I have anxiously awaited the day when I could title this blog post 7th semester; it is finally here. Working hard becomes a habit, a serious kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing your self to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off. It's finally paying off. I didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm actually grateful for my struggle because without it I wouldn't have stumbled across my strength. This is the year, especially the semester, to plan, to soar, to live in the moment, to embrace my values, to take chances, to create, to be thankful, to believe, to shine. This is going to be an excellent semester. Life As A Vet Student
I received my schedule and I got all the rotations I was hoping for: Ambulatory, Advanced Clinics, Dentistry, Diagnostic Imaging, and Acupuncture. It's exhilarating to see all of the clinical applications I will be involved with. My schedule varies most days, so I'm really going to have to stay on top of what I'm doing. Day by day.
On Monday, I was up early to get into the routine for some much needed gym time. Then my classes consisted of Large Animal Medicine II, Surgery Lab Intro, Large Animal Surgery, and Special Species. We had two lunch meeting, one for clinical selections (fingers crossed for LSU!), and the other an orientation for Intro To Clinics. I spent the afternoon running around in town to renew my license, then stopped by the beach to mediate before starting on studying and placing my clinical choices! By next Friday, I should know where I am going in the next 4 months for my clinical year!
Tuesday: It's only the second day and I'm already exhausted. LAM II; Theriogenology (Repro); Surgery Lab II; Intro to Clinics DI quiz; Surgery Lab II orientation (Intro to surgeries and cystotomy/inverting suture patterns). I wasn't out into 4pm, so when I went home I started studying.
Wednesday: LAM II; Theriogenology; Surgery Lab II; Special Species; town for bank and wheel tax where a fun over 10 min argument amongst the locals broke out about a man skipping the line.
Thursday: LAM II; Surgery Lab II; Large Animal Surgery. Yay a nice short day, so time for a nap and to research some externship opportunities! We have been receiving numerous emails a day about different schedules and protocols that we need to follow with surgeries and at the teaching hospital.
Now is the time to start posting all of my items I will be selling, including my car! It's getting real! It's been a beautiful fight....still is.....3 1/2 months!
Onto 6th semester! I am so relieved and excited to be moving onto my
next semester! I am that much closer to finishing! 7 months left on
the island! This is also the hard part of the semester, where you lose friends due to this demanding curriculum. That part will never get easier.
This semester I will be taking Small Animal Medicine 2,
Large Animal Medicine, Small Animal Surgery, and Veterinary Professional Fountains
2. I will have a similar lecture schedule that I had last semester.
Classes are interesting so far and I still enjoy my schedule. I can already tell which classes I will have to work harder in (Large Animal Medicine) I have my aspectic technique demonstration and practice on Friday. This is just making sure everything is sterile and not contaminated when performing surgery. We are tested on it in a few weeks and it will be part of our Rossie.
I think I've said this before, but these first two weeks of the semester are always the most fun. There is minimal material to study and lots of fun events. This week was the semester olympics (Tues - volleyball, Wed - soccer, Thurs - kickball, Fri - football).
This weekend there is PAWS adoption day, Mr Ross and a catamaran trip. I will probably stop by the PAWS adoption day and see my little cuties! It is a relief to not have to be the one in charge of it this semester with my course load. We've had a few Mr Ross practices this week, which was very beneficial considering I'm in all three of our skits. It should be a lot of fun! Videos/pictures to come!
I made it to 4th semester! I'm incredibly grateful for everyone who helped study with me (especially Kara, Ashley, and Amber). I wouldn't have gotten here without you guys! I worked my ass off this semester and I'm so excited and proud that I have something to show for it.
I had an amazing break, full of seeing lots of friends and family, eating way too much (thanks mom), shopping and relaxing! It was much needed, but as always, I do wish that it could have been longer!
Here is my schedule for the semester (the labs will vary). I am taking Pathology 2, Epidemiology, Pharmacology 2, Clinical Pathology, and Mechanism of Disease. If I thought I was busy last semester, this one is going to be even harder.
