Exam over...and now for a well deserved Christmas break!

I have not posted in quite some time as I have been studying nonstop for the past couple of months in preparation for the exam. Our examination was on cattle, sheep, fish, avian and some other topics. The exam was on Wednesday, the 14th at 9.30am. There were three essay questions and we had to answer two of the three. I answered the question on foot rot management in sheep and the other essay question that was on cattle reproduction. I felt that I knew the information well and answered the questions as best as I could. There were also 40 multiple choice questions that started off easy and then got increasingly harder as they started asking about fish, birds and pigs. Once it was over there was a huge weight lifted from my shoulders (and my brain). I ended up going to the pub with a group from class and then down to the Christmas market. I also ended up seeing 'The Thing' movie by myself to relax a bit. I can't tell you how good it feels to not have to go home and study constantly. I am now back in Arizona for Christmas for a month and it has been so nice to see everyone in the time that I have been back so far. The weather is SO much nicer than Scotland right now as the sun has been out and it has been about 65-70 degrees during the day. I will be doing some Christmas shopping tomorrow as I only need a few more presents and then I am finished. I am looking forward to a great Christmas with the family, although I wish Kristen and I were together for Christmas. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and don't drink too much egg nog!

Grey Mare's Tail Nature Reserve

This past Saturday myself and a group of others from class decided to take a drive down to Grey Mare's Tail, which is between Selkirk and Moffat. It was about 1 hour 45 minutes to drive to Grey Mare's Tail car park. We left around 9am and on the entire drive, the weather was looking quite grim. I was thinking that we would be hiking in the rain the entire time, which would be unfortunate since I wanted to take as many photos as I could. About 30 minutes of driving in the rain and all of a sudden the clouds parted and the sun was shining! The rain vanished about 10 minutes from the car park, which was PERFECT timing! Wouldn't you agree? One of my classmates brought their dog to take on the hike and as soon as we got out of the car, the dog bolted off into the Scottish hills to chase after the dozens of sheep that were on the hillsides. At one point, the dog herded a flock of sheep into a stream and one of the ewes was up to its neck in the water! I felt so bad! Once we paid for the parking, we began our ascent up the main trail towards the waterfall. The waterfall is one of the five tallest waterfalls in the UK and it was absolutely stunning! I didn't realize that it would be so big after looking at photos on the internet. We walked all along the trail and there were a couple of spots that led you off of the trail down to the waterfall drop off point. I went down to get some photos, but I couldn't gather the courage to get much closer than about 5-6 feet from the edge of the cliff where the water was falling from. I took a few videos of the ledge. After some photos, we all continued on the trail up towards Loch Skeen (which feeds the waterfall). Once over the top of the falls and around the bend, Loch Skeen came into view and the valley in which it resides was absolutely breathtaking!

We decided to take a break and eat lunch. So we sat down for a good half hour and ate lunch. We then continued on and the trail turned into mud all of a sudden! So, we had to find our own path through the boggy hills. I, again, experienced hiking with wet feet as the hiking boots I have are WELL ventilated, which allows water to just come right on in. I managed to keep dry feet for a while, however, it was ultimately inevitable that I would step in a bog and my boot would fill right up with water. COLD WATER!!! One person decided to head back to the car park before we ascended Lochcraig Head, which put us at 2,628 feet elevation once we were at the top. We managed to find a descent path along a stone wall, but it was still quite steep. Once at the top, the view was amazing. I took lots of photos and videos as well. We took a 15 minute breather to take in the amazing views and then continued down the path to head back to the car park. The path continued on down to a smaller mountain (Mid Craig). Once we got back down to the level of Loch Skeen, we then had to jump across the stream. I jumped and BARELY made it! I think my heel touched the water, but I wasn't soaked, which was the goal! We all managed to get back to the car park safely and my knees did a much better job than they did on the highlands hike a couple of months ago. We headed back home and stopped by a pub to grab a bite to eat. I slept until 10am the next day... All in all, it was an amazing hike and if any of you are ever here, I will take you hiking to this gorgeous place that is hidden in the Scottish hills. Enjoy the pictures!

Also, before I go, the famous Sir Walter Scott wrote a poem about Grey Mare's Tail waterfall. This is how it goes:
Where deep deep down, and far within
Toils with the rocks the roaring linn;
Then issuing forth one foamy wave,
And wheeling round the giant's grave
White as the snowy charger's tail
Drives down the pass of Moffatdale.

Grey Mare's Tail 2011

Asimo...a very creepy robot!

So, this is the new and improved Honda Asimo robot. It is smarter, faster, more agile and adapts to its surroundings. Some people find this robot absolutely fascinating while I on the other hand, find it very creepy! Look how fast it can run! Would you want an Asimo running after you??? I sure wouldn't! Here is the link to the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrHT_3cG_UI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Culzean Castle

Yesterday, I decided to set my alarm for 6.30am and head down to the rail station here in Edinburgh to catch the train to Maybole, which is about 5 miles from Culzean Castle. I had to go through Glasgow, Ayr and then finally stop at Maybole. So I had two changes that I had to make for trains. After a couple of hours of being on the train, I finally arrived to Maybole and started walking down the road towards Culzean Castle. It was not hard to find at all since the one road I had to walk on was the B7023 (Culzean Road). The walk was not too bad, as there was a sidewalk to walk on. However, the sidewalk soon ended and I had to spend the remainder of the walk in lane of oncoming traffic. At one point, I came around a bend in the road and there was police tape tied to a good majority of the surrounding trees with various bits and pieces of a vehicle or vehicles. I'm guessing there was a fatal accident at that sharp bend. I was nervous going around it walking! So for about 3 miles, it was quite unnerving walking on the carriageway. I walked past this cheese farm that smelled horrible! It smelled of rotten milk and farm animal waste... About 2 miles past the farm, I finally reached Culzean Castle. I walked down the the ticketing booth and this lady stepped out from the inside and said it was £3 to get in. I handed her my card and she told me the card machine was broken. Unfortunately I had failed to remember to bring cash with me. She let me in for free though, which was extremely nice of her. The castle was closed for the winter but the castle grounds were open to the public. I took some amazing photos of the castle! I found a path that went down to the beach as well. I walked across some very slippery rocks and managed to get far enough from the castle to get a nice shot. I have posted all of these photos, so go check them out! After my hike, I stopped at the restaurant and got a sandwich and bag of crisps to hold me over for the 2 hour hike back to Maybole. It was 3.30pm and the sun was going down FAST. So I decided that it would be a good time to head back before the sun goes down because walking on the carriageway would be quite sketchy in the dark! I did have a flashlight just in case though. I started the hike back to Maybole and arrived at around 4.45pm and saw that I had just missed the 4.30pm train. The next train wasn't until 5.56pm and there was NOTHING around other than this TINY food store that could probably fit about 10 people max at a time. I basically just walked around acting like I was going to buy some things so that I could keep out of the cold. It was so cold yesterday and my hands were so numb from standing outside. The only thing I could think about was the warm train and being back at the flat in the nice warmth. I finally got the train from Maybole to Ayr, then had to switch to catch the train to Glasgow Central, which felt like the longest train ride ever! I was on the train for almost two hours from Ayr to Edinburgh! I got home and collapsed on the bed. All in all, it was a gorgeous hike, a gorgeous castle and I would do it again (just in warmer weather next time). Remember to check out the photos if you haven't already!

