Minor Mental Breakdowns Mended with Meals

Yea, this week has been really rough.
I had a minor mental breakdown about my anatomy test the night before and then one of Harvey's teeth fell out for no apparent reason and I kind of lost it... Just a little. I was giggle-crying. There's a chance I was a little overtired...Just a chance...
And yesterday's anatomy exam did not go well. I don't think it really went well for most people, but it was a bit of a horror film of a test.
Luckily it was over and we went out for lunch! But after lunch we immediately started Block 4. Because technically our new block started yesterday, we just had to take the last test of Block 3 first. It was a little rough, but it is so amazingly nice to start new classes. I cannot even explain the joy of putting microanatomy and nutrition behind me. It was a joyous occasion and I would have done a little dance had I not been so knock-down,drag-out tired.

Speaking of a new block....
Here is my schedule for the next 8 weeks!
I start everyday at 9 am, no early 8am days! But I still have anatomy lab 4 days a week. I have anatomy lab Tues-Fri from 9am-12. This is great because we can go right into lab, no class before hand, but it sucks for the same reason because there is no reason not to skip at least part of lab when it is your first class. But oh well, c'est la vie.
I have epidemiology 5 days a week at various times. This is the study of disease in herds/populations. So like when there is an epidemic this is the field that finds out how the problem started, how it can be fixed, exactly how bad it is, and how we can keep it from happening again. The tests are open note and open book....so I hope that means it will go well and not that it will be so awful that even my notes won't help.

We still have developmental anatomy once a week. We love the professor and the tests are amazingly straight forward and pretty easy. It is also really interesting to learn how the body develops in the uterus and even more so to learn how things can go wrong. Did you know that people/animals can be born without hearts or without lungs or with them in weird places? Or that the esophagus can grow like it's supposed to and then just spontaneously become a blind pouch? You don't realize it until your baby is regurgitating everything it eats because it never gets to the stomach. PS. We can fix that. Medicine is way cool.

We are also taking endocrinology (study of hormones/a little reproduction) and immunology (the study of immunity and immune reactions). I haven't had immunology yet, but the man who teaches endocrine is fabulous and hysterical. All you need in vet school is a few good laughs to get you through the day.

No business blogging

Because I have 6 exams in the next week.
2 of which are the cumulative finals for a class that we have had since the beginning of last semester.
But you gotta take time out for yourself, and how else will you know what I'm up to?

Having Harvey here has been awesome, he has been super well behaved and I bring him nearly everywhere with me. If we have a meeting, Harvey goes. If I have to study at night at school, I bring him with. Plus we go to the park and such too. I think he really is having a vacation.

Other than that it is mostly studying. I mean I wish I could say that I have been doing super exciting things, but I really do have a lot coming up.

Last weekend we did go out for my girlfriends' birthdays and we made them Bingo cards for our class. Meaning that they each got a card to play Bingo on and the spaces have things that people in our class do all the time. Some of the spaces were quotes and some were actions
Examples?
"but you said!"
"Will this be on the test?"
"One time....(insert long story about aunt's neighbor's great nephew's dog)"
Cell phone ringing

So they were fun to make and fun to read over and weren't super expensive!

So finals week in vet school is like finals week in undergrad only harder.
There are more tests, with more on them, and less time.
But it is doable I believe. What is important is to try to spend a little time on everything and to try to remember what classes are the most important. For example, I am not doing very well in nutrition, so that makes me want to study for it like no body's business, but that would be silly because it is worth hardly any credits where as my microanatomy class is worth quite a bit and the final is cumulative...and part of it is tomorrow. So that is what I should be doing.

Shame on you all for distracting me. Tsk, tsk....

Pandora Makes My Day Epic Again

Ok I really do have work to do, but I had to tell y'all about how pandora.com is rocking my world. So it predicts what I want to listen to and sometimes it feels like someone is making a little life soundtrack for me.

And today, when I have so much work to do and it is right before finals, it plays one of my favorite songs!

Listen to it and your day will feel like it is going to be EPIC!
So watch it but ignore Micheal Bolton's bad hair.
Don't forget to click subscribe by email. Just put your email address in to your right and hit submit and evertime I post you will get an email. It's pretty handy and that's all you'll get I promise :-)

So much awesome

Well OK, not everything is awesome. My darling dog does not like being in his kennel when he can hear people downstairs. Thus he felt the need to bark the entire time my roommate was getting ready this morning. One of my roomies does not have class today, so I doubt she appreciated the barking....

But other than that! The dogs get along great. They play and the nap then they play some more. Both are well behaved (except for H-man's slight barking issue) and they love everyone. Couldn't ask for more except for spontaneous largyngitis causing Harvey to lose his voice, hey a girl can dream can't she?

I got into the VRSP program and so did one of my good friends and my roommate! The big symposium where we present our research is in Colorado, and we get to go to it for free. VRSP pays for everything all summer, all trips, all travel, everything we do as a group. Plus I get paid and get a chance to work with one of the clinicians at the hospital doing research on sepsis ( an infection in the body). I also get to go to her house next week and eat dinner and talk sepsis with people smarter than me. Hopefully this will help me when I get to the classes that go with this topic, but if nothing else it is a great networking and learning experience. Maybe I'll figure out what I wanna do with my life....

