Random writings of the goings on at vet school Down Under
I know I have been saying this for awhile, but I feel I will have a car here within the next few weeks and that will make a whole lot of difference. I have hated having to depend on others to get me to places I need or want to go. I hate asking for favors and help, and lately it feels like that is all I have been doing. "Can someone pick me up here?" Can someone take me there....I would go but I cant get there without a car etc. The plans when I have one....to put my board in the back and actually go surfing, to take Keaton to some really cool spots, to drive to the coast and just watch the kite surfers for hours, and maybe even try, to be able to go to the fish store and stare at the aquariums and dream of the giant one I will have again someday...yes I am weird, but it relieves stress. I can take up Salsa dancing lessons and actually go dancing....having dancing withdrawals here definitely. Actually be able to visit and hang out with friends and not worry when the last bus is leaving....and just drive, drive, drive...wherever and whenever. All these things, dancing, surfing, fish staring, and driving to nowhere in particular are my big stress relievers and I have done hardly any of them for the last two years here.
Most of the time I handle everyday stresses sooooooooooo well, but I have felt overwhelmed lately. Being in a new country...yes it is still very new here, can do that to a person. I am not saying having a car is my magic button, but I sure think it will help. Like now, should I wake up my roommate to borrow her car to go shopping and to the laundromat? I will probably just wait till she wakes up, which throws off my day.
Oh and guess what? My loans are approved!!!! I was panicked that a credit check would go wrong again and I would come this close to having to go home, but they are approved....I am here without worrying how to pay for school for another year.
I have three more weeks of farm prac I have to do. I got assigned to a cattle ranch in esperance for two weeks in June herding cattle on horseback...exactly what I wanted and then a week at an Alpaca stud farm and then farm experience is over and clinical experience begins. Maybe I can get out of some of the twelve weeks since I spent 8 years in a few. Heres hoping.
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Only five weeks left
So there is only five weeks left of 1st semester 3rd year...this means in July of this year I will be at the half way point. Of course my class will celebrate with a massive day of festivities titled with something appropriate like Half-Way to Insanity, or Half-Way to the Asylum. This is of course because we are all pretty much insane and getting crazier by the minute for actually going through this torture and becoming veterinarians. I must say that sometimes, after 9 years of full time study it starts to get difficult to sit down and write yet another paper. I think I have written way over 100 research papers in my lifetime with more to come I am sure. I will also have another degree under my belt at the end of this year. So strange Dr. Christina Webb BS, BSc, BVMS...time for the age old joke THAT IS A LOT OF BS!!!
On a big plus side, classes are actually still very interesting, maybe because they are more applicable. On the bad side...they still test sooo differently here. At least I am still passing, but not as well as I would have hoped, and here I can study so very hard and yet not get the mark I wanted. It used to be so easy getting the highest grades, working full time + overtime and having time for a social life. It seems harder to balance that now. Maybe, it is because even though this hospitality job is perfect money and a perfect location, it is not what I want to do. I want to be practicing at a veterinary clinic. So first thing, I am going to get a car so I can get a clinic job. Second, no makeup, wont style my hair....wont have bubbly overwhelming personality and try to fit in since apparently I was told I do not at the last clinics. Wish me luck as it still sticks in my head when I got my first hair cut here and I was told most women here dont cut their hair short because they dont like to stick out like you Americans. I should have bitch slapped her, but I did realize it is tough to move forward here if you stand out. Hmmmmm when in the states you are encouraged to stand out, sell yourself, and be an individual.
Or maybe I just had three bad experiences...all I know is I am trying to learn from them because they were very humbling. Still, I will do whatever it takes to get a clinic job again...within reason of course.
I have a seminar to present with my group on Tuesday on the drugs used for treating feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the drugs to treat canine dilated cardiomyopathy. 20 minutes long and 30 slides. Wish me luck. I also have a prac test in Pathology and even though this is becoming my favorite subject, it is very very hard. We have been messing around with farm animals again in a class called ICE, or Introduction to Clinical Exams. All the usual suspects are there, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs. Horses and the domestic pets are fourth year. I have already learned how to put a stomach tube in the cow and take blood from the tail vein...OUCH. Draw blood and give vaccines to sheep, goats, and cattle. Always in the neck under the ear so as not to damage the meat. Now it will be three weeks of my not so favorite pigs, and on Fridays. 4 hours of pigs every other Friday for 3 whole weeks....oh nooooo.
It has started raining here, wish I had an even longer summer. Oh well next time. Hope everyone back home is doing good. I moved my blog here because I have tried to make comments possible on my other site but it is not working. It should work here though.
Hope to hear from people soon
On a big plus side, classes are actually still very interesting, maybe because they are more applicable. On the bad side...they still test sooo differently here. At least I am still passing, but not as well as I would have hoped, and here I can study so very hard and yet not get the mark I wanted. It used to be so easy getting the highest grades, working full time + overtime and having time for a social life. It seems harder to balance that now. Maybe, it is because even though this hospitality job is perfect money and a perfect location, it is not what I want to do. I want to be practicing at a veterinary clinic. So first thing, I am going to get a car so I can get a clinic job. Second, no makeup, wont style my hair....wont have bubbly overwhelming personality and try to fit in since apparently I was told I do not at the last clinics. Wish me luck as it still sticks in my head when I got my first hair cut here and I was told most women here dont cut their hair short because they dont like to stick out like you Americans. I should have bitch slapped her, but I did realize it is tough to move forward here if you stand out. Hmmmmm when in the states you are encouraged to stand out, sell yourself, and be an individual.
Or maybe I just had three bad experiences...all I know is I am trying to learn from them because they were very humbling. Still, I will do whatever it takes to get a clinic job again...within reason of course.
I have a seminar to present with my group on Tuesday on the drugs used for treating feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the drugs to treat canine dilated cardiomyopathy. 20 minutes long and 30 slides. Wish me luck. I also have a prac test in Pathology and even though this is becoming my favorite subject, it is very very hard. We have been messing around with farm animals again in a class called ICE, or Introduction to Clinical Exams. All the usual suspects are there, sheep, goats, cattle, pigs. Horses and the domestic pets are fourth year. I have already learned how to put a stomach tube in the cow and take blood from the tail vein...OUCH. Draw blood and give vaccines to sheep, goats, and cattle. Always in the neck under the ear so as not to damage the meat. Now it will be three weeks of my not so favorite pigs, and on Fridays. 4 hours of pigs every other Friday for 3 whole weeks....oh nooooo.
It has started raining here, wish I had an even longer summer. Oh well next time. Hope everyone back home is doing good. I moved my blog here because I have tried to make comments possible on my other site but it is not working. It should work here though.
Hope to hear from people soon
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