This post sponsored by Hill's and donuts

Hi there; Birdie here!

I'm really glad I don't have any exams next week, but I still can't slow down. Anatomy and histology labs have both been pretty intimidating lately. I got really lucky on my anatomy quiz today and just had to identify the caudal lobe of the caudal lobe of the left lung (yes, the repetition is intentional). I mean, I did know most of the terms on the list of potential quiz questions, but there were a lot of external vessels and such that we couldn't even find...having a fat dog makes it more difficult. I'm still doing well, but I'm not as confident about it. I think I've managed to keep A's in the 4 classes we've finished (I'm not 100% sure where I fell around the border in Anatomy I), but we're just starting these new classes so I don't have any cushion built up. And apparently the next anatomy test (conveniently right after fall break in 2 weeks) is the worst one, according to one of the course instructors. I'm probably going to spend most of my weekend typing up notes...not really catching up from when I didn't have my laptop, since I've finished those classes, but preparing for the TWO tests the week after next. Sunday is another Spay Day, too, so at least I'll get to spend some of my weekend with live animals. :)

My roommate's dog has been a little better with me. Sometimes if the roommate is there she'll get close to me and be sweet. She is very dominant with the other roommate's dog, though, so that's another strike against her. I think she might end up with the roommate's parents if she can't get along with everyone in the house. I'm glad she has a home lined up either way...I just don't want her to growl at me anymore.

This week was Hill's Week at our school, which meant we got free pen/highlighters, baked goods, and (since our class had near-100% participation in wearing red/blue yesterday) a donut breakfast this morning. I'm kind of surprised there weren't any speakers or lunch-and-learn type things associated with it. Well, there is a nutritional speaker breakfast tomorrow morning, but I think I've missed the deadline to RSVP. Also, I'd really like to not have anywhere I have to be Saturday morning.

Yesterday my workout buddy and I went to the UREC, aka the LSU gym. We did a zumba class; she'd never done it before, so she wanted to try it out. It was really fun, and now that we have accounts on the reservation system we want to try some other stuff--probably kickboxing next. The gym here is really neat. There's an indoor track and a rock climbing wall and several group fitness classes in addition to the basketball courts and squash rooms and weight rooms that my undergrad had.

Oh, I did a really fun wetlab this week, too. It was for clinical pathology, on the multihead microscope, and there was a histopath component as well. We looked at cytology aspirates and tissue sections of the same cases, and the two clinicians asked a bunch of questions to get us to think about the case before giving us the answers. I obviously knew approximately nothing since I'm only a first year, so I didn't exactly feel like a real doctor, but I loved it anyway. The bowl of candy probably helped, too. ;) Everyone else there was a third year, but they made me feel really welcome when we were walking over together. That helped me not feel awkward when I had to ask what one of the terms they were using meant (histeocytes--I'm not sure how to spell it since I only heard it, but it's an umbrella term for macrophages and dendritic cells). I'm really glad I went ahead and joined path club. I also went ahead and paid dues for internal medicine club. Their wetlab was really cool, and my dad offered to pay for my dues (thanks, Dad!).

On a less fun note, I went to the first lunch talk that I straight-up walked out of before the speaker was done. It wasn't even a free lunch. The topic was equine nutrition, and I know we don't get an awful lot of nutrition in the curriculum, so I wanted to go find out more. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of that at all. He kept saying he didn't want to advertise his supplement or anything, but that was about all I got. That and one other thing he kept repeating: "water, forage, minerals" with grain as an afterthought. He didn't really seem to have anything to say, and kept trying to open up the floor to questions but no one really had any. I for one went because I have no background on the topic--what am I supposed to ask? Eventually it sort of devolved into a conversation about what this one student did for her horse who kept tying up in his muscles, and the speaker's main response to any questions about what he would recommend was, of course, "I'm not here to advertise my product." It was about that point that I left because I was seriously not getting anything out of it.

In not too long, I'm about to head back to school for a "fall family picnic" thing. My family is heading to St. Louis to see the World Series game, so they won't be here, but I signed up for a shift selling bandannas for Josh Project. And hey, free food.