Merry Christmas Break!

Finals ended beautifully. I ended up with only 1 "C" (in equine medicine... this is why I will OWN horses, not treat them!)... because my "C" in Ruminant health turned into a "B"... a holiday miracle! I actually pulled off an "A" in Large animal surgery, which is awesome and I'm really happy about it! All in all, it turned out pretty great - that is, studying for the cumulative finals the day before :) whoops! I'll try to do better with studying next semester...

Christmas was awesome - I am a very, very lucky girl and got to open a ton of awesome gifts - I'm so excited to bust out my new running tights and clothes when the weather gets a tiny bit warmer and the snow melts a little. We spent Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with KJ's family - two Christmases!!! So much fun. Plus the animals were really spoiled this year - lots of treats, toys, new beds for the kitties, etc. Our friend NO bought Ben a fantastic wifebeater tank that says "I heart bitches". It is so perfect for him - he is so mellow and stoic and a such a good, sweet boy :)

Our plans for this week are wedding planning, and RELAXING! Playing video games, watching How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy and RELAXING. I will be ready on Monday to go back for our last semester of class EVER and I'm excited for what this new year is going to be bringing... We are getting married in 10 months... EEEEEEK!

The Homestretch and Hospitals

6 finals down. 4 of which were cumulative. Tomorrow (Anesthesia) is cumulative too and worth 45% of the grade - but I have a solid A and don't care if I end up with a B! So take that vet school!

I still have my sanity (somewhat) after this hellish, awful week. Finals everyday for a week and a half? Fun! I haven't cried, I haven't freaked out, I haven't had a meltdown - wait - I DID cry watching a rerun Grey's anatomy episode Tuesday while fiance and I ate lunch between study sessions... (it was the one in the second season where the mom won't tell her teenage daughter that she has cancer and is dying - so at the end she tells her in a way that she gives her daughter life advice until the daughter asks why - heartbreaking... not good to watch when I'm at my breaking point).

So to celebrate what I hope was a decent Large animal surgery exam - I came home and made this delicious pasta that Life in Vet School made a few days ago.

Heavenly... words can't describe. Especially after the pizza/cereal/tuna fish sandwich combinations that I've been throwing in my mouth this week. My poor over-caffeinated, exercise deprived body is freaking out right now - but I soothed her over with pasta and clams. I think I can make it until tomorrow when I can run stress my stresses away! I'm not a cook, but it seemed too easy not to try - I didn't have fresh clams, but the sauce was very tasty, and I'll be eating it for dinner tonight because KJ doesn't like clams (score!).

I'm feeling a little apprehensive about today and studying though - I know I need to do it - but at 1 pm I have a doctor's appointment that I'm not looking forward to. Last year, during finals, I found out that I had HPV. Not only that, but that I had high risk HPV - so they made me immediately come in for a colposcopy in order to take some biopsies. DURING FINALS WEEK. As if I wasn't stressed enough. Turns out I have cervical dysplasia - nothing pre-cancerous or (god willing) cancerous, but not completely normal. So if you have a couple fingers to spare and aren't already crossing them for yourselves, cross your fingers that this goes alright and hasn't progressed into something more. I don't need anymore hospital time and visits after my mangled finger this year!

If you are taking finals this week too - GOOD LUCK! If you aren't, then count yourselves lucky :)

Disappointed

As I last mentioned, Ruminant health is slowly killing me. We had a "review" last night (sweet 1.5 hour review on a Friday Night) and we were given our exams back as well as our fluid therapy assignment. After all my bitching, I actually got a 10/10 on it... but that's besides the point because apparently I got a 2/10 in our ruminant parasitology lab.

Lets go back to a few weeks ago to said lab. We enter and are told that this is "laid-back" and all we have to do is "put our names on it and we'll get full credit" and that we "don't even have to do all the stations if we don't want to". So my little group of 5 did all the stations as best we could without notes and laptops (since we didn't know we would need them) - half the groups had notes out, the other half was like us. Then this week, we get lab grades posted - 42/50... damn it parasitolgy, you weren't supposed to be graded! My reaction = whatever, at this point, I'm cool with just passing. I'm all for large animal medicine, but my love of steak and milk outweighs my interest in treating them medically.

