The inner workings of a vet student

Just getting back to normality after my busy and exciting weekend. I found out on Friday that I had passed my exam and not only that but amazingly got (along with 2 other people) the highest mark in the year. Definitely didn't see that one coming! Who knew that farm animal practice would be my forte! Unfortunately a couple of my friends weren't so lucky and are going to have to resit the exam in August. I really don't know what I'd do if we don't make it in to final year together
Myself and my friend left for AVS Congress in Nottingham straight from uni on Friday and after 5 and a half hours drive we arrived. We met up with our hosts for the weekend Vicky and Sam, had a quick meal and then joined up with the other students to go on a bar crawl at University Park. We went to about 6 hall bars, which despite being a student in Nottingham for 3 years I had never been to before! I really tried hard to get drunk that night but somehow it just didn't happen! It was an early start on saturday and we went and had a good snoop around the new vet school which was only a hole in the ground when I left. I was very impressed, although not having any clinical facilities and relying on external practices to do the clinical teaching when they start next year could be risky, but they seem to want to be innovative and I hope it works out for them. The morning started with a couple of lectures with the theme being "working animals pushed to the limit". We signed up for a couple of the practical sessions, the first being ultrasound of the distal equine limb. This was particularly useful as for the 1st time I was actually shown how to set up the machine to obtain the best diagnostic image possible. Previously I had only been shown images but not how to achieve them, so I am definitely more confident now. After lunch we went to a raptor lecture where they had a real bird of prey flying around the lecture theatre I really enjoyed it even though I'm not particularly interested in exotic species. We then took part in a guide dog demonstration where we were told about how to approach treating a guide dog and issues involved with their owners in a consultation situation. Then, we were blindfolded and led through an obstacle course by a guide dog. It was a surreal experience, but really made me appreciate how special these dogs are It was then quite a rush to get back and ready for the Congress ball. Mangaged to get a bit tipsy on the bus journey to the venue and once there had a lovely meal. After dinner the speeches were entertaining and then a jazz band played. But, for me the best bit was the cheesy music at the end of the evening which got everyone up singing and dancing.
We had to leave Nottingham at 7.30 am on sunday, which was really difficult after only getting to bed at 3am! We had a wonderful time and made lots of friends who I hope we can keep in touch with. Once back in Edinburgh it was a quick turn around and then 8 of us made our way out to Murrayfield to watch the Scotland v France six nations rugby match. Our seats were excellent on the 2nd row! We had a lot of fun even though Scotland lost (I am an England fan really but they did just as badly this weekend!). We rounded off a fantastic weekend by having a pub dinner and when I finally made it home I was so exhausted I collapsed into a heavy sleep.
Wow have written quite an essay! The next installment will be after the weekend. I'm off to London for a good friend's bridal shower. Hopefully will get to see a show, be pampered in the Sanctuary Spa and then go off to a museum. YAY!!!

Turns out the exam results were available earlier today. However, only about 5 people managed to see them before they were so cruelly taken down again. Some stupid clerical error meant that they hadn't been signed off by the head of the exam board who conveniently wasn't in today to sort it out. The wait continues.....
On a positive note it's off to Nottingham for AVS Congress tomorrow, so I'm really looking forward to that. I used to go to uni there before there vet school was built so I'm extremely interested to know what they've done with the place. Also hoping that since we're going out partying in Nottingham tomorrow night that I might be able to catch up with some old friends who still live in the area
Will write again after the weekend to keep myself up to date!

Oh almost forgot..... I've got to rush back from Nottingham early sunday morning as a big group of us are going to see the Scotland v France six nations match in the afternoon! How exciting!!

Aaaaargh! Still no exam results. I need putting out of my misery!
Apparently there has been a problem with one of the questions and the papers need to be remarked. Word of mouth has it that the question was ambiguous and badly written leading to widely varying marks. Not entirely sure how they rectify this problem but in the past they have used marks from the other questions to gauge your average performance. If this is the case this slip up may actually work in my favour! I think i did much better in the other questions. This wasn't due to me not knowing the answer for the bad question but just that I ran out of time and it ended up being a scrawl in bullet format rather than an essay.
Hopefully the results will be in by the the end of the week