Culzean Castle 2011

CSU Externship

So Hills Science Diet is offering 5 bursaries worth £720 each for an externship to Colorado State University in our final year. I have finished filling out the application and am hoping I will get selected to go on this externship. It will be four weeks of working in whatever clinical rotation they put you in. I put down orthopaedic surgery for my preferred rotation. That would be grand if I am able to spend 4 weeks of orthopaedic surgery at CSU! I will be dropping off the application to the university tomorrow and will find out on December 1st.

On another exciting note...actually, I just said that to get you to keep reading. I really have nothing interesting going on right now other than sheep management and diseases of sheep. I am looking forward to our exotic lectures. The lecture book for the exotic lectures is 7 pages long...

Tomorrow lectures doesn't start until 11am, and I am finished at 5pm. There is a three hour gap in between the second and third lectures, so looks like I will be doing some reading up on sheep and cattle management. Sounds exciting, doesn't it??? Oh, and before I forget, HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY! Hope you are having an awesome day! For those of you at AHS, the costumes I have seen so far are awesome! Brian, why's the rum gone? Do you know what I am for Halloween? I'm a nerdy vet student studying in my room...

Well, I should be getting back to the notes here. Talk to you all soon! I am really going to try and update my blog more often now. I really had no excuse other than the fact that I had nothing exciting going on. So, check back frequently as I will be posting more pictures as well.

Target App for Phones

I just wanted to make a post about something I found quite useful for my iPhone. I believe that it also works for Android phones as well. This is for veterinarians to use in practice. The app is basically the Target Drug Book converted into a quick reference guide on your phone. If you look up "Target Veterinary" in your app store it will show up for download. It is completely free and is a great reference for use on antimicrobial drugs, their efficacy against the various pathogens associated with common conditions and their dosages. Back to studying!

UPDATE!

Ok, so it's been over a month since I last updated my blog (according to Tanya and my blog). I really haven't had much to update about other than we have been sitting in on cattle lectures since classes began. We finished our last cattle lecture on Thursday and will be starting lectures on pigs, sheep and exotics for the next 4 weeks. The exam is in about 6 weeks, yikes! My birthday was on October 22nd and I did not go out for it. Instead, I sat in my room and watched some movies and got on Skype for a total of about 3 hours between, Kristen, Kristin, mom, grandma and grandpa. I went down to Starbuck's for 5 hours yesterday to study so that I could get out of my typical study environment (which is my room). Studying in my room constantly becomes very monotonous and boring so I have decided to take up studying at Starbuck's on the weekends. I was very productive yesterday and managed to get a lot of the notes converted into flash cards to study from.

I purchased my airline tickets to come back on December 15th -January 15th, so I will have a month in AZ to enjoy the nice weather and get some quality desert hiking in! My feet have missed the dry desert hiking and they were exposed to some harsh Scottish weather during those 4 days of hiking in the highlands. Hiking shoes made for Arizona = NOT good for hiking in the Scottish highlands.

Note: Arizona hiking shoes have breathable holes on the sides, which makes it easier for water to flow into the shoes...end result = wet feet for the remainder of the hike.

Well, there was my quick update. I have new pictures that I took down by the castle here and I will upload them as soon as possible. Hope everyone is doing well. Miss you all!

Thought I was gone, didn't you???

Well, after a few months of no posting, I'm sure for those of you who were following the blog were wondering if I was ever going to post again eh? This past summer was amazing and I had an absolute blast! So after the last post when I had just finished exams, I flew to Arizona to be with everyone there and work for a bit. I was so happy to start working at the clinic again and work in surgery with Dr. Prevatt a few times. I sure do miss working at the clinic full time. Kristin, Michelle and Mike came down to Arizona this summer as well and stayed for a week and then I went back to WA with them. We drove up the Pacific Coast Highway for several days and the views of the coast were gorgeous! I will post the photos as soon as I am finished with this post. Washington was a blast and I wished I could have spent more time there. Kristin, Michelle and I went to Mount St. Helens for a day trip and there was a really cool chipmunk there that walked right up to my camera and sniffed it and quickly ran away. I then went to California with my mom, which was a nice relaxing trip. The ocean was cold, but the more time I spent in the water, the warmer it felt. The waves were immense and cap-sized me a few times! After California, I spent a couple more weeks in AZ and had a blast hanging out with everyone and definitely enjoyed my puppy dog before I went back to Edinburgh. At 13 years old, Brownie sure has quite a bit of spunk in him and loves to chase his tennis ball around as much as he did when he was 5 years old! After AZ, I went to Ottawa, Canada to visit my amazing girlfriend for 6 weeks!