Fast forward now to last night's review. Our class rep very tactfully asks the course coordinator (the only faculty member at the review) about this grading mishap. He sort of implies that he can go and change those grades since we were told it wouldn't be graded and since he is the one with the computer and power. Moving on to the review... But like I mentioned, he usually isn't organized or prepared, so he runs to his office to grab some papers.

Now enters Dr. F - the parasit man and the man responsible for half of the new material on our upcoming final. A girl in our class raises her hand and mentions this lab grading issue again in a very antagonistic manner. And. Wouldn't. Drop. It. Finally, he gets pissed (and rightfully so, in my opinion) and says something along the lines of "I was at a conference this past week and without being handing notes or powerpoints, I was able to take away information and implement those idea already this week." Without a pause, a guy in the front row says, "And how long have you been in practice?" with an attitude.

UGH.

The class gets uncomfortably silent and Dr. F responds with, "I'm not even going to go there with you."

Come on guys, this man is writing our exam. More importantly, this man is a respected clinician that we will be working with next semester and next year in clinics. Use your heads! Do you honestly think we as a class deserve their time and respect when we are acting like children? Yes, my group got a 2/10... we probably deserved it... and yes, we were told it wouldn't be graded. Instead of dropping the issue like the professionals we are aspiring to be - we drag the issue out like children and get slapped in the face.

I was so angry last night and embarrassed to be a part of this nonsense, as were many of my friends that I was sitting with. This isn't the first time situations like this have come up and it won't be the last time... but I wish people would learn to have a little common sense, a little common courtesy, and a little tact.

Glad I got that off my mind :) Work today was fun, took some videos and pictures of the little pittie at the animal hospital that is in need of a home. She is a diabetic and going blind and cannot live with cats - so it is sort of a tall order to ask of her future owners... but we are looking because she is a complete sweetheart and I absolutely adore her. Unfortunately, KJ and I have cats... or I would take her in an instant.

Have a wonderful weekend! Hope the weather is better elsewhere (we have storms - snow AND rain) coming up in the next two days... it is the perfect weekend to stay home and watch movies and snuggle with animals!

Ruminant Health

It is one of our core classes this semester and it is giving me the most trouble. Mostly because the notes are completely disorganized (if we even have them at all) and the faculty in charge are terrible lecturers. For example, we were given a really extensive assignment a couple of days ago that was due today in lab. The clinician really stressed the importance of it and that we needed to work INDEPENDENTLY by making a questionable threat via email to us. Apparently, it should have taken 3 hours max to do it. Around hour 4, I started getting irritated and the quality of my work definitely decreased. Why weren't we given it before break to work on it? Because he is too disorganized to get it together. So while we should be studying for the 6 finals coming up, we are struggling through a pointless assignment that is unrealistic. And that I don't are about since I will never treat a cow. Anyway, so at 10:30 this morning when lab was beginning, we had all turned in our problems at the front of the room and sat down. 10:35 passes... 10:40 passes... finally he shows up over 10 minutes late with no apology or explanation. Of course, for the first 3o minutes (of a 1.5 hour lab), he starts discussing some other random case that we weren't assigned to do. Plus he was completely unprepared to actually "discuss" the cases we had actually done. He considered running back to his office to get a copy of the cases, but decided to wing it. THIS is a professional curriculum? If my entire class is on time to lab, shouldn't the faculty be required to do the same? Shouldn't they be required to be prepared for class?

Side note - we have multiple faculty members that come to class late and then keep us during our 10 minute break. I (and many others) use that break to use the bathroom and grab something to drink... please don't take that away from us.

So many other things to rant about in relation to the faculty and curriculum at this god-awful school, but that will wait until another day. Have I mentioned how much school sucks right now?

I'm off to cuddle with piglets at the swine farm. Happy Friday!