It is 5 weeks into a new semester, one that is becoming more and more clear to me that I was born to do this work. My classes so far are still in the fundamental stages. I'm currently taking Animal Nutrition, Epidemiology (the study of mostly zoonotic diseases and animal/human public health), Pathology II, and Clinical Pathology.

When you give vet students Play-Doh as a
stress reliever....

We are finally learning what blood tests can actually tell us about the health of a patient, what body systems are affected, why this disease is so catastrophic if it enters the United States, how to tell parents that their child didn't get pinworms from their dog, but rather from another child at the day care center. This semester reminds me so much of the logic puzzles I loved as a kid (if you've never heard of them before, try them out here: http://www.logic-puzzles.org/ . They're addicting!!) We are now detectives, learning about palpations and how to tell that your cat has anemia because you gave it Tylenol, etc. Yes, there's a lot of work and studying still. My colleagues and I definitely hit the ground running! But it's now much more fun rather than strict memorization. I still have those thoughts of, "I don't understand any of this, I'm an imposter, I don't know anything, How can I even be a vet when I can't even tell these two white blood cells apart?" And then I find myself answering questions regarding cases in class, and I'm actually correct 85% of the time, and the other % is either a memorization failure or a brain block. My friends, family, and boyfriend continue to support me even when I have to leave the library in tears from stress. And now, I am feeling more and more confident as the semester continues.

Rolex 3-D Event 20016. This jump was about 4.5 feet tall
and was filled with apples and potatoes.

I guess I should mention that over this past break I was able to attend the Rolex 3-Day Event in Lexington, KY as a representative of RUSVM's SCAVMA AAEP Chapter (the American Association of Equine Practitioners.) 7 of my colleagues and I were able to network with various veterinarians on the course, were able to attend the veterinary debriefings both pre- and post- to the cross-country event, and were given a tour of Hagyard Veterinary Hospital (arguably one of the best equine hospitals in the nation). Who knows? Maybe this time next year I'll be doing an externship with them during my break. Or at the legendary Claiborne Farms? I'm still undecided at the moment about an internship vs. externship. But regardless, my mom and I were able to have some bonding time together, and I think this might be the start of an annual trip (Dad, you're coming with us, next time!) My horses at home are doing well. I still miss them every day, but now I can officially tell my parents "This is why we're feeding this brand of feed and why each horse gets something different."

Toothless, you freaking weirdo.

Life on island is much the same as ever- Toothless is still the terrible terrier, my island car has been out of commission for 2 weeks because a $10 US part hasn't been flown over from St. Martin yet, and I still love binge watching Gordon Ramsay videos and trying to learn to not be a picky eater anymore (Mom, look, I'm trying!). But I believe the rest of this semester will be a little bit sad for one reason.

My jump I was stationed at with a vet from FL.
5 foot high with a 5 foot spread.

My favorite professor, and likely one of the most influential mentors I have ever had, is leaving us after 25 years. We- the student body- are crushed to see him go. After all, there are so many other things that he could be teaching us. More anecdotes and examples that we could use later on in our careers. More "Out of the mouth of R-" quotes that never fail to put us back in a good mood. But we are all so happy for him that he finally chose to retire, to do what he pleases and not be bound to just one or two countries anymore. He deserves this. So when he sent the students the following email, his words only helped to solidify my respect for him as a mentor, as a professor, and as a human being.

Soon To Be Veterinarians: 

Some of you know better than others that for some reason unknown to me, I find it difficult to accept gifts. I can’t explain it. At the same time, I am fully aware of gifts that you have bestowed on me for many years, gifts that you may not even know you have given. You should know that your enthusiasm and your curiosity are what we teachers feed on. It is sustenance. It gives us worth above and beyond the basic worth we all possess as human beings. That is a gift. 

 That your enthusiasm and your curiosity are in no small part driven by your desire to do good by all animals only wraps the gift in a bigger gift still. 

 You have no idea how rewarding it has been to be surrounded by such souls for so many years.
Best Wishes and Best of Luck to all of you,
AR

Thank you Dr. R. His words have also helped to eradicate some of these negative thoughts that have been bouncing around in my head lately. I can do this. I will get through this. And if you, whoever is reading this, are in my shoes and need a friend to talk to, I will gladly help. I have a bunch of Awkward Yeti / vet school memes to keep us both laughing for hours.

