In Preparation for Week 2...

Thank goodness for weekends... its the only way to survive.

It has been a very busy, stressful, overwhelming week, but a good one. I survived week 1 of 15 of my first semester of vet school. It feels like an accomplishment, although it was not exactly.

Here is a rundown of my first week:

Gross Anatomy:
We learned how to hold instruments (forceps, hemostats, blade handle, needle drivers/holders) and then had a race (I came in second, thank you Ark!) Most of the students in my group had never held any of these instruments and were calling forceps tweezers and hemostats clamps. I am very thankful for the knowledge I learned at Kindness Clinic and Ark. We also got our cadaver dog and started to dissect him, by friday we had removed his front left leg (left thoracic limb). I got to be the one to actually pull it off which was fun. Sorry if that sounds morbid. If it isn't too much... they inject all of the veins and arteries with colored latex, so when you are dissecting the veins and cut through them, nothing comes out, but they're super bouncy, and fun to play with. Probably not the intended purpose... but I'm having fun. We also had a quick demo of what large animal palpation is going to be like... once a week we'll go catch a horse, then palpate and identify as many structures as possible that we're learning on the cadavers. I got to lead a horse out of the barn. Cool, eh?

Microanatomy:
Nothing too exciting here, just simple cell structure stuff... slide prep, stains, etc. We looked at tons of cells... yeah, that's about it. The instructor is pretty cool though, he is originally from Slovakia, and has a pretty thick accent, but is a super cute old dude who loves talking about ribosomes. They're his fav.

Physiology:
Crazy prof... loves physiology. We've been talking about action potentials a lot. A LOT.

Nutrition:
Did you know that this class entitled nutrition is actually biochemistry??? It is supposed to be our hardest class of the semester... all of the TA's and upperclassmen warn us heavily to study for this class extra... doesn't seem so bad right now, its quite interesting actually, but I can see that it will be a lot of material to master.

Intro to Vet Med... didn't have it this week, starts on Thursday... I'll let you know what I think though.

So that's that, in a nutshell. Multiple that by 14, plus exams, and I'll be done with my first semester!

In other news...

I found one of the ant nests in my room. It was between two pieces of wood that make up one of the drawers in my room. Then I found another one in another drawer across the room the next day. Hopefully taking care of these two will help.

My friend, Molly, and I went to the beach at the Marriott hotel today. It was a gorgeous day in St. Kitts. The weather cooperated perfectly, nice and sunny, mostly clear, not too hot, calm waters... ahh. Perfect 3 hour study break.

This past Friday was the BOSP (Beginning Of Semester Party), which was held at my orientation leader's (Amanda) house. It was quite the ordeal. Lots of upperclassmen to talk to with plenty of tips, and of course, a game or two of flip cup :) There was even a slip n' slide set up in the yard... it was fun watching the brave (read: drunk) few participate in this event.

Looking forward: I've found a couple of girls, Molly (who I've mentioned, I believe, picture in an old post) and Jess, who want to live with me next semester. We're hoping to live with in walking distance of campus, but also get a vehicle to share between us all for grocery shopping, beach, etc. I'm pretty excited.

And lastly... the score count... Sunburn: 0.1 point (tiny patch burned on my hip), sunscreen: 4? at least! I am very happy to report that I have not been significantly burned yet!

Mmm... my entire room smells of curry! Zoe emailed me the recipe for her mom's curry, which is an eastern caribbean recipe from when she lived on one of these islands... or something. Anyway, it smells delicious and I'm super excited to eat it!

Pictures to come, I promise! Still waiting on that cable...

Wish me luck for week 2! Tomorrow I get to go meet the dogs who live on campus. We'll be palpating them for gross anatomy, looking for muscles,veins, bones, etc.

Oh, groceries... so there is a grocery store where you can find most everything you need, called IGA. There is also another called Rams, which is much larger, but further away. To get everything you need, you do have to go to both though. I think I'll switch off every week going to the other. Anyway, I found Hob Nobs, PG Tips, and Ribena at IGA! I was so excited. Funny though, that I had to come to an island in the caribbean to find these at a local grocery store.

Dinner, then studying. Goodnight all.