Monday, October 18, 2010

UPDATE!

So I realize I haven't updated this blog since basically the first week of the semester. I've definitely been meaning to because I knew it would come to this moment where now I really want to update but I don't even know where to start. So much has happened. Sometimes I wish I were a better writer because then maybe I could just talk about everything right now in a single post and it would all flow and sound really nice. Instead, since I am not that great of a writer, I will do my best to give a fairly thorough (and hopefully not boring) update. I may split it into multiple posts depending on how it goes.

So I just want to start by saying (and I'm sure I may reiterate this point a few times throughout): VET SCHOOL IS AWESOME! =D

So where to start? Classes? Sure. Classes are awesome. For the first time in my life I feel like I am actually learning something that will be useful to what I want to do. I can actually see how everything we learn relates and applies to the field. It's so cool. This comes especially in handy when classes get hard - which they definitely do. Don't get my wrong, just because I love my classes and love vet school does not mean they are not hard. They are extremely hard. I have never studied more for anything in my life. And honestly? I could still easily study more than I do (and do better because of it). I feel like I slack off a little bit compared to some classmates. It's just not in my nature to kill myself studying. Sometimes I wish I could force myself to study more but I can't (and deep down I know it is better that way - it's what keeps me sane). That being said, I do definitely spend a lot of time studying but I enjoy it a lot more than I ever did in undergrad because I can understand why I need to know it. 

So right now I think if I had to rank my classes (purely by subject matter and not by the professors or the time of day of the class or  by who I work with during the class) from most favorite to least favorite they would be:
Physiology, Anatomy, TAU (teaching animal unit), Bacteriology, Evidence Based Medicine, Histology, Careers in Vet Medicine. Physiology is just so interesting - learning how everything works. Anatomy is super cool too since there's so much to learn and when I think about everything I already know now compared to just a few months ago it's crazy. And, of course, TAU is amazing since we get to work with live animals every week. Not only that, but they're also animals that I have no prior experience with so it's a pretty amazing experience each time. For example, my group's most recent TAU was the swine one. At first, when we were in the pig barn and they were just explaining to us what we were going to have to do (which was snare the pigs and draw blood and give an IM injection) I was finally convinced this was going to be a TAU that I would not enjoy. These pigs were making awful noises and we had earplugs in because they were so loud and as this woman was explaining everything to us all I could hear was the end of certain things and I swear it felt like I just kept hearing her saying "and then you'll have a dead pig" without hearing whatever warning she gave before that. That freaked me out. Then, as I stood there watching the first pair go I got even more freaked out because it took them forever to snare their pig and then equally as long to draw the blood and inject the saline. Not to mention, those awful noises the pigs were making? They got even worse once the pigs started to get snared. But then it was my turn and it was almost magical. I got into the pen and snared my pig on my first try (basically) and without any trouble. Then I had no trouble holding the pig still while my partner did her part (take blood and do the injection) other than I had another pig nibbling on my boots the whole time. Also, I had no trouble releasing my pig. Then, my partner also had no trouble snaring her pig. And I, with the assistance of the professor, was able to so easily get blood. It was my best blood draw so far this semester. It was awesome. It went so smoothly. I felt like a pig whisperer. So even a TAU, where I momentarily thought it was going to go horribly, ended up being amazing. Enough about classes and TAU. 

What else? Oh, my professors. My professors are ALL really cool. I like them all. Sure, I can think of some negatives about them but I do like each and every one of them so far, on an individual basis. And overall. I definitely like them as an entirety too. It's really nice to have professors that I like. I can't speak for my whole class, since I know some of my classmates do and don't like certain professors. But I definitely like them and they all seem like they genuinely care about teaching us. 

The last thing I feel like talking about/mentioning briefly for now is: my classmates. My class is awesome! Sure, there is definitely a group of people that I have bonded more with than others but overall I don't think there is a single person in my class that I do not like. There are some people who I still don't know so well so I can't really have much of an opinion of them yet. But yeah, overall everyone seems really cool. And I definitely love that there are at least some that I bonded a lot with and get along super well with because they make classes and school so much fun. My class is definitely a fun group of people. And with that being said, I am going to end this post for now. I definitely need to write about my first large animal hospital experience sometime soon though because that's a story worth sharing (teaser: it involved a miniature donkey and it was awesome). 

1 comments:

Tanuki Sunrise said...

Hahaha! Pig whisperer! I love it. It sounds like you're having such a good time! ("... and then you'll have a dead pig.") XD

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