On Sunday, I was a bit jet-lagged unpacked, checked in for the semester, and got organized for the start of 3rd semester! (Finally) I went out to dinner with friends to catch up on everyone's break.
This semester I am taking Pathology, Virology, Bacteriology, Pharmacology, and Animal Behavior. Here is my schedule, although the first couple of weeks are a little different. I have the bacteriology lab on Wednesday, so I will have Friday afternoons free. Animal behavior is an elective, so that's why it's not shown on the schedule.
Monday :10-11am Pathology Lab, 2-3pm - Virology, 3-4pm - Pathology, 4-5pm - Animal Behavior
I am already getting into the routine of getting to the gym at 7am this semester. This way I also have some time to study after the gym and before class starts. I always hate the start of the semester because you find out who is still in school and who has either failed out or failed back. I always end up losing friends and incredibly hard to see them go.
Tuesday: 11-12pm - Virology, 1-2pm Bacteriology, 2-4pm Pathology
I cleaned out the FCP room from where all our PAWS cats stayed over the break. I've already had several people contacting me about wanting to adopt cats, so we are off to a good start! Iron Man 3 is playing here, so I saw that with some friends Tuesday night.
Wednesday: 1-2pm Bacteriology, 2-4pm Pathology
I've been continuing to update pictures and make a video montage of our Africa trip. There are so many pictures! I'm beginning to get sick of looking at them.
Thursday: 1-2pm Pathology, 2-3pm Bacteriology, 3-4pm Virology
To celebrate Ashley's birthday, a group of us went out to sushi! Yum!
Friday: 10-11pm Bacteriology, 11-12pm Pathology, 2-3pm - Essential Veterinary Skills
Unfortunately, I will be missing the veterinary skills class and Mr. Ross because I will be catching a flight to Chapel Hill to surprise Julia for her graduation! Pretty sure she already knows I'm coming, but let's try to keep it a surprise anyway.
So this weekend, I will be with my family (including grandma and aunts) celebrating Julia's graduation. I can't wait to tell everyone about my trip and so them all the pictures!
So after gaining 5lbs from all the delicious Christmas and New Years food/drinks, it's time to start back to eating right and going back to the gym! It's also back to the warm bikini weather!
So I am just retaking Physio2 is semester and a Lab Animal elective, so my schedule is pretty simple. I have Physio everyday at 8am and lab animal everyday from 4-6pm for the first two weeks of the semester.
Monday was the first day of classes and back to the gym! I also ran some errands in town: renewed by license, grocery shopping, and bank. I sold a few of my old books today as well, yay money, which I then spent on dinner at Spice Mill with a friend who might be leaving.
Tuesday was the first day of the lab animal elective, which seems ok, but I don't think I will be working with mice and rats unless I'm feeding them to birds of prey. ;)
Wednesday was a long day of pretty much nothing. The first week is always long and "boring" because there really isn't any work yet. There was a BBQ at a friends house that night though, so I was able to catch up with some friends. Some friends found out their appeal today, so emotions were high.
On Thursday, I was able to get my wheel tax for my car done in between classes, so I don't have to worry about that for another year.
On Friday after class, I took care of a PAWS "exchange." One of the fosters was leaving, so I had to get her cat to another foster. There was no lab animal class today because he doesn't like to teach late classes on Friday, yay! Semester Olympics had been going on all week, but I didn't make it to any of the games since my class got out so late all week.
This weekend is Mr. RUSVM which should hopefully be a lot of fun. There are a lot of entertaining guys that are representing each semester, so it should be a good show. I will probably catch up and get ahead on some work as well as do some cooking for the week, and maybe some beach/pool time in there!
The semester is already off to a great start when I arrive in St. Kitts on Saturday and wait in customs for one hour, because I chose the slowest line. Then my luggage did not make it to St. Kitts, it was still in Miami. I needed a majority of the stuff that was in there too....Welcome back! Although, the rest of the night went a lot better with dinner at the Beach House.
Sunday I was able to go to the airport and grab my luggage.
