Vet School is a Rollercoaster...

...And I am always stressed but happy. And it is that last bit that is the most important.

Have taken 3 (but really 5 because 2 of them had 2 huge parts) and have done decently on all of them. However, now that I realize I probably won't fail, that has made me a little more particular about the grades I get. Whether this makes me more stressed or not, we will have to see. But right now? So happy to be doing alright!

As for the Raptor Rehab, I said I would give more details, so....

Hoot Camp was great. They gave us a tour of the facility and explained a lot of handling techniques and ways to get more involved with the program. I learned how to put together the jesses, leashes and such for the birds. It sounds easy, but you have to put everything together and attach it to the bird with only one hand (because the other has a glove with a raptor sitting on it). The bird I got to work with was Hephaestus, a little kestrel. He is full of personality and it was so neat to have him on my hand and to just see him watching me. Unlike dogs and cats, who usually portray their feelings rather well, it was so captivating just looking at him because I have no concept of avian body language. Plus it is a huge show of trust when they step onto your hand because they cannot fly away (you have a hold on the jess and the leash so they can't fly off) and they are trusting that you will be a steady perch. The steady perch is a lot easier with Heph because he only weighed about 100 grams and didn't make my arm very tired.

Heph and I

I really should be studying, so I will just explain about the education side of things for now.

After I set up a few more sessions with the trainer (about 5 hrs) with Heph, I will have a chance to be "checked off" on him. This means another trainer will make sure that I know how to feed him, know where things get put away, am able to put the jesses on and remain calm and in control while handling him. Once I am checked off, I will get the code to the compound and will be able to go whenever I want to practice handling or I can sign up to feed the birds, etc... I will also be able to be the handler for Heph when we go to education things such as school presentations about raptors.

Once I am checked off on Heph, I can work with any of the other Tier 1 (easier) birds. There are about 4 or 5 including Owliver the great horned owl. I go through the same checking off process as before and then will be able to handle him or her at presentations as well. If I get checked off on all the Tier 1 birds, I can move on to Tier 2.

Tier 2 birds are little more shy, or a little harder to handle for various reasons. The main reason I am dying to get there is to handle the vulture we have - Sir P. Vultures are the only social raptor, so unlike the others who tolerate our presence and handling, he actually wants interaction. What makes him Tier 2 is that he is social and therefore has a literal pecking order. If you go in without confidence, you may get a little beat up by the big man :-) I just love vultures' goofy personalities, so that is my goal.

So I am very excited about this club. I can devote as much time as I want, and I can advance as my schedule allows. Plus how many people can say they have the opportunity to handle big birds of prey on a regular basis?

Also I got a job working with the After Hours Clinic crew in the ICU. This is a great way to make some money, learn more about the teaching hospital, meet the technicians, and generally get to practice a little medicine. I have been really missing my job at my clinic in Ohio, and I am hoping that this will help out a little. Plus I will get to work on my technical skills so they don't disappear.

...oh and sometimes I will work  overnights.... 11pm -7am....

We'll see how that goes...

Loving it still though! Not during class, but those in between times, and when I realize that I am ACTUALLY learning things? That is fantastic.

Me, Loving Vet School :-)

Vet School = Busy

So I cannot believe I have been in school for 3 weeks already!
It has been going very quickly, but I am really enjoying myself. I never knew how much my brain can hold but let me tell ya, school is testing the limits.

We had our first few exams. Luckily the first was a Cell Biology class which undergrads can take and which is more basic than a lot of our other classes. So it was like a little wading pool/kiddie pool type test before they tossed us into the deep end with anatomy.

Oh anatomy? Only 3 hours worth of test. 1.5 hrs written and 1.5 hrs of practical exam which consisted of us correctly identifying tagged muscles/veins/arteries/nerves/bones etc... and knowing what they do. But it's over and I did alright. Woo!


Then we had the Smoker which the second years put on the night after our first anatomy exam. Beer, shots, cigars, dancing, funny videos, and all around good times ensued and we really needed it. It wasn't that the test was so bad, but the stress leading up to it? Wow.

In addition to Anatomy (study of the actual body parts) and Cell bio (study of things inside cells), I also have physiology (study of how the body actually works) and microanatomy (study of cells and tissues and such).

My schedule looks like this (ish) most weeks.

