At first glance

If I had to describe my first impression of New Zealand, it would be that to me it feels like a mash up of Hawaii and England, with a touch of St. Kitts in there.

My trip over was mostly uneventful with a couple of moments of terror in between when I thought I was going to miss my connections at both transfer points. The 14 hours between Vancouver and Auckland was actually quite pleasant and I think I slept at least 8 hours during that trip. My feet did swell up awfully though. I think the salty airplane food, not drinking enough water, and not moving around much is the cause. It did not last long thankfully.

I arrived at the house I am staying at no problem. The flat mate who was supposed to meet me thought I was getting in much later, so that meant I got to meet the lovely neighbors in the area. They were very kind and let me use their phone to call him, and he came right over.

The house is nice, lots of sky lights and a very fancy kitchen. There is a huge garden with veg we are welcome to eat, which I plan to take full advantage of.

I explored a bit yesterday and today. It was a gorgeous sunny day around 70 degrees yesterday, today was not so nice and I have been mostly restricted to being indoors. After my adventures around town I realized that there is not much in this little town, and I may have seen all there is to see already. I still need to get out to the peninsula though, but I am waiting for a better day for that.

Subarus are super popular here. I can count 4 from my bedroom window!

That is all for now. Tomorrow is my first day at the vet clinic, I sure hope I like it!

Vet School no more

Warning, this is a post of rambling thoughts, it may not make the most sense. Just go with it...

This blog has been about my experiences as a veterinary student. It started to chronicle my adventures in a new country with new people starting the process to become a veterinarian. Soon, the end of this adventure will be here. Very soon.

Today I finished my last day of vet school at OSU. Now, I don't graduate until the end of January, but I am done with structured, graded, planned education. My last few weeks of "school" will be spent in another country, with new people who have a culture different than my own. Pretty much, I'm going back to where this adventure all started. But it will be a slightly larger island this time. Although this past year at OSU flew by, I can't help but think about how many wonderful people I was able to meet and become friends with, and how even in such a short time, I know I will greatly miss these people and really look forward to seeing them again. People are amazing when you stop and take a moment to get to know them and listen to their stories.

So, nearly three and a half years later and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, you may have a few questions. I do too. Was it worth it? Did I learn anything? Did it change me? Would I do it again?

Yes.

When it comes down to it, the experiences I have in life are way more important and matter more to me than any thing in particular. I am who I am today because of my life experiences.

Traveling to New Zealand in less than 2 weeks will be terrifying and exciting all at the same moment, but that is what I live for. That is what I've chosen. It's what makes me, me.

Tune in next time for the story of my twenty some hour journey across a giant ocean to the island of New Zealand. Surely there is a good story to be told somewhere in there.

Vet school Friday nights...

6:22pm on a Friday night, what on earth does the wild veterinary student do??

1. Eat what is left in the cupboards and fridge. Check. (Hummus and cracker bits and pieces)

2. Work on your CV. Check. Gotta get those jobs lined up...

3. Study for boards. Check. Zuku review tells me that I'm waaaaay behind. Plus my countdown says I have 39 days. Eeek.

4. Schedule shift changes with fellow students. Check.

5. Wash all those nasty scrubs from the week. Although, at times it seems pointless since they are just going to get dirty again in T-12 hours...

6. Cuddle with the puppy. Check. Because she feels neglected every other day of the week.

7. Plan to watch a movie and be in bed by 9:30 pm.

Yep, we certainly are a wild bunch.

It's official, Fall is here.

When I left school today, it was sunny and gorgeous out, but I needed a jacket. That my friends, is how I know fall has finally started. Soon, it will start raining for days on end, and that means we live in Oregon.

It has been a long couple of weeks. My externship in Portland went great, I really enjoyed working the veterinarian I was assigned, and look forward to hopefully working for that company after graduation. 

Then my grandfather passed away. I think I've thought about him every day since then. Little things remind me of him. Like seeing a clip about NASCAR on the internet. Or overhearing the word "ornery" being used. Or talking about the sound of the electric peppermill which he used at every dinner ever since I can remember. I'm so glad I was able to leave my externship early to see him. It meant the world to me to speak with him one last time, and hear how proud of me (and all of us grand kids) he was. 

Remember the signature book I was going to start? Well, I wanted to start with family, but never quite got my act together about it. Now I've decided to finally give it a go, and here is how it starts:

I came home in time to finish my senior paper and prepare for my presentation. It went pretty well, I think.  I love the topic and am very glad I had the opportunity to learn more about a new area of veterinary medicine. 

Now I'm onto anesthesia. It has been an awesome rotation thus far. I like the technical side of anesthesia and knowing how to gauge your patient's anesthetic level by deciphering the million wires leading to a monitor and the dozens of numbers it produces. Also, I get to watch some pretty awesome procedures while doing it! Today I saw a new method of a "tie-back" surgery in a horse (to help it breathe better), and last week I got to see a splenectomy on a cat. Tomorrow I'll get to watch several skin masses be removed, an adrenal gland removed, and a liver lobe removed! Yes, all in the same patient.

Now, some pictures to make you smile.

A rat on a cat. Found on Tumblr. Awesome timing of the photo!

Found on tumblr. Just adorable, right??

Found on my camera, this was Christmas 2011. She is a bit more gray these days.