In Ottawa, I got to spend a week at a cottage with Kristen and her parents. Although, I did have to study for two exams because I failed to pass the two exams when I was in Edinburgh. So I had to go back to Edinburgh to re-sit the examinations and I was going to only be in Edinburgh for 6 days. At the cottage, Kristen and I got to canoe down the lake and relax on the dock during the day and sip on beers. It was oh so relaxing and I needed a good de-stressor. Kristen's dad and I took up fly fishing for the first time and I managed to catch 4 large mouth bass on the fly rod, 3 of which we ate for breakfast, 1 of which jumped out of my hands as I took the hook out of it's mouth. I caught one while I was canoeing solo as well but it was too small. Kristen and I went swimming in the lake a few times and it was so muddy and full of algae that it was kind of gross to swim in. There was also this man from Germany that would swim the full length of the lake every morning. Crazy! The lake was so thick of algae that I'm sure he was paddling in the thick of it too! Kristen and I also floated out on rafts to the middle of the lake and it was so relaxing! However, in an attempt to relax, the black flies and deer flies wanted to make sure that we weren't completely relaxed, as they assaulted us with their relentless dive-bombing attacks. They even bit us through our water shoes! Stupid things! I had so many welts from the mosquitos and flies. One day, I was fishing and felt water running down my bicep. It happened to be blood and there was a large welt and bruise where I had been bitten. We had S'mores at night around a very smokey campfire to ward off any evil insects that came near us and we donned our campfire clothes to cover up any exposed skin that the insects might find tasty. All in all, the week at the cottage was a week of greasy food and relaxation! Kristen's dad caught a 5kg Northern Pike as well, which was a very nice catch. After the week at the cottage, I went back to Edinburgh for 6 days. Well, first let me tell you the problem we had prior to me leaving for Edinburgh. So Kristen had to work the day I was leaving. The night before, I had looked at what time I was supposed to be leaving and failed to look at where I was leaving from. I had assumed it was the airport in Ottawa. So, in the morning, I took a look at the confirmation email again and noticed that it wasn't at the airport and was at the rail station! Ah! So I told Kristen and we had to hurry up and get to the station. We got in the truck and made our way to the station. Once we were there, I checked for my passport and could not find it! Ah! So we had to drive all the way back to her house and search for the passport. I could not find it and started to panic and then Kristen forgot that she had hid my passport as a joke. The idea of her joke was that if she hid the passport, I would not be able to find it and would not be able to go back to Edinburgh and would have to stay in Canada. I grabbed the passport, we went to the rail station and I flew to Edinburgh. I took the two exams that week and then saw Tom Green at the Fringe Festival the night before I had to leave.

Back in Ottawa, Kristen and I spent 5 more weeks together. We went to Kingston, Sandbanks, Merrickville, downtown Ottawa (got some good gelato and saw a weird light show on the Parliament buildings) and went canoeing as well. We also went to her friend's wedding, which was an absolute blast! Kingston and Sandbanks was so relaxing and nice. It was nice to get away from town and relax as just the two of us. I will put up photos of the trip after I post this. After my amazing time in Canada, it was time for me to go. However, we ran into a bit of a flight snafu again. I had checked my email for the flight time the night before and apparently it was the wrong email (I didn't know that at the time). So we set up a time to leave by the next day. My flight was scheduled for 5.30pm and on the day of, we planned on leaving the house for 2.30pm. Well, that day, at 2.37pm, I went to check in online and noticed that the flight was changed to 3.07pm. I failed to look at the right email because I had so many emails from them changing my flight so many times! So we had to RUSH to the airport, quickly say goodbye and I go to the check-in counter at 2.45pm. I went through customs with untied shoes and made my way to the desk. When I got there, I threw my passport and ticket in front of the lady and she just looked up at me and said, "Sir, we are not boarding for this flight yet. Please have a seat". Doh! The flight had been delayed! I was so lucky!

So I am now back in Edinburgh and classes have started up again. I spent 4 days this week hiking through the Scottish Highlands with my buddy. The idea was to hike for 137 miles. We hiked about 35 miles of that and my knees were not doing so well. My knees were still acting up from when I practiced running back in Ottawa (7.22 miles without properly warming up). It was an absolute blast hiking though. We ascended 800 metres at one point and camped in the clouds in a bog. It was very cold that high up. I woke up to deer calls around our campsite, it was amazing! We had to descend the 800 metres, which is what really did my knees in. We came across an old building that hikers use to stay in overnight called a "bothy". We finally got into Ullapool and collapsed! My knees are still quite sore, but are getting better. Anyway, I will be posting some pictures up of the hike so you can all see where I was. I will cut this short so you don't have a book to read. Enjoy the pictures and I will post again soon!

Exams Over!

So this is a tad late following completion of my last examination. On Friday we had our last examination of the dog and cat clinical course and it sure does feel great to have 4 months of Summer ahead of me and getting to work at the clinic for a much longer period than the last time. This time around, I will have my very first clinical case to work up! Yeah, that's right, my own dog Brownie will be the guinea pig for a clinical work up for Cushing's disease, which I feel he may have based on his clinical signs. So, once I am back in AZ, I plan on getting that done straight away.

Going back to Friday, the day of the final exam, I spent the remainder of the day walking around Edinburgh and taking some photos since it was so nice out. On Sunday I decided to take a train to North Berwick and go hiking along the coastline. I started out on the main beach in North Berwick near the Scottish Seabird Center and walked 11.4 miles (according to mapmyrun.com) along the coast and back into town. I tried to make it to Tantallon Castle but the last entry was at 5pm and I arrived at 5.04pm and the closed sign had been put up on the door. Oh well, I got amazing views of Bass Rock and there are beaches along the coast that I walked along that were secluded with no one but myself. I've uploaded some new photos of the beaches for you all to see so go check them out in the Picassa web albums link on the side.

Also, while in North Berwick, I have NEVER been exposed to such extreme wind!!! I mean, as I was walking along the beach, the wind was blowing from behind (luckily) and the wind was blowing the sand so hard that it actually hurt when it hit my hand! It was like I was being sand blasted! I took several photos to show you what I mean about the sand being blown about. On the way back into town, it was about 5-6 miles going into the wind which made it extremely difficult to walk. I got blown around quite a bit, especially when I was walking on the beach on boulders, the wind was blowing so hard that it would knock me off balance. Needless to say, it was nice once I was back on the train and heading back to Edinburgh. Yesterday I went for a hike with my buddy to prepare for our big hike at the end of Summer. I had a free bag that someone was lending to me from class and when I got outside with it I went to adjust the strap and it just fell off! So, we had to take the bags back to his flat and just go hiking without the rucksacks. I went down to the shopping centre later because there was a big clearance sale on rucksacks and I got a new one for £29 originally marked at £99. So I saved quite a bit!

I am now packed and ready to leave for AZ tomorrow. My flight is at 9am, so I need to leave the flat around 6am. So I better finish cleaning the flat and drying my laundry. I'll see everyone very soon!

First Exam Over!

At approximately 11.30am today, I walked out of the exam hall in relief. I had finally finished the statistics exam and was glad to be out of there! It seemed like the day would never get here. I was not enjoying studying for the exam, as the material is boring and I know that I will never utilize statistics in my Veterinary career. Hmmm, let's see, the 95% confidence interval for cryptorchid dogs being at an increased risk for testicular neoplasia is ummmmm.......yeeaaahhhh, I don't think I will be worrying about that so much. I'll leave the research and statistics to the researchers and statisticians! I am now studying for the dog and cat clinical examination. In this exam, we are supposedly given case presentations and are supposed to walk the examiner through what our differentials would be, diagnostic plan and treatment plan. This is the material that I really enjoy, so let's hope that the questions are relevant to the material that I have been studying! I've got until Friday to study for that exam, so all is good with the study schedule and I am right on schedule.

