Ice Skating, Quite Possibly The Worst Skates I Have EVER Worn...

Went Ice Skating yesterday with a big group from class. Was very random as well. I had just finished class and there were a bunch of students out in the front of the school. They asked if I wanted to go (I was just heading to the library to study, so this sounded a little more appealing). So, I decided to go and take a break from studying for once. It was about a 20 min bus ride out of the city centre. When we got there, we paid for the admission and put our skates on. These skates were the most uncomfortable skates I have every worn. There were no mens hockey skates, only the classic figure skates. My ankles hurt so much after the first hour. Two hours later, it was unbearable. My knees, ankles and heels hurt so bad. We called it quits after 2 hours. It was a lot of fun though, I even took a video on my iPhone but it ended up being way too nauseating for people to watch. Well, off I go to study. I am doing the facial muscles and nerves tonight, woohoo! Really need to work on the nerves and muscles for the Head and Vertebral Column, oh, and ligaments as well. Yikes, already approaching week #4 and I get to go to Langhill farm tomorrow to learn about Farm Economics. For some reason, I have a feeling that this is going to be a boring lecture. Bring on the Anatomy, what's with this Economical stuff? It's not like the Economy is important or anything...Actually, it is good that they are doing this because I have learned so much about how things are done here versus in the US.

I also have some advice for people looking to go to veterinary school or experience that you all can pass on to people that you know are interested. Get as much experience as you can! I cannot tell you how much it has helped me during school and how far ahead I am already. Thanks to all of Bill's nifty stifle drawings on towels in exam rooms, I have perfected my stifle drawings (but on paper, not towels). I know this is just the beginning introductory material and that it will get much more difficult later, but the experience over the last 5 years has helped tremendously! Well, I should be going now, my anatomy book awaits me!

Military Tattoo: Amazing!

Wow, I guess I have been slacking on new posts. Well, with the amount of Anatomy that I have been studying, it is quite hard to post every single day (plus, what is there to write about every day other than the fact that I am studying Anatomy?). The weekend has approached and I am very thankful for that. Gives me time to study up what we have discussed over the past week in lecture. We finished the forelimb and hindlimb lectures and have moved on to the axial skeleton. The head has got to be one of the most difficult areas to study because of all the facial nerves, etc. Needless to say, I will be studying that the most this weekend.

I finally purchased a Macbook Pro and an iPhone (best purchase I have ever made!), oh, and also a wireless printer. I also purchased my dissection kit and a few Anatomy/Physiology books. Also, currently living in a box on top of my TV is my new dog. I rented a box of canine bones for 20 pounds. So, I am not sure how many of you know, but there is an event going on right now called The Edinburgh Military Tattoo at Edinburgh Castle. Basically, Edinburgh invites certain countries every year to participate in this event. So Ashley (girl from class) had two free tickets that she acquired when she was back in Pennsylvania from this guy who goes to the event every year. Unfortunately for him (fortunately for us) he was unable to go this year and he gave the two tickets to Ashley. So Ashley and I went to the 10:30pm Tattoo last night and it was absolutely amazing. For every new group that came out, there was a new theme projected onto the main castle. So for the Samoans, the castle turned into a jungle and for the RAF, the castle turned into a sky with fighter jets in the foreground. There were these drummers called "Top Secret Drummers" that were from Switzerland. These guys that were playing were absolutely phenomenal! I also felt like I was in China, there was a group from China that performed some type of festival that they do in China every year to stimulate a good harvest year. Check the videos below. Well, I need to study straight away. I hope everyone is doing well!

I'm Getting A New Dog Tomorrow!

Well, tomorrow I will be getting a new dog! I haven't decided a name yet and don't know what type of dog it is going to be. The dog even comes with a shoebox to store it in! Yep, I'm getting a couple of shoe boxes full of dog bones to study some good 'ol anatomy. Today was the hind limb, was fairly simple since I have been staring at hind limbs in surgery for so long. Anatomy was a piece of cake for the hind limb this morning. I actually new quite a bit of musculature already as well (semimembranosus, semitendonosus, superficial gluteal, middle gluteal, biceps femorus) thanks Bill! I am taking a break from anatomy right now, need about a half hour or so and will go back to it. Don't have to be at class until 10am tomorrow! Get to sleep an extra hour and then we are finished at 1pm, just in time to run home and study some more (or hang out in the dissection lab).