On the hill before the beach, Stand By Me hike.

No railings, only planks to walk on, and we found out the train DOES still pass through this hiking trail.

All the best to all of you-

S.

Today, as one of my good friends so elegantly put, "St. Kitts beat me down today." Make it more of the past 3 days. Long rant to follow.

SHE WINKED. SHE ACTUALLY WINKED.
WHAT DOG EVEN DOES THAT.

Normally I love living here. The beautiful scenery and beaches, the challenges and puzzles of vet school, the strong drinks (5/6 rum with a dash of coke), etc. are usually enough to placate me until I go back home to the States. I am so incredibly blessed to be studying down here; to be living in places that normal people save up for years to vacation/honeymoon to. But I am writing this post to remind both my family and the future students who may read this blog that living here is not always sunshine and roses. Getting anything done here is so damn difficult, the "relaxed" culture is to the point of lazy that makes you want to pull your hair out, and you will face constant reminders of "everything you love and what you think is normal is thousands of miles away." I'm going to write today about every day challenges each RUSVM student will face, except this all hit me at once like a ton of bricks.

The car:

Every time someone tries to tell me about my car problems, I hear...

I drive a Toyota model named Melvin who is a year older than I am. If he were for sale in the states, he wouldn't even bring $1,000. But I bought him for $3,500 with all of his little island quirks because that's basically the minimum price for a used car in St. Kitts. His passenger side window is difficult to get down, the driver's side outside door handle broke off the second day after I bought him and the inside door handle recently broke at one pin so you have to gently pull it to open the door, the A/C had been working but now isn't, the high beams won't stay on- instead, they turn all the lights off, and the seat belts are starting to become stuck. Overall, however, Melvin has been a fairly reliable car who has only been out of commission from needing radiator hoses/caps replaced and several flat tires. So what's the issue? Where am I going with this?
Remember what I said about "relaxation" can be described as "lazy?" Wanna know how many times this month alone I've had to buy new tires? Three, at $150 EC each (about $55 US per tire). If it were once a year, I would completely be fine with this. What I'm NOT fine with is that each of these flats were caused by nails/screws left out by a construction site near my apartment. It's too lazy to sweep up or pick up any materials, especially considering that I only drive back to my house between 1-3 AM as I'm a night owl. Just like all the litter and garbage that surrounds the streets and highways of St. Kitts, it's customary to just leave a construction site with nails and screws everywhere. I digress.
Additionally I have a tail light that is out, and the other one is dimmed. Okay, fine. That I can deal with-it's an easy fix. But then last night I left the library after studying to find that someone had hit my front end and my low beam light is cracked (still working though!) I get in the car, and lo and behold, only my low beams work now- the high beams won't even turn on. Then this morning, at the same time I discovered the flat tire, the low beam on the hit side is now also broken and won't light. Normally I would just view this as another inconvenience, except that I am supposed to get my car fully inspected tomorrow and get my wheel tax done for the year (must be finished by the end of March). I'm not even sure if the place I'm taking the car to can even fix these things in one day- usually you give the mechanics here 3-4 days to get things done, and then give yourself another 2 days to figure out whether they just half-assed it or actually did the job right. We'll see tomorrow.

Toothless likes wine even more than I do... :|

The apartment:
My roommate and I are in different semesters, and both have different schedules with her classes beginning in the early morning and mine not starting until the afternoon. Lately our freezer has been prone to having ice form by the fan therefore impeding it and spoiling all of our frozen foods. And in the past few days, we've noticed that the refrigerator portion is also not cooling (yay more spoiled food). Finally, on Friday, we found that our regular lock is now broken- our house keys just spin the interior circle and don't actually lock the door. Thank God the deadbolt still works, but still. Our landlord came down to fix it, but it's still the same. Now it takes us 20 minutes to get into the house if it is locked from the inside.

The phone:
My precious, sweet iPhone. May you rest in piece in the hands of either the student or cleaning person who found you and won't return it, or you may be sleeping somewhere in my house- (as I've searched and cleaned every spot in the apartment and car since you've gone missing, I doubt that the second option is valid.)
Last Tuesday after our Path exam, another student and I were studying in the 24 hour room- a room filled with security cameras- for our BacT exam that Thursday. I had forgotten my phone charger at home and helplessly watched my phone die, then set it beside my computer in sadness. Around 1 AM, friend and I packed up our belongings and headed home. After the 10 minute drive back to my house, I went to charge my phone and realized my phone wasn't in any of my bags. Took my flashlight out and checked my car and the ground around the car- nothing. By the time I was done looking, it was 3 AM, and I had to be on campus by 7:30. I figured that since the room was being cleaned at 4:30 that morning and that there were cameras everywhere, and my phone was probably in my car regardless, I would just wait until I got to campus to see if it was still there.