On another note, what's this about Arnold Schwarzenegger fathering kids with multiple women? I saw this on the news the other day and was shocked. Apparently he has a 13 yr old boy with his former house maid! Apparently Arnold's wife was showering the maid with gifts and congratulating her on her pregnancy and she didn't even realize that Arnold was the father of that baby! Can you imagine how mortified she must be?

I am also anxiously watching that Grimsvotn volcanic eruption in Iceland and apparently all flights in Scotland have been cancelled as well as in Londonderry, Newcastle and other areas. Flights are supposed to be back up by Wednesday. Hopefully the wind blows it somewhere else so that I can leave on June 1st! They say that the volcanic eruption is decreasing in intensity, but who knows, another volcanic eruption may occur. What a nightmare, why did Iceland all of a sudden decide to cause flight problems two years in a row??? It seems like all of the world's natural disasters decided to show up all at once and wreak havoc on everyone in the last couple of years! Would you not agree? So, I am definitely going to keep an eye out on the status of this volcano and hopefully my flight will be departing on time next Wednesday! Wish me luck on my next exam and I will talk to you all soon and see some of you very soon!

Exams in 1 week and then Summer!

This entire next week is going to be a review week for the upcoming examinations. On Monday, we have our statistics exam (not looking forward to that!) and then on Thursday we have our dog and cat clinical exam. The dog and cat exam is going to be based solely on clinical cases where we are presented with a case and we must provide our differentials, diagnostic tests and treatment plans. I'm actually looking forward to taking the clinical exam because I think it's fun to try and establish a diagnosis. A lot of the material we have been learning in lectures all pertain to the years I've worked at the clinic. A lot of the surgeries that we must know for the exam, I don't really need to study for since I've seen so many of them, including orthopedic surgeries! I'm really hoping that there will be an orthopedic question on the exam. I finished studying today, I've got a set schedule I am following and it seems to be working quite well.

On another note, I added lots of photos to my picasa web album, so go and check out all of the new photos. I've started training for my hike at the end of the summer and have been running 2 miles every morning. The first day I ran 2 miles I felt like my lungs were on fire! My body was not impressed with me running that distance. Now, I can pretty much run the full 2 miles at a steady pace. At the end of my run, there is a hill called Blackford Hill. I am at the midway point before I turn back and hopefully I will be able to reach the top by the end of the week. I literally role out of bed in the morning and get my running gear on and head out the door. When I am back home, I plan on running Pinnacle Peak mountain and running to the clinic as well to help train. Maybe the intense heat will help me get in shape even more! I'll have to make sure I am carrying 5 gallons of water on my back though if I plan on running to the clinic in 100 degrees! Not sure if that will pan out, I may just fix up my bike and cycle to the clinic (at least once or twice to see if I can actually handle it!).

Well, I must go and finish nerding. I have to go over what I did today one more time and then I will call it quits for the night. Hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see you all very soon!

Busy! Busy! Busy!

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and for good reason! I've been busy studying for these upcoming exams. We finished our neurology and respiratory lectures and are now working on our surgery lectures. Our exam is in a couple of weeks, so I have one week left of lectures, one week of revision and then exams! Then I come back home! I've been trying to study for the statistics portion of the exam and I can definitely tell you that I would never make a good statistician! Wow do you have to be crazy to take statistics up as a career! I'm working on the practice work given to us and hoping that they will use similar problems. The new building is semi-open. Students are only allowed in the canteen, which is big and very open. The atmosphere is so much nicer to study in than the original canteen. I've been planning a hiking trip for the past few days for the summer time. My buddy Ollie and I are going to take a train to Bridge of Orchy, take the West Highland Way to Fort William (that is the trail where they filmed Braveheart), take a train from Fort William to Inverness and then begin the 90 mile journey to Smoo Cave and the very Northwestern tip of Scotland. Once we reach the Northwestern most point, we will then begin to make our way to Thurso, which is to the East. From Thurso, we will take a train to Edinburgh, which will be about 8 hours. The entire trip will take about 7-8 days and we will be camping in the Scottish Highlands. How awesome is that! This is something I've wanted to do ever since my first ever trip to Scotland. This is something I feel I must do while I am here and at least take advantage of my location. If I don't do it now, it will be much more difficult to accomplish later. We are going to be walking about 120 miles total and averaging 25 miles per day, so it will be a challenge and I will be training all Summer for it. I'll keep everyone posted on that, but there won't be any updates until it gets closer to the time, which will be on September 17th at 6am.

I have two lectures tomorrow until 11am and then I am done for the day. I will be studying statistics all weekend long so that I have it in my head. I don't want to have to resit this statistics exam! No one should! I can't wait until my exams are over and I am back home and get to work some quality hours at the clinic. After my Summer in AZ, I am then going to spend the other half in Canada! I'll work at the same clinic I did as this last break and maybe they will let me do a spay or neuter? They let me extract two feline carnassials the last time! Who knows what they will let me do this time around! I will be there for about 3 weeks so maybe they will let me do some orthopedic surgeries on my own??? Hey, I've seen so many TTAs being done that I could probably walk myself through the procedure. I know how to make all the radiographic measurements, now its just a matter of getting into surgery and attempting my first one! Some how, I doubt if a TTA will be my first solo procedure...but then again, who knows!

Well, I will try and update the photos soon, I've just been so busy. I will try this weekend. I hope everyone is having a good end of the week and I will talk to you all later!

Back to the Burgh!

Hey all! Well I am back in Edinburgh and started class yesterday. Saturday and Sunday were very long days for me for traveling, but I finally made it back. The flight to Washington DC was 4 hours with a 3 hour layover when I got there. I then flew 7 hours to London Heathrow and when I arrived, they had moved my original flight and scheduled it 5 hours later! So I was stuck at Heathrow for 5 hours and I was VERY sleepy! There was nothing to do in the terminal that I was in either, so I just walked around looking at a book shop and an electronic store. I used to be able to send messages using the computers in the electronic shops, but they have since gotten rid of the wifi so that people cannot come in and use the internet. I couldn't message anyone because I had used up all of my laptop battery on the first flight and I had forgotten to include a UK adapter in my bag for my laptop. Oh well.