Today, I went over to the Georges Square Library that is part of The University of Edinburgh. You have to have a student ID to get in. It was the nicest library I have EVER been in! There were these small glass gates that opened when you swiped the student card through. Once I was through, there was this massive lobby and then 6 floors of books above. The study areas are massive! There are tables just about everywhere and it is nice and QUIET, which is very important. I am still waiting for the bank to clear the loan check and I am getting quite frustrated with this wait time. I deposited it on Thursday and it still has not cleared. I was hoping that it would clear a little early like back home. It takes 4 days to clear a check and they count the day you deposit it as Day 0. So I deposited it on Thursday, Friday was day 1, Saturday and Sunday do not count, tomorrow will be day 4. So I am HOPING that it clears by tomorrow. I have so much I need to buy for school yet (books, printer, computer, binders, etc.).

The weather was nice today with a few minutes of rain and then the sun was out quite a bit. I was studying a little bit ago and I happened to glance up at my bedroom window. Situated at the top of the window frame was this black dot (about 15mm in size). So I walked over to it to see what it was. As I got closer, I knew that it was a snail shell. It was stuck to the frame when I went to go pull it off. I guess snails purposely stick themselves to things when it is dry out and create a thin membrane of mucous that dries up. Then, when it rains, it moistens that mucous up and they know they can start crawling again (at least that is my theory). I put it on my desk and he crawled quite the distance before I picked him up and placed him outside the window (yes, I was bored at the time and needed a break from studying). Anyway, I should be going so I can study some more. Hope everyone is well!

Neoplastic Growth (Is This Redundant?).

So, I was talking with my Histology professor after she had discussed a little bit about the different types of cells, etc. We were shown a slide of a cancerous region on a tissue sample and she began talking about different terms used. Neoplasia is a term commonly used to refer to cancerous growth. However, I just learned that I had been using this term incorrectly over the past couple of years. Neoplasia essentially means "new growth", so when someone writes in a chart as a possible diagnosis for a growth "Neoplastic growth", technically they are being redundant. It is like saying "new growth growth". So it would be better to just say "neoplasm"? Hmm, interesting learning about all of these terms. Anyway, I went to the theatre yesterday and saw "The Ugly Truth". Yeah, I know, chick flick. Oh, and what tops this whole movie experience off is that I went with about 9 girls. The movie was actually quite funny. I had sushi today at a place in the city center. Was DEFINITELY not as good as the sushi back in AZ. It will do for now though. I am really looking forward to good sushi when I come back for Christmas though. I will probably study as much anatomy as I can tonight and some Histology as well. Will be going to dinner at the college dorms tonight with some friends. They have really good food and it is free! Woohoo! Well, technically you have to live there, but I just say I am a vet student and they let me in. Will hopefully have my loan check cleared by Tuesday or Wednesday and I can buy my Macbook Pro laptop and an iPhone. I did some research last night on the different iPhone apps for vet school and there are quite a bit. We start the lecture on cattle tomorrow and will be heading out to Langhill Farm this week to discuss farm economics and learn handling of cows. As long as the cow does not decide to kick me, I will be happy. I also found a new sport that is absolute madness! It is called Hurling and it is an Irish sport. There are several Irish students in our class and they were at a place today watching the semi-finals of Hurling. It is like a cross between Lacrosse, Baseball, Soccer, and even some Golf! It is the fastest field sport in the world next to Ice Hockey. It is one of the fastest, most intense sports I have watched. Well, heading to dinner shortly, so better get going so I can study a little and eat. Hope everyone is doing well!

