Apparently, a month has flown by and I didn't realize it. I've just been focusing on surviving the semester and it sounds like next semester is going to be even worse. I was very happy when the Thanksgiving break finally arrived. It's a much needed break from classes and a time to reflect. I know I complain a lot, but I have so much to be thankful for and I need to remember these things occasionally:
1. Even though vet school is hard and I hate it at times, I was given a chance to experience it when many are denied each year. Hundreds of people would do anything for my seat in the class.
2. Gradewise, I have caught a lot of breaks over the last year and a half to maintain my current gpa.
3. I have met a lot of great people in my class that I wouldn't have had the chance to see these people everyday if I was accepted one of the 2 previous times I applied.
4. I have not had any major illness or injury. Many people in my class have been hit by cars, had the swine flu, or major family problems. I can't even imagine trying to study through that and keep up with the material. I am very thankful that I haven't experienced any of those so far.
5. I have a lot of family and friends that are extremely supportive. These people keep me sane and remind me that there is more to life than vet school and that it will all be over someday.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Possibly Burnt Out
The epi exam last friday wasn't too bad, just extremely long. We now have pathology tomorrow and public health on thursday. I feel pretty good about pathology, but may just start public health tonight. You would think public health would be an easy A, but not with this professor. He is notorious for asking trivia questions and that's the same impression I got from his random lecturing. Granted, I rarely paid attention in the class, but in my defense I don't think it's physically possible to listen to an entire lecture of his.
However, I believe I am currently burnt out. My brain is not functioning right and I am extremely tired. It was hard focusing in any of our lectures today. I think I actually paid the most attention to the final lecture which was odd. We are currently in the middle of a test taking marathon too - I think it's 5 exams in 14 days. It's a terrible feeling knowing that I can't focus but I have to study. Well, it's naptime followed by some hopefully productive studying.
However, I believe I am currently burnt out. My brain is not functioning right and I am extremely tired. It was hard focusing in any of our lectures today. I think I actually paid the most attention to the final lecture which was odd. We are currently in the middle of a test taking marathon too - I think it's 5 exams in 14 days. It's a terrible feeling knowing that I can't focus but I have to study. Well, it's naptime followed by some hopefully productive studying.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Third Semester
Well, I'm 5 weeks into my third semester and as you can tell by the lack of posts on this blog, it's been a little busy. This is very strange because we don't have many morning classes and you would think I could get a lot done. At least 2 days a week, we don't have class until 1 pm. However, I somehow find myself at a loss for time. The only extracurricular activities I have are tutoring physics 3 or 4 hours/week and working in the lab when I have time.
I just took our 3rd exam yesterday. It was pharm and it was bad. Here's a taste: dermatopharmacology covered 3 or 4 of the total 13 lectures and its material was 20 pages of text and 160+ powerpoint slides. That is way too much information to even attempt to remember!! Plus, we were learning about drugs to cure skin diseases that we haven't been taught. It would have been nice to know about the disease instead of memorizing that this drug cures these unknown diseases. All in all, it went ok for me, but I know a lot of people failed it which I completely understand. I feel it was an exam that everyone was on the same playing field no matter how much you studied - we were all guessing on most questions and in the end your score depended on how lucky your guesses were. But I noticed a difference in my class from people failing a test 1st semester compared to this one: It's almost like we don't care that much or we're just used to it or we know it will probably be curved. There were no tears and no one sulking. I only knew people did poorly from what they told me. I think we have officially been desensitized to our test scores.
Over the past 2 weeks, we had our first micro and toxicology exams. Micro went very well for me and I felt that I may have overprepared for it but it did pay off and I can take it a little easier on the next exams. However, the toxicology exam had my number. While I didn't do terrible, I would have liked to get a couple more questions correct in a class with only 2 exams. I actually did fairly well on the part that I didn't study much and have a chance to take twice.
I do feel like my test-taking skills are improving which is consistent with the professors and 4th years telling me that vet school makes you into a test-taking machine. I'm really started to see that conversion. I feel like I'm getting better answering questions that I don't necessarily know the correct answer. Another sign is that I don't think I will get upset as much when I fail. I understand that it will still hurt and shake confidence, but I don't think it would be as bad as last semester.
