14 August 2014

Survival

So I didn't quite survive finals round 1. I managed to do really well on everything except the OSCE portion. I missed out by one station and unfortunately was not able to graduate in July with the rest of my class. 

I can't really describe the ups and downs that come with a failure like this. I've never really failed at anything in my life, and to do it at something this important and this big was a huge blow, not only to my ego, but to my confidence as well. Which, at the start of an internship, is a horrible combination. 

I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough month since results came out. I'm still wobbling a little to find my center again. But if there is anything good about this, it is the support that I received after realizing that I wouldn't get my degree (yet!!) or graduate in July. My friends from school and outside of school were (and still are) super supportive; I can never say enough how lucky I am to have these people in my life. Not only that, I could not have asked for more support or understanding from my employers. Getting the news was tough, but realizing that it could lose me my position as an intern was heartbreaking. But my employers couldn't have cared less. Of course, they're concerned because I have to take so much time off to fly back and prepare/take the exam again. But their value and opinion of me did not change, which was (to be completely truthful) more than I expected. 

So, in the end, I'm still an intern, I'm still doing what I love (even more now than ever, despite sometimes having feelings otherwise), and I'm going to go back in September, kick this exam's ass, and say goodbye to RVC for good. I've had such a great time at the school, but this whole business has left a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm sure it will mellow as the years go by, but right now it's still too fresh. 

Thanks for reading. I hope that, if you come across this blog because you're thinking of going to the RVC, you seriously consider it. Great school, great professors (mostly), and they're only improving the way they do things. My experience is mine alone, and hopefully yours will be better. 

30 June 2014

The Big Move

Well, I survived the weekend of crazy-why did I think this was possible?

Friday I flew into Boston and it was  MAD HOUSE. So many people. Too many people, really. Saturday, my dad and I packed up a u-haul truck. I had a pedicure, and I almost fell asleep in the chair I was so tired. Had dinner with parents, then went down to South County to attend a friend's bachelorette party (many shenanigans went down; I was only there for a little while but shenanigans were had). This morning, parents and I drove up with all the stuff and 2 cars with 3 dogs to Saratoga. It only took about 4 hours to get everything out of the truck and up a floor (THANK GOD FOR ELEVATORS). I'm about 1/3 of the way unpacked at this point in the night and I'm too tired to go on. Tomorrow: first day at work.

What. Was. I. Thinking.

I mean, I did it. Mostly. I've got the big stuff unpacked. I do need to do a giant shop for food and some other essentials (like TOILET PAPER. Honestly, who forgets to buy toilet paper).

But seriously. I moved from the UK to my parents house and to Saratoga all in one weekend. I don't even have time to be jet-lagged (I am SO lagging, it's awful).

Advice: if you can get away with it, try not to do what I did. I just hope my brain has recovered enough from exams that I can be a functional human being this week.

26 June 2014

DONE.

The final finals are officially over! Well, hopefully the final finals. Results are next Friday, so I'll be holding my breath a bit until then. In the end, there were some good bits and some bits where I went "WTF." So it's really up in the air as to whether I passed or not. But honestly, I've never not passed an exam here, so (fingers crossed) here's hoping this set of exams doesn't break that pattern.

Tomorrow I fly back for the pentultimate time to move my stuff from the UK to RI, then from RI to NY. And then start at my internship on Monday. Not much time to breathe. I do, however, have a pedicure at 1pm on Saturday, so there's a bit of pampering that will happen.

4 years coming to a close. Doesn't it just feel surreal?

20 June 2014

One week!!

Holy mother of kittens, I've only got a week before I move back to the US. It's hard to believe.

The worst part of this is that I absolutely hate packing. Especially since it's so much more to take home than I expected. I mean, it's 4 years of life here in the UK. It's a lot. I'm trying to decide what is best to take back in the first leg of the moving process. I've gotten rid of 3 bags of clothes, so that reduces my wardrobe a lot...but I still have a sizable amount left to pack up. Do I bring the few bits and bobs hanging around my room (pictures, etc) on the first trip? And books, what about those? Decisions.

Thankfully I've managed to sell most of my furniture. I don't feel too bad about not selling the rest. I'm taking a bit of a hit in the wallet, but it's not enough to make a huge fuss over. I'm just glad I sold the big ticket items (desk, TV, dresser).

