Push Week is Over!

I could have studied more. As a vet student you can always argue that, but I believe that I passed my late week exams, and given the week and my motivation that is something I am proud of. It is a miracle, but we do not have an exam or quiz all next week. We actually have time to catch up and study for final exams.

Since spring break this semester has dragged on, but at some point it does actually have to end, right? For some reason today I feel it ending and I feel myself successfully completing this year. It is a bizarre feeling. Just one year ago I wondered can I do this? What will happen? And now I just have 2.5 weeks to go...

I am taking most of this weekend off to attend a wedding in Baltimore. I hope that having some fun and being a person for 2 days will motivate me for the next few weeks because I sure need some movtivation.

Despite having a final exam this morning, I have 2 more classes and a double lab on a Friday, ugh. But the weekend is almost here...I can smell it.

April 16- 1 year anniversary

What a rough day here in Blacksburg. Besides being burned out from school, this tragedy is all I have been able to think about this week. I spent the morning cleaning the apartment. Then I went for a run to clear my head. To sequester myself into studying I went to Panera Bread for the 6 hour marathon of parasitology and epidemiology. I used the free internet and violated the contract not to sit at tables larger than your party size or occupy tables for more than 30 minutes during peak times...oh well.

In the evening, I went with 2 good friends to the candlelight vigil on the drillfield. It was very powerful and emotionally heartwrenching. As the candle flame was passed around I felt a strong sense of unity. I wanted to use my flame to light everyone's candle. Then they read the names, and no one held back tears. The military bugles played in call and response, and the silence spoke for itself.

Last year when I was exicted to be accepted into vet school, all anyone wanted to discuss was April 16. As a result, I was emotionally in denial that such a horrible act could be committed in such a wonderful place. This year I ended the denial and mourned. I do not think the shock that this happened to such wonderful students with such potential will ever go away.

I will continue mourning, but I will not recede back into denial.

2 1/2 weeks of classes left

This week is a tough week, the last tough week until finals. The one year anniversary of the April 16 tragedy is sandwiched in between 2 major exams and a pretty major quiz. What an emotional and stressful week it could be. But once it is done, no more exams until finals begin. We haven't had a week without 1 test since week 3, so it should feel good.

My drive weakens with each week, but I see the light and I cannot wait to be finished with first year and begin my summer.

Stay tuned for info on my summer research project and a recap of April 16 events in Blacksburg. I hope to make it to either the evening candlelight vigil or the morning ceremony. Since I have the day off, I want to remember the tragedy, but I also have 2 tests to study for Thursday and Friday, and some cleaning and packing to do for the weekend.

I will be packing for my "adopted" little brother, Ed's, wedding in Baltimore Saturday April 19. So exciting. I have watched him grow up from the kid on the couch always watching the Simpson's to a terrific person who is fun, caring, and has become a great friend to Matt as well. It will be fun to run into some high school friends/teachers and see Ed and Patti get married. I was there for the beginning of their relationship and it has been amazing to watch them both mature! Next weekend could be a nice break from studying, or it could make me yearn for summer more.

Oh how my friends and I want to become a "people with a life" again...

Exactly a month left of 1st year

The vet school open house was a fun time, and very weird to be on the other side of the coin greeting prospective students and selling merchandise. Before I began vet school, I was an open house junkie. I had been to 3 prior open houses as a prospective student. It was a lot less intimidating from this side.

Matt and I checked out the international street festival that was suppose to be outside, but due to weather was held inside the student center. Some performances were fun, others left a little to be desired, but the food was excellent. There were many ethnicities to choose from, so we sampled from South America, Asia, and the Middle East.

Last week, in terms of academics, went smoothly. This week is packed with 3 exams and next week is the same. Then we will have a short reprieve before finals, I cannot believe that...finals. Hopefully I make it without catching the nasty cold virus circulating the classroom. I have been mindful of my rest (when I can fall asleep that is), and drinking many fluids and tea.

This weekend is the community dog wash, which all first year students have to participate in. I have the 7:30-10:30 shift to get it over with while my sleeping beauty husband, well, sleeps.

My friends and I all dream of summer, as our momentum and motivation to keep going has started to wane.

Here's to one more month, albeit the hardest, of second semester first year.

Back from Spring Break-The Ides of March

Well it's the height of March Madness, spring break has come and gone, and feels as if it never was and just 4.5 weeks of classes left before exams. I am definitely tired out. Studying is more of a chore right now than particularly enjoyable. And while only a few weeks remain, more than a few exams still lurk in the future unfortunately.

Coming back from spring was difficult for me. I couldn't the sleep the first few nights, not due to stress but to due to reacclimation I suppose. I plowed through and have been sleeping better since Matt aka sleeping beauty, go back to Blacksburg. So clearly, it had something psychological to do with leaving my "home" in Nova. I have no idea why 1 week caused an entire re-adjustment to occur, but it did.

The week ended with an exciting meeting with my mentor on my sumer research. He picked my brain on my interests to target with his research background. He is extremely nice and got me excited about working this summer with other grad students, state of the art equipment, and exposure to as many types of research techniques as possible, both cellular and animal research.

This week will be long (2 exams), but interesting with a replay of the NAVC elephant in the room conference tomorrow night with VA legislators and veterinarians to discuss the future of the profession with respect to salaries and student loans.

The week will end with a 5K on Saturday in support of cancer and the open house, that I had attended 3 times before I was a vet student and now I will be on the other side of the table. I plan to help with electron microscopy tours, club selling tables, and a housing fair for the incoming class.

So here's hoping for a good week. I am still back in transition so I will have to take it slow and day by day to make it through. May 7 cannot arrive soon enough!

Spring Break Bliss

While it isn't the most glamorous spring break, it has been a needed break from vet school. The week has flown by, with futile attempts to regain a social life, do some school work, clean my other home, and start on the spring yard work. Bits and pieces have been accomplished (as well as some quality reality tv viewing), but as always I am running out of time. It has been a treat to be home, trying out new recipes on my guinea pig husband, catching up on the outside world, and getting a full night's sleep every night.

Soon it will be nose to the grindstone once again, but with 5 weeks left I am beginning to smell the end of first year. I can anticipate how sweet it is going to taste.

In the thick of it now

It is week 8 of the semester and could not be further from the middle of the semester and one of the toughest weeks. We have a nutrition final tomorrow and the dreaded parasitology midterm on Friday, which terrifies pretty much the entire class, myself included. I studied pro actively and hard for the first quiz and received my lowest vet school grade so far, so I am trying my best and hoping it will be good enough for Friday.

Everyone is tired and more than ready for spring break. Only 1.5 weeks stand between spring break and school,but that entails 3 tests and 1 quiz:( Not included any catch-up work if we don't want to spend all of spring break studying (which I do not!)

I will cease blabbering and put my nose back into my books for a few more hours.