First Rotation: check.

I finished my Anesthesia rotation on Friday. I'm still in shock that my first rotation is over. It still feels like if I pinch myself too hard I'll be back in year one sitting in a lecture hall in Camden. How am I in my 'final' year at RVC?

Anyway, Anesthesia was pretty amazing. Really difficult, but really rewarding. Everyone in that department is great, super helpful, and tries to make every moment into a learning opportunity. My first week was great, but I realized how much of the knowledge I was missing within the first couple of days. But if anyone asks me again about the systemic effects of medetomidine, I will be able to answer it fully instead of just muttering "sedation, analgesia, bradycardia?".

I'm second on call tonight, so I suppose I'm not 100% done with the rotation. We'll see if it's a crazy night.

This week, I'm off to Bristol to do my Abattoir rotation. Since we don't have one here, the RVC sends us to University of Bristol to complete our one week requirement. Short days, near the ocean...I don't think I'll complain too much!

I'm also a week out from going back up to Lancashire for a week, and then jetting back here to pack up to leave on March 9 for Boston. I'm not really giving myself any time to sleep for the next couple of weeks...

Anesthesia is pretty awesome.

I'm exhausted and having so much fun.

Rotations are hard, but really rewarding. I really love being in an animal hospital again and actually interacting with animals on a daily basis.

Now, back to reading up about anesthetic agents.

3 Days til R-Day

Rotations start on Monday. I've been doing the frantic "Do I have everything?" dance for the past two days now. This morning I got out all of my business casual clothing to make sure I had enough. Really, I could use a couple of 3/4 sleeve sweaters. And maybe a pair of comfy shoes. And a thermometer.

Also, I've been worrying over what I'll have time to cook at night. Now that the house has a new freezer (courtesy of my endless searching and emailing on gumtree), I can freeze more stuff to take in as lunches instead of eating peanut butter and an apple for lunch. Trust me. It's a lovely snack, but as lunch? Not so much.

And my kitty. I adopted a kitten (practically an adult) over the Christmas holiday and I've named him Rory. He's adorable, slightly destructive (slowly getting him out of that habit), and he's been completely spoiled since I've been home 24/7 for the past two weeks.

Hell, I'VE been completely spoiled. Getting up on Monday is going to SUCK. And simultaneously be awesome.

Research research research.

I had my wonderful holiday in Tenerife with my friend A last week (got back last Sunday). It was paradise, it was lovely, and we had a really great time hanging out and relaxing in the sunshine (and getting sun-burnt in the process).

But now I'm back to the reality that yes, rotations start next week and yes, I need to get a good portion of the prep work on my research project done this week. And I also need to start getting up earlier than 10am and going to bed earlier than 2am.

For now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of this time off as much as possible. Because after this, there's not a whole lot of time before real life has to start.

And the snow must go on...

Most areas in the south of England are not all that used to getting snow during the winter. Generally, there's about one 'big' snowfall of under 3 inches during the winter and the rest of the time it's just cold and rainy.

This year, however, must be the beginning of the apocalypse, because not only has it been snowing on and off for 3 days where I live, there's been quite a lot of accumulation. Now, I'm a New England girl. I'm used to snow and ice. I've woken up an hour earlier than usual so I can dig myself out of the giant snow wall that the plows have built overnight while plowing the roads. I can deal with snowy winters. In south England? They freak out over a snowfall of 1 inch. Rightly so; they don't have the kind of equipment on hand to clear the amount of snow that New England gets. 

And right now, the UK is FLIPPING out over the snow. They've even got twitter hashtags to commemorate the occasion (#UKsnow, #Europeansnow). Granted, I don't blame them.

Anyway, hopefully the snow will stop falling overnight. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to go into school tomorrow I can't, as they've cancelled lectures and have told all non-essential personnel to not come in. Sigh. So much for getting a day of research in before vacation. 

Getting closer!

So Friday is the last day of Pre-Rotational Taught Tracking (basically refreshers based on what we're tracking in). Last week was more of the basics that everyone needs to know (research project related stuff as well as lectures on how to approach clinical cases), and this week and next are geared towards what you're tracking in. Since I've only got Equine tracking, I've only got one week's worth of lectures to attend.

What will I do with my spare time? Oh, I'm only going to Tenerife for 5 days. For my FIRST EVER warm weather vacation.

Seriously. I've never been on a warm weather trip in the winter time, and I've never traveled to a beach resort for vacation. I lived a sheltered life as a child, where we did more museum trips and went to colder places during the summer (Nova Scotia can be surprisingly cold in late summer).

So yeah. I'm a bit excited about my little trip to a Tenerife resort with my friend A.

After that, cold hard reality of research project 2 closely followed by my first rotation: Anesthesia. Apparently it's a good one to get out of the way early, or so I've been told. It's only 2 weeks of my life, so it couldn't be too bad, right?

...right?

Happy New Year 2013!

Wow. Is it really 2013 already?

Am I really starting clinical rotations next month?

Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel?

Anyway, I hope your New Year's celebrations were as awesome as mine.

My NYE 2013 celebration consisted of spinach and artichoke dip (self-made), chicken parmigiana and fried eggplant (also self-made), red wine, most of a bottle of champagne, and a Harry Potter movie marathon. I only got through the first 5 before the fireworks at midnight, so I finished the rest yesterday. I feel very much recharged and ready to get this year going.

As for my resolution; last year, I resolved to get healthy. I can safely say that I accomplished that goal; I'm 14 lb. lighter than I was at this time last year and I have more energy (even with the sun being mostly absent at this time of year). I think I'll just keep this resolution going for another year and see what it brings.

I should probably also resolve to survive clinical rotations.