I finally heard my flight being called to gate 8c. I walked over to the gate and boarded the little plane. It took an hour to fly to Edinburgh, but felt like 10 min because I dozed off for a good chunk of the flight. It's amazing how much faster the takeoff feels on a smaller plane. After arriving in Edinburgh, I got to the baggage area and was waiting for my bag...and waiting...and waiting. I was sure that my bag was going to be delayed because I had flown through DC. So I went to baggage claim to have them check for my bag and there was no one there. I went back to the baggage belt and there was a BMI guy there. He pointed me in the direction of the customs baggage claim because I had started outside the UK and my bag wasn't on the other belt. Low and behold, there was my bag! It was the only bag left on the customs belt. I grabbed it, got on the Airlink bus and made my way home.

Monday morning I woke up after getting 11 hours of NEEDED sleep and headed off to class. Now, I have 3 weeks of lectures in Neurology and Respiratory, have 1 week of revision and then exams. Then, on June 1st I will be back home to start my Summer vacation! Can't wait! I hope all is well with everyone and I will post some new pictures just as soon as I get a chance.

Dental Extractions!

So today was my third day of placement at Greenbank Animal Hospital and it was a great day. It was much busier than the first two days and I was able to do a lot more. There was a cat in for dental extractions. The doctor and technicians weren't all that familiar with taking dental radiographs so I tried to impart some of the knowledge and experience that I gained at AHS, especially from Dr. Ashmore. I helped one of the doctors understand the shadow effect of dental radiographs. I was told in my dental lectures back in Edinburgh that a tooth is like a single tree in a field during the day when the sun is up. The higher the sun is, the shorter the shadow of the tree and the lower the sun is, the more elongated the shadow of the tree will be. The sun being the x-ray beam. I think it is a great analogy and helps to understand how to take dental radiographs.

After the radiographs were taken, we moved the cat to the dental table. After reviewing the radiographs, it was determined that most of the teeth would be extracted. After the first extraction, Dr. Oliver handed me the equipment and allowed me to extract 6 of the teeth. One of the premolars that I extracted was quite difficult to get out. I used the drill on two of the teeth to split the two roots at the bifurcation, which made extracting the individual roots MUCH easier. I also found that cutting the gingiva and making a flap made visualizing the roots much easier. I did manage to break one of the roots and I just used a round-tipped bur and drilled out the remaining root fragment. To end the day, I helped with an appointment with two chinchillas. I was extremely happy that I was able to do so much hands-on work today and that they allowed me to extract teeth. Maybe they will let me perform a cruciate ligament repair??? Maybe when I come back to AZ Dr. Prevatt will let me do a TTA all on my own? Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Talk to you all soon!

First Day of Placement

So today was my first official day working at Greenbank Animal Hospital. I wasn't too busy today, there was a spay, neuter and a low dose dex dog that was scheduled. I went in to two vaccination appointments with Dr. Oliver and I thought that it was so strange that there were no room technicians. The doctors did everything, there was no tech to check in the appointment. The appointment went by much faster too and there were no problems with appointments running over their scheduled time. I assisted with the cat neuter, which took all of 10 minutes to do. For cat neuters, they do something completely different than what I'm used to seeing. They inject the testicles with local anesthetic and find that it helps quite a bit with pain management. So I was given the local block and was given the job of injecting the testicles. I can tell you that that's the first time I've done that! They also inject subcutaneous local anesthetic on the lateral sides of the linea alba and also bathe the broad ligaments of the uterus in local anesthetic and find that they can maintain the patient on a very low anesthetic plane without having to increase the anesthetic percentage. The spay was done in about 15 min and that was the end of the surgeries that were scheduled.

Towards the end of my shift, this barn cat came in with a prolapsed testicle and he had an emergency neuter. Then, my fantazing girlfriend picked me up and then we went to Tim Hortons to play rrroll up the rim to win. I lost. Kristen won a coffee. She is awesome! Then we went home and had a gigantic salmon dinner. Now we are going to watch a movie.

I'm Baaaaaacccckkkkk!

First part of the exam is over! It was only a 30 question MCQ though, so it was only an hour long. Today I travelled to Lindisfarne, you can check it out here (http://www.lindisfarne.org.uk/). I walked just about 10 miles today to get there and back. I found out when I got to Berwick Upon Tweed that the bus that runs to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne operates only on the weekend. So I had to take a bus to Beal, which was the closest town to Lindisfarne. After a very long walk, I finally reached the main stretch of the Lindisfarne Causeway. It was amazing! The main road went right through where the water is and the tide comes in so much that it covers the entire road by 4pm with about 3-4 feet of water! Crazy! There are even refuge towers in case you get stranded on the road after 4pm. There were two ways to go between Lindisfarne and the mainland. On the way to Lindisfarne, I walked the road, which apparently adds about 45 min onto the travel time when you are walking. On the way back, I took the "Pilgrims Way" that takes you through the sand with a long stretch of very tall posts that mark the old route used by the pilgrims back in the day. I came across some spots that were like quick sand almost! My foot sank deep into the sand/mud and I was not impressed...

I finally made it back to the mainland before the tide came in and managed to catch the 4.30pm bus back to Berwick Upon Tweed and got the 5.26pm train back to Edinburgh. So, I don't know what you all did today but I managed to go to Scotland AND England, got to walk down an old ancient path across the sand, saw a castle that was like something out of a fantasy book and it was sunny with no clouds. However, my legs are now like jelly and my bones are asking why I decided to make them walk almost 10 miles today! I leave for Canada tomorrow afternoon and am VERY excited to see Kristen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then I get to come home in a few weeks and see you all! What a great Spring break! Well, I better get some sleep here so I can wake up with plenty of sleep before I start my day of travel. Talk to you all soon!

No posts for two weeks

So, exams are coming up and I am getting stressed with so much to go over in 2 weeks. I have been studying nonstop and will continue to do so until exams are over in a couple of weeks. To keep things simple for these next couple of weeks, I have decided to not post any new topics until exams are over. I will not be logging on to my blog, posting pictures or posting new topics in these coming two weeks (UNLESS something amazing happens). I'm sure you would find it rather boring if I continued to post topics about how studying is going, because that is pretty much all I will be doing. I will post something after the exam is over. I leave for Canada on the 25th (yipppeeeeee!!!) and am there for 2 weeks with my amazing girlfriend and her parents! Then I am flying to AZ for two weeks to enjoy some well deserved relaxation and nice weather! I hope you all have a great next two weeks and don't work too hard! See you all very soon!