• Monday - Class 8-10; Micro Lab 10-noon
• Tuesday- Class 9-10; Anatomy Lab 10-1pm; Lunch!; Class 2-5 (ew)
• Wed - Class 8-10; Break 10-noon; Micro Lab noon-2
• Thurs - Same as Tues
• Friday - Class 9-10; Anatomy Lab 10-1pm; Lunch!; Physio Lab 2-5 (but sometimes this is on Wed instead....)

So it is busy, but good!

I also got to go to Raptor (big birds of prey) Rehab boot camp today and actually work with a bird on a glove. Which is sweet (and worth 2 in the bush! ha ha....) But I'll give you more details on that later. I have to get back to work on the subjects I blew off last week!

...or play with my roommates dog.....

We'll see.

The First Week

I've heard from various people that vet school is like trying to take a drink from a firehose.

It is exactly like that so far. I just get a ton of information thrown at me at once, and so far it isn't hard, it isn't complicated, it's just a lot. For example: the shoulder blade, or scapula, has around 15 little bits on it. Different faces, sides, bumps or tubercles, cavities and tuberosities. And that is the easiest of the bones we have learned so far.

But we do get to dissect things.
We each have a dog and cat to dissect. They are kept on the left side of the freezer and we can get to them whenever we want to. We have to walk past the cows and horses that are chilling in the freezer (haha accidental pun) for us to dissect next semester.

Now we have named our dog Cujo. Because his face is frozen in a snarl and he is a pit bull. During dissection I frequently pat him on the head and when I bump into him, I apologize. Because as much I like dissecting him, I like seeing the muscles and how things work, I get excited when I see an organ and know what it is, but I also appreciate that he used to be a dog. And because I think that he was a shelter dog and probably unadoptable, I feel bad that he didn't get a family but at least that means that I get to learn about how a dog is supposed to work so that I can fix them when they are broken.

But I have been having fun with my CVM classmates, both my year and the year above us are really fun and great so far. I'm hoping our class stays that way so that anyone could show up at anything and everyone will think it's fine.

But the week is pretty good. I am out at noon on Mon and at 2 some Wed and Fri. It's the Tues/Thurs that suuuuuuuuck. We get there around 8:30 for our 9am class and then we are there until 5pm with a one hour lunch break at 1. And you think to yourself, "well if you had a full time job you would be there from 9-5." But there is a major difference, once we come home, we have studying to do. But it is going well so far.

Ask me again when it gets closer to test time :-)

Trying to study

I have very little to study since this is the first day.

We mostly went over syllabi and some very basic info, but as this may be the only time I am on top of things, I am trying to stay motivated.

On a non school related note, I ran 2 miles and tonight I'm gonna go check out free week at the rec with some of my CVM girls. That means ZUMBA which I love!

Also can you tell that Addie is incredibly helpful to the study process?

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It's 12:23

And I still haven't fallen asleep.
The night before undergrad started I read Twilight straight through til 6am, so I finished my book, but still....nothing.

I am so excited to start this big, terrifying thing. Knowing that it will be very hard makes me nervous, but it doesn't cancel out the knowledge of the very big thing I will be doing. I am going to learn the way animal's bodies work. Every little piece, of a very good portion of species, that is huge!

So I have my backpack packed with my dissection kit and my scrubs, my pens and my notes for microanatomy. I am overly organized and still feel like I should go downstairs and pack my lunch right this instant. Addie is less than impressed with the new direction our lives are taking and has been trying to go to sleep in my bed since about ten pm, stopping to meow and give me a dirty look every time I wake her up.

At least pure adreniline will get me through tomorrow, I'll just put on Friends and drink a big cup of coffee in the morning. For the Facebook statuses my classmates have been posting, they won't be getting much sleep tonight either :-)

Orientation

I liked:
Free breakfast and lunch
Presentations about potential jobs
Free Backpack!
Seeing my anatomy lab
Printing my syllabi

I did not like:
Presentations about insurance
Presentations about the health center
Being there from 7:15-3:30

But I get to start class on Monday! Woot!

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Swag.

List of Free stuff from VET:
Carry on sized duffel with VET logo
Pen
Sweet name tag + holder with VET logo
Purina beach towel
2 hardcover self help type books
Nice leather journal with VET logo
VET t shirt
Calculator clip board
Luggage tag with VET.logo
Stainless water bottle with VET logo

Yay free things!

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