Lectures are OVER!

So yesterday was the last day of lectures. Well, technically it wasn't a lecture but was more of a collaboration between fellow peers in the class. We have been doing these interpretations and discussing the answers to questions in groups. They have all been quite helpful except for the estrus interpretation problem. We were basically handed the professor's research paper and were to answer questions about things we never even discussed in the lectures. Was actually quite annoying. I am off for the next 5 days until next Thursday and Friday when the exams will be. I am still waiting to hear how I did on the written section for the last exam. Hopefully I did okay and will not have to come back in August to re-sit the exam. I passed all of the handling exams (which apparently many people failed some of the sections). I remain confident that I performed well on the last exam though. I will soon find out...

The days have been very nice and just a few days ago, the temperature had increased to an astonishing 75 degrees!!! Yeah, I know, that's absolutely nothing compared to what AZ temperatures will rise to this summer, but hey, this is Scotland and it was 75 degrees with blue sky and sunshine to go with it. I am getting ready to eat dinner with Kristen right now, going to make stir-fry and a mango and sticky rice dessert. I am going to try and post more pictures tonight, so keep an eye out for new pictures. Hope all is well and will be seeing everyone soon!

Summer is here!

So, after all of this cold, rainy weather, the sun has finally decided to come out. It has been so sunny and warm out. I really wish it was like this year-round. A few days ago, I attended a livestock market where they were auctioning off sheep for breeding and for meat. It is a requirement that we attend one livestock market. It was actually interesting how the market/auction works. Of course there is the FAST talking auctioneer and lots of farmers standing around. A couple people from class went and Kristen went as well. Afterwards, we hired a taxi to a town called Causewayhead and ate lunch at this great Italian restaurant that had very good pizza. I finished lunch off with a mango smoothie (DELICIOUS!). We hiked up to the Wallace Monument and took some pictures of us scaling the monument and then made our way back down. We then caught the train to Edinburgh. I'll be posting some pictures from the trip today or tomorrow. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Return From Drumnadrochit (Loch Ness) and Inverness

So we are back from an awesome weekend up in the Northern part of Scotland. We took the train to Inverness at 6.30am and walked around Inverness for a while before catching the bus to Drumnadrochit where our hotel was. Drumnadrochit is where Loch Ness is, well, it is just one of many towns that are along Loch Ness. We unpacked and headed out to hike through the woodlands that were about 1 mile or so away. We were looking all over for Loch Ness (which you think would be extremely easy given the size of the loch), but we walked in circles on this woodland walk for a good two hours. We finally bumped into this lady and she pointed us in the right direction. We had to cross a stream on tip toe and try not to fall stepping on lose stones. We finally reached Loch Ness and it was absolutely beautiful. The view was amazing! I posted the photos on the photo page, so go check them out! We headed back towards town and called it a night. The next day, we headed to Uruqhart Castle, which was about 2 miles away. The view of Loch Ness was amazing the entire walk to the castle. We reached the castle and ate a quick lunch and went down to the castle. The castle was beautiful and so old. It is in ruins, but there were still some levels of the castle that we were able to take the spiral staircase up to. We took hundreds of photos and had to head back towards town to catch the 1.30pm bus back to Inverness. We made it back to Inverness and walked around a bit before our train arrived. Finally, after a 4 hour train ride, we made it back to Edinburgh. Oh, and FINALLY I am posting pictures, sorry for the delay everyone! Hope everyone is doing well and will talk soon!

Oh, and FYI, we booked our plane tickets to Paris and will be leaving on 10th June and will be in Paris for 5 days! Can't wait! Hopefully there won't be an ash cloud from the Iceland volcano...

Passed Handling Examinations!

So I just checked online what my results were for the animal handling exams. There were 3 types of marks used for the handling exams, (2) = Good Pass, (1) = Pass, (0) = Fail (obviously). I received a 2 in the cattle handling section, 1 in the exotics, 1 in the equine, 1 in sheep and a 1 in dog/cat. I was so happy that I received a pass in the exotics section since everyone was hearing rumors that 2/3 of the class had failed the exotics handling exam. Was strange that I did not receive a 2 in horses or sheep since I thought I did extremely well during the exam. The only thing I got wrong with sheep was aging by looking at teeth, but he had me age a second one and I got that correct. Dog/cat handling, I only received a 1 because I identified the cat breed wrong and probably did not give the proper sex of the cat (since we were looking from a distance). I mean, come on, sex a cat from 3 feet? It's difficult, especially when the cat is not showing its hind end the entire time. Maybe I should just work with cattle since I received a 2 mark on that (on second thoughts, I'll stick with dogs/cats). Anyway, glad that I passed them and now waiting to hear about the written exam. Booked my plane tickets and will be arriving on June 17th to AZ. I will then be taking a flight to Washington on the 19th June and won't be back until the 26th June. My return flight to Edinburgh will not be until September 9th and that may change, I may extend my vacation. I will also be going to Ottawa, Canada to visit my fantabulous girlfriend Kristen for a week or two! Can't wait for that! Will also be nice to be back home and work in surgery again!!! I am severely deprived of surgery-land. Well, I must get going so that I can work on notes and get to bed for tomorrow. Talk to everyone soon!

Royal Dick Veterinary School on TV!

Hi all! Just wanted to let you all know that the vet school here was on TV for a five-part miniseries for a behind-the-scenes look at the vet school. The link is below if you want to watch. Hope everyone is doing well! Will be leaving for Inverness on Saturday morning so will have lots of pictures for you.

http://player.stv.tv/programmes/vet-school/

Heading to Loch Ness...

Yep, it's true, I will be heading to Loch Ness with Kristen in a couple of weeks to look for Nessie. Not sure if we'll be able to find her but will definitely take some pictures if we spot her. We are taking a train to Inverness and then heading down to a town called Drumnadrochit. We will be hiking all around Loch Ness that weekend. I'm quite excited about the trip! I'm also in the midst of trying to buy a plane ticket back home. I'm basically going to fly into Phoenix and then the next day, take a flight to Portland, OR so I can see my niece's first birthday. Will be there for about a week and will then head back to Phoenix where I will be for the remainder of the summer. I have EMS that I must complete but will be able to do all of my required weeks in town. I just received confirmation that I will be able to complete 1 week at Out West Stallion Station and will be calling Brambley Hedge Rabbit Rescue to try and set up my 1 week there. This week has been quite lax, which is good after so much studying that I endured for the last examination. I am looking forward to being back at the clinic during the summer working in surgery (back where I belong)! I have been severely deprived of surgery time and must get back in ASAP!

I finished my portfolio today. The portfolio that we must turn in is required every year. I have to include all of my EMS forms, certificates of attendance, in-course assessments, feedback forms, a CV, etc. I finished my CV last night and just used a template I had for when I made one back in AZ. It's great they have you work on a CV and help you work on developing a good CV by the end of your 4th year. I have to get together with my Director of Studies on Monday, which we have off. I get it signed and approved and then turn it in to be graded. I have class tomorrow and continue the case studies that we have started. This next portion of the course is aimed at exposing us to a variety of clinical cases. It is supposed to help us bring everything from the Animal Body course together and be able to think through a clinical diagnosis. I think it is very helpful. The exam for this section is only worth 10% and we are given the essay questions beforehand, so I will probably work on them this weekend. Well, hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see you all when I come back!