I have an epidemiology test on Friday which I'm not too scared of. The old tests seem straightforward and the professor is really cool. The downside is that I may have only paid attention to half of the lectures. I also want to start studying for path and public health exams next week. And somewhere in there, I want to work on finishing my first draft of my research article that I will be submitting to Veterinary Surgery for publishing. Lately, I've been getting calls from the new guy in the lab I did research in last summer so I will probably have to go in there and collect samples sometime this week. I think these are the reasons I feel busy.
I just took our 3rd exam yesterday. It was pharm and it was bad. Here's a taste: dermatopharmacology covered 3 or 4 of the total 13 lectures and its material was 20 pages of text and 160+ powerpoint slides. That is way too much information to even attempt to remember!! Plus, we were learning about drugs to cure skin diseases that we haven't been taught. It would have been nice to know about the disease instead of memorizing that this drug cures these unknown diseases. All in all, it went ok for me, but I know a lot of people failed it which I completely understand. I feel it was an exam that everyone was on the same playing field no matter how much you studied - we were all guessing on most questions and in the end your score depended on how lucky your guesses were. But I noticed a difference in my class from people failing a test 1st semester compared to this one: It's almost like we don't care that much or we're just used to it or we know it will probably be curved. There were no tears and no one sulking. I only knew people did poorly from what they told me. I think we have officially been desensitized to our test scores.
Over the past 2 weeks, we had our first micro and toxicology exams. Micro went very well for me and I felt that I may have overprepared for it but it did pay off and I can take it a little easier on the next exams. However, the toxicology exam had my number. While I didn't do terrible, I would have liked to get a couple more questions correct in a class with only 2 exams. I actually did fairly well on the part that I didn't study much and have a chance to take twice.
I do feel like my test-taking skills are improving which is consistent with the professors and 4th years telling me that vet school makes you into a test-taking machine. I'm really started to see that conversion. I feel like I'm getting better answering questions that I don't necessarily know the correct answer. Another sign is that I don't think I will get upset as much when I fail. I understand that it will still hurt and shake confidence, but I don't think it would be as bad as last semester.
I have an epidemiology test on Friday which I'm not too scared of. The old tests seem straightforward and the professor is really cool. The downside is that I may have only paid attention to half of the lectures. I also want to start studying for path and public health exams next week. And somewhere in there, I want to work on finishing my first draft of my research article that I will be submitting to Veterinary Surgery for publishing. Lately, I've been getting calls from the new guy in the lab I did research in last summer so I will probably have to go in there and collect samples sometime this week. I think these are the reasons I feel busy.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Japan
After my 26 hour visit to Singapore, we went back to Japan. English is not the primary language over there so I didn't understand anything. It actually wasn't that hard to order food at restaurants since they either spoke some English there or had a menu in English. I went to a bunch of castles and temples which was cool.
One place had a bunch of sacred deer wandering around the grounds. Most of these deer were accustomed to people so you could pet and hang out with them. There were vendors selling crackers to feed the deer. As soon as you buy the crackers, you are swarmed by deer. I was trying to break off pieces and slowing feed them, but a couple were biting my shorts and I just wanted to get rid of the crackers and not feel like I was about to get mauled. One of the deer looked nasty because he was very dirty for an unknown reason with 1 antler and was coughing (tuberculosis?). There he is:
We visited an aquarium there which was actually a good size. The highlight there was getting to pet a walrus. At the end of the show, the walruses walked (not sure if that's the correct term for how they move) by the audience. I also learned that those animal shows at aquariums and zoos are not as interesting when you have no idea what the animal trainer is saying.
On, my last day in Japan we went to a safari park. This was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was basically a drive-thru zoo and the animals were free to walk next to your car. Giraffes walked right next to our car and stopped traffic. Lions and tigers were also roaming freely. You weren't supposed to roll down windows, but it was necessary to get good pictures at times. At the park, they also had more zoo-like exhibits. Some highlights were the rats swimming with the hippos, feeding the squirrel monkeys and springhares, and petting the wallabies.
One place had a bunch of sacred deer wandering around the grounds. Most of these deer were accustomed to people so you could pet and hang out with them. There were vendors selling crackers to feed the deer. As soon as you buy the crackers, you are swarmed by deer. I was trying to break off pieces and slowing feed them, but a couple were biting my shorts and I just wanted to get rid of the crackers and not feel like I was about to get mauled. One of the deer looked nasty because he was very dirty for an unknown reason with 1 antler and was coughing (tuberculosis?). There he is:
We visited an aquarium there which was actually a good size. The highlight there was getting to pet a walrus. At the end of the show, the walruses walked (not sure if that's the correct term for how they move) by the audience. I also learned that those animal shows at aquariums and zoos are not as interesting when you have no idea what the animal trainer is saying.
