On my way back to Edinburgh

Well I am back in London Heathrow Airport for another layover.  It is hard to believe it but my Christmas break is already over.  But I will be back in Canada for my Easter break to do some clinical placements.

Although the break felt too short I had a great time spent with family, friends and pets.  It started with a trip to Nathan Phillips Square to go skating.  Only problem was is was 12 degrees.  So the ice had a layer of water about an inch thick on top.  So when we finished skating I actually dumped a good cup or two of water out of my skates.  Even though my feet ended up pretty much as wet as if I had gone swimming, it was still so much fun.  In my mind you can never go wrong with skating!

A little more comfortable than the rental skates in Glasgow last year

Christmasy CN Tower

Christmas was spread out over both Christmas Day and Boxing Day with some family and friends only able to make it to one day or the other.  This meant double the excitement for the dogs resulting in some very tired puppies.

Our attempted staged dog Christmas picture

Opening presents is tough work!

I was incredibly fortunate to get a new camera for Christmas.  So of course that meant I wanted to try it out.  The pets were my somewhat obliging models.  The results of my pictures were mixed.  Some of them I was very pleased with, like these three.

Others...  had poorer results.

He always looks half asleep in his pictures!

I think he might just not be naturally photogenic

I spent most of the break wishing for snow and towards the end of my break I finally got a little bit of snow.  Friday there was a mini blizzard that didn't last very long but it was very pretty.  After having incredibly warm weather it finally felt like winter in Canada.  And I got to go skating in more traditional skating weather.

Jenny was loving the snow

Skating at Mississauga Celebration Square

School starts up again on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday in Scotland).  This semester I have just one course, Integrated Clinical Course: Cat and Dog (I also have Professional and Clinical Skills which goes on year round, but it doesn't have a formal exam and there is only a practical once a week or every other week).  By the end of May I will have finished all the lectures I will get on Cat and Dog medicine.  That's an exciting but also terrifying thought.  I'm starting to get to the point in my studies where I should theoretically be able to start diagnosing some cases when I go on placement.  This whole becoming a vet thing is starting to get more and more real.

On my way home!

I am currently in Heathrow airport trying to kill some time since I have a 4 hour layover.  I have been up since 3:45am and have another 12 hours of travel left but it will be worth it to be home!

I finished up my exams yesterday.  I had 5 exams in 5 days which was quite gruelling.  The first exam Monday was a Surgery OSCE exam (Objective Structured Clinical Exam).  It was a practical exam.  For this exam we had to know how to scrub for surgery, put gloves on aseptically (sterilely) two different ways, three different suture patterns and a hand tie.

My three different suture patterns.  Banana skin is good for suturing practice!

My hand tie done with rope

My exams Tuesday and Wednesday were for my clinical foundations course (Anesthesia, Pharmacology, Oncology, Diagnostic Imaging, Surgery and Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine).  Tuesday was 40 multiple choice and Wednesday was 8 written questions.

Thursday and Friday were my pathology exams.  Thursday was 50 multiple choice and Friday was 10 "spot questions".  The spot questions you are shown a picture and then have to describe what you see and answer some questions about how the pathology developed.

I am cautiously optimistic the exams went well but I will have to wait until the end of January to know for sure!

My 600+ pages material examined in five exams

Last night a couple friends and I went out for drinks at a place called the Candy Bar.  They had awesome cocktails we will definitely go back when it is a little less busy.  We then went to the Christmas market and got some fish and chips and split an order of churros with nutella and sugar for dessert.  It was a wonderful end to a very stressful week.

Finally I have a few other Christmas pictures from when I actually left the house during my revision week.

The Dome - always have incredible decorations

The Street of Light

The Christmas Tree in Jenner's

T-minus 12 hours until I am reunited with my family, friends and pets.  Can't wait!

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas

Last Friday I ventured down with a friend to the Christmas Market.  It opened the week before but it was the first chance I had to go.  As usual the market fills you with Christmas spirit (even though it was only the 27th of November... I have sort of always felt Christmas celebrations should only start at the beginning of December but the market is too hard to resist.)

The stalls are very similar to last year with the odd new one.  We each indulged in a Bailey's Hot Chocolate and a chocolate covered marshmallow.  Both turned out to be excellent choices.  I will probably have to venture back at some point as a study break.

