Stuck in Edinburgh...

So I woke up at 5.45am this morning and finished my packing and started walking to the bus stop. As I was going to the bus stop, I was thinking, "Hmmm, today is Sunday and the buses don't run that often, GREAT...", and sure enough, the next bus wasn't due for 30 minutes. So I started walking to the airport bus stop, which would have taken me 40 minutes at the least. So a taxi approached and I flagged it down. I got down to the airport bus stop and managed to catch the 7am bus to the airport. I got in line at the airport, checked in and made my way through security. So it was smooth sailing the entire morning and then my flight was delayed by an hour...

I waited about a half hour and all of a sudden it was white outside. A huge snow storm moved through Edinburgh airport for the next 4 hours and the entire airport shut down. One person I knew from class managed to take off right as they closed down the airspace. I waited until 2.30pm and when that time came, the flight status on the board said "Cancelled". I was so angry (and still am). I do not want to deal with this right now, I would just like to go home. The weather in Paris was quite bad so they shut that airport down as well because of bad weather. Now I have to work on trying to rebook my ticket and I was unable to get through to Air France because of the high volume of callers.

They open at 8am tomorrow morning, so I have my alarm set for 7.45am to prepare a long morning of trying to get through to someone because I'm assuming there are going to be thousands of people trying to get through to rebook their cancelled flights. I called Travelocity and they are going to try and get through to Air France and the guy with Travelocity said they have a direct line to call Air France so they should be able to come up with alternative dates for me to come. I'm really hoping they have flights available before Christmas because I will be quite upset if I don't make it out of here in time for Christmas. If I can't get through tomorrow or don't hear from Travelocity, then I'm heading down to the airport to the ticket check-in and talking to someone in person. I'm sure they can book tickets from the check-in counter with no problems. I officially hate snow...

To make things worse, I had to wait 30 minutes for my luggage and then buy another 6 pound return bus fare and then I picked up a city bus and managed to get on a bus that I thought went down all the way to my street, but it didn't. Let me tell you, pulling a suitcase in boots that have no traction (they are completely flat on the bottom) in slushy snow for 40 minutes is not my idea of a good time...

I spoke with a guy from Travelocity (after being on hold for an hour) and he told me they would call Air France via their direct line and arrange some different flights that I could choose from. He said to expect a call within the next 24-48 hours on that. So, I'm going to attempt to call Air France all day tomorrow, they open at 8am so I have my alarm set for 7.45am to wake up and get ready to start redialing all day long because there are going to be MANY people calling tomorrow morning to try and get a new flight. If I wasn't flying into Paris today, I would have been able to leave. Stupid snow, that's all I have to say. After all of these stressful exams and nothing but studying the last 3 months straight, this is not what I really want to deal with at this point, I really don't. Snow is only good for one thing, skiing, and that's IT! Even now, because of what the snow has done with the flights, puts me out of the "skiing mood" that I have been in for a while. Oh well! I guess things happen for a reason, so I'm just going to sit back and relax tonight and start frantically calling all over tomorrow and possibly heading down to the ticketing desk at the airport tomorrow. Hopefully I will be back for Christmas! I'll keep everyone posted! Wish me luck!

Finished with exams!!!

I am officially FINISHED with exams (for 2010)!!!!!!!!!! This day couldn't come any faster! I am so exhausted from the grueling days of studying that have taken place for the last 3 months and the last 2 weeks straight! We had Pathology today, the written portion, and it wasn't too harsh. I was able to answer the majority of the questions with confidence. I went to the pub at 3pm for a well-deserved pint of lager with a bunch of course mates. I'm going to head to Glasgow tomorrow to check out the Christmas market there and see what they have good to buy! I will be arriving in Phoenix at 9.30pm and I am really hoping that the flights here in Edinburgh will be unaffected by the snow that is about to arrive. Apparently London is experiencing issues with planes taking off and landing with all of the ice and snow they are getting. Apparently Paris is backed up, but I never got the full story on that so I am unsure of flight conditions in Paris right now. Darn snow! It's only allowed to snow when I am skiing in it...

Before I go, I have an interesting observational fact:

Why is it that if you blow in a dogs face it gets mad, yet when you take him on a car ride he sticks his head straight out the window?

I came across that on the internet earlier, I thought it was amusing. I do have an answer for the above question though, it's the same reaction someone gives you when you blow in their face and it smells like you have just eaten an entire loaf of garlic bread! I'm sure dogs feel the same way and their sense of smell is 50-100 times more sensitive than ours. Can you imagine smelling someone's garlic breath with a sense of smell like that? Blah!

Second practical exam over!