Monday was the first day of school! Physio at 8am, Parasit at 9am, Immuno at 11am, Anatomy at 2pm. Then I went to the white coat ceremony to support some friends. That night it was HOKIES night! A huge group of us went to the Marriott to watch the game! They decided to tie the game with a minute left to go, then win in overtime...heart attack!
Tuesday we had two hours of Physio (8-10), Anatomy lab (10-11), then a 4 hour break before Parasit Lab (3-5pm). I actually went home between the break to take a nap since the Tech game went so late Monday night
On Wednesday, we had Physio (8-9), Parasit (9-10), Immuno (11-12), and Anatomy (2-3). I went to the gym between Immuno and Anatomy and I was so sore the next day! My friends who were appealing found out their results today, so sadly I am losing a lot of friends to fails and a few friends will be in different semesters. I had dinner with Kelli that night, and went out to the Marriott to support the friends who did not make it.
Thursday we had Physio (8-9), Parasit (9-10), Anatomy (1-3pm). Again, in between the break I went home to nap from the late night and then went back to campus for lunch. I helped with my first foster exchange this afternoon. One of the cats needed to be rehomed because she wasn't doing well where she was. I was about to relax and start studying, when I got an email about another cat that will need a home....sigh......I feel like the Energizer bunny this week and I'm running on barely any sleep and lots of caffeine.
Friday we did not have Physio so we were actually able to sleep in! We had Parasit (9-10), then Immuno (11-12), then anatomy (1-3pm). I went to the gym again in between the Parasit and Immuno break. I like going at that time because there isn't many people in the gym then, so I think that will be my new time to go.
Saturday night is Mr Ross! John Smith is representing blue semester! Sunday I will probably be studying all day!
First week of school, first week of school! (Finding Nemo)
Another long entry, but everyone's been asking about my classes, so read on!
Monday - Classes didn't start for me today, but they started for all the other semesters. However, I was still up at 5:30am for some gym time. Even though I didn't have anywhere to be until 2pm, we figured the gym would be the least crowded then. I then had a meeting for our Evidence Based Medicine class overview. This class is basically a case study class, where they want us to learn to provide a template for solving clinical problems, developing communication and independent learning skills. It seems like it will be a interesting and time consuming class. The first semesters then had their White Coat Ceremony, which I attended to cheer my orientation team on. I don't get my white coat until next semester since I'm Vet Prep. Unfortunately, my grandpa passed away today as well. I hate that I can't make it to the funeral, but I know everyone understands why.
Tuesday - Still didn't have classes until 11am, but I was up again at 5:30am for some gym time. I then did some laundry and got everything organized the first day of classes! So my first class was Clinical Applications and it only meets every other week. It's basically trying to get us to start learning the mechanisms of acquiring information in a clinical setting. So it basically goes along with the Evidence Based Medicine class. At lunch, there was a PAWS ((People for Animal Welfare on St. Kitts) meeting which helps with fostering and adopting animals. (I'm still pretty sure I will be the owner of a cat by the time I leave the island....sorry mom) Unfortunately, I discovered that I can't do until next semester because you have to be a member of SCAVMA (Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association). You aren't able to be a member until 1st semester. In the afternoon I am in the same classroom for the rest of my classes. (All classes are 50mins long) First was Medical Mathematics and Intro to Pharmacology where we are going to get an overview of writing prescriptions, calculating dosages, and a preview into pharmacology and toxicology. I do have some background in this working at the different clinics, so hopefully that will help me. Next class was Intro to Microbiology, which I have taken before, so again hopefully this will help me. This is the only class I actually learned something in today. Lastly we had Intro to Physiology. I have a feeling this class will be my hardest, but it will give us an advantage in nutrition next semester. It's the exact same teacher and we literally have the exact same notes as the first semesters.