MANY New Words to Learn

Histology introduction started today, thanks for the book Lisa, it is definitely coming in handy. Today was just the basics, so learning about the different tissue types, epithelial cell types, etc. I think I need to start bringing head phones to the dissection room though, there was this group of students and this one girl had the most obnoxious laugh. Needless to say, it definitely was not the ideal conditions for studying anatomy unfortunately. Once they left, it was much better. It is amazing how much more you retain when you enjoy something. I ran over the forelimb muscles once or twice and had them all memorized. The cool thing is, it is not just memorized, I know them. It is quite fun analyzing why a muscle is named the way it is. If you know your Latin, then you can pretty much figure out what the different names mean. Words like Extensor Carpi Radialis and Flexor Carpi Ulnaris make sense, however, words such as Facies Serrata and Teres Tuberosity are a little more difficult to analyze. It would be nice to have my own dissected specimen so that I could study from it all of the time rather than waiting for the school to put the samples out for us to study from. Oh, and once I get my Anatomy books, that will help quite a bit as well.

Weather was absolutely rubbish today and is still raining as I type. I will be running in the morning with a friend and then will be studying the rest of the day. Will probably be studying all this weekend, and I actually don't mind it. Hope everyone is doing well!

Word of the Day: Facies Serrata

So started basic Anatomy today. Was fairly easy. We are starting with the forelimb and working our way around the appendicular skeleton first. The axial will begin next week I believe. We start Histology tomorrow, so should be quite fun. It was funny watching all of the students today. Many of them have no knowledge and no experience and are already freaking out about the exam that is in 6 weeks. I have a feeling that I will be locking myself in the dissection room until late at night for quite some time. I am slowly working my way to the muscle aspect of anatomy. There is quite a bit to know, but as time goes on and more lectures pass, I am sure I will learn it all. I wish I had my bobcat skeleton with me here so that I could study from it. I do have PLENTY of radiographs that I copied onto disks, so those are also helpful. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Enough With the Introductory Stuff Already, When Do I Start Dissecting?

Today we all got on a bus to the Easter Bush campus and had official tours of the facilities. I had an official tour a couple weeks back and I actually was able to see more on that tour than this one. The doctor that toured us around was one of the people that were in San Francisco at the reception. So it was nice to know the tour guide. We then had lunch with quite a bit of the staff and I had a great talk with one of the doctors. We then went back downstairs to finish up with a lecture on the history of the Dick Vet. Quite interesting, and funny to watch all of the other students dozing off during the presentation. After that, Rachel, Erica and I walked up the Royal Mile and then down to the Fringe tent. We bought tickets for the Janeane Garofalo show at 20:30, so that should be fun. I get out early tomorrow, so I will have the rest of the day to study! Woohoo! Need to review some Biochemistry stuff. Oh, and I will probably buy my books tomorrow. I figured that since we will be starting anatomy this week, I will probably need to have my own anatomy book. Hope everyone is enjoying the scorching heat, I am having a great time in the lovely Scottish weather of 65 degrees and sunny. I will try and send some of this beautiful weather back home!

A Visit With Becky. Official Matriculation. New Friends...

So, I spent the afternoon with Becky, Nick and their son John yesterday. They arrived at the house and I showed them around a bit. For a minute there, I thought Becky was going to drop everything and move into the house because she enjoyed it so much. It is a very nice house. We headed past the Summerhall veterinary building and then walked through the Meadows. From the Meadows, we headed up the Royal Mile towards the castle. It was the first time I had been to the castle in 2 years. I haven't gone to it since I have been here this year. It is always a pleasure to see and walk around inside of the castle and look at the views of the city. Once we were finished at the castle, we headed to Deacon Brodie's Tavern. He is the original Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The story was based on him. However, the story over-exaggerated a bit. Deacon Brodie was a politician during the day and a thief by night. I really didn't get how a politician and a thief were any different...

