End the cattle; bring on the sheep!

Today was my last day at Lisburn. I really enjoyed the last two weeks – all the staff there are encouraging and really nice. And I actually got to do stuff (I’m now semi-proficient at putting a cow down with barbiturates) and it’s surprising how much one remembers when faced with several sick cows and an anxious farmer. I’ve decided to make the practice my base practice – one which I go back to every so often during my last two years – and I’ve booked another two weeks EMS there for September (told you we didn’t get much of a holiday).

The only thing I’m slightly surprised about is that I didn’t see a single caesarean or calving – working at a large animal vets at calving/lambing time, I expected to see at least one of those! Suppose there’s always next year…

(And if anyone from Lisburn is reading this: no, I’m not going to text him!!!!)

I’m now mid-way through my Easter holidays. I start lambing on Monday, at a farm I’ve been working at for four years, and I’m looking forward to it. It means long hours and not much sleep, but I enjoy it, and I won’t feel so bad about not studying cats and dogs when I’m out working all day from before dawn to after dark! And this year I’ll actually be able to remember all the vetty things like dose rates of drugs and vaccinations and minor surgical procedures, having just spent the last two weeks doing farm work.

Vet students and holidays are mutually exclusive

Got back in one piece yesterday. The bus was late (roadworks again) but we made it to the boat on time. Unfortunately some random person I’d never met before attached themselves to me and followed me onto the bus and all around the boat, and would not stop talking for the whole journey. Was relieved to escape into the car in Belfast!

The ceilidh on Friday was very good, if not a bit crowded. Over 150 people showed up in a small enough hall, so we were all nursing bruises and crushed toes yesterday morning! There was also a shortage of guys; the university is really going to have to redress the male:female ratio at vet school (in our year it's currently 1:4!)

I start a two-week EMS placement in Lisburn tomorrow morning. For the uninitiated, EMS stands for Extra-Mural Studies. Why the university can’t just call it Work Experience, like everybody else does, is beyond me. As part of our course we have to do 26 weeks of clinical EMS (working at vet practices) during our last few years at vet school – and all of this has to be done during the holidays, so, as you can imagine, vet students don’t get much time off.

So tomorrow I’m off to see some large animal practice, my first since I started vet school. Not really sure what to expect, as the last time I saw large-animal work, I was a humble school work-experiencee, and hadn’t a clue. Now I’m a vet student, though I still haven’t a clue – we’ve done the theory, but the practicalities of being a vet aren’t covered until final year.

I am looking forward to it though – I went to this practice last summer and survived, and it’ll be nice to finally get out and see some proper vet stuff!

Last night in Glasgow

I spent this morning packing and sorting paperwork, as I go home tomorrow. I mean to study small animal stuff over Easter - knowing me I probably won't do any work at all, and end up lugging all my notes back to Glasgow unopened in April.

Off to the end-of-term ceilidh now - one of the good things about being a vet student is that everybody knows how to have fun!

The results have gone up and my number isn’t on the list - phew! This means I’ve passed and can forget the remainder of what I know about cows and sheep without guilt.

The CIC results are out later today. I really hope I don’t have an oral as I haven’t done any work all week and have forgotten most of what I learned for the exam.

I meant to do some small animal revision this week, but procrastination prevailed. I’ve been in PM room most of the week, and saw a few interesting (if horrific) cases from the SSPCA. Some may go on to the courts so can’t talk about them here, but it’s shocking what some people do to animals.

Had my last driving lesson before Easter last night. Tried to dissuade my instructor from making me do my test but I don’t think he fell for it.

CIC exams finished

We had our last written exam on cows, sheep and pigs yesterday. It went marginally better than I expected – I managed to avoid answering anything on cattle reproduction (again), and in the pig exam there was an essay question on Salmonella. I gave them a step-by-step account of my summer project so I really hope RM isn’t marking it or the anonymity of my exam will be out the window! The multiple choice and true/false questions were mean, but we were expecting that anyway. Really hoping I’ve passed – I don’t want to spend my summer studying ketosis, Aujesky’s and BSE et al all over again.

I had another driving lesson this morning. My instructor is talking about the test again – he seems to think I’ll be ready for it soon whereas I would still much rather be walking.

I really, *really* don’t like reverse parking.

Exam results are out next week. Help!

Last minute revision!

CIC bad. Very bad.