Diary of a Vet Student

Hello Kids

This will be my last BLOG for a while as I'm off on my happy holidays. I left Glasgow on 19th July and have been at home driving my Mum slowly round the bend (seriously, she aint happy!)and making banoffee pies for about a week. Have been visiting my folks in Hereford as have really missed them!

I got my final grades through the post today. So here they are for all to see and they're not that bad really. I got an A in anatomy and an A distinction in physiology and biomolecular science and a C in Animal Husbandry. I can't really see that my grades will have any effect on my future really. All that really matters is that I passed he exams and am through to 3rd year! Woohoo!

So my plans for the Summer are to spend 7 and a bit weeks in Nepal. This is with Student Volunteers Abroad, who I've been fundraising with all year. We're going to build a primary school. It's all jolly exciting. Wahee! 2nd year seems to be the best time to do something like this as I reckon after 2nd year the work load will increase so I won't have time to fundraise during the year. Also in the 2nd year summer hols you've probably finnished the majority of your EMS so you can go off and do something else. I've always wanted to do aid work and Nepal is a great place to do it. There's been a bit of political upheaval there and it has been "touch and go" about whether it would be safe enough for us to go, but we're forging ahead like the wee warriors we are.

Before Nepal I'll be woking at the Vetsim conference in Nottingham so maybe I'll see some of you there (on 11th July). Spare a thought for me when I stutter at the student forum!

Have a happy Summer

I feel like a bit of a foney saying this to you, but I really mean it this time. This time I have really finnished my exams. That's it finnito. Goodbye. No more.

I have just done my final oral, which was anatomy. This was really just a practical exam, where two examiners can ask you anything they like based on the specimens they have infront of them. I was asked about a histological section of an ovary and a dog which had been sawn in half. It was so tempting when they asked me about the dog to say that I could diagnose the problem and that it was simply missing a right hand-side, but I resisted wisely.

So that's really it now. I know I've passed everything, because I got distinction orals in Biomolecular science and physiology. I didn't get a pass/fail oral in animal husbandry and for my anatomy oral I wasn't examined by the external examiner, which means it wasn't pass/fail. Phew. It just means so much to know I've passed everything and can go on to 3rd year. A few of my mates don't know their results yet and that must be horrible. This is because some of them are waiting for the results of pass/fail orals they've taken this week. You can only pass the subject through a p/f oral if you were within 10% of passing in the written exam. Even if you weren't within this 10% everyone who failed the written exam has to take a p/f. Wicked and mean isn't it?

Anyway. I feel like I've celebrated the endof exams about a million times now, but I'm going to have another attempt tonight and then again on Friday, when people who've finnished their animal husbandry p/f orals will be free.

This Friday my flat mate and I are entering a raft race. This is another dodgey vetschool tradition, which I'm sure isn't all that safe and maybe not even legal. We're going to buy a raft from Poundstretcher (never under estimate the value of your local Poundstretcher) and get dressed up in our Gran's pants. Then with brave hearts and a smile on our faces we'll cast adrift on the waters of the Kelvin and attempt to make it about a mile downstream without doing any of the following:-

showing our nickers;
showing our arses;
loosing my Gran's hat;
losing my Gran's nickers;
losing the raft;
losing opposite flatmate;
swallowing rat infested water;
losing the race.

After a good shower it is then intended that we shall high-tail it to the Vetschool common room (the Hut) for the Final Fling, which involves a bit of disco dancing and a bit much alcohol.

Tarah for now!

Have just done my biomolecular science distinction oral. It went ok really. The blokes who quizzed me were really kind. they asked about whether I'd seen anything in the news to do with immunology. Luckily I'd decided in a fit of intellectualism-thingyness to buy "The Times" the other day. I told them all about the new gene they've found associated with prostate cancer. Phew. Then we talked about influenza and antigenic drift and shift. You can actually learn quite a lot in oral exams. They told me a bit more about avian influenza and I finally learnt how to isolate a section of mRNA from a sample of tissue (didn't know that in the exam).

Today it is cats and dogs in Glasgow, with the old bit of sunshine. We wanna play rounders. Flatmate-Al and I went to "Pound Stretcher" yesterday to buy a bat and ball. We also got water pistols, but nobody knows about that (wa ha ha ha ha).

Tonight we're going to "do Glasgow". We've realised that whenever we go out we always go to the same pub and stand there until we've exhausted the drink's promotions. Then we stagger across the road (hoping to be dodged by taxis/buses/cars/slobbering-old-men) whence we lauch ourselves into the most notorious sweat house of town whose name I will not mention here. So tonight it is a "try-all-the-pubs-we-should-have-tried-before" night. Although I admit it may be a little foolish to attempt to do them all in one go.

Okee dokee then hope for sunny weather.

Coo. Talk about getting a bit hot and sweaty. No it's not what you're thinking. I've just had a physiology distinction oral. It really isn't a big deal at all and I really don't think I'll be any happier if I get a distinction through this oral. It's just the fact that you've still got to say SOMETHING when you're sat opposite the two "quizzers". This is especially when 1 is an external examiner who's come all the way from sunny London and the other is your lovely lecturer who keeps looking at you as though to say, "I taught you this come on show London what we're made of". Eeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

It was alright though. I did do about 2 hours reading of notes last night. Otherwise I wouldn't have had a scooby-doo.

