30 November 2010

Don't get sick in the UK...

...it'll take you weeks to recover.

So my bout with fresher's flu part 3 has been a bit of a downer. It started a few days before I left for Paris and it ran me into the ground every day while we were there. So when I came back, I made the first appointment I could with my local NHS clinic (which was the Wednesday after we got back).

For the record, the first appointment was near pointless. The GP looked down my throat, listened to my lungs, and basically told me to keep up with what I was doing. If I wasn't getting better by Friday, she told me to pick up a prescription of antibiotics. Well, by Friday I wasn't any better, so I picked up the amoxicillin. While on amoxicillin, I managed to get worse AND develop an ear infection.

Yes, I said it. An ear infection. Something I haven't had since, oh...I don't know, 3 years old? Seriously. What 24 year old gets an ear infection?

Anyway. So after not getting better after resting the whole weekend, I went back this past Monday. Same GP. This time, she listened to my lungs for a good long while (which had me worried...still does) and said that my left ear really was inflamed. So now, I'm on a SECOND antibiotic (clarithromycin), which seems to be working. I'm not coughing my lungs out, my sinuses aren't killing me, and my ear feels a bit better even after only one day of being on the clarithroamycin.

So my advice: don't get sick in the UK. It sucks. And it's really difficult to work with NHS, especially when you are pretty sure the GP you're seeing is the same age as you. Also, missing classes because you are sick sucks because you miss out on a lot of important information needed for your exam in 2 weeks (fuuuuuuuuuck).

22 November 2010

Ah, Paris...

I was sick as a dog, and almost died walking up the steps to Sacre-Couer, but I went to Paris and IT WAS AWESOME. The UK Border Control were funny, too, because 9 of us on the G&T course went and when I got there the woman said, "Another veterinary student, eh? You guys are already on holiday??" Haha...not really. But soon!

Back to real life now.

17 November 2010

Thoughts on Flying

I've only got 4 more weeks until I fly home for Christmas. The one way ticket here in September was a good idea, too. A flatmate of mine had a bit of trouble booking the last half of her round-trip with her UK banking card because it was a trip that originated in the States. Weird, but I guess that makes sense...?

On another note, a bunch of American students that are in my program and I are all taking the weekend off and going to Paris. There will be lots of brie, croissants, french wine, and sightseeing. I cannot wait!!

09 November 2010

Cows, cows, everywhere!

When I was around 8 years old, my parents took my sister and I to the county fair (a very Wisconsin thing to do, as we were living there at the time). Somehow, I wandered off, and when my dad realized I was gone he immediately thought, "well, where there's an animal, there Eleanor will be." We must've passed the calf shed at the fair and I (obviously) must've gotten distracted, because he found me cuddled up to a calf. The moment is preserved in a picture located somewhere at my parent's house, probably located with the millions of pictures my mother has stored in plastic containers.

Anyway, I tell that story to tell this story: somewhere along the line, I stopped liking cows. Maybe it was that class at UNH where I had to perform AI a bunch of times on dairy cows and got shat on multiple times (and lived to tell the tale). Or maybe it was because of the smell.

Well, scratch that. Today, I felt like I was 8 years old again, because I totally wanted to cuddle up to this little fella:

What a cutie, huh? (picture shamelessly stolen from my fellow classmate A.)

I spent 2 and a half hours today learning how to handle cows and do vet stuff like body scoring and checking rumen fill and checking silage and etc. I even managed to get licked in the face by a particularly precocious older calf that was outside.

AND.

I got to see a 1.5 hour old calf, which to me is newborn. It was still unsteady on it's legs! I melted.

Moral of the story: I officially like cows again. Oh...and I love being a vet student.

06 November 2010

To revise or not to revise...

Stay in to revise, or go out and shop for clothes? As any normal girl would, I choose to go out shopping for clothes. Major fail on my part, considering how much work I have.

However, I did spend most of the morning going over the endocrine control of metabolism (ugh). Only after I went food shopping and bought a yoga mat as well (finally!). So I get points for that, right?

...right?

02 November 2010

Living in Camden: a short thought.

Last week, I saw two celebrities here in Camden. The first, I can't name...but I know I've seen him in many movies (possibly Shakespearean movies?). The second, I saw while studying at my favorite study cafe with my friend D. At first, I thought she just looked like her, but after a while, hearing her talk to her friend (yes, I'm a shameless eavesdropper), I realized that holy sh*t, it actually WAS her.

Who's her? Romola Garai (Atonement, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights). Not many people know who she is, but I recently finished watching her performance as Emma in a 2009 BBC production of "Emma" (only after watching BBC's 2007 production of "Persuasion" and their 2008 production of "Sense and Sensibility").

Dork? Yes, thank you. I am.

But the reason I bring this up is, as a dork, I tweeted about how I'd seen her at Yumchaa. And I just looked at twitter and realized I'd been retweeted by a random celebrity sighting website. For some reason this makes me feel kinda cool...