10,000 page views!

Totally unrelated to vet school, but I'd just like to thank everyone who visits my blog. I'm so touched by how it's helped some of you with applying to the RVC, or deciding if it's right for you.

I don't know if I'll be updating much during the winter holiday, so if I don't:

Happy Chanukah!

Merry Christmas!

And a Happy New Year!!

Christmas Ball

RVC Student Union sure knows how to throw a party.

Last night we had the school's Christmas Ball. It was pretty epic. The food was fabulous, we had a never ending supply of wine and beer at our disposal, we had a STAGE to dance on, there were dancers, acrobatics during dinner, gambling (fake, of course) after dinner, there was 'snow' (soap bubbles, I'm guessing), it was just really beautiful. Here's a peek at what the ceiling looked like:

It was a really fabulous night. The end got a little hectic when we tried to retrieve our coats, but we made it home ok in the end, coats and all.

And tomorrow, I'm flying home. I'm missing a few days of lecture, but RVC records lectures through a system called Echo360, so I'll be listening to those that I miss at home.

GAH I can't wait to see everyone back home in RI!

Homemade Chicken Soup time.

I've been coming down with a cold this week, and today it hit me full force. Yesterday I was just sniffly, had a scratchy throat and a major migraine. Today, it's the sinus pain, stuffed nose, scratchy throat, cough, etc etc ad nauseum. So, I went to the local butcher and got carrots, celery, leek, and two chicken legs to make chicken soup. I still believe that this is the cure-all for colds, mostly because it makes me feel better emotionally than physically. It just screams home for me, which is what I desperately need when I'm sick. I'm a miserable...insert word here...when I'm sick, and chicken soup makes me not miserable.

It's currently simmering on the stove, while I eat gluten-free chocolate chip muffins that my friend B. gave me randomly. He's such a super thoughtful person! They're really yummy.

By the way: I watched turkey slaughter yesterday...forgot to mention that. It was really interesting how it's done. The birds are stunned first to make them insensible, then bled in order to knock them unconscious before the stun wears off (it's so they don't feel pain). And then we got to pluck some of them, another interesting thing, since I've never plucked anything before. Had a really good talk to a fellow 3rd year about random stuff. It was a great day.

And it's done.

Handed in my AHEMS report today. It is such a relief, but now I feel like I've got nothing to do. I mean, I have plenty of work to do since I'm about 6 weeks behind in lectures...

But it feels very very good to be finished. It turned out pretty well, I think. I had a few people read it over for grammatical errors and such (my sister and my friend S., who works in research and has been published in scientific journals before), and they all really enjoyed it.

Good sign? I hope so.

And now, I have one week until I (hopefully) fly home. So excited! Can't wait to see my house decked in Christmas gear.

Just a regular day at the *ahem* Royal Vet College...

We had a very special visitor today come to the RVC Hawkshead campus: HRH Princess Anne.

I mean, we are called the "Royal" Vet College for a reason...

(Image shamelessly stolen from my friend J. She was in the perfect position, and I was in the library...studying.)

In less sparkly awesome news, my paper is almost complete. If I can just wrap my head around how to conclude the essay, I'll be golden. Also, I got some lovely surgical instrument posters for my walls (courtesy of, again, my friend J. without whom I would probably not pass vet school). They were free from a company here in the UK.

Pardon my post-nap appearance...it's finally become proper winter here in the UK, which means the frequency of my naps will increase until the sun stays in the sky for decent periods of time instead of this dark at 4:15pm crap.

Whoops...I did that.

Today, in lieu of going to my Veterinary Ethics lectures, I went in to London to shop. So much to buy, so little time. I figured, maybe if I go early, I'll have time to come back and write some of my paper.

Nope. That did not happen.

Basically, I left my house at 20 past nine in the morning and got back just after 4pm. So pretty much a full day of shopping/traveling back and forth. From where I am now, I'm only about a 40 minute train ride into the city, but today I opted to get off at Finsbury Park and take the Victoria line into Oxford Street, where all the best shops are. The Christmas decorations are up to, although it was day so it wasn't quite as spectacular.

Unfortunately, I didn't really get that much shopping done. I mean, I managed to buy a dress for Christmas Ball, and get some costume stuff for a friend's fancy dress (costume) party on Friday, and some gifts for family, and my Secret Santa gift...

Ok...maybe I did get a lot of shopping done. But I still have so much to buy! And I still need to make a trip to Borough Market before I leave. Absolute necessity to visit it during the Christmas season.

As for my paper? Well, I pretty much got home at 4, had a snack, tried to take a nap, showed my dress and shoes off to my roommate, tried to take a nap, and then kicked myself out of bed so I could go to dinner with a bunch of friends for one of their birthdays. Delicious delicious dinner. Complete with wine and creme brulee as dessert.

Speaking of school...we've started our Principles of Surgery thread? module? whatever. I've started to look at videos of sutures and suture handling, how to hold a needle, different suture techniques, mayo versus metzenbaum scissors (who knew there were different kinds?), etc etc. Kind of exciting, but a bit overwhelming. There is a lot to learn. I'm going to have to do a lot of catching up over Christmas break, or else I'll be screwed when May rolls around.

And on that note...time to go do some work before bed.

Sweet Anatomy

Recently the RVC had a baking competition called Sweet Anatomy, which I sadly did not participate in (beacause my baking is less than stellar). It was really fun to see how people shaped cakes and things to form histology slides, whole animals, a dog undergoing GI surgery, etc etc. Even vets can be creative in the kitchen! Maybe next year I'll participate. If you want to read a snippet the BVA wrote about it, you can click here.