I had lamb and potatoes, which was excellent. Nick, John and I had a pint of Belhaven's Best ale. After that, we headed back to the house and we said our goodbyes. They should have gone to the Argyll Forest today, don't know if they got lost though. Today was the day that I became an official student of the University of Edinburgh. Everyone met at Summerhall and we had to go through all of the introductory stuff such as fire safety, crime prevention, etc. We then all met up in the main hall for coffee/tea and cookies. There were a HUGE number of Americans there (California mostly, Massachusettes, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Arizona (2 including me), and Texas). The ratio of guys to women is pretty low. I think there are only about 6 guys in the class for now. I met several girls that I had originally met in San Francisco at the University of Edinburgh reception. It was nice because we all recognized each other. I am meeting Rachel, Ashley and Shannon at The Crags pub tonight. Apparently there are going to be a number of students there. So I will take the advantage of going out and meeting more students. Later this week, the four of us are going to do the underground tour of the old city. Should be fun. I also signed for my loan money today, woohoo! In a few days I will be rich! I also learned of a program that is amazing. It is a program called IBR, read what exactly it is below:

Income-Based Repayment
Income-Based Repayment (IBR) is a new payment option for federal student loans. It can help borrowers keep their loan payments affordable with payment caps based on their income and family size. For most eligible borrowers, IBR loan payments will be less than 10 percent of their income - and even smaller for borrowers with low earnings. IBR will also forgive remaining debt, if any, after 25 years of qualifying payments.

What about interest? In some situations, your reduced payment under IBR may not cover the interest on your loans. If so, the government will pay that interest on your Subsidized Stafford Loans for your first three years in IBR. After three years and for other loan types, the interest will be added to the total amount you owe. While your debt may grow if your affordable payments are low enough, anything you still owe after 25 years of qualifying payments will be forgiven.


Yes, that is right, FORGIVEN. This is predominantly for Veterinarians, MD's and other medical professions where the student loans are massive. Sonia told me about it today and I was all excited about it. Well, we head out to the Easter Bush Veterinary Centre tomorrow for the official tour (even though I already had one) and then finish early (around noon). I think I will go see a comedy show tomorrow at The Fringe festival. Oh, one more thing. There is a show at The Meadows right now called "The Lady Boys of Bangkok". It is a pretty big show and lots of people go see them. So I was talking with someone yesterday and they were telling me that it is a bunch of transexual males from Thailand that do the show and that this is very normal in Thailand. Apparently there is a large transexual population in Thailand. Who would've thought? Well I hope everyone is doing well back home and enjoy the rest of your week. I will keep the posts coming. I start Anatomy this week and will be back at Langhill Farm next week. I guess I will be showing the other students how to milk the cows since I have already did that for a week.

Scotland 2009-2013

The Fringe Festival

Just got back home from the Fringe Festival. It is the world's largest art festival. There was quite the variety of people doing performances there today. The festival is held all over the city in different venues, but on the Royal Mile, there are stages and performers giving previews of their shows. They attract quite the crowd, that's for sure. I came across a sign that was posted for the City of the Dead Graveyard Tour. Apparently, this tour has the only access to the Covenanters Prison, lair of the world famous Mackenzie Poltergeist. Apparently, this ghost is responsible for hundreds of 'attacks' on the tour and is now the best documented supernatural case in history. I wonder if the ghost enjoys 'messing' with tourists? I am thinking of doing this eventually, not sure when though.

So a few years ago, I saw a special on TV about this lady from South America that had hundreds of facial piercings. Not that you can recognize the face, but I am pretty sure the same lady was at the Fringe Festival on the street. I also saw a famous actor (which I was not expecting). A few years back, I met him while on vacation in Puerta Vallarta at the resort we stayed at. There was a huge celebrity event and there were hundreds of celebrities there. Anyway, the man who I was only inches from today was Alan Cumming. You'll have to Google search some pictures, a lot of people don't know who he is. Anyway, I took the one picture of him, he had 3 other people with him and they were stopping at different places outside and doing mini photo shoots or something. I have never been handed so many pieces of paper before either! Every few steps I took, there was a person handing me a piece of paper with their show information. I picked up the Fringe Festival book that gives all of the show dates and times, so I will now have to research which shows I want to see. There are quite a bit of comedy shows and Janeane Garofalo is here as well doing shows.

