Hi there; Birdie here!
Two exams down this week, and 2-3 more exams (depending on whether you want to count the anatomy practical and written as separate exams or not) and one week to go! I'm so ready for Christmas break...I'll just have to power through, and on Friday I'll be free!
Both of this week's exams were actually for the same class: a combined grade for Histology and Developmental Anatomy. The histo exams was in three parts: the written, the projected images we usually have for the practical, and a 12-question "identify the organ" practical on our actual microscopes. I did pretty well on the lab portions, though I'll have to see whether he accepts some of my answers. I don't know exactly how well I did on that exam yet. The course coordinator was going to be handing out the exams at 4 today, but I didn't stay (for reasons I'll discuss in the next paragraph). I was really worried about it considering I didn't actually study over Thanksgiving break (though I did finish my novel and win NaNoWriMo again!), but it wasn't actually that bad. Embryology was not as bad as I was expecting, either. I did stay up until 1am last night studying for it though! Next week we have an anatomy quiz Monday, Physio exam Wednesday, and anatomy practical/written Thursday/Friday. Phew!
The reason I didn't stay to pick up my test was because I was hoping to meet a tow truck at my house. See, after I got back after break, my car wouldn't start. Before break it had been flashing a light at me, but it stopped when I used my proximity key physically in the dashboard, and my dad (who owned the car before me) said it was the key's battery. Well, guess what--it's actually the car's battery (well, one of them--it's a hybrid). Turns out it's got less than 1 volt in it, and is too dead to even jump. So I've been without my car all week. A friend has been shuttling me to and from school, but on the first day everyone around (my roommates, and said friend who lives nearby) had left by the time I found my car not starting. I wound up walking halfway to school until my roommate and her friend whom she carpools with saw me and let me ride with them the rest of the way. The tow truck didn't even come today (yay Baton Rouge traffic!), so I'll have to meet it first thing in the morning instead. I seriously hope they can get all the work done tomorrow while my mom is here and can drop me off to pick up the car so I don't have to make my friend drive me there too. On the plus side, my mom is coming up tomorrow--we're gonna go see The Book Thief. I really do miss my car...I don't even like driving, but I really hate relying on/being a burden to my friend this way.
Ooh, exciting news: we get to sign up for our electives for next semester! The list of choices got emailed out yesterday, and I'm really excited about it. At LSU, the graduation requirement is 4 credits of electives, and we can take up to 2 in the spring. Of course I want to take two! In fact, I have a list of like 6 that I'm interested in, heh. I definitely want to take one of the classes with our school's social worker: either Vets in the Community or the Human Animal Bond. See my thesis--this stuff is my bag. For the other one, I'm thinking about doing Integrative Medicine, but it's got limited spots. If it fills up, the procedure is to do a lottery for the spaces. Therefore there's no incentive to sign up early, so I haven't yet--they're giving us a talk on Monday about electives, so I'm going to wait until after that. Plus I want to talk to the social worker about which of her classes I should take. There's so many other interesting choices, too: feline med, large animal behavior, a skin class that's very hands-on (although tbh I don't really want to take that because I'm not a fan of the professor in charge), and an online exotic/emerging diseases class...I hate online classes, but it's a requirement for USDA accreditation. Maybe I can take that in the summer if I want to do that?
I also signed up for the CDC's veterinary day, a Monday in January. Unfortunately, 11 people were interested and there's only 10 spots, so hopefully I get it. I'm a little wary of missing class for it, but I think this will be a valuable experience that's worth the missed lecture (plus the lecture will probably be recorded). Well, if I don't get it, at least I won't miss class.
