Vet Mummy, An Assessment and Dick Day

I have officially graduated to being a vet mummy.  A few weeks ago, with two other former Graduate Entry students, we hosted 6 current graduate entry students for Mummies and Daddies night (or in our case Mummies x3 night).  The night is meant to be a fun, stress free evening where the current GEP students can see that it is possible to survive the GEP year.  Each one of the mummies was responsible for a course for the meal.  We had puff pastry with cheese and caramelized onions as an appetizer, mac and cheese with salad for the main course and chocolate peanut butter bars for dessert.  We played some cards against humanity and then headed to a bar to meet up with the rest of the mummies and daddies and the GEP class.  All in all it was a very successful evening.

Two weeks ago we had our in class assessment for pathology and clinical foundations course.  The assessment consisted of 20 multiple choice questions for each course which covered material from the first four weeks.  I have to admit having absolutely everything we had learned for four weeks examined on one cumulative integrated exam was very stressful.  However, I was quite pleased with my marks, but what I did discover is that the clinical foundations course is quite a bit more challenging than pathology.  Will definitely have to put a lot more work into that course when December exams roll around!

And lastly, this past Wednesday was Dick Day.  Dick Day is a sporting event between the Edinburgh Royal (Dick) vet school (hence where the name Dick Day comes from) and the Glasgow vet school. The schools compete in lots of different sports including Netball, Badminton, Rugby, Lacrosse, Soccer, Field Hockey and Horse Riding.  This year the event was held in Edinburgh.  I got to play both field hockey and lacrosse.  The hockey was first and after a pretty even first half, we took control and ended up winning 7-3.  That makes is 5 years in a row that Edinburgh has won hockey.  After that I had to run with several other hockey players across to another field to play lacrosse.  Lacrosse was also successful winning 19-3.  Overall it was a great day for Edinburgh winning 9 of 10 sports!  Once the team pictures get posted I will add them to the blog.

So after all of Wednesday's fun it is time to buckle down and get back to work.  I have fallen behind since the assessment.  But in just over a week's time a friend from Guelph is moving to Edinburgh to start a job.  So that is my motivation to get caught up this week.  I want to be able to be her tour guide for her first few days here and not feel guilty!

Today's Halloween sunset - View from my bedroom window

(I know I said I would post pictures of my flat... I'm still working on that I promise!)

Almost done the second week of second (third) year

It is hard to believe that I am almost done my second week of second year.  I am now technically in third year of the program because my graduate entry year last year was equivalent to first and second year of the five year program.  Time is already flying by.

At the beginning of September I flew back to Edinburgh with my parents.  After spending a very jet legged day in Edinburgh we headed out on our vacation around western Scotland.

Our first destination was the Isle of Skye.  We drove through the Glencoe area which was incredibly spectacular on the way to Skye.

We also stopped at the Glenfinnan Viaduct.  For Harry Potter fans, that is the train bridge that Ron and Harry fly the car through in the Chamber of Secrets movie.  The viaduct was built in just a little over a year at a cost of £18,904 in 1897.

We took a ferry from Mallaig to Skye.  And in perfect Scottish fashion,  it was raining.  But it made the ferry crossing quite spectacular with the hills and cliffs of Skye covered in a mist.  We stayed on Skye for two nights and went from picturesque site to picturesque site and it even was sunny!

The fairy pools

Following some Scottish Blackface sheep back from Talisker beach

Neist Point

Looking at the Outer Hebrides from Neist Point

Cows crashing a party

From Skye we went to the Outer Hebrides.  Our first destination was the Isle of Lewis and the Isle of Harris (They are named as two islands but they are really one island... figure that one out).  They were the land of beautiful beaches.  And even more incredible was the weather that went along with the beaches, it continued to be sunny!

Cow out for a stroll on Europie beach

The Callanish Standing Stones (built between 2900 and 2600 BC)

Luskentyre Beach

Then it was off to North Uist followed by South Uist.  Now the Uists were my least favourite part of the trip.  But I got my absolute favourite picture from the entire trip on North Uist (and yes it does involve a highland cow!  Can you tell I am a vet student with all the animals featuring in my pictures?)

She posed so beautifully for me!

Then it was off to the Isle of Barra.  Barra has quite a unique airport.  The airport has limited times when planes can land because it is a beach.  So for half of the day the airport is unusable because the tide comes in and covers the runway!  It is the only beach airport in the world with regularly scheduled commercial flights.

"Keep off the beach while the windsock is flying, and the airport is active"

"Beware of sand blast during aircraft movements"

Hoof prints on a beach

After Barra it was time to head back to Edinburgh.  My parents helped me get fully settled in my new flat (pictures in the next post!).  Since then I have been trying to get back into the groove of vet school.  This semester I have Pathology and Clinical Foundations Course (which include Pharmacology, Oncology, Diagnostic Imaging, Anaesthesia and Critical Care and Surgery).  I am looking forward to it but the amount of material we have been given is already starting to pile up!