On, my last day in Japan we went to a safari park. This was one of the coolest experiences of my life. It was basically a drive-thru zoo and the animals were free to walk next to your car. Giraffes walked right next to our car and stopped traffic. Lions and tigers were also roaming freely. You weren't supposed to roll down windows, but it was necessary to get good pictures at times. At the park, they also had more zoo-like exhibits. Some highlights were the rats swimming with the hippos, feeding the squirrel monkeys and springhares, and petting the wallabies.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Singapore
I know school has started a few weeks ago, but this is my first chance to write something. I will try to catch up this blog in between studying over the next week. Warning: this is not directly vet school related. Anyways, my only vacation this summer was going to Japan, Singapore, and Cambodia for a couple weeks. Research and jobs ate up the rest of my summer.
This was my first international trip. To start off, I flew 13 hours to Japan where I had about an hour layover before I left for Singapore. This first flight was not that bad. The flight to Singapore was 7 hours and the last 3 hours were the hardest. I don't sleep well on planes and I was trying to stay awake so I could sleep when I got there at 2 AM. I was only in Singapore for 26 hours before flying back to Japan. We went to the Singapore Zoo during the day and a Night Safari that evening. The Zoo was cool - white tigers were the best and it's probably right up there with the San Diego Zoo. I was slightly disappointed because I had read about how they used natural barriers instead of fences for the animals and I expected to get amazing pictures of all the animals. Sadly, there were a lot more fences than I expected. The best part was being able to pet the lemurs - they were roaming in the bird and bat area that you walk through. One was just chilling while we were petting it so I decided to start palpating anatomical landmarks. So I started with the spine of the scapula and the borders going to the humerus and I stopped when it snapped at my sister-in-law. Lesson 1: Lemurs don't like to be palpated. Another lemur was walking across a log above the path when it stopped, looked my way, and appeared to be getting ready to leap. There was only this small branch right above me that it surely wasn't going to jump onto. Lesson 2: Lemurs will leap onto seemingly too small of branches. It jumped, landed on the branch and swung into me. It let me pet it as it sat on the branch so we were cool even though it smacked me with a branch.
The Night Safari was cool, but we couldn't take pictures. This was probably the place I read about with the natural barriers and very few fences. It was cool to see the animals do their thing in the dark as they were looking for food and wandering around. However, it was a lot of walking in one day and we didn't see all the animals because we were tired and couldn't find the rest of the path.
Overall, Singapore was cool because it was so clean and green. Granted, there's some harsh punishments for chewing gum, littering, and jay-walking. The Zoo was still really cool and filled up the whole day with no problem. It was a good start to my first international experience.
This was my first international trip. To start off, I flew 13 hours to Japan where I had about an hour layover before I left for Singapore. This first flight was not that bad. The flight to Singapore was 7 hours and the last 3 hours were the hardest. I don't sleep well on planes and I was trying to stay awake so I could sleep when I got there at 2 AM. I was only in Singapore for 26 hours before flying back to Japan. We went to the Singapore Zoo during the day and a Night Safari that evening. The Zoo was cool - white tigers were the best and it's probably right up there with the San Diego Zoo. I was slightly disappointed because I had read about how they used natural barriers instead of fences for the animals and I expected to get amazing pictures of all the animals. Sadly, there were a lot more fences than I expected. The best part was being able to pet the lemurs - they were roaming in the bird and bat area that you walk through. One was just chilling while we were petting it so I decided to start palpating anatomical landmarks. So I started with the spine of the scapula and the borders going to the humerus and I stopped when it snapped at my sister-in-law. Lesson 1: Lemurs don't like to be palpated. Another lemur was walking across a log above the path when it stopped, looked my way, and appeared to be getting ready to leap. There was only this small branch right above me that it surely wasn't going to jump onto. Lesson 2: Lemurs will leap onto seemingly too small of branches. It jumped, landed on the branch and swung into me. It let me pet it as it sat on the branch so we were cool even though it smacked me with a branch.
The Night Safari was cool, but we couldn't take pictures. This was probably the place I read about with the natural barriers and very few fences. It was cool to see the animals do their thing in the dark as they were looking for food and wandering around. However, it was a lot of walking in one day and we didn't see all the animals because we were tired and couldn't find the rest of the path.