13 days remain until the next exam!

Yikes! So this is an eye-opener! I have an exam in 13 days and I still have so much to go over from all of these last lectures. I'm definitely not looking forward to this exam but I am, however, looking forward to going to Canada to see Kristen and AZ to see everyone else! It will be nice to have one part of the exam over with. We are only being given the multiple choice exam and the written portion is in May. I am really looking forward to the summer break as I will have almost 4 months off! I will finally get to enjoy some NICE weather for a change!

Speaking of weather, when I woke up this morning, there was snow all over! It has melted since this morning, but there was quite a bit. The rain melted the snow in a matter of an hour once it started though. It snowed out at the campus yesterday as well. Yesterday was a long day. We had two lectures, a differential diagnosis practical and then we had a mock history taking with an acting client. We were basically given a scenario and we then had to go up to the client as if he/she were a real client and obtain a history for the doctor that was "in an emergency". It was 3 hours long and I was so tired by the end of the practical. It was interesting though. I've taken history hundreds of times from clients at the clinic and I felt that it was very good practice for others who haven't had much experience in history taking.

I am currently working on Ophthalmology and trying to finish all of the lectures so that I can move on to Dermatology, which is another long section. Once I get through Derm, all of the other sections are relatively short, so I should be able to finish in time so that I have a week of straight review. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend and I look forward to seeing you all VERY soon!

A thought on pet adoptions...

So I was reading the news this morning and came across an article on something that I had read the other day. The first article I read was about this puppy that was euthanized in Oklahoma along with his litter mates. However, one of the men that work at the facility looked in the box after the puppies had been euthanized and found that one was very much alive and well. The weird thing was that the animal shelter euthanized the puppies, put them in a box and threw them out into the dumpster. Are there not laws regulating the disposal of animal remains? Maybe Oklahoma is different from everyone else... The shelter has aptly named the puppy "Wall-E" and apparently the story that the news has generated has caused hundreds of people from Canada and the US to call the shelter and ask if they could adopt him. So I don't think Wall-E is going to have a difficult time finding a new home!

So why is it that so many people are willing to adopt Wall-E? Well, for one, he has a pretty unique story of coming back from the dead (or the veterinarian accidentally used saline instead of euthasol)! There are so many animals out there that need homes and so many of them get euthanized if they are not adopted within a certain amount of time. How about if news channels and papers make up an amazing story for each and every homeless animal? I'm sure they would get more calls then! I just think that it is so crazy how if a news channel were to show that same puppy without the story of the miraculous recovery it had, you wouldn't see nearly as many adoption calls. It is so amazing how a simple story of survival can prompt hundreds of people to call for an adoption request. Too bad all homeless animals don't have an amazing survival story. If I recall correctly, I think this happened during Katrina and another dog was looking for a new home (although, it may have been a stranded dog that had a previous home as I can't remember for sure).

Oh, and to answer your question Lisa, I am not near the site where Battle of Culloden took place, but it's not that far and I can easily reach it by train.

The Weekend is Finally Here!

After a busy week of lectures and studying, I'm ready for the weekend already! Strange though, because it seems like the week has flown by! Maybe I should take another trip somewhere? I probably shouldn't and study instead, you know, since my exam is in less than three weeks... I'm looking forward to that! I got to ultrasound the abdomen of a cow yesterday, which was fun. The liver had multiple circular abscesses so it was easy to see. Actually, ultrasounding a cows abdomen is quite easy. Everything is BIG! We then had clinical cases out in the equine hospital where each group was given a hospitalized horse to work with. After 10 minutes, the professor came around and asked us some questions. It was basically to get us more used to examining the horse and being confident in our physical examination. After 2 hours of that, we finally finished and I went home.

Yesterday, I went out to go see the movie "Unknown" with Liam Neeson with a few others from the course. Afterwards, we headed to a pub for a drink and called it a night. I've got a lot of studying to do this weekend and exams are in less than three weeks! Yikes! Hope everyone is doing well and I am looking forward to seeing you all over Easter break!

Great weekend of hiking and relaxation!

So, on Saturday, I embarked on a journey to the Argyll Forest to the west of Glasgow. I woke up around 6.40am (no fun!) and packed my hiking gear and made some sandwiches for lunch. I took the bus to Waverly train station here in Edinburgh and caught the 7.48am train to Gourock with one change in Glasgow. It took the train about an hour to get to Glasgow Central Station, from where I had to make a connecting train that continued onward to Gourock. I managed to make perfect timing and got on the connecting train within 5 minutes of arriving in Glasgow. Another hour and I was finally in Gourock. Once I alighted from the train, I made my way towards McIntray's Point (where the ferry to Hunter's Quay was). It took me about 25-30 minutes to get to the ferry. Again, perfect timing and I was on the ferry within 2 minutes of getting to the dock. I boarded the ferry along with numerous cars that also got onto the ferry. I paid for my ticket and stood on the top deck as the ferry made it's way towards Hunter's Quay across the Firth of Clyde. Apparently there are dolphins in the Firth of Clyde (according to the ticketing man), so I kept my eyes open for any signs of dolphin fins, but unfortunately I saw no such fins...

After finally arriving to Hunter's Quay, I knew I had a very long walk ahead of me to reach my destination, which was a hiking path called Puck's Glen. The distance to get there was about 5 miles and I figured it would take me a few hours to walk there. Before I started walking on the main road that I would need to take to reach Puck's Glen, I stopped into a post office/grocer. I picked up some food to go with lunch and I asked the man at the register how long it would take to walk to Puck's Glen. He said it takes about 30 min to drive there, so it would probably take 2 hours to walk there. Then, an older gentleman walked into the store and the man at the register said I was in luck, as the man that just walked into the store has walked all over this area of Scotland and knows it like the back of his hand. So the older man outlined a new path that he suggested, since it would take less time than the way I was proposing.

While he was telling me these new directions, another older gentleman walked in and overheard our conversation. He said that I was in luck as he and his wife were heading past Puck's Glen, and if I wanted a ride, I could ride with them to get there! I almost said no, but then he kept on insisting that I come along for the ride. So, I got into the car with Beth and Andy, an older couple that must have been in their late 60's early 70's. Beth was very nice and told me about Holy Loch, that we drove past. Apparently it used to be where the US Navy stayed. There was a very long wooden dock and apparently it was the dock the Americans used. Beth and Andy were heading up to Inverary to see their daughter and husband. We made it to Benmore Gardens and they dropped me off at the bus stop.