Well as the title suggests I'm still yet to hear how the exam I did before Christmas went.
It's mainly just been an average week of lectures and practicals, with nothing to exciting to write about. Got together with a few friends on Friday night to watch a movie. We ended up watching the Virgin Suicides which is pretty dark and not at all what I was expecting. Saying that it was interesting and definitely got us all discussing it when it finished. We also saw Dracula 2000 that was on TV after we finished the first movie. I won't be recommending it! Although, it did give us a lot of laughs because it was so utterly ridiculous.
Then last night we went out for dessert at about 9pm and then went to the Library bar in Teviot. I think we'll end up going back there cos it's so cheap. Hoping that this week will be a lot more eventful. Got more practicals including cow rectalling and a farm animal one.
With any luck I'll have more to talk about next time

Well it's now been over a month since I last blogged, the main reasons why being revision, exams and lack of internet access over the christmas period.
So firstly I managed to revise the vast majority of my notes for the exam and all seemed to go well in my opinion, although I'm still waiting for the official verdict! I'm pretty confident that I passed the MCQ section and one of the essays, but what concerns me is the second essay. It was extremely rushed and I ran out of time. It's quite annoying when that happens because I did actually know the material and given sufficient time I know that I could have written a good answer. I just hope that I did well enough in the other sections to compensate.
After the exam I went and gave blood for the first time and I must say that I felt extremely good about myself afterwards (and I now won't have to feel guilty about accepting blood if I need it!). It's amazing to think that after doing something so simple that you could actually save someone's life. If you are thinking of giving blood I strongly urge you to do so!!!
I then went home for one week and spent a lot of time just lazing around (but I think I deserved it) and I really don't know when I'm next going to have a break. We had Christmas dinner early as I wasn't going to be at home on the 25th. Most of my gifts this year were money as that is what I'm currently most in need of! Six years at university definitely leaves you a little strapped for cash! The only unfortunate thing about being at home for such a short period is that I didn't get to see my friends nearly as much as I would have liked
I headed back to Edinburgh on the 23rd and arrived at my flat to find some very exciting post. I had confirmation from Cornell University that I had been accepted into the externship programme for the large animal orthopaedic surgery rotation. The next letter I opened was even more fantastic. It was from the BEVA Trust saying that my application for a travel award had been discussed (even though I sent it in 3 weeks late!) and that they were prepared to give me £1000 (the maximum amount) towards my travel costs to Cornell . It appears that the only thing I have to do now is pass my exams as if I have to resit the dates would clash and I wouldn't be able to go.
I spent one night in the flat and then started my small animal ICU (intensive care) week the next morning. I had to live with 3 other people in a flat in the small animal hospital for one week over christmas and was effectively on call 24 hours a day! Not the most ideal way to spend christmas. However it wasn't all bad, we were extremely lucky that we only had one ICU case over the week and although we did have periods of constant monitoring we fared much better than the group before us in that we didn't have any over night and we had no night time call outs. The latest we finished was 2am and the earliest we had to get up was 6.30am. Unfortunately our ICU case died on boxing day morning, which was extremely disappointing after all the work we had put into him. I guess, sadly that's just the way things go in this business. Other than tending to cases in ICU we also had to do TPRs and routine medications of the in patients in the dog and cat wards as well as dealing with a giant pouched rat and a swan! I quite enjoyed the week and all the vets and nurses were really nice to us (mainly because they felt sorry for us being stuck there at christmas) and they were very happy to teach us and help us out. I also would like to think that I found myself some new friends in the people in my group which made it all worthwhile.
I finished yesterday morning and went back to the flat. I did have the intentions of going out last night since it was Hogmany but my tiredness finally got the better of me and I had the beginnings of a chesty cough, also the rain didn't look too appealing! I did stay up till the countdown which I could hear in my flat from the 100,000 people at the party on Princes Street! I got an exceptional view of the fireworks from my kitchen window and I didn't even need to get wet! HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
I've got a lot of paperwork I have to sort out this week before uni starts again on monday. The next update will most likely be when I eventually find out my exam results

The last 10 days or so have been pretty boring. That was until wednesday when it was Dick Day, the day when the mighty Dick vets take on the weegies in sport! I'm proud to announce that once again we put them in their place and showed them that we are in fact the best Scottish vet school (and for that matter the best in Britain!) However, my favourite part of Dick day is not the sport but the drinking that follows. Needless to say I was feeling a little tired and hung over during lectures yesterday
I also found out this week that Boyzone are reforming and going on tour during 2008, this made me extremely giddy with happiness . I know its lame but during my early teens they were my favourite band and i never got to see them on tour and I always regretted it. I still remember mum talking me out of buying tickets and saying I could go to the next one which obviously never happened. I'm not about to let this opportunity slip me by. Luckily I have friends who are equally lame and want to come with me So got an early start tomorrow to make sure I get these precious tickets.

