One Week Down...

I made it through the first week! The days are really long, but I don't dread studying like I used to. Most of the material (except for Phsyio) is stuff that I actually want to learn, so that makes it a little easier to hit the books.

Thursday felt like it would never end...3 hour lab in the morning, hour lecture, lunch, another hour lecture followed by another 3 hour lab! Integration was pretty cool though, during each lecture we have a case presented to us that allows us to apply information that we're learning in our other courses. The topic was "complications associated with lateral fabellotibial suture surgery for cranial cruciate ligament injury in dogs"...I loved it! After school I went to dinner with my sophomore buddy and a few other freshman-sophomore pairs at So Long Saloon. The food there is delicious, and it was fun getting to know everyone!

Friday morning I headed over to the teaching hospital, originally hoping to go to internal medicine rounds. However, everyone was in surgery so I went to endoscopy to get a peak at the procedure. It was awesome! I don't think I'm allowed to post the details on here, so I won't...just to be safe. After that I saw an x-ray of a dentigerous cyst in a dogs mouth, watched a dog in underwater treadmill therapy, and had yet another tour of the hospital. It's so big that it will probably take months to finally know where everything is...haha. All in all I had a good time :) My elective on Friday (cognates), however, was NOT at all fascinating. I was so restless because of how bored I was - I kept shifting my sitting position, stretching, trying to find things to occupy my mind otherwise I would have fallen asleep! It was literally torture :( I also had to get my 2nd rabies vaccine, which I think may have also made me a little sleepy. It also killed my arm...it hurts so bad to move or lift it! Only one more to go, thank the Lord.

Random side note of the day...there were these morons racing their motorcycles in the parking lot of the stadium (which is pretty much across the street from my apartment), so all I could hear all afternoon was revving engines! So annoying...some people need to get a life.

Anyway, I've basically studied all day, reviewing information from each class from this week, focusing on the bones of course. I definitely need to get a head start on the skull...I don't even want to think about how many foramina there are!

I finally have some down time (an hour between classes, during which I should probably be studying...) to post an update! Orientation on Friday was really cool, we had some cases presented to us, and then toured the entire teaching hospital which is absolutely fantastic! They have every department you can possibly think of, and they welcomed us to coming in whenever we want. I will definitely be taking advantage of that this semester! I'm particularly interested in small animal surgery, zoological medicine, and radiology..but there is so much that I can't choose just a few!

Over the weekend I moved into my apartment, which is unfortuntely not what I was expecting...of course the model they showed us was spic and span and in great condition. I walked into my apartment and the carpet at the door is literally black, there were stains everywhere, and the area of the carpet that connects with the kitchen tile is all ripped and frayed and has the board exposed!! The kitchen cabinets are all water damaged and peeling, and the bathroom was so dirty I don't think anyone had ever cleaned it...and lastly, the intake vents for the air have inches and inches of thick dust in them. I've been in there less than a week and already have terrible allergies because of all of it. Like right now, my nose isn't running at all, but the second I go home I have to constantly blow my nose. I'm so grossed out...I'm also going to call the main management company and complain that if they don't do something (like change the carpet), I'm going to file a complaint with the people who are in charge of building/health codes. I'm also a little freaked out because the water heater is gas powered, and seeing how the don't keep ANYTHING up, I doubt they've had it inspected recently, which makes me worry about carbon monoxide poisoing...so I guess I'll be buying a detector later today so I can actually sleep tonight and not worry about it :/

In other news, today is my third day of classes. Everything is going okay so far! Microanatomy and physiology are probably going to be the toughest classes for me. I'm so glad that I took comparative vertebrate anatomy in undergrad, because it's really helping me so far. Our first test is on the bones of the dog, which is next Friday. I'm not too worried about it...so far the lab is formatted exactly like my undergrad one was (thank you, Frank Logiudice!) I love what I'm learning and I'm so glad to be here :)

Orientation, Day Two

9:00 AM Hours of presentations on scholarships, required pre-clinical mentorships (which I am BEYOND excited about!), student health insurance, etc

12:00 PM Lunch...pizza & soda (my stomach hates me!)