There were a bunch of signs in the mall today as part of the festival that were really funny. I photographed most of them. Well, Monday is the official 'start' date for school. I will be registering myself and getting my student ID card on that day. Most of this next week is going to be introductory stuff. There will be a tour of the veterinary centre, a day on teaching students how to use the computer system at the university, etc. I think I will also be back at Langhill Farm in a couple of weeks. It is nice that I have already spent a week at the farm because I will not be as clueless about milking as a lot of the other students will be. Hope everyone's weekend is going well!

The Fringe Festival 2009

Approaching My Last Day at Langhill Dairy Farm

Well, these past 4 days have been quite the experience. Today we vaccinated all of the 2 month old calves with Blue Tongue vaccination. It has become compulsory in Scotland to give this vaccination since it's introduction about a year ago. We had to round up all of the calves today (which is not easy) and trap them in a run. I am sure glad I had steel-capped boots on because I was stepped on a few times by the 200kg calves! Frasier, Jackie and I were in this small area vaccinating these calves and spraying them with paint to mark which ones had been done. In 2 weeks, they will give a second administration of the Blue Tongue vaccination and the paint makes it easy to identify which ones have had an injection already. Unfortunately, if it rains, the paint wears off and they will have to go by the ear tag identification. Nothing much was done today except for milking the cows at 3pm. Other than that, I worked on filling forms out for the school and did some miscellaneous work here and there. The thing I look forward to most at the end of each day has been a nice hot shower! I took a video today of the cows being herded across the road. Frasier is in the field with the "horse" (a quad) getting them to move faster. It really is amazing when the farmer calls out to the cows and they all come running because they know it is time to eat. I was out in the field with the calves today because we were looking for the 3 missing calves that needed to be vaccinated. Jackie called out to the calves while I was standing in the middle of the field and it was like a stampede! All of a sudden I turn around and there is this group of 20 calves running at me towards Jackie. Well, tomorrow is my last day and I begin my official first day at Summerhall on Monday. On Monday I will matriculate and get my student ID card, etc. Hope everyone is doing well!

A Day in the Life of Dairy Cows, and Four More to Go...

Well, today was my official start day at Langhill Farm. I woke up at 6:30am this morning (ouch, first time I have had to wake up before 9am since I arrived in Edinburgh). I caught the bus to Langhill Farm, well, actually had to stop at Bristol Roundabout and walk about 1/2 mile down the road to the farm entrance. When I arrived, I was greeted by the farm manager Lawrence, who was very nice. I met Wilson and Steven and some other guy. This other guy's Scottish accent was very thick and he mumbled a lot, so when he did introduce himself, I did not understand one word that came out his mouth.

Unfortunately, right now there is no calving going on. Langhill's breeding season does not start until September, so all I will be doing is dealing with milking the cows. The cows are milked once in the morning and once in the evening. The AM milking takes place at 6am, so I miss that one. This means there is nothing to do in the meantime. There was a girl at the farm as well getting experience. She is a native and is 16 yrs old and is getting experience for when she applies. Apparently she took an exam to apply for vet school here and she says that you really have only one chance to take it and if you score poorly, you need to think about another career. That's unfortunate! Hopefully she will do good on that test.

Since there was not a whole lot to do before the milking (at 3pm), we were driven around to all of the different fields that Langhill has, which essentially the University of Edinburgh owns. Once we were finished with the driving tours, we were taken back to the farm where Kate and I had to do dirty work. We cleaned the milking parlour, which was very dirty with cow feces. Oh well, gotta start somewhere, right? So after about an hour of scrubbing the milking equipment, Steven, Kate and I went out to the field to gather the cows and herd them into the milking parlour. This was very amusing, as we had to halt traffic in order to herd the cows to the parlour. About 10 min is the time frame it took to gather all 240 cows. I was at one end of the road halting traffic, I felt like a construction worker stopping traffic for construction equipment, except I was doing it for 240 cows! It was amazing, the cows are very good and easy to herd. There was a guy on a quad herding the cows towards the street as well.

Once all cows were herded from the main field on onto the farm, we had to get them to the milk parlour. That job was for Mr. Quad. Kate and I went out into another field, where about 10 cows were lying down. Our job was to get these cows with the main herd into the milk parlour. Kate had one that was lying down, and took quite an effort to get her to budge. Clapping loud and yelling seems to get them to move faster. Once they were in the milking parlour, they were fed and then transferred into the milking station. This is where it got VERY dirty.