I went into the Benmore Gardens cafe to have lunch. Mom and I went into this cafe a few years ago on our Scottish trip and also went to Puck's Glen. I ate lunch and made my way to the trailhead. The first trailhead was "Black Gates" and was a trail that featured gigantic trees all along the path. The hike was absolutely amazing as the trees and ground were covered with bright green moss and vegetation. The trees towered over me and the sound of rushing water made the walk so peaceful. After the Black Gates trail, I made my way to the Puck's Glen trailhead. After a 20 min walk to get there, it began to rain. No, let me rephrase that, it began to POUR! I ran under the trees in the nearby forest and it was absolutely amazing! The rain, as it poured down to the ground, didn't touch me while I was in the forest. It was so weird to be standing under a tree and literally 2 feet in front of me it was pouring rain (and hail too)! It finally let up after about 5 minutes. I continued to make my way to the trailhead of Puck's Glen. I walked past a car with two Jack Russel Terriers that were barking their heads off at me. I finally found the trailhead to Puck's Glen and began my walk. Puck's Glen is a walk that follows a stream, and along this path are numerous waterfalls. It was so green throughout the walk! It also began to rain again, but I got my umbrella out and continued to take photos in the rain.

For lunch, I stopped by one of the larger waterfalls and ate my packed meal. After taking loads of photos, I made my way out of the glen at around 3pm. I had to walk about 1.5 miles to reach the bus stop. I caught the 4.06pm bus back to Hunter's Quay and back onto the ferry towards Gourock. After another 2 hour train journey, I made it back to Edinburgh and back into my comfortable bed. I have loads of photos to upload, and I will have them up either tonight or tomorrow. I hope everyone had a great weekend! Oh, I also have a new website I joined. I am selling my photos through Redbubble.com and you can click on the "Buy at redbubble" link below the pictures at the top of the blog. I'm only selecting photos that I think are worthy or being framed and sold, so these are my best pictures.

Another week over...a weekend of hiking now begins!

After a week of Endocrinology and Ophthalmology lectures, I'm ready to take a break. Yesterday and today were 9-5 lectures, which gets difficult to maintain enough energy to focus on the lectures as the day progresses. This is especially true when the lecturers dim the light! Dark lecture theaters make it so much more difficult to stay awake! I'm really enjoying the Ophtlamology and Endocrinology lectures from these past two weeks and have been learning lots. I've got this whole weekend to review everything that we went over this past week. I'm taking tomorrow off, as I will be catching a train to Gourock, then taking a ferry across the Firth of Clyde to Hunter's Quay and then a couple mile walk to a glen walk in the Argyll Forest. The entire walk follows a stream and there are a lot of spots with waterfalls, so I plan on taking a lot of great waterfall photos. I'm leaving on the 7.50am train and it takes two hours to get to Gourock with another transit time on the ferry, which I'm not exactly sure how long that will take. The weather hasn't been the greatest this week, which was worrying me that I wouldn't be able to go this weekend. However, I looked at the forecast today and it's supposed to me sunny and partly cloudy tomorrow. Actually, just checked again and it's supposed to rain tomorrow! No!!!!!! Well, supposed to be drizzling, so I'm still going to go. I need to get out of town and enjoy the rest of Scotland! So, if I'm going to attempt to catch this very EARLY train, I should probably get enough sleep eh? Hope you all have a fantabulously fantazing weekend and get out and do something fun (unless you are working)! Talk to you all soon and I'll post photos of my waterfall glen walk tomorrow.

Trip to Dunfermline

So yesterday, I planned a hiking trip to Dunfermline in Fife. We took the train, which was only £3.85 for a roundtrip ticket. The three of us brought study material so we could do a wee bit of studying while we were there. The train ride took only 30 min or so and when we got there, it was raining lightly and was freezing cold outside. We ventured over to the park and followed a footpath that lead to a bridge. This bridge overlooked a stream and a small waterfall and was absolutely beautiful. The rocks and trees were covered with bright green moss and it felt as if you had stepped into a fairy tale. The footpath went down towards this stream and there was even a wooden lookout tower that was covered in moss and looked out over the little glen. We continued on the path towards the abbey and there was a beautiful stone bridge that was also covered in moss. We walked over the bridge and up to the abbey and took some pictures of the abbey. After we saw the abbey, we walked over to a little cafe that the man in the museum told us to go to. Yeah, I forgot to mention that we went to a little museum before the cafe. It was just a small house with some pictures and guides. We ate lunch at this cafe and afterwards headed to a different cafe to get some studying in. We left about 2 hours later. All in all, it was a beautiful hike and I took many pictures! I'll be uploading them after I post this, so remember to check them out via the photo link on the right-hand side of the blog.

Ahh statistics, what fun you are...

So we have started our lectures for statistics and disease occurrences. I can tell you right now, I've only ever taken one stats course and I studied for exams, passed the course, and then flushed everything from my memory. Really, statistics? Statistics is my least favorite course and I find it difficult to focus during the lectures... Not fun! Then again, how do you make statistics a fun subject? We had a lecture on the clinical exam of the cat and the professor that lectured us was a cat nut! She was giving us all of these tips on how to communicate with cats and how to never scruff them. She was also saying something about when you are looking at a cat, you smile at it by blinking your eyes slowly. At the end of her lecture, she went on to tell us this story of when she went to cut a canary's toe nails.

The story goes as follows: She was talking to the owner about how a Canary's heart can dramatically increase and that there is a risk that her Canary would stress from the nail trim and die. The owner was well aware of this but still opted to have the nails trimmed since she couldn't cut them at home. So she took the canary back for the nail trim. Unable to find any proper nail trimmers for small birds, she resorted to using large toe nail trimmers that are used on dogs. She positioned the clippers on the first nail and squeezed the handles together. However, the handles stuck and the clippers slipped down the nail further. She cut the nail and quickly looked away and held the canary up. When she looked down, she had clipped the nail and missed the blood supply, but unfortunately when she raised the bird as she was clipping the nail, she popped the canary's head off! Apparently they glued the head back on and told the owner that it was the heart that failed. Oh jeez!!!

Also, she told us a story of an ostrich she knew. Apparently the ostrich caught it's lower jaw with it's claw as it was running and ripped it's own head off! Now that is shocking! We were not expecting her to tell us these stories!

New Photos!