1:00 PM Question-answer forum with the officers of SCAVMA

2:00 PM Leadership activities...a lot more fun than I thought they would be! They had us standing in a huge circle with paper plates in front of us, and the person in the middle would say something about themselves. If you had it in common with them you would have to run around to find an unoccupied plate...hilarious! I had a quite an enjoyable time watching people sprinting to plates...hahah. For our last activity, we had to build a tower out of cardboard boxes. One group was done in like 2 minutes, but our group was scrambling at the last second to finish by putting on this huge antenna on the top, which collapsed almost immediately, hahah. So fun :)

I passed out when I got back to the hotel, and then headed back out to the CVM club fair. I was surprised at how many clubs I want to join! For instance...SCAVMA, canine club, christian veterinary mission fellowship, AAHA, behavior club....ahh! Tomorrow is the last day of orientation (which looks like it will be really fun), and my mom will be here tomorrow as well. If all goes well, I will be moving into my new apartment tomorrow afternoon! Very exciting :)

Orientation, Day One!

8:15 AM: Minor meltdown. My outfit looked horrible, and my sandal broke. I had to fly to Walmart, buy some shoes and a belt, fly to parking services for a visitor pass, and made it just on time to the auditorium!

9:00 AM: Introductions from faculty, then each of us students had to go to the front with a microphone and have our face on a huge screen, and say our name, where we're from, what we want to do with our degree, and an interesting fact about ourselves...FUN! Not surprisingly I am the only one interested in marine mammals...hahah. We received our scrub top and ID badge. We also recited the veterinarian's oath...it feels OFFICIAL!

10:45 AM: An hour and a half of information - schedules, standards, security, etc.

11:30 AM: The hotel calls to let me know that my dog is barking. GREAT!

12:00 PM: Lunch! Pizza & salad. 

12:45 PM: Found our lockers, study carrels, and mail boxes! We get our own little desk area in the lab with storage. We got free (if you want to consider them free - they're probably included in our tuition haha) backpacks from Hills, as well as a planner. 

1:00 PM: We all received our brand new tablet PCs! I'm stoked about this - they have all of our notes on them (in One Note, which is AWESOME!), and we can either write or type our notes into the program. It also lets us search our notes for a specific word, tag things we have questions on or that are important, and so much more. I'm so excited to have electronic notes!

1:30 PM: Library tour. A whole library full of animal books, journals, and encyclopedias. FREE COFFEE AND TEA always! I have a feeling that coffee will help get me through the next four years...

2:00 PM: Two and a half hours of computer training. Not exciting.

5:00 PM: All college picnic! I was hopeful that a veterinary school would have vegetarian options...but alas, they did not :( So I ate a bag of chips and met my 4th year mentor, who wants to be an army veterinarian. I get to follow him around on occasion in the teaching hospital and see what 4th year rotations are like. I'll definitely be taking advantage of that opportunity!

All in all, a great day! We were officially welcomed into the profession, and that felt great :) I've worked SO HARD to get where I am, so it's exciting to see it all pay off. I'm a little scared about tomorrow, with supposed "team building" activities planned...but I'm sure it will be interesting! I'll leave you with some photos:

The LOOT!

It all begins tomorrow :]

Orientation is at 9 AM tomorrow! I'm really nervous...the way I feel is similar to how I felt the first day of elementary school. Will I make friends? What do I wear? Should I bring my crayon box? I wish it were just that simple!

I dropped my dad off at the airport earlier today, and went shopping for a few nice outfits for this week. I'm excited to dress professionally :) Rhyley and I are staying in the Fairfield Inn in Manhattan, and I've got to say I'm loving this room! They completely remodeled the hotel, so everything is updated and modern.

Well, I've got to go prepare for the morning, so for now I will leave you with my reality check...

I don't want to be homeless!

Today I found what I hope will be my home for the next year or so! After almost losing hope in finding a place to live, my dad and I came across a complex that is renting out 4 bedroom apartments as 2 bedrooms (just shutting off two doors) for 730/month. It will be awesome to have two bedrooms (one for sleeping, one for studying), but it does have a few downfalls (coin laundry, close to football stadium, and no fitness center), but I can deal for a year until I find a place that has everything I'm looking for. We filled out the application, and hopefully will be approved within the next few days. For now, I will be staying in a hotel with Rhyley.

