May 2012

So after the nice week long vacation is over(orientation week), I guess I need to get down to the reason I'm here in the first place... studying. Professional school is definitely very different than other programs of study. All of your classes, although how different they may seem, are all interconnected. Vet school, at least my very limited take on it within the past couple weeks, is more about learning how to connect ideas from multiple disciplines towards some goal(such as determining a disease). It also seems that the 40 months spent here is about building confidence in your own life long learning abilities so that when you're out there on "your own," you will trust the information gathered even if you've never seen that particular case before. This of course is a very different take than undergrad which seemed more like getting fundamentals down than confidence building in your own critical thinking abilities.

So I've been getting a few questions from people regarding my schedule. Mainly because I keep telling people I'm busy with classes and then they see a picture like this on Facebook. :-P

We work hard down here, but we also know how to play hard. I'm very blessed to be able to take a 10 minute break from class and walk down to the beach. Definitely picked the right school that's for sure.

Anywho...

So this is a pretty typical day for me, at least over the past 2 weeks.

5:30am: Hit the Snooze Button a few times
6:00am: Wake up
Usually I'll spend this time making breakfast and going over my schedule for the day. Each class' location can change based on what is being discussed that day. If I'm doing small animal anatomy I could be out with the dogs. If I'm doing large, I could be out in the barn working on the horses. So figuring out if I can wear flip flops to class or not is usually determined during this step. :-P
I also usually spend some time catching up on e-mails/facebook if I have a few minutes while my coffee/tea is brewing.

8:00am: Anatomy Lab/Lecture (2hrs)
Depending on whichever day it is I can either be in the cadaver lab or the classroom. The majority of my week however, is spent in the cadaver lab. This is basically our time to look over preserved and plasticized specimens as opposed to just looking at them in a book. Definitely makes it easier when trying to remember: the name of a muscle, where it attaches to, and what the muscle actual does. Our professors are excellent in pointing us in the right direction but really making sure that we are finding the information on our own. Again we need to be confidant in our own learning abilities. Usually an hour is spent actually in lab and then a secondary activity is presented to us depending on whichever day it is. We are usually split up into 1/6th and each head to an activity whether that be, clinical skills, animal palpation, diagnostic imaging, or cadaver lab. Other groups may just do cadaver lab and have a free hour to study, or catch up on sleep :-).

10:00am: Histology Lab/Lecture (2hrs)
This part of my day is spent looking at either powerpoint slides of cells or looking in a microscope at them. This is where we start to connect the idea of microscopic structural anatomy learned in textbooks with how they actually look in the real world. Sometimes it's not always interesting but it's definitely necessary.

12:00pm: Lunch (1hr)
This time is spent either at club meetings or running errands, oh and sometimes eating.
1:00pm: Nutrition (1hr)
One of the highlights of my day. From what I hear this class can be fairly difficult; however, the material being presented, and of course the presenter of the material, seems to make it fun... of course I will probably be regretting I said that after the first exam hehe.

2:00pm: Physiology or Intro to Veterinary Medicine (1-3hrs)
Again depending on the day my class or time spent in class changes. Physiology is basic comparative animal physiology... so glad I took lots of physio classes in undergrad.
Intro to Vet Med is an interesting survey of our field. It's a mix of learning health professional study skills, communication skills(with clients as well as colleagues), as well as an introduction into professional ethics. Interesting course it can sometimes just be a bear to get through depending on your current blood caffeine level.

3:00pm-5:00pm
Try and hit the gym before it gets busy just to burn off any extra anxiety from the day. Then I try to head back and get a game plan for studying. I'll also get a hold of a few people and socialize to get out of my head from the day of classes.

5:00pm - 11:00pm
I then realize at this point that I should probably make some dinner. I'll then head down to the anatomy lab for a few hours or just stick around and go over flashcards. I'll try to pick one or two other subjects and spend some time reviewing past weeks material as well as going over a little of whatever was discussed that day. I try(emphasis on try because by now I'm pretty done) to then briefly look over the material for the next day so I'm sorta prepared.

After all that I try to quiet my mind down and head to sleep.

Overall, looking back on it though, I get a lot done.
The weekends look a little differently (refer to picture above), however I also try to catch up on any straggler material and review anatomy. Lots of anatomy review. Lots...

Wow, it definitely has been awhile. Just finished my first official week of classes in Vet School. I'll post more on that later. I wanted to first say thank you to all of the family and friends that have contacted me with their well wishes over the past 2 weeks. It has definitely helped during this transition to island life.

The last 2 weeks have been nonstop, one of the reasons I didn't post last week. Orientation week was a blast.

I think we lucked out with arriving so early because we had a few extra days to get acclimated to our new home away from home. Plus our actual orientation group really "clicked" well.

During our orientation we had many classroom sessions going over the "ins-and-outs" of being a vet student, as well as safety and security concerns living away from home on St. Kitts. It was very informative and laid out extremely well(they definitely have their act together which made us all feel a little more at easy in this new environment).

We also spent the majority of this orientation week getting our apartments situated for the upcoming semester as well as lots and lots of beach time. We were at the beach almost every day, I had the burns to prove it.

Our taxi driver also took us on a tour of the island one of the days which included a trip to Brimstone Fort which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Really amazing place as well as a good upper leg workout.