This is the downside to EMS, especially for us dedicated suckers who are still there by choice at 7pm. However, the advantage of being there late is that there are fewer nurses around so you get to be more involved!

This evening I found myself doing positioning for abdominal x-rays – the nurses weren’t too sure, so I was able to help them out (*chuffed grin*) Slightly gutted that the credit got given to the nurses for the well-positioned ones, but hey ho, I could rest happy in the knowledge that I had done it myself!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,700 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

On that note… I’m off to take up an exciting but potentially scary networking opportunity, which would otherwise be left in the ‘Pending’ box until it’s too late.

Well hello. It’s been a while. I suspected that this blog would get a little sidetracked once I got into vet school, and as I approach halfway (!!) I think it’s safe to say that that is what has happened. However at this time of year I’m usually at home with a little time to relax and reflect on the year, which usually involves a little return dip into the blog-o-sphere.

To be honest, second year was fairly nondescript, apart from the exams which were horrendous. I spend around double the average person’s working day in the library studying my ass off, and it still didn’t feel like nearly enough. I’m rapidly learning that you will never even remotely feel like you know everything at vet school, and it’s a matter of prioritising because you simply cannot do it all. Having said that, the crazy working paid off and I passed the year well. It made me think that I need to perhaps chill out a bit, not work so crazy hard and concentrate on living a little more, although that is easier said than done for a workaholic such as myself.

I then had a fabulous two months in NZ. Part holiday, part work, I spent two weeks living with a lovely family on a dairy farm on the North Island, and it was such a fantastic experience to see how dairying is done NZ styley. I was also fortunate to get involved with the local vets where expressions such as ‘get scrubbed up and hold the uterus while I pull out this calf’ were not uncommon. I then spent two weeks at a mixed practice on the South Island, where more similar phrases were used on a daily basis (‘I’m just drinking tea, can you start the consultations please?’ Hell yeah! [disclaimer: don't worry, it was just to start off with general examinations, we weren't let loose for any diagnoses!]). It was such a fantastic experience, and the laid back attitude of the Kiwi’s meant that we were welcomed wherever we went, and allowed to get involved with all sorts of vetty (and non-vetty!) things. Then of course, there was the five weeks holiday which took us all over the country, and found us doing crazy things like jumping out of planes, climbing up glaciers, throwing ourselves into freezing cold rivers and partying on beaches until the early hours. Such a fantastic country and an experience I’ll never forget. I’d like to blog about it more…

Then it was back to good old Blighty for a slightly different term. Research projects meant that I didn’t have any lectures, which I relished the break from. I very much enjoyed structuring my own learning and being in charge of my own days. I was involved a lot with going out to different farming events and speaking to lots of farmers and vets which was fantastic. I loved it, and I’ll never have to buy pens again. I didn’t enjoy the last week or two of writing up, but that’s to be expected I guess, especially as I was having problems with the data analysis. However, on the whole it was a great experience, helped by a fantastic supervisor.

So, to the present. I’ve got a couple of weeks EMS lined up next week. It’s at a small animal practice near home. Feeling v rusty on the old knowledge so it should be good to get back into it, although I hope I don’t find it too difficult at first. I’m also feeling in need of a farm fix, but that would require traipsing across the country to live in an unfamiliar place, and although that could be great, I think I need to spend a little bit of time at home, and concentrate on that sort of thing in the summer.

As for the future… CEMS is proving to be booking up extremely fast. I’ve managed to get onto a couple of exciting externships, although I’ve found out the hard way already that the competitive nature of vet students means that I need to keep my cards relatively close to my chest on this one. It is such a shame that vet students are like this at times, because everyone could be so much more productive if they shared such experiences, but alas, I won’t change it so have to play the game.

On that note, I think a theme of 2011 has been relationships, both good and bad. I’ve learnt a lot about people in general, and have certainly been taken for granted in big way in a few instances. However, it’s made me realise who matters most, and I’m making an effort to not get walked over. This is a difficult one because it is a lot easier to go with the flow for the sake of the peace, but I’m also learning that it’s something you have to tailor to each situation – in some cases this is ok, or even the preferred course of action, but it is by no means a general rule and in a stressful job you have to take steps to be firm but fair. On the other hand, I’ve met some truly wonderful people this year, and the welcome that I’ve been shown all over the world has been inspirational and one that I hope to be able to pass on. I suppose this is a theme of every year, but this year it has been particularly obvious to me.

So all in all, it hasn’t been a year which particularly stands out, but you know what, that is a welcome break considering the last few! Here’s to 2012, and the next step of the journey.

NZ would be a good place to start for my next post… but not right now. But in case you can’t wait, here’s a little taster:

Not bad, huh?

Have been slightly inspired by getting back on my blog after a long break (more on my travels in NZ soon!), so will write more when I don’t have 200 questionnaires to analyse

So, what next? Exams. They were absolutely horrendous. I’ve never known such a large group of people work so incredibly hard, only to feel so useless at the end of it. Everyone is extremely demotivated at the moment because of it. I take consolation in that everyone tells me second year and fourth year are by far the hardest. So far I’ve said the course isn’t hard as such, there is just a lot of work to get through. Well now I can officially say, it’s bloody hard. Not just the sheer stamina to get through such a massive volume of work, but to be able to understand and apply it. We get results next week, so we’ll just have to see how everyone gets on, and I really hope my hard work pays off – as long as I get that crucial 50% I’ll be happy, and that’s not usually like me!

My main concern for getting that 50% is that I am off on my travels this summer, and I’m praying that myself and the colleague I’m travelling with won’t have to come back to university for resits. I’ll write more about it when I come back, but basically I’m off to milk cows far far away, and to start my clinical placements, as well as spend a few weeks travelling around the globe. Two vet students, two rucksacks, one great big adventure. Can’t wait. More on that on my return!

Then I’ll be into third year and doing my research project. I’m really excited about this, and am getting my teeth stuck into it already. Don’t want to go blabbering about it on the internet at this stage; it’ll probably bore you to tears anyway. I get way too excited about these things! In fact there was an email go round this week about a potential integrated PhD, which would carry on nicely from my project, and I’d be really interested in it… but I should probably concentrate on my goal of becoming a vet asap, riiiight…?!!?

What am I going on about? I have no idea. I can’t sleep – there’s an event on at the bar and every time I put my head down on the pillow all I can do is try and fill in the tune to the bass I can hear thumping out. It was definitely ‘Grease’ a minute ago. So instead of sleeping, I’m waffling away to myself online (and any readers out there… *tumbleweed*).

It’s ok, I don’t actually mind if there are no readers – a blog is as much for the author’s benefit as it is for the readers – more so in this case (sorry, reader, if you’re there). I was just pondering how the point of this blog has changed since I started it. In hindsight, it was somewhere for me to explore my thoughts about important issues, and vent my stresses in preparation for, and during the process of, applying to vet school. Now it’s more of a progress report every now and then, and some reflection on what I’ve been up to and random thoughts on the trials and tribulations of vet school. When I’m bored of playing ‘guess the tune’, that is.

So what have I been up to? Well today I took a clitoral swab from a mare. It’s a glamorous life I lead.