Here's what we learned in Math and Intro to Pharm (click the play button and make sure your sound is on):
Wednesday - Gym time at 5:30am again! I'm trying to get into the routine early, even though I don't have early classes until next semester. Instead of Evidence Based Medicine, we had a library orientation to teach us about the loan system and fees for different things. The recent vet preppers then had a pizza social with the last semester vet preppers and were able to get a lot of our questions answered. I have continually heard about the amount of down time that we have during vet prep, which could be good and bad. My next class of the day was Medical Math and Intro to Pharm again. Normally after Math we would have Study Skills, but we don't have it this week. So, after a small break, we then had Physiology again. Semester Olympics started today, so I decided to go check that out. Today was soccer but we lost. Each semester gets a different color to wear. Vet prep is considered part of the first semesters, so our color is orange...I have plenty of that! However, next semester we will be changed to blue....Julia get me some more shirts!
Thursday - According to Fergie, "I be up in the gym just working on my fitness." I had a new class today, Veterinary Terminology, that only meets once a week. It seems like it will be a pretty straight forward class. There was a club fair at lunch today. I signed up for way too many, but who knows how many I will stick with after I go to their first meeting and hear what they have to say. I signed up forAnimal Behavior Club, the Association of Avian Vets, PAWS (even though I technically can't start yet), SCUBA, Veterinary Business Management Association, Zoo, Exotics, and Wildlife Medicine Club, VIDA, VOICE, surgery club, anatomy club, and probably some others that I don't remember. This afternoon was then filled with Math, Study Skills, and Physiology. I had Study Skills for the first time today where we basically just talked about the structure of orienation and tried to get to know each other better. It sounds like that class will just consist of a bunch of speakers on different topics. Today's semester Olympic sport was kickball, but we did a lot in class, so I wanted to review before tomorrow since I'm sure I won't be doing much reviewing this weekend.
Here's what we learned in Vet Terms (click the play button):
Friday - Fridays are my shortest days. Half of us have Evidence Based Medicine in the morning and the other half have it on Wednesdays. For the next few weeks, I have it on Wednesdays, so my Fridays are free until 1pm. In my usual fashion, I was up early for the gym and was able to get some study time in before Microbiology and Physiology. Today's Olympic sport was flag football, but unfortunately we lost....again A local dance bar was having a party that a bunch of Ross students went to. We met a lot of people from the Windsor Medical School, which is also on this island. Apparently they are crazy partiers, so I'm sure we will be seeing them again. Our taxi driver on the way home asked us if we wanted some late night food which half of our group did. "Late night" consists of gas station burgers, fries, and hotdog bun garlic bread. Overall, we had a fun night though.
This weekend I hope to go to the beach and study somewhat on Saturday. Saturday night is Mr. RUSVM, which is basically where the guys in each semester compete for best talent or funniest skit. Then on Sunday is volleyball Olympics (hopefully we will finally win a game!) and more studying. I don't know how frequent my blog posts will be, but I will try to update you every week with what's happening in my little island bubble!
So this last month has been crunch time!I’m tying up all loose ends and making sure everything is ready for me to leave.I finally received my blood work and health paperwork that I’ve been waiting on for the past two months, paid the first payment for school (this is officially happening, so no backing out now), called my bank and credit card companies, bought everything that I need to bring with me, got everything together for my visa, and bought everyone’s Christmas gifts. School hasn't even started and I'm already broke because of Christmas and buying everything for school.
Take note: Moving around the holidays is not a good idea!Because of the holidays and the embargo overseas, I am only allowed two checked backs, one carry on, and one personal item.Of course, if I want to pay $100 for each checked bag between 50 - 70lbs I can do so.....everything always costs money.So I'm currently experiencing the effects of "being a girl" and having way too much to pack and not enough spaces to put it in.I broke one of my suitcases trying to pack everything in it and had to go out and buy another.I actually ended up buying two because the suitcase I bought could fit more than my current suitcases.So, currently I am at 70lbs each for the suitcase, plus a very heavy carry-on and backpack.I could have shipped some items down for an additional $200, but I was determined to fit everything I needed, since I’m already paying $200 for both checked bags being over 50lbs. Wow....
I also received my first semester schedule:
I think I can finally relax and enjoy the holidays until of course New Year’s Eve where I will be making sure everything is complete, so I can board the plane New Year’s Day.I hope everyone has a relaxing holiday!
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
