Hi there; Birdie here!
It has been an extremely busy past two weeks. I've actually had to miss both my riding lessons because I've been kind of behind on studying for tests and needed my Thursday night to study for Friday exams. We had 2 tests each week. Last week's weren't bad (cardio and urinary), but this past week...systemic path was actually totally fine, but I wasn't nearly prepared enough the day before. And derm wasn't bad, but it was so short (only 40 questions) that it doesn't take many wrong answers to really bring your grade down. Which was kind of inappropriate for how much material we had on it. But before the tests, I also had a bunch of other things to deal with, starting with the fact that I spent all day at Open House last Saturday. I spent most of the day at the path club table. Actually, I was the one who went and picked out the specimens we got earlier last week, too. We had a heart with a low ventricular septal defect that I'd thought was a dog's but turned out to be a calf's (which made a lot more sense actually), the obligatory heart with heartworms, a primary pulmonary carcinoma, an end stage liver, and a polycystic kidney. The highlight was a cross section of a cow's head showing Lumpy Jaw (Actinomyces bovis). I originally was kind of resistant to including it, but I'm actually really glad we did. Then I finished the day at the Josh Project table, where the popcorn machine had already stopped working so I basically just cleaned up. Next year as a third year I won't be so involved in clubs (we'll have new officers and everything; third years are going into clinics in the spring), so hopefully I won't need to take more than one or two shifts. I really want to NOT work all day at open house...
And of course I also had to work on my summer applications! The proposal for Summer Scholars was due this Monday, and we were working on it until noon that day, so that also didn't leave much time for studying. Everything is all turned in now, though. Well, at least I hope Tulane has my whole application...I couldn't get anyone on the phone on Monday to confirm. I sent off the Johns Hopkins application, too. And I had my interview for Banfield last Wednesday. I think it went pretty well, probably better than last year. I got a little upset when I had to answer the question about when I got constructive criticism about how I handled a stressful situation, but I think my answer was at least coherent. I especially liked the question about which of my accomplishment I'm most proud of--I said winning NaNoWriMo for 5 years in a row including during vet school. I was a little thrown when they asked about a professional or educational goal someone else set for me, but I think I came up with a good answer about how I actually got my first job. Anyway, everything is in other peoples' hands. Now I just have to wait until early to mid-March and see what, if anything, I get.
Last blog entry I mentioned that I was going to Spay Day. That was a good experience--I did get to do some cat wrangling!--but I only got to set one endotracheal tube. I was kind of expecting more--there were only 4 of us who'd done the wetlab, and they tube every cat who's getting spayed,
I actually might have been able to make my riding lesson this week and still have time to study if it weren't for the Diagnostic Imaging Club wetlab that was also on Thursday. It actually meant I was still hanging out with horses--it was a distal limb ultrasound. I got fussed at for getting gel on the gel bottle and our teacher kept wandering off to help other groups so I didn't really figure out how to get the oblique view of the sesamoid bones, but I did get a nice picture of the flexor manica and was the first one to show where the palmar annular ligament inserts. Also this week I got to school extra early for a breakfast presentation with Banfield. It was about "I saw it on the internet..." in regards to pet nutrition. She had to rush a lot, though, and we still were late to class. Plus I think it was the same presentation she gave last year.
I'm still ahead on my reading challenge, with 13/52 books read, 11 prompts filled. I actually just finished book 13 this morning: Astonish Me, by Maggie Shipstead for "A book with bad reviews." I didn't really like any of the characters, and there was too much drugs and stuff, but it had some really interesting lines and I'm glad I read it. Don't think I'll read it again ever, though. I also read my book originally written in a different language: A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cosse. I got a little lost in the names and different writing style, especially at the beginning, and I didn't care over much for the ending, but I really liked the parts in the middle about the founding of their bookstore and what it was like. I'm about to start my "based on a true story," The Eighty-Dollar Champion. It's the one of 3 horse books I'm planning on reading, probably one after another, so I really don't want to miss my riding lesson this week! Also, I've lately gotten really into Taylor Swift. I got 1989 a while ago, recently after it came out, but last weekend I decided I absolutely needed to get one of her older CDs, Speak Now (I knew some of the songs because they show up on my Pandora). It was actually a bit of a mess and more time consuming than I would have liked, but I've been listening to it a lot since. I think I might order other ones online though. Less effort and time on my part.
Last night A and I went to the gymnastics meet vs. Georgia. It was really cool. The girls were very impressive, and we didn't even hit traffic on the way home. Plus it was free for me as a student! I'd be willing to go again. I missed the bachelor auction this year, since it was also last night, but I don't mind that at all. Tomorrow we're (finally) doing our joint path club/WAZEM (exotics club) alligator wetlab. We're going to be practicing some procedures and also necropsy. Then I should really have nothing on my plate but school. I'm looking forward to having Monday and Tuesday off next week for Mardi Gras, and being able to go home for the long weekend!
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