Anyway onto sunnier things. I went to see harry Potter the other night. Cor. It's pretty good, but the characters (bless em) are a bit wooden and Professor Lupin is nothing like I imagined him.

At the moment I'm filling my spare time with organising myself for my trip to Nepal in July. It's really exciting and I have lots of things to buy like mosquito repellent and iodine for sterilising water.

This Friday (unless I get an animal husbandry pass/fail oral next week) everything will be completely over. I have a distinction oral in Biomolecular Science, then a compulsory oral in anatomy. Then I have big boogy woogy fest. Marvellous.

Hopefully this summer will be work free. That is except that I have to write up all the EMS I've done over the past 2 years, but that'll be OK and I can re-learn from the notes I wrote whilst I was doing the placements.

Okeee macdokeee

Hello free people! Woohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! So Fabdabby nabby dozy! Exams finnished now all I have to do is get over my hangover and get ready to generate a new one! The animal husbandry exam went really well. Or so I thought until I finnished the exam and realised I had done question 5A and 5B, but not question 6. Oh crappy farty @*88**** was what I said. Never mind I had a chat with my lecturer at the end of the exam and he said he reckonned it would be OK. I hope I got enought in the other questions to make up for it.

This week is the week of orals. if you failed a subject you have to do a "pass/fail" oral. If you pass then you don't have to do re-sits in the summer. I'm hoping I won't have to do an anatmoy oral. I've got an physiology oral on Tuesday because I did really well in that paper so if I pass this oral I'll get a distinction in physiology. Not much of a reward for doing well is it? Think I will do a bit of work on Monday just to see if I can do it on Tuesday, but am not going to push myself as have done my hard work.

On Friday I came back after a round in the pub and slept for 3 hours. Ahhhhh then went to Glagow Union and took full advantage of double vodkas and £1.50. Then got in at 5am. Grandissimo. At last. A free lady (except ofor phsiology oral and anatomy oral (compulsory for all))


Phew

Hello free people! Woohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! So Fabdabby nabby dozy! Exams finnished now all I have to do is get over my hangover and get ready to generate a new one! The animal husbandry exam went really well. Or so I thought until I finnished the exam and realised I had done question 5A and 5B, but not question 6. Oh crappy farty @*88**** was what I said. Never mind I had a chat with my lecturer at the end of the exam and he said he reckonned it would be OK. I hope I got enought in the other questions to make up for it.

This week is the week of orals. if you failed a subject you have to do a "pass/fail" oral. If you pass then you don't have to do re-sits in the summer. I'm hoping I won't have to do an anatmoy oral. I've got an physiology oral on Tuesday because I did really well in that paper so if I pass this oral I'll get a distinction in physiology. Not much of a reward for doing well is it? Think I will do a bit of work on Monday just to see if I can do it on Tuesday, but am not going to push myself as have done my hard work.

On Friday I came back after a round in the pub and slept for 3 hours. Ahhhhh then went to Glagow Union and took full advantage of double vodkas and £1.50. Then got in at 5am. Grandissimo. At last. A free lady (except ofor phsiology oral and anatomy oral (compulsory for all))


Phew

Hello free people! Woohooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! So Fabdabby nabby dozy! Exams finnished now all I have to do is get over my hangover and get ready to generate a new one! The animal husbandry exam went really well. Or so I thought until I finnished the exam and realised I had done question 5A and 5B, but not question 6. Oh crappy farty @*88**** was what I said. Never mind I had a chat with my lecturer at the end of the exam and he said he reckonned it would be OK. I hope I got enought in the other questions to make up for it.

This week is the week of orals. if you failed a subject you have to do a "pass/fail" oral. If you pass then you don't have to do re-sits in the summer. I'm hoping I won't have to do an anatmoy oral. I've got an physiology oral on Tuesday because I did really well in that paper so if I pass this oral I'll get a distinction in physiology. Not much of a reward for doing well is it? Think I will do a bit of work on Monday just to see if I can do it on Tuesday, but am not going to push myself as have done my hard work.

On Friday I came back after a round in the pub and slept for 3 hours. Ahhhhh then went to Glagow Union and took full advantage of double vodkas and £1.50. Then got in at 5am. Grandissimo. At last. A free lady (except ofor phsiology oral and natomy oral (compulsory for all))


Phew

It's nearly all over. We're just on the final showdown now! Phew! I think this is probably as hard if not harder than doing my 4 A levels!

We just did the anatomy practical and the anatomy histology exams one after the other.

The anatmy was pretty musch alright I think. Thank God I quickly looked at mymate's reptile notes 10 minutes before we went in. Nobody has really studied reptiles as they are really only a very small fraction of what we've done, but alas they came up! There was a tortoise slices in 2 with bits we had to label. There were also a few other odd things like bird mouths and stuff. the rest was all pretty much what I expected: locomtion and reproduction, respiratory and digestive tracts.

Histology was quite lucky as I hadn't really had time to revise using the colour atlas, so until this morning I knew the theroydiagrams of what everything looked like but didn't really know what they looked like in real life. I had to cram like mad this morning and was still studying the respiratory tract as I worked through the woods to get to the vetschool.

Ok tonight I'll be hammering animal husbandary, but no until I've had mackeral on toast and at least 5 chocolate biscuits.