Laurence profile picture

Laurence

I am here for Networking

About Me

Well let's see... I moved out to Scotland last fall to attend the University of Edinburgh. I'm getting my masters in Animal Behaviour/ Animal Welfare. I love this city and have met some amazing people. It will be hard to leave but I am excited to go home at the same time. I've just spent three crazy months in India. I am doing an environmental enrichment study on blind sloth bears, so I collected my data at a sanctuary there and then traveled for a month. I hit the beaches of Goa, explored caves in Ajanta, went horse trekking through the Himalayas, stayed next to the Dali Lama in Dharmasala, bungee jumped off a bridge, rode an elephant, and tracked tigers at Corbett Reserve. Overall, it was a great trip, but India is a world of extremes and you love it one moment and hate it the next. I would go back in a second.........................

My Interests

Taveling, Photography, Wildlife, Hiking with my dogs, Thunder, Charity work, Volunteering

Music:

What I love about this city is that every night of the week you can go listen to different music... I LOVE raggae/ funk night at the Bongo Club, the ska band at Jazz Bar, salsa night at El Bario, and the trad bands in the local pub for a chill night. It's real simple, just a couple of violins, an Irish drum and a flute, but they can get the whole place clapping, dancing and spilling beer and makes for a proper night out in Scotland. Favorite bands would be Bell X-1, Feist, the Toots and the Maytals, Buena Vista Social Club, Drop Kick Murphys and Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Movies:

Depends on the mood...Walk the Line, Beautiful Girls, Gorillas in the Mist, Baraka,and definitly, definitly Rain Man are at the top of the list. I am also a sucker for a good wildlife documentary (stop yawning). The 80s had endless classics such as Adventures in Babysitting and the Goonies's. But I have to say that Life is Beautiful is the best film ever made.

Television:

Seinfeld, The Office (USA version), The Dog Whisperer, and Absolutely Fabulous, sweety dahling.

Books:

Just read Holy Cow by Sarah Maccdonald and I loved it. (thanks Meg!) but the fav is My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell and anything by David Sedaris.

Heroes:

Jane Goodall, Alicia Silverstone, Dian Fossey, Ghandi, Gerard Durrell, Nelson Mandella, Oprah, and the Dalai Lama.

My Blog

Article in the paper about my work with the bears in India

Laurence Van Atten sat on the living room couch in her Boylston home under a whimsical drawing of famous primate researcher Jane Goodall and a monkey making faces at each other. "She's always been my...
Posted by Laurence on Thu, 17 May 2007 08:12:00 PST

International Animal Rescue

I'm happy to report that I've just started working for International Animal Rescue. IAR is a small non-profit based in the UK that have projects all over the world. They are the people who o...
Posted by Laurence on Thu, 17 May 2007 08:01:00 PST