Diary of A First-Year Vet Student: I Thought It Would Never End

I am now about 15% of the way to being a DVM. Sounds daunting, doesn't it? Believe me, it is.

We finally finished this winter term. With no breaks or holidays since MLK day in January, which occurred during the second week, and with 4 quizzes or major exams every week of the term, many of us were getting pretty wobbly towards the end.

For our gross anatomy lab final, we had cadaver specimens of cats, dogs, ferrets, rats, chickens, pigeons, horses, and cows (just the heads of the latter two species; we'll study the rest of them next term). The written part of the final included questions on all of these species plus hamsters and gerbils.

Our microanatomy final was comprehensive for both this term and the last term. Just ponder that! Stained slides of every single tissue type that can be found in animal bodies was fair game for that final. Studying for it was overwhelming but I gritted my teeth and plodded forward.

But I now have ten days of no vet school to look forward to.

My plan is to do none of this:

Somehow, all of this made it into my brain in 10 weeks. The notes will be archived for when I have to study for the board exam.

and much more of this:

I can't seem to get enough photos of CircusK9 catching the obligatory 5 minutes of sun we are allowed each day. Descriptions of the rain this winter have surpassed "biblical" and are now approaching "mythical".

or weather permitting, more of this:

It's still winter here in the Pacific Northwest. But sometimes the obligatory 5 minutes of sun occurs in the afternoon so it is warm enough to sit outside.