As you can imagine, revision has been going slowly. I've managed to get through everything I wanted to get through, but that feeling of not knowing enough is heavy on my mind. I'm great at telling people they know more than they think they do, and that everything will be fine, except I'm not all that great at telling it to myself. HOWEVER. I do keep repeating 2 things: 1) if I can survive G&T year, I can survive anything; and 2) If I can make it through 3 years of exams and do moderately well, I can make it through this one.

On that note, I'm gonna get back to revision. Only 3 more days until exams!

04 June 2014

26 days, and revision fatigue.

It's a thing. Really it is.

We're only in the second week of the revision period and I'm already crawling up the walls of my room. Studying in my room is pretty difficult since I keep looking at things and thinking "huh, I need to pack that up. And that too. And I need to sell my furniture. And donate the clothes that are in that bag right there."

SERIOUSLY.

Also, I'm struggling to figure out how exactly to revise for these exams. It's mostly essays and long answer papers, which are not usually my best formats. And next week, we have our RP2 project defense. Not excited.

And in 26 days, I'll be starting my job. It feels so surreal.

25 May 2014

FYR = Best. Night. Ever.

It's been a while!!

I'm done with PRTT (electives), which means an end to formal teaching for me. Scary. It's crazy to think that I have to sit exams in four weeks time.

Yesterday we had our Final Year Revue (we also had it on Friday, but yesterday was the big night). It was amazing, such a great turn out, such funny skits and videos, and all in all a blast. There was a dance after-party at the same venue, which was amazing. I'm so glad I stuck around for it and danced my butt off. I'm sad that it will be the last time we're all together as a year before graduation (and technically exams..but that doesn't count).

So...yeah. Now is the long(ish) stretch of revision to finals. The final finals. The end is nigh. I start my job in 5 weeks. Time is flying.

27 April 2014

I did it! I got my Viking horse tattoo. I love it, it's itchy, and I can't wait for it to be completely healed. And I want more.

Anyway, Krakow was amazing. J and I had a great time. I forgot my phone, so I couldn't take any pictures while I was there. Sad, but it left my hands and mind free from obsessing about taking photos. Although I did have J take a few for me. 

And April is almost over. 2 more months left before I head back to the US to start my internship. I can't believe how much this year is already flying by. Tomorrow starts PRTT (Post rotational taught tracking AKA electives) for the next four weeks, followed by 4 weeks of revision and then the last finals (hopefully). So crazy!

11 April 2014

Final Exams: 20% complete.

OSCEs are officially over. It was long, it was ridiculous, but at least it's finally over!

They really weren't that bad, but 3 hour exams are never fun.

So now, we have 2 weeks off for Easter holidays. Next week: Poland for 4ish days. The week after that, tattoo time.

That's right, I've committed to an appointment and I'm finally getting my vet school tattoo. It's not what I originally planned out, but I love it, it's gorgeous, and I will post pictures when it happens.

31 March 2014

British Summer Time

Yes, people. This is a thing.

Instead of calling it Daylight Savings time, they call it British Summer time (BST). Clocks have been moved forward (just like in DST), and Mother Nature was nice to us and it was a beautiful first day of BST. Our dryer broke so I took advantage of the nice weather and hung my clothes out to dry. There really isn't anything quite like the smell of clothes dried in a spring breeze.

Ok, I'll stop being romantic.

Venice tomorrow. Awesome, cannot wait. It's going to be mild and sunny. I'm bringing sundresses. And heels (oh my!).

I'm officially 28. Yikes. Go me.

Next Friday I take my OSCE/OPSVE final (I swear I'm not hyperventilating, really). I want to say that OPSVE stands for "Observation of Practical Skills Veterinary Exam" or something of the sort. I think I'm pretty prepared; I spent every day last week in the CSC (Clinical Skills Center) practicing various things, like California Milk Testing, equine leg bandaging, and prescribing/handling medication. There is also a ton of videos and worksheets online to help with all that stuff, since the CSC is closed to prepare for it.

And, it's exactly 3 months until I start my position as intern. Yikes. Real life.

I swear I'm not hyperventilating. Really.

23 March 2014

Get traveling.

I discovered my love of traveling when I moved here 4 years ago, but haven't really had a chance to do as much as I'd like. This is mostly due to the fact that I've been a full-time student with restricted funds for the past 4 years. So now that I'm graduating soon and have a little left over money from loans, I'm getting in some last minute travel before I'm done.