So the guy with no name (hopefully I will find out tomorrow) told us to get our wet suits on. That right there let me know that this was going to get very dirty. So we changed into the wet gear and walked into the milking station. We entered this pit, about 4 feet below the cows. There were 28 stations, 14 on each side where 14 cows were milked at a time. The first load came in and the guy showed us how to attach the milking clusters, which seemed pretty easy. After watching several, I went ahead and began attaching the clusters to the utters of the cows. It was tricky at first because you have to make sure you don't let the vacuum leak, if you do, the cluster will just fall off. However, when you get all four clusters attached to the utter, it is pretty impressive how fast the milk flows through the line. These clusters automatically release when the milk yield begins to decline, which signals that the cow is finished milking. The cows are automatically being fed while the milking goes on. After the cluster releases automatically, you then have to spray the teats with an iodine solution to prevent infection.

Oh, and they are identified with these collars they wear around their necks. That way, if one has mastitis, it will let you know on the machine. The ones that have mastitis, you have to soak the cluster in a special solution for 10 minutes after the milking has been done on that particular one. So, through this whole process, I felt like Mike Rowe on "Dirty Jobs". When you are down in this pit, you are completely vulnerable to feces and urine from the cows splashing on the ground and onto you. Very nerve-racking at first. It especially becomes nerve-racking when you are attaching the cluster and you are right below the primary landing zone! I did get splashed on quite a bit, but oh well, part of the job. You definitely can't avoid it! Hopefully I won't get a full stream on top of my head, that would just be terrific now, wouldn't it? Milking took about 2 hours. The guy with no name, was EXTREMELY impressive with his memory and how he could identify almost every cow just by the markings. Each cow is branded with a number on the rear end, he knew just about every cow as the were walking in. I was impressed! Anyway, he had been to Scottsdale before and we chatted a bit about Rawhide and the jeep tours that he went on and stuff. He was quite funny at times as well.

Before I end this, I also forgot to mention a cow that I helped with today. She had been lame on her L hind leg and ended up having an infected horn on that L leg. Steven trimmed back the horn until he hit the pocket of purulent discharge to relieve the pressure. I gave a subcutaneous injection of Excenel right in the rib region. I tented the skin and went to insert the needle into the tissue. Yeah, I have done many subcutaneous injections in dogs and cats, but never cows. I had to exert so much pressure to get the needle to puncture the skin, it was amazing! Well, need to head off to bed now so I can get some sleep and prepare myself for day 2! I was unable to get some good pictures, something about a $800 camera and cow urine/feces just didn't sound good together...I took a few with my cell phone, but not much. I may have more cell phone pictures tomorrow, we'll see. Hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all!

Langhill Dairy Farm

A Successful Transition

Well, I successfully moved into the new flat yesterday. I was getting ready to walk over to the new flat with all of my luggage, which was about a block away. Daphne, the landlord, phoned Silvia and asked when she should be by to pick me up. Daphne has been so great ever since I arrived in Edinburgh and has helped with so many things. I went to the farmer's market yesterday and it was not as big as I was expecting. There were a lot of stands that were selling fresh buffalo and angus burgers. There was a small cheese stand that sold fresh cheese from a farm North of Edinburgh. I tried this wine called "Elderberry Wine" and it was extremely good, so I purchased a bottle for £5. It's still closed and I have no idea when I will open it, I'm not a huge wine enthusiast. There is a Jazz & Blues festival going on right now. I went to go see what it was all about yesterday evening and they had packed it all up. Apparently it only lasts until 7pm, and I was there around 8pm. They are having a Mardi Gras festival this afternoon and then a free jazz concert at Princes Street Gardens. I will probably go and check those out. I start my placement at the dairy farm tomorrow, should be interesting. I have a huge packet to fill out while I am there, so I will be quite busy with paperwork. Well, off to the festival! Hope everyone is doing well!

Scotland 2009-2013