On the Sunday, I managed to get free tickets for a friend and I to tour The Palace of Holyroodhouse.  Commonly known as Holyrood Palace, it is the Queen's official residence in Scotland.  Built in the 16th and 17th centuries it has a lot of character.

The Entrance

What remains of the 16th century Abbey at the back of the Palace

Looking toward Salisbury Crags

 Lastly,  this past Thursday it started snowing outside the city.  When I left campus at 5pm there were snowflakes the size of golf balls.  They may have actually been the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen.  And in true Scottish fashion the snow started causing mayhem.  I was fortunate enough to have left campus early in the snowstorm so my bus ride was only about 10 minutes longer than normal.  But into the evening when I was home, we started getting emails about how bad the conditions were on campus and that all buses were cancelled and essentially every bus route was delayed.  It sounded like it was terrible conditions on campus!  But to put it in perspective for my Canadian friends and family, they got two inches of snow...  Not quite a Canadian quality snow storm but all the Scots were impressed.

The beginning of the snow storm

Some snow on the Kelpies the next morning (These are mini models of Kelpies statues that
are about an hour away.  The Kelpies were commissioned to honour the horse powered
heritage of Scotland.  These mini statues have been travelling around Edinburgh.)

A bit of fun before crunch time

Saturday I went to Glasgow with some friends to see the comedian Michael McIntyre.  I hadn't heard of him until I was invited to go along to his show.  He is probably now my favourite comedian.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard.  By the end of the show we all felt like we had done an ab workout from all the laughing.  He is able to turn everyday events into absolutely hilarious stories.

His live show in Glasgow - Happy and Glorious

Here is one of my favourite skits of his.  He describes how he thinks the kilt came about.

Michael McIntyre - The Birth of the Kilt


Last night a few friends and I went to see the last Hunger Games movie.  While not my favourite movie in the series I still really enjoyed it.  Plus it was nice to have a night out and relax since exam stress is starting to loom.

Lastly, I promised photos of my room many posts ago so here they are (finally!)

Desk with a view

Tonight I am headed back to campus at 9:30pm.  I am helping out with a telethon.  From 10pm-3am I will be calling North American applicants who have been given an interview to see if they have any questions.  I really appreciated it when I was called after being accepted to Edinburgh so I thought I would call and hopefully make someone else happy.  (Plus the offering of free food at midnight and a grocery store gift card didn't hurt!)  It should make surviving lectures from 10am-5pm tomorrow quite interesting!

Bonfire Night

November 5th is Guy Fawkes night, also know Bonfire Night or Fireworks Night.

I hadn't heard of Guy Fawkes night until coming to Edinburgh.  It is a bit of a strange holiday in my opinion.  Essentially, in 1605 Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Parliament but was caught guarding the gunpowder he and his fellow plotters had placed beneath the house of lords.  To celebrate the fact that King James I survived the plot on his life, he lit bonfires around London.  So now as a tradition every November 5th in the UK, people light bonfires to burn effigies of Guy Fawkes and light fireworks. So they celebrate Parliament almost being blown up, but not quite.  And boy do they take this tradition seriously!

My first encounter with Guy Fawkes Night was last year.  I had decided to stay late in the library and study.  After a while there was an overwhelming smell of smoke in the library.  However I couldn't see any smoke, the smoke detectors weren't going off and the few people around me seemed perfectly calm.  After I left the library I was able to figure out where the smell was coming from.  Outside!  The air outside smelled like a bonfire.  And there were fireworks going off everywhere.  And the number of fireworks only increased as we went into the city.  People were setting them off in the street, in their gardens and in parks.  There are also professional displays set to music.

So this year I decided I wanted to be in the city for Guy Fawkes night.  And I was not disappointed.  I was able to sit in my bedroom and watch the fireworks out my window.  Not a bad way to spend an evening!

The view from my sofa

Now the other thing is, Fireworks Night really turns into fireworks week.  Starting on Halloween there are fireworks every night and there are still fireworks going off tonight!  Although the winds gusting to over 50 miles per hour tonight does seem to be hindering their fireworks displays.


Finally a picture that goes with my last post.  The winning Dick Vet Hockey Team!

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!