I stopped by the Dean's office today to drop off some paperwork. It felt amazing to come back to school as a student and not for an interview! I was introduced to the dean who is incredibly nice and helpful. I am so excited to start school! I'm also officially enrolled in classes. Now I just have to take care of books, tuition/loans, parking pass, ID cards, and moving into my apartment. Tomorrow I just have to wrap up a few things, take my dad to the airport, and then get ready for orientation on Wednesday!

I'm in Kansas!

My dad flew in from Orlando on Wednesday afternoon, and we packed up my apartment that night. Thursday was really intense. ..I had some more packing and cleaning to do, tons of errands, and had to drive over to my internship to take a test, get some things signed off, and talk to one of the veterinarians before I left. [Side note - on Wednesday, I met Dr. Sam Ridgway, the father of marine mammal medicine! I got his autograph in his book, Dolphin Doctor. That was one of my goals for the summer, and I’m so glad I met him..he’s a legend!] After all of that, I took Rhyley for one last romp at the dog beach. She had a blast! I had never taken her to the OB dog beach before then - we had always gone to Fiesta Island - but I’m glad I did because it was great :) Thursday night I went out to Dublin Square with some girls from the internship. We had a great time, and I cried when saying bye to them…I will miss them so much, but maybe someday we will reunite!

My dad and I drove all day Friday and stayed in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and then drove all day Saturday and are now staying in Junction City, Kansas, about 25 minutes from Manhattan. It was kind of scary, because we were hauling a uhaul trailer up some serious mountains…it was definitely a miracle that we made it here because my car was really straining!

We spent all day today cruising around looking for a place for me to live. We came across a whole lot of scary dumps, and a few hopefuls. Unfortunately Sunday is not the best day to look for a place to live because everything is closed…but we’re hoping to secure a place tomorrow. My dad leaves Tuesday evening and I start orientation on Wednesday, so it’s kind of imperative. We’re praying that right place will come along, and quick!

T-minus 5 days...

Until orientation! Well…let me start from the beginning, and tell you a little bit about how I got here.

I applied to 4 vet schools during the summer of 2010. I spent every waking hour of my summer preparing my applications, reviewing them over and over incessantly, attempting to perfect them. That helped me to land 3 interview invites, 2 of which resulted in an alternate position (Western and Kansas), one that ended in rejection (UF). On Monday, August 8th, I had finally accepted that I was fine with not getting in, and that I could find things to fill my time that would help me better prepare for my future. I had an interview at a vet clinic and afterwards headed to the store, and right before I got out of the car the associate dean from K-state called me telling me they had a spot open for me! So seriously, if you are hoping to get into vet school and are wait listed, NEVER give up hope! I thought the chances were pretty slim, but I knew that if it was meant to be, it would be. And it is :) I’m no expert on getting in, but I was told by schools that I had a very solid application, so I feel like I could adequately help others that are worried about their app. So if you are an aspiring vet, feel free to ask any questions about getting in (GRE related, experiences options…anything!).

K-state is an amazing school and I am so excited to head back to Manhattan, KS! It’s going to be a BIG change (from Orlando, FL —> San Diego, CA —> FREEZING WINTERS), but I’m so ready!! We leave tomorrow morning and will be spending the night somewhere in New Mexico, then driving the rest of the way on Saturday. I’m kind of freaking out about my living situation, because pretty much everything is rented out at this point, so I should probably get off here and go call a few places.

So to end, this will likely be a blog full of rants and raves (rants when I’m completely frazzled and need a place to vent my stress, raves when I’m ecstatic about what I’m learning), and maybe even some questions answered to those that are curious :)

Last but not least, my first semester schedule for those interested!

Monday:
8-9 Microanatomy
9-10 Anatomy
10-11 Physiology
11-12 Career Development
1-4 Anatomy lab

Tuesday:
8-9 Microanatomy
9-10 Anatomy
10-12 Physiology
2-5 Microanatomy lab

Wednesday:
8-9 Microanatomy
10-12 Physiology
1-4 Anatomy lab

Thursday:
8-11 Microanatomy lab
11-12 Integration
1-2 Interpretation of Veterinary Scientific Literature (elective)
2-5 Anatomy lab

Friday:
8-11 Exams
2-4 Veterinary Medical Language (1st half of semester), then 3D Imaging Anatomy of the Dog (2nd half of semster) - both electives