Overall, Singapore was cool because it was so clean and green. Granted, there's some harsh punishments for chewing gum, littering, and jay-walking. The Zoo was still really cool and filled up the whole day with no problem. It was a good start to my first international experience.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
The Summer is Ending
Oh man, about 3 more weeks until classes start again. This summer has flown by. It was filled with 2 research projects and teaching a physics class. Today is technically my last day for the research program. Tomorrow I fly to North Carolina for a symposium and a poster presentation.
I saw the comments from the students in physics class yesterday. That felt like sucker punch. I knew they could be bad because it was my research projects were my highest priority this summer, not to mention I'm a boring person and I feel bad that they had to listen to me at 8 AM. It was a learning lesson though. I don't think I will be as harsh with my teachers on evaluations anymore. It's kinda funny though because this whole summer I've been saying I'm not a teacher. I was asked to teach because I tutored students in undergrad. I can tutor; I can't teach.
Oh and last week I had to give a 10 minute presentation to the summer research students and mentors. It wasn't the best presentation ever. Then came the questions which I'm pretty sure I answered some completely wrong - my answers were the exact opposite of what I did in my project. My bad.
Even though today's my last day to go into the lab, I know I will be in there a lot more during this fall semester. There's some cool projects coming up, and I have to finish writing my paper and get it published (hopefully that's possible).
So tomorrow I go to NC and get back Sunday. Then I leave on Wednesday for my vacation to Japan, Singapore, and Cambodia. It's a 20 hr flight!! I was wondering what I'm going to do sitting in a chair for 20 hours - but hey that's kinda like studying for finals. This is going to be an experience since the only other country I've been to is Canada and I don't even think that counts. I really don't know what to expect, but it should be fun. The best part is that I get back the Sunday afternoon before classes start. Can you say jetlag? That will make for an interesting week of classes.
I saw the comments from the students in physics class yesterday. That felt like sucker punch. I knew they could be bad because it was my research projects were my highest priority this summer, not to mention I'm a boring person and I feel bad that they had to listen to me at 8 AM. It was a learning lesson though. I don't think I will be as harsh with my teachers on evaluations anymore. It's kinda funny though because this whole summer I've been saying I'm not a teacher. I was asked to teach because I tutored students in undergrad. I can tutor; I can't teach.
Oh and last week I had to give a 10 minute presentation to the summer research students and mentors. It wasn't the best presentation ever. Then came the questions which I'm pretty sure I answered some completely wrong - my answers were the exact opposite of what I did in my project. My bad.
Even though today's my last day to go into the lab, I know I will be in there a lot more during this fall semester. There's some cool projects coming up, and I have to finish writing my paper and get it published (hopefully that's possible).
So tomorrow I go to NC and get back Sunday. Then I leave on Wednesday for my vacation to Japan, Singapore, and Cambodia. It's a 20 hr flight!! I was wondering what I'm going to do sitting in a chair for 20 hours - but hey that's kinda like studying for finals. This is going to be an experience since the only other country I've been to is Canada and I don't even think that counts. I really don't know what to expect, but it should be fun. The best part is that I get back the Sunday afternoon before classes start. Can you say jetlag? That will make for an interesting week of classes.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Medical Shows
I do enjoy watching the medical shows on TV. They occasionally bring up diseases, pathogens, and other medical issues that we talk about in class. Personally, I like House and now Royal Pains on USA. There's something enjoyable about watching these unusual doctors treat their patients that always seem to figure out the case. However, the more I learn, the more problems I see in these shows.
I was just watching Royal Pains and Hank, the doctor, just performed a non-emergency surgery paying no attention to aseptic technique. He pulled out some latex gloves from a box and used those for surgery. It wouldn't be that hard for him to carry around some packs of sterile gloves and throw on a mask occasionally. I'll assume that the instruments were sterile. I get that it's TV, but that's my soapbox for the day and I still enjoy watching these shows.
I was just watching Royal Pains and Hank, the doctor, just performed a non-emergency surgery paying no attention to aseptic technique. He pulled out some latex gloves from a box and used those for surgery. It wouldn't be that hard for him to carry around some packs of sterile gloves and throw on a mask occasionally. I'll assume that the instruments were sterile. I get that it's TV, but that's my soapbox for the day and I still enjoy watching these shows.
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