Trip #1: Venice with my sister for a few days before OSCE finals. Smart? Maybe not. I've got all this week and some of next to study. And I've been studying for this, so 3 days hopefully won't mean a failing grade for me. I guess we'll see.

Trip #2: Krakow with my friend J over Easter holidays. I'm really excited about it. We're also going to take a trip to Auschwitz while we're there. I'm a little nervous about it and I'm probably going to get emotional during the visit.

And that's it, folks. The last two trips as a student. Can't wait!

17 March 2014

The Penultimate Flight to the UK

I'm sitting in the Indianapolis International Airport right now, waiting patiently for my flight. It's a bit early, but my friend E had a flight at 6:45am this morning, so we all needed to leave early to get her here on time. But it's worth it. I dropped my bags of 3 hours early, had breakfast with K, and then said goodbye since she had to go to work.

R&R ended with a bang, which was 100% worth it. I managed to do about 6 anesthetics on my own (under close supervision) and have been deemed ready to run anesthesia in Saratoga next year. I'll just have to keep on top of stuff before I get there!

And I had a wonderful girls weekend with my college girls. I got to see C and her baby, hang out and veg in front of the TV with K and E, and even managed a pretty heinous hangover/food poisoning episode due to some thai chicken curry (I'm feeling much more human today, but I still feel a bit icky). We had a Girls marathon, since I've never really watched the show (and of course now I'm in LOVE).

So now, I've got the next three weeks to relax and study for the practical exams in April, relax, and maybe take a cheeky day trip to Paris to see Notre Dame and Versailles. We'll see.

09 March 2014

So. Much. Anesthesia.

So I've been at R&R for the past two weeks now, and I've been having a fabulous time. There have been quite a few emergencies come in that have resulted in very little sleep, but it's been a great learning experience.

Also, I've been training with the anesthesia group these past two weeks, and I'm feeling much more confident about my abilities to safely anesthetize a horse. I even managed to do the anesthesia on two procedures practically on my own (under very close supervision)! It was very nerve-wracking, but both went smoothly.

I'm so excited for next year. I'm going to be tired, grumpy at times, but it's going to be the best experience I could've asked for.

One more week here, then my college girlies are coming to pick me up on Friday so I can spend the weekend with them before heading back for the final leg of this degree. So close!

26 February 2014

Looking back on posts gone by.

Every so often, I take a look back at my first few months of blog posts to remind me where I came from, and how much has changed since then. I just came across this one again, which was the last July 4th I was in the US for. I just realized (belatedly) that I was wrong.

I WILL be in the US for July 4th 2014. Because I'll be in the first week of my internship. And probably still jet-lagged. And hopefully will be so busy I won't realize how tired I am.

Also, today has been a day of numbers crunching. I've spent so much money buying plane tickets in the past week, it's put me in a panic about my budget for next year.

Because what else do I worry about but money.

The good part: I now have plane tickets to fly back to the US after exams are over (the day after exams, to be precise), fly back to the UK before graduation, and then fly again to Boston (to pick up my car and drive back to Saratoga, oy). I don't have to worry about agonizing over prices of flights, or worry about buying them because they're already bought. The money is gone.

The bad part: budget panic. My original plan for this coming year was to have money left over from my last loan payment to give me a bit of a cushion during the internship year. I'm getting paid well for an intern, don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled. But because I opted to get an apartment by myself and in a very secure location close to the practice, I'm paying a hefty price for housing. I've already sent off the deposit check, it's done. I'm living there, and I'm glad of it. But I still get anxiety about spending so much on housing. So I have to make sacrifices in other aspects of my budget, AND I need that cushion to help me pay for car insurance/some other small bills in order to make ends meet.

I can totally do it. I'm selling my car in the UK (I will miss my TARDIS, but I'll be very glad of the cash that comes from her), I'm selling a bunch of my books that I know I won't need (Small Animal Surgery, anyone?), I'm selling my TV, and I'm selling my sister some of my bedroom furniture (she's staying in the UK).

So why am I anxious? Because I'm good at it. Or used to it. And it keeps me in line.

Ugh, I'm rambling now. I'm tired. Getting up early to help with morning treatments. Time for bed.

19 February 2014

Visit to Florida

I'm back in Florida visiting my friend Sara for the first time in almost 2 years (which is way too long). The last time I was here, my nephew was 4 months old. Now he's over 2! And talking. And running everywhere. He has so much energy.