The boyfriend is at his second set of interviews and likes this school better than he liked the first one. I think it is so cool that he gets to meet all kinds of people and see so many schools. He loves universities and education stuff, so of course he is enjoying himself. I can't wait to find out where he is going and for me to get to listen to someone else talk about their education that is not vet school related. Yay! Also he got me earrings made by the tribe Miami is named for. It's from the trip where he met the chief of the tribe, no big deal :-)

I also got to go to Truman State and talk to the prevent club their with one of my friends. I swear we could talk about vet school forever. It reminds you how cool it is and how much the interview process was terrifying. They had lots of questions about the Mizzou interview and my advice to anyone is as follows.
In the interviews:
- stay calm, they are not trying to triclk you, they want to get to know you
- if you don't know an answer, say so. They can tell when you BS
- know your weaknesses and be able to explain them, I had C's in O chem and you can best believe I was asked about them. And I still got in :-)
- dress professionally
- do a little research on current events in vet med
- go to student doctor network ( Google it). They have a place where people who interviewed post their thoughts and a few questions they got asked, it really helped me prepare

It is such a fun experience to be here and to look back on a time where I thought I wouldn't get in!
In the store yesterday, the bagger said I had a nice selection of food (I had veggies, fruits, yogurts, chicken, hummus, you know...healthy stuff) and then asked me if I cooked much. I said I was usually busy because I was in vet school but that when I did I freeze it and heat it up later. Then the cashier goes "oh you're in vet school? That was always my dream"
It made me feel two things:
- empathy because obviously it was a dream she let go
- grateful for being able to pursue my dreams.

I have a clinical skills final tonight which I think will go fine and then we get to celebrate 2 of my friends birthdays with Mexican food and margaritas! Yay!
Have a great day all and Happy Birthday Miami University! Congrats on 203 years of being awesome!

Being besties

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I am in class...bad Bree

I am in class but I wanted to update y'all on life!

My harv man is a joy to be around and is being a perfect angel.
Except he ate my laptop cord.
But it was an accident.
He was trying to bury the rawhide behind my back on the couch and it accidentally got in his mouth so what's a dog to do?
That's what he told me when I freaked out about it.
May have mentioned it to the boyfriend every time I have talked to him since it happened. In a whiny voice. Loudly....don't know why he puts up with me.

But he and Dynia play hard and then spend most of their time together napping, sometimes together. I'll post pics of it after this post. It will be hard for all of us when we give him back :-(

Did you know that heart problems are the most common congenital defect? Oh the things you learn in class.

Had a nutrition test yesterday. That class makes me lose the will to live. It is taught so poorly and there was so much information and so much memorizing and I did SO poorly. But is OK because a lot of people did crappy and I'm not gonna fail. But it was still a sad sad day for me. But it was also my short day so I went home and took a nap with my roommate's dog and that made everything better. Also made some ham and potatoe soup in the crockpot and felt like Betty Crocker. Win.

I got invited to Sepsis/ SIRS rounds at the Dr. Who I want to do research with's house. Apparently her and the people who do research with her meet once a month and she cooks and everyone socializes and then discusses a paper on sepsis. I am a little nervous to go but I am also really excited because I was included in her mass email about it which makes me think that I will be getting into the research program this summer. I ally do wish I had a single solitary clue what I was doing with my life, but it is kind of exciting to explore all my options. And I will get so god at drawing blood which would be really nice because I have only done it a couple of times and it is a really important skill that you don't get to practice much in school. You learn medecine and how to diagnose but the practical skills are something you get during clinics or out in practice. Any chance I have to practice is great.

Tomorrow my girlfriends and I are having a potluck like we do almost every weekend and I am making chocolate lava cake in the crockpot which sounds soooo delicious. It is so fun to have people to cook for and to hang out with. I love all my v school girls. Yesterday we did tabata ( the workout where you do an exercise really intensly for 20 seconds then rest for 10 seconds and do that for 30 min) and there were 8 of us from our class there. I like that I always see someone from class at the rec. Plus I did tabata twice in one week which was a goal of mine because it kicks my booty so I used to only be able to do it once a week.

For spring break I am going to see the boy from Sat until Thurs. Then on Thurs I will be going to stay in a cabin in the Smokey mountains in Gatlinburg with my girlfriends for my friend bachelorette party. Hiking in one of the most beautiful places in earth? Hell yea! Plus for SAVMA symposium my friend and I both got spots on the trip for  the Shedd Aquarium, my other favorite place on earth. The architecture is gorgeous, it's on the lake, and there are beluga whales. Love it so much. Well worth the $30. I also got a spot in a wet lab for canine chiropractics so that should be really fun too!

OK now time for more class :-)

Poor Addie

Things that make the Addie-cat's life sad.

-Mom leaving. Distaste shown by waking up my roommate for snuggles every hour on the hour from 4am until she gets up.

-Mom returning with the frenemy dog. Distaste shown by hiding under various objects end hissing at said dog.

- Being accidentally locked out of the bedroom when she leaves to check for bugs downstairs when mom goes to the bathroom. Distaste shown with pitiful looks in the morning.

- there being 2 dogs downstairs now. Distaste not shown but implied.

She isn't really that upset, but I do feel a little bit bad for her. Not the purring happy reunion she had been anticipating :)

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