Sunday, October 28, 2007

I see the light

So somehow, someway, tomorrow marks the light at the end of the midterm tunnel. Tomorrow is the 3rd of 4 anatomy exams and once it finished at 4pm, the official 3 weeks of midterms will be over. Of course "next Friday never comes" and I have 3 quizzes to take this week, but by no means are they as rough as the past few weeks. And no major exams for 2 entire weeks!! What a breather.

The class is bowling Tuesday to celebrate. I began celebrating this weekend after a disappointing loss to Boston College (how heartbreaking and rainy). Friday was a trip to a cattle beef farm and then a big anatomy study session all night to free up the weekend for some fun.

The rainy week ceased Saturday afternoon and Matt and I traversed the epic Dragontooth hike. A challenging but very fun hike. Then we headed for some well-deserved carbs before going to the movies!! Yeah a fun weekend, despite intermittent studying for anatomy. I feel fairly prepared despite the use of free time and ready to spend a week or more playing catch-up on other subjects. This time however its at my leisure (more or less) not on the timed schedule of midterms. It feels good to be more than halfway done with my first semester at vet school, in fact it feels damn good!!

I'll try to update more often from here on out. I am hoping for a speedy couple weeks to Thanksgiving break. 10 days of blissful tv watching here I come!!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Worst is Over

So the most intense 2 weeks of the semester are finally over. I cannot believe I made it through. I am tired but made it through fairly successfully. Now it's time to enjoy the weekend, it's my friend Lisa's birthday tomorrow so we're going to a Pumpkin patch and a party at night! Still have to catch up in Cardio physiology and anatomy but I can certainly see a light at the end of the tunnel and I feel more confident than ever that vet school is manageable, sometimes enjoyable, and certainly worthwhile.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Hell Week

Well it's only Tuesday and I may pass out while writing this. This is the week of 4 exams. Took 2 on Monday and don't feel great about either but at least they are done. One tomorrow will be rough...biochem and only 25 questions that span 14 lectures, ugh. Friday is ethology (animal behavior) which will be a last minute cram session. Once those are done it will be time to catch up on 2 weeks of Physiology and Anatomy in prep for those test next week. Then the semester will coast. Until then, I am very tired, but we all are so we laugh at it and keep going.

I plan to take most of Saturday off this weekend to enjoy the Fall foliage and some great weather and get back to life outside of school for a bit.

Looking forward to November desprately.

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Short and Sweet- for fun

You know you're a vet student when:

The bad thing that happened that day is your lab partners decided it would be a great idea to open a stomach and once opened find bile and preserved half eaten food that then has to be syringed out, and you have to get home and study and try not to hurl.

The good thing that happened was you had a blast explaining immunology of T cell activation to your friend in a coffee shop.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Today was a good day

Although not over by any stretch of the imagination for a vet student, today marks an important day in my first semester. The first Sunday I was genuinely happy. I awoke without worrying that Matt was leaving, but instead had plans to go to the lab with some friends in preparation for the second anatomy test tomorrow. Instead of being super anxious this time I feel pretty good about this test, in fact with time to spare to study immunology and work on a quiz.

Even though I was at school yesterday from 11 to 5 without Matt, he understood and we watched the VT v. Clemson game together. We played an energetic game of racquetball this morning. In addition, my wonderful husband noticed that the apartment is out of toilet paper and tissues, and seeing our tough schedules and tight budgets, took it upon himself to go to Walmart for us, a dreaded trip as we all know.

His support this weekend is why I am happy today, why I didn't cry hysterically, and why I know I can get through the next 2 weeks of 6 exams. And after that hurdle passes, the rest of the semester should seem like a breeze.

So now I look ahead to 2 weekends from now to a great hike and some real quality time for Matt that both of us will have earned!

Friday, October 5, 2007

In the thick of it

If I still have any readers left, my apologies for the hiatus. The heat of the semester has begun and the next 2-3 weeks will be rough with midterms. I am happy to report that so far so good wrt grades. But some big exams coming up.

I went home to Oakton last weekend to see my cats Garfield and Heathcliff and it was a treat! They weren't mad at me and they remembered me immediately and went back into their old routines. I also got to catch up with some family and friends and welcome my sister officially as a DC metro resident! Yeah.

The sad news is that while I did get some studying in, it was very difficult to leave home, which was so comfortable. I struggled with test anxiety and missing the other half of my family through Tuesday.

I seem to have bounced back for now and spent almost every waking minute studying this week. I have been proactive in preparing for my next 3 exams, studying during lunch and coming close to burning out. Last night I let myself go to sleep early and I have no idea what to do with almost 9 hours of sleep, but it feels good.

The long and short of it is, I'd be happy if the rest of my family was here to support me physically and mentally on those really bad days and I am tired of every Sunday being a "bad day." But fingers crossed that Matt can find a job in B'Burg sometime during the spring semester.

Until then I must plough through and enter the thick of it starting Monday with an anatomy test on the thoracic cavity, Thursday with immunology and 3 exams the following week. Then it tapers off and pretty soon it will be November for better or for worse.

Some days it really seems impossible and other days you don't think about it. Sometimes you start enjoying it and other times you just want to sleep and watch tv, (that's how I feel today.) Instead we have a guest speaker talkng about animal laws and how they affect veterinarians.

Talk to you soon from Blacksburg!