It's so nice to relax, hang out, play with my nephew and enjoy time with my friends. I don't get to do this often enough. Also, it's nice to be in a place that doesn't have snow on the ground and it's warm enough for flip flops and t-shirts. It's going to be tough to go to KY after this.

Anyway, I've got until Sunday here, then I fly to KY for 3 weeks. Time is going by so fast! I should probably start attempting to study for OSCEs.

13 February 2014

Snow day in VA

There is currently about a foot of snow on the ground here in VA, and as a result a snow day has been called. So no work for me. There might even be a delay tomorrow, since this area isn't really all that familiar with this amount of snow. 

At least we haven't lost power, and there is stuff to do. I've been making an equine intern cheat notebook with stuff that I think will help/be important to have easily on hand while on an internship. Also, Netflix makes the time go by faster. And exercising, just to keep myself from being completely sedentary. 

Tomorrow is my last day here in VA, so only 3 more weeks of EMS left to go. It's crazy to think that this time last year I was just finishing my first week of rotations. Now I'm close to finished, have an internship lined up for next year, and prepping for finals (and the rest of my life). 

It goes by so fast! Ah, well. So does everything good in life.

31 January 2014

Last day of formal rotations

Today was my absolute last day of rotations, minus the 5 weeks of EMS I have lined up for February/March. It's amazing how fast this time has flown by. I'm glad there is one less hurdle to jump now, but I'm going to miss my rotation mates. We've got plans to celebrate the end of rotations in April when we're all back for OSCEs (practical exams, oh my!) and electives.

So...yeah. Flight to Virginia is on Sunday, then two weeks with equine imaging specialists, then a week with my best friend and her family, 3 weeks with Rood and Riddle, and that's it.

THAT'S IT.

I'm gonna go celebrate now. Only 5 months left!!

23 January 2014

And the results are in...

I passed the NAVLE!!

I think I'm more happy that I don't need to take it again than I am about passing it. Oh well, I guess that's the same thing, right?

Wooooooooooo!!!!!! The only big hurdle now is my finals.

And wow, two posts in a week. I haven't done that in a while.

21 January 2014

Sleepless in the ERH

This week started my Equine Out of Hours (OOH) rotation, also my last equine rotation as a student. It goes without saying that I'm pretty tired. Sunday night started off with a bang (colic surgery), although we ended up euthanizing on the table. Made me sad, but that's how it goes sometimes.

I'm at last in the final stretch of rotations. I have this week of OOH (which ends 6am on Sunday morning), and then a week of Pathology...and then I'm done.

It's been less than a year since I started rotations, and I'm almost finished. It feels pretty weird and wonderful. I'm excited to be finished, but at the same time I'm sad to leave all my friends. I've had a great rotation group, and I love those girls. It's the last time we'll all be together as a group. And it kinda sucks.

So...yeah. Last two weeks of rotations, then 6 weeks in the US. Again. Except this time for both work and pleasure. I'll be seeing my friend Sara and her family, which will be amazing. (Speaking of...I need to book that flight!) And I'll be seeing my college girlies for a couple of days before I head back to London for electives/revision/exams season.

Truthfully, I'll be glad to not fly for a little while after I fly back from graduation in July.

07 January 2014

The countdown begins...

I don't know why I decided to do this tonight, but I did. I figured out how many days I have left until my last final.

171 days.

Ugh. So far away.

And 175 days until I start my internship. Again, far away.

I'm flying back to London on Wednesday, and on the following Monday I'll be starting my LAST ROTATION BLOCK. EVER.

Crazy.

02 January 2014

2014 Resolutions

2013 had a lot of big things in it. Rotations, got and lost a wonderful pet, got accepted into an internship program (of a lifetime)...

Actually, 2013 didn't really have that many things in it, looking back on it. There was a lot of stress, a lot of good times with friends, (a lot of alcohol), and a bit of heartache. So bring on 2014. The year I become a veterinarian. And move to New York. And start an equine internship. 

I've never been super great with resolutions. Most of the time I resolve to make no resolutions. Or decide that I'm going to attempt at a healthier lifestyle (which actually has worked, I lost 20 lbs this past year). So this year I'll make a few I can hopefully keep. 

1. Keep going on the healthy lifestyle; exercise regularly, stay away from the bad foods, and get as much sleep as possible on the regular (or as much as life allows). 

2. Work my butt off and make this internship year count. It is my opportunity to get as much learning and experience under my belt as possible to launch my career. 

3. Get back on a horse and ride. Even if it only happens once.

So here's to 2014!