This week was my final week in Manhattan, Kansas and what a great week it was! I started out with class on Monday morning being finished up by a meat judging competition in LME. This involved judging carcases and primals, as well as answering questions. Not only did it test my skills, it was a lot of fun to do it with friends. Immediately after class I was picked up by a friend who worked at the Stocker Unit and had offered to show me around. We drove out to the beautiful flint hills pasture and toured the facility - very interesting and definitely something I want to look into in Australia. Following that, I spent the afternoon with a friend getting ready for a makeup party hosted by a group of girls. We arrived at the party and spent the next few hours chatting and snacking. After that, a few of us met up in Aggieville for dinner - more food and more friends was a great way to end Monday!
Tuesday morning I met with Debbie Lyons-Blythe for the final time. We had a coffee at her local spot and talked family, sustainable beef and the future. I will miss her for sure! I then went on to an hour of class, before being dropped at my friends house for a quiet afternoon. Just before dark, a friend who works at the dairy picked me up for a quick tour of the K-State Dairy Unit and the feedlot section of the Purebred. The dairy was completely different to any dairy I'd seen before, but was apparently normal for the US. It consisted of the cows being in a concrete and dirt pen with individual bedded stalls open to all cows. Following the tour, I got my friend to drop me at dinner, where I was meeting Dr Nichols, Dr Corah and their wives for a final dinner. We enjoyed a delicious grain fed steak and discussed future visits to Australia - I had a great night!
On Wednesday, LME provided a great class again with a live animal judging competition with Simmental heifers (the ones we used for LAR!), Angus bulls, breeding ewes and breeding and market pigs. It was a really fun class and a great last session for LME. I then had lunch with the friend who did the tractor testing with me, as we'd received a $20 lunch voucher for the day! I was then dropped off at the mall to do some last minute shopping - a bad idea considering I already couldn't fit everything in my bags! After the damage was done, I went with a friend for one of my last taco and Nancy's dinners at our favourite spot in Aggieville, Taco Lucha.
Thursday morning was spent tying up loose ends, before we went to Beef Systems class to celebrate. Dr Nichols and Dr Corah provided icecream, brownies, cream, cherries and chocolate sauce to the class while we discussed the semester. Not a bad lunch I'd say! I then met with the girls for my last quarter night in Aggieville.
Friday was a sad day - the last day of class! I attended Repro class with Dr Grieger where we reviewed the semester before he whipped out his guitar and played his self-written song about reproduction; it was extremely entertaining. Following class, I hung out with some friends while waiting for Heather Bruning to arrive from Nebraska. Once Heather had arrived, we set about buying me another bag (see previous issue), browsing shops and running around doing chores. Heather mentioned she had a surprise for me later on, which had me extremely curious to see what she'd planned out. After an hour or so, Heather had to confess that the surprise had been for Reiss (her husband) to surprise me for dinner however in classic Reiss style, he was running two hours late. That news did nothing but make me more excited, and when Reiss finally arrived we had an extremely entertaining dinner. It was a sad moment to say goodbye to those two, definitely the best Nebraskan's I'm certain I'll ever meet.
Saturday morning was spent trying as hard as I could to fit everything into my bags. After admitting I had too much stuff, I was happily able to offload some things to my friend who is coming to Australian in June for study abroad. I was so glad she could take some of my stuff, and even more glad I would get to see her again! I then had lunch with a friend at a local Mexican restaurant, before we chilled out for a while. After an hour or so, I was picked up by another friend to get food organised for dinner and for my last in Manhattan. I had the best and the worst night, spending it with my incredible friends. I was lucky enough to have an entourage deliver me to the airport the following morning and after some terrible goodbyes, I was off.
Thank you so so much to Angus Australia and K-State, there are too many people to name! I have had the most amazing couple of months and will never forget the experience I have had. I will miss Manhattan, Kansas more than anything and I can't wait to go back!