So, in case you have not noticed, I have uploaded all of the photos from this last Christmas visit in AZ with Kristen and the family. I failed to mention that in my last post. Anyways, today our lectures were cancelled. We were supposed to have three ophthalmology lectures but apparently the lecturer has the flu. I had to be at the university for one practical though. The practical was on urinalysis, which I have done MANY times. They had the urine dip sticks out and the refractometer so that we could practice doing that, but I've done that so many times before that I didn't even bother with it. I focused more on reading the urine sediment cytology, which was much more fun than staring at urine dipsticks. We finished the practical and I caught the bus back home. I have yet to start on any notes...but eventually will. I hope the weather is warmer in AZ than here! It has been a wee bit nippy this week, but not horrible. So, on with this study thing... I hope everyone is having a good week so far. Talk to you all soon!

No Resits For Me!!!

So the university finally submitted our grades. They released the Clinical Foundations Course grades on Friday and I passed the written exam along with the suture and hand washing practical. Grades for Pathology were released today and I passed that as well. So I will have the entire summer break free without having to be back in Edinburgh to resit any of those exams! So relieved! Those were the toughest exams I've ever taken in my life and I feel so sorry for the people that didn't pass. Studying for those again will take up the entire summer break! We do have one exam before the Easter break and its a multiple choice exam that's worth 20% of the Integrated Dog and Cat course. The remaining 80% is on the exams right before we break for the summer. Hopefully that one won't be as difficult...

The weather has been getting nicer here and the days are getting longer. The sun has been out for the past few days with small bouts of rain, which isn't so bad. I started carpooling with a friend from class and it is so much nicer than riding on a bus! Plus, I get to class and have a plethora of seats to choose from rather than showing up late on the bus and having nothing but first row neck breaking seats to choose from! I've gotten my ticket to come back for Easter break and will be back in AZ for a little over a week and then heading up to Washington to see Kristin, Mike and Michelle! Then, when I'm finished with that trip, I'm going to be in Canada for two weeks to see Kristen and her family! What an amazing Easter break I have to look forward too!

I've also started physical therapy for my right shoulder now and it seems like it is getting better. The pain isn't as intense as it was before physio. The physical therapist told me that my posture is bad and that because I've been studying and sitting in a hunched position, my scapular muscles have become weakened and cannot support my shoulder like they should be. When she pressed against my scapula and told me to raise my arm, there was no pain. When she did not do that and I raised my arm, there was pain. So I have been working on my posture and doing my physio exercises as well as going to the gym and working on building up my scapular muscles and back muscles to help with posture. Hopefully this all pays off and I can go back to playing racquetball and lifting weights.

So sushi was on my mind this last week and I decided to have a go at making my own sushi rolls. The first sushi roll I made was a spicy tuna roll. I made it with too much rice though. The second roll was much better. I had three days of sushi and my rolls kept getting better and better. I've decided to hold off on making any more before I get too sick of them. I had baked haddock with a tomato sauce for dinner tonight that Kristen gave me the recipe for and it was DELICIOUS! Well, I better get going so I can get a restful sleep for tomorrow's TWO lectures! I have two dental lectures from 9am - 11am tomorrow and then finished for the day. Hope everyone is having a great week so far! Talk to you all soon!

Back in Edinburgh and attempting to get back into the study groove...

So after an amazing 3 weeks back home, I am finally back in Edinburgh. I had such an amazing time with everyone and had a great time with Kristen coming to AZ to meet the family. I took her up to Sedona and the Grand Canyon and it was so beautiful when we were there! The red rocks of Sedona and the snow / sunset combination at the Grand Canyon made for some amazing photos! I can definitely say that while I was back home, I had my filling of food! I went out to so many restaurants and had a lot of great dinners at home from mom! Sapporo was by far my favorite place that I ate because the teppanyaki table was awesome! There sure was a lot of food that came with the meal though! I was sad to leave on Thursday, I really was and I miss everyone so much.

I finally got in to Edinburgh on Friday morning 8.20am. I nearly missed my flight in New York. I got off of my first flight and made my way to Terminal 1, however, I managed to take the wrong train so I was going backwards away from terminal 1. I noticed this right away and got off of the train and got onto the right train. I made my way through security and while I was standing in line, I heard an announcement for final boarding call for flight AF023, which was my flight! Okay, so I had about 20 minutes before departure and I still hadn't made it through security, let alone up to the person checking boarding passes/tickets! I was so stressed out! I got through security and quickly put my shoes on, grabbed my laptop, coat and backpack (didn't even bother putting anything back in my backpack) and RAN to my gate. I finally got to the gate and there were about 5 flight attendants waiting at the gate looking towards me. I walked up to the ticketing desk and before I even handed over my ticket, the man said, "hello Mr. Fonza"! Wow, I've never been greeted by name at the gate before! I guess that means they were definitely holding the gate open for me! Thank god!

I made it to Paris and then on to Edinburgh with no problems. Arrived in Edinburgh at 8.20am and got through customs and made my way to baggage claim. I walked up just as I heard my last name being announced. So I walked up to the lady and confirmed that she said my name. Apparently, my baggage and the baggage of some other people was lost in transit to Edinburgh. So we had to give out our information and they said the bag would be delivered between 4-5pm or the next morning. I dropped off my backpack at the flat and took a bus down to the city. I walked around a bit, picked up some groceries and stayed out as long as I could so that I wouldn't be too tired. By the time I got home, I had been awake for over 24 hours and the lack of sleep was getting to me. The bus rides were putting me to sleep each and every time I got on. By the time I got home, made dinner and wound down from a hectic journey and busy morning, I was absolutely knackered! I went to sleep around 7.30pm and at 8.45pm I received a phone call that woke me up. It felt like I had been asleep for 5 hours when it had only been a little over an hour! I answered the phone and it was the courier with my bag. He showed up 15 minutes later and I slowly made my way to the front door, grabbed my bag, signed the device the guy had, closed the door, went back to my room and fell into bed, where I was to sleep until 12pm the next day! I guess I really needed the sleep! I was so tired the next day. Because I waited to sleep, I did not get jet lagged and was caught up on the time change by the next day.

So I am now catching up with the notes on the lectures that I missed and am halfway through. I have class tomorrow until noon, so will be able to get a lot done tomorrow. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I miss you all already! Sorry I was unable to get to see some of you, it was a busy 3 weeks I had in AZ and did not have much time to see every person I wanted to. Hopefully I will be back in Easter, if not, I will definitely be back in the summer for a month and a half. Talk to you all soon!