Today was the last of the two practical examinations and it was on hand washing and being able to demonstrate the proper way to wash your hands, which I am quite confident that I passed with flying colors. At times, the examiner was not even watching my hands and was talking to me about the weather and we were talking about me going back home for Christmas. You see, I had a strategy, and that strategy was to get the examiner interested in a conversation and she would pay less attention to what I was doing with my hand washing. It seemed like it was working too! Hehe, now for tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the Pathology spot exam where they will project images of pathological conditions/lesions up on the screen and we have to describe any changes/abnormalities we see and diagnose the condition as best as we can. As long as I can describe the lesion/condition I see, the diagnosis portion is worth a very small fraction of the total points for each question. The majority of the points are given on your capability to describe any changes you can see. Anyway, off to bed I go so I can get my full 8 hours of sleep in for the morning! Wish me luck! I'll post an update on how I did tomorrow. Only three more days and I will be done!!!

First practical exam over!

The first practical exam is finally over! I had my exam at 10.40am today. I went to the hospital for small animals at the campus and I signed in and was told to read instructions on the wall for what we were to be doing. We had to tie a simple interrupted suture pattern in a fake wound that was draped off with a fenestrated drape while maintaining the sterile field. So I went in and was told to put a pair of gloves on (just plain nitrile gloves) and then approach the surgery table. I approached and grabbed needle holders and rat-toothed thumb forceps and tied my suture. I thought I would be shaking but I really didn't shake all that bad. I cut the ends and laid the instruments back onto the table. The man that was grading me asked if at any point did I break the sterile field? To which I replied, "no I did not", and I am 99% positive I did not. The entire process took about 2-3 minutes and I walked out. Woohoo! One day down, four to go! Tomorrow is another practical (either gowning, instrument identification or handwashing). Whatever it is, I will rock it! Anyway, I should be off so I can study some more. Talk to you all very soon! Oh, and in just 6 days I will see most of you (granted that the snow that is supposed to arrive doesn't halt flights)!

10 Days Remaining!

So, 10 more days and I will be in warmer weather and home for Christmas and in just 17 more days, Kristen will be coming to AZ! This is going to be a GREAT break! I have just 4 days until the first exam. The first exam is only 2 minutes long and there are three stations and we will be assigned to one of them. I am at station 3 at 10.40am and not sure what I will be doing exactly. I think two of the stations will be surgery gowning / gloving and another will be suturing. My guess for the third station is bandaging and that we will have to apply a bandage to a dogs leg or head. Either way, it should be a breeze! Suturing is easy and gowning is second nature since I've done it so much! Wednesday is the first day of the written/spot examinations. Thursday we will be heading out to the campus and sitting in front of a projector screen. There, we will have to view numerous slides with different pathological pictures and we have to describe what we see and come up with a diagnosis and what the etiology is.

I am thinking of going in my pajama bottoms and slippers. Hey, it's comfortable and what better way to take an exam than to take an exam in clothes that are comfortable! Actually, I probably won't seeing as it is quite chilly out. So, I am reviewing systems pathology right now. I'm comfortable with the pharmacology and I feel like I'm going to go crazy if I go over the drug flashcards one more time! I still have some practice multiple choice Pharmacology questions to do and then I am officially done! I leave on the 19th, so I have a couple of days where I can relax and head over to the Christmas market. I may even head over to Glasgow's Christmas market. The snow has stopped and I hope it doesn't come back so that exams are not interrupted. That would be quite annoying if the university reschedule exams. They said that they might even have universities in the US proctor the exams. Hey, doesn't this sound like a familiar scenario? I believe that when I had to resit the exam over the summer, they wouldn't allow me to have it proctored overseas. Oh, but when it works best for them, it is ok? Grrrr!

Well, I should finish pathology here and call it quits for the night. Talk to you all soon! Wish me luck!

Snow Week!

So this entire last week was considered a snow week and as a result, I had no lectures. I was supposed to have revision lectures and one more practical, but they cancelled everything as a result of the snowfall and ice-laden roads. The have omitted the lecture material we were supposed to cover from the exams so that means I have less material to study for the exam! Not that it matters much, the last lectures were on NSAIDS and clinical pathology. The clinical pathology lectures were basically on how to make blood smears, the importance of chemistries/CBC and some other information on cytology, etc. All of that I have a very good understanding of from working at the clinic, so I briefly looked over those lectures.

I have 9 days before my first exam and still have so much to cover! I have finished going over past exams but have a lot of pathology stuff to cover yet. I'm confident with Pharmacology, as I have memorized over 200 flash cards of drugs and their pharmacological properties! Holy cow! I have never done this much memorization in my education! This is a major test of commitment to studying and a true test of my sanity! Will I or will I not go crazy after the next 9 days of straight studying? That is the question...

I went down to Princes Street Gardens a couple of days ago and took some pictures of the castle covered in snow. The pictures turned out very good. Aside from the two black dots that keep appearing in all of my photos...They have been showing up for quite some time now and when I switch lenses, the two dots are still there, which means it is something within the camera itself. Grrrrrr! I have no idea where to take it to or how much it would cost to have it cleaned or looked at. I think my best bet is to just invest in a photo-editing program and just erase the black dots. Anyway, I just finished eating dinner and am going to go over some more flash cards. Tomorrow, I start studying Pathology! 14 days and I will be back in AZ!! It will be nice to be back in warmer weather. Hope everyone is having a good weekend and I'll post again soon! Check the link to the right for a new photo album I just uploaded.