Will Be Chewing For Awhile

Let me explain the title. I ALWAYS bite off more than I can chew, yet somehow I manage to struggle through it and finish it. What have I gone and done now?? Lets see here, I took the Americans that I met on my website under my wing so to say and showed them the ropes. Helped with housing, took to banks, the grocery store, out at night etc. It was great fun to see how they all reacted to a new country, and it was funny how they kept asking me how I could have done all this alone.

Oh, and I must vent that I have not gotten my loan ONCE AGAIN and so I get to freak out and cut classes in order to work and try to survive and pay rent until the loan comes in. I always apply well ahead of time, I do all the paperwork correct, and somehow...something goes wrong. It is almost like I am not allowed to just smoothly sail into a semester. I am only allowed to start the semester stressed beyond belief from either my bank account in the states being emptied, my cards racked up and my credit destroyed. told I cannot get any more loans because of said bad credit, we just lost your paper work...etc etc etc, this time...we are "having problems" getting the US government to certify the loans. Oh GOODY!!! Maybe it is because just the other day I had them contact me and say we have been trying to contact you to start paying your loans off...they are no longer in defferment. WHAT!!!! So now I have to figure out how to fix this....CANT I JUST STUDY PEOPLE?? The whole reason I came here...come on now.



Ok, on to another project I was helping with...Half Way Day woo hoo...it is this Friday and so much work has gone into it. We had a $10,000 budget and we met it...it will be the party of the year that is for sure. I was able to secure two party buses for $700 and we got great deals on everything else. Champagne breakfast at the Left Bank for 80 people. Then mini golf and a Bar-B-Q after...and then, 3 pm back to campus for a HUGE celebration with food, DJ, Drinks and Madness. My costume is very interesting as it is a Halfway to Wonderland theme and I will look like a crazy bad mad hatter acid trip white rabbit thingy LOL. Now that that project is done...on to the next

So everyone knows I love Costa Rica...and I love Veterinary medicine. So naturally as soon as I found out a year ago that there was a program that incorporates both these things...I have been slowly working on how to make it happen. I need it to count for 2 of our 12 weeks of clinic work between 4th-5th years otherwise it wont work, and I need it to be sponsored. So with the help of my friend Courtney we are approaching all the appropriate people and have even gone so far as to have a meeting with the president of the veterinary school. He is ready to back us all the way.....planned trip for July 2008...still ALOT of work needs to be done...on to the next project.

The International Vet Trust person has contacted me again and wants to know if I want to be the Vet Trust Ambassador...alot of work and still thinking about that one....on to the next project.....I have quite a few more in the works and we will see how all of those go in the long run. This is all while working, studying, attending classes and trying to spend time with my boyfriend Steve. And THAT is going wonderful. In fact out of all of these projects and events...the one I am really looking forward to is going away with Steve and his friends to a houseboat for 4 days in September...I cant wait to get away and just spend time with him staring at the perfect glassy water.

So uni started again this week and these are the lovely classes I have to look forward to


Welcome to VET341: Veterinary Microbiology
This unit provides basic knowledge and practical skills in microbiology relating to infectious diseases of animals. A generalist and integrated approach to pathogenic microbiology is adopted, but includes separate sections on bacteria and viruses. Sections comprise an introduction to features of pathogenic micro-organisms including structure, metabolism, genetic composition, culture and identification. Emphasis is given to the mechanisms causing disease and to principles of diagnosis and control. The unit includes a component of self-paced learning.

Welcome to VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology. The purpose of this unit is to integrate your knowledge of "veterinary biology" and "the processes of disease", with an understanding of the tools and techniques of the diagnostic process. In doing this you will be laying the foundation for the "total view" of disease and disease diagnosis that is essential to becoming a competent diagnostician and veterinarian.

The role of the veterinary clinician is akin to the "case manager". The veterinary clinician must be able to integrate their knowledge and understanding of veterinary biology, diagnostics and epidemiology to be able to make accurate and informed decisions about the cause(s) of disease and then what the best course of action is. To succeed in this unit (and thereby develop the skills to become a successful clinician and diagnostician!) you will need to recall and integrate your understanding of physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, immunology and general pathology as part of the diagnostic process. In fact your knowledge and understanding of these subjects is assumed, so you should keep your notes/ texts on these topics close at hand when you are working on this unit so you can refer to them if your understanding of these topics becomes a little unclear.

Vet 344 Vet Parasitology This course has an applied focus since, from a practical point of view, the aims are to provide you with the necessary information to be able to diagnose and control parasitic infections of veterinary and zoonotic significance. This cannot be achieved without knowledge of a parasite's life cycle. This information is essential before one can implement strategies to 'break the cycle' whether these are drugs, vaccines or public health measures.

Understanding the life cycles of parasites requires a detailed knowledge of parasite ecology. We are interested in ecological interactions in their broadest sense, from the environmental aspects to what happens when parasites are in their hosts (the 'host-parasite interface'). As you can imagine, such studies will draw on many other disciplines such as genetics, biochemistry, physiology and pathology. They are also dependent on a fundamental knowledge about parasite biology; their basic structure, how they feed, where they live, how they survive, and the mechanisms they have developed to get in and out of the host.

There is a huge diversity of parasites that are important to veterinary science, and these are found in two animal kingdoms and several phyla. Consequently, an appreciation of the taxonomic groupings that together comprise parasites of veterinary significance, is an essential pre-requisite for a comprehensive course such as ours.

And here is my oh so lovely schedule.



Mon
8:30- 9:30 LECT1, VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

10:30

11:30- 12:30 LECT1, Vet 344 Vet Parasitology

1:30 – 4:30pm PRAC/WS, Vet 344 Vet Parasitology



Work 6-12



Tue

8:30-9:30 LECT1, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology

9:30-12:30pm LAB VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

12:30-1:30pm LECT2, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology

2:30 -4:30pm LAB1, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology



Wed

8:30am

9:30-10:30 LAB2, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology

10:30 -11:30 Lect3, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology

11:30 -12:30 Lect2 VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

1:30pm

2:30-3:30 Lect 2, Vet 344 Vet Parasitology



Work 6-12



Thu

8:30am-9:30 LECT3, VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

9:30am-10:30 LECT4, VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

10:30am

11:30am -1:30 LECT3, Vet 344 Vet Parasitology



Fri

8:30am-9:30 LECT5, VET343, Veterinary Applied Pathology

9:30am

10:30am

11:30am-12:30 LECT4, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology

12:30pm -1:30 LECT5, VET341: Veterinary Microbiology



Work 3 till required



Work Saturday or Sunday….but hopefully not both