Ferrero is headquartered in Rouen and also has a factory there). Finally, on the second part of this large gallery, the students had to find species.
How did the day turn out?
A great success, as you'd expect!
The students particularly appreciate this kind of outing, as it's both interesting from an academic point of view, as it gets them out of their everyday lives, so they're curious and captivated, but it's also great for strengthening the bonds within the class.
I really liked seeing the skeletons in real life, especially for their size, but also the stuffed animal species, which made learning much more concrete.
- Oxandre, 1st year veterinary student
The fact that we were with several different teachers meant that we were able to explore different themes and learn lots of things. It was a great experience, and thank you UniLaSalle for the opportunity!
- Louise, 1st year veterinary student
See you next year for our engineering students' museum outing this time! A fascinating outing organized as part of the course on animal systematics, i.e. the evolution of species over time and their classification.
PS: Thanks to Hortense from Club Zoom, and to Oxandre for the photos!