I'm very excited at the moment. I'm in the process of applying to do an externship at Cornell University next Summer and hopefully also next Christmas Cornell is an Ivy League University and is alleged to have the best vet school in the USA, although pretty much everywhere tries to make that claim! Either way it is definitely one of the best schools in the world. I am hoping to join in the small animal medicine rotation and also one of the the large animal rotations although currently I'm in a quandry about which one to choose. Large animal medicine is what I'd hopefully like to get involved with once I qualify so that would be fun to do, however, it's not often that you get the opportunity to do large animal surgery so that would be a really good opportunity, also orthopaedics would mainly be equine lameness work up's which although I enjoy, I sometimes find it difficult and is definitely something I need to work on. I need more time to think this over, but unfortunately time is not on my side. Provided that my references and CV are satisfactory places are given on a space available basis so the earlier I apply, the better my chances of getting the time and rotation of my choice. Fingers crossed!!!
The revision plan has completely gone out the window due to all the extra time I have spent preparing my application. Silly really considering that I want to go to Cornell the weeks that the resit exams would be if I fail. Basically failing is now not an option if I want to do all the things I have planned for next Summer
Now that I have almost everything sorted out it's back to the grindstone! I have a lot of catching up to do

PS. I haven't quite worked out how to add links and stuff properly yet but if you click on the blue text a link is provided!

So my weekend didn't quite go according to plan but I finally managed to get around to some work yesterday. I've now read all of my notes for the next week so hopefully I can fit in so quality revision time in the evenings Revision has to be one of my most hated activities and until I got to vet school I could avoid it as much as possible and still do reasonably well. Now it is not an option! At least last year we had a two week revision period beforehand to revise intensely, but we don't have that luxury this time. We have been given the grand total of four days when I know that even a month would not be long enough. Therefore my new strategy is to revise part-time for six weeks in the hope that it will equate to three full-time weeks, however it does prolong the pain of studying
Well it was the first day back at uni after the break and it's amazing how quickly you get out of a routine. Just four days off and suddenly it's a nightmare to get up in the morning but perhaps it's just because it's so much darker now.
As planned the revision started today, but would you believe it I'm already behind the target that I set for myself Hopefully by the next time I post I will have caught up!

Three days into my long weekend and there is yet to be any work done but at least I have been able to enjoy myself. On Friday I was at a shot party and attempted to make squashed frogs for everyone (grenadine, midori and advocaat) but I was unable to find grenadine anywhere so replaced it with cherry brandy instead.

My concoction looked somewhat like it should and tasted ok so I think I got away with it. My favourite shot of the evening was a Polar Bear and my least favourite was a Prairie Fire - the tabasco sauce really was the killer
Due to all the alcohol consumed the night before saturday was an extremely lazy day I finally coaxed myself to life in order to get ready for my friends birthday ceilidh, which was great fun after I recovered from a shoe crisis!
Yesterday I went to the gym after a lie-in and spent the rest of the day wasting time and grocery shopping, and finally today I sorted out paper work and ran some errands, although not very successfully as I wasn't allowed to pay in my cheques even though I had been doing it at that bank for two years and it turms out I'm not eligible for a free mobile phone upgrade even though I was sent a letter saying I was
So, one day left to make the most of my time off, maybe I'll even get round to some work ???

Apparently it's something I'm not good at!
I collected my commnications skills assessment form today and was shocked to discover I had only scored 10 out of a possible 42! I was always doubtful that I would pass, and I was prepared to fail as the mark didn't contribute to anything and because I really didn't put that much effort into the whole assessment. But getting 10 seriously hit me hard, I never imagined I would score so low as although I'm generally quiet I am polite, professional and likeable (or so I thought!).
There were only a couple of points where I actually agreed with the assessor that I deserved the low mark, but on the whole it felt like a character assasination! The comments that most offended me were:
Non verbal facilitation (nvb) and body language - Disaparate and unsynchronised nvb
Empathy, Reflection of clients feelings - Ignores client feelings completely
Respect of client's views & listening - Offends client or rushes without listening
Professional attitude and behaviour - Poor professional manner OR inappropriate behaviours
It would be ok if I actually thought these were my weak points but I don't feel they are and I have no idea how to rectify them.
It makes me so mad at the assessor my blood boils, and on top of that the "client" gave me a 0 out of 3. My confidence is at an all time low and I can only imagine because of that how much worse I'm going to feel the next time I have a communications session.
I'm going to arrange to meet up with the assessor and talk things over, but I'm skeptical about how useful that will prove to be.
All in all today has not been good.