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!