Shockingly, it wasn't.

I asked on the student's page. I asked both Student Services and the workers at the LRC if anyone had turned in an iPhone. I scoured my car (with the aid of several other friends because I do a crappy job of searching for things), and I cleaned my room top to bottom after my next exam. After 3 days, it became clear to me that I hadn't just misplaced it, but likely that someone had stolen it. I'm still waiting to hear back from security after they check the video footage, but in the meantime, I've lost my watch, my camera, my iPod, my alarm clock, my nutrition/workout calendar, my contacts, etc. etc.

Stress:
In 2 weeks, I lost 10 pounds. I figured out that it was a combination of diet and exercise- rather, I was too nervous to eat much and wanted to run away from my problems and the stress of school. And after this round of exams, I gained every single pound back in 4 days. Both extremes are disgusting. I'm currently trying to establish a better routine for myself, but as the stress of classes continues to mount, I feel like a larger and larger failure in that I can't keep my life together. This is week....what? 9? I think. We just had two exams last week, we have a "week" off, a Viro exam on Tuesday, Path exam the week after, and another round of Path/BacT the week after. Most of my friends and I are in a dilemma- catch up on the other three classes as they'll have more complicated material we must master, or get a head start on the upcoming Viro exam.

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Needless to say, it's been a very tough past few days/weeks for me. However, with the support system of my family, friends, and boyfriend all helping me, I'm finally at a place where I think I can buckle down and push through all the trials and tribulations St. Kitts has thrown at me. In addition, there have been MANY good days and things that I have been up to:

It was our team, Mr. Krabs!
WE WERE NUMBER ONE!

•  I finally was able to take Toothless to the beach for a well-deserved and delayed mid semester break with my close friends
• The weekend before that those same friends and I gathered together for a potluck and some good homemade food
• Went on a birthday night-catamaran trip to Nevis (complete with good company and an open bar)
• Led some friends on yet another volcano hike
• Went to the movies to go see Zootopia with a bunch of other vet students
• Had a lovely movie night with Toothless, a bottle of wine, Matt, and me last Sunday
• Raptor Squad is still #1- had the most delicious homemade strawberry cheesecake pie.
• Was accepted into the "Rolex Experience" team over April break- will be able to see behind-the-scenes at Rolex 3 Day Event in Kentucky, speak with performance vets, etc. :D

“After all, tomorrow is another day!" -Scarlet O’Hara

Hey y'all. I'm sorry. Hey yinz.

The moment 2nd semester ended.

So it's pretty much going to be typical of me to wait 3-4 months in between blog posts. And frankly, most of 2nd semester was a blur- a blur of one exam per week for 9 straight weeks and then a week off only to have finals. I know, I'm horrible. This is the semester that you begin to wonder if you are cut out for vet school, if you even have the capacity to retain any of this information they cram into your head week after week. But literally, there have been hundreds of thousands of people in your shoes and they have all become veterinarians. There is no reason you can't make it through. Because I did!

I had a slight panic attack on Christmas Day when I came out to
feed my horses and found Bebe lying down- something I've
NEVER seen her do in 6 years other than to roll. She got a bit
 mad at me when I ran up to her but she was just napping. :)

So then I made my way home for a well-deserved 3 week break for Christmas and New Years. Most of it was spent riding two-three horses per day, catching up with family and friends, the usual stuff. But best of all, Matt (long-term boyfriend) was able to visit me for a week! Even got a little bit of snow.

But as it would have it, I was reminded once again how horses are "one flimsy stomach on four flimsy legs waiting to die." On my last Thursday before my Saturday flight, I walked up to the barn to bring the horses in and get a nice ride in before I left. We only have about 3 acres total of fenced pasture, the rest of our 84 acres is woods, trails, and some lawns, so it's normal that we allow the horses to free-range on the lawns near the house while rotating out our pastures. I called out for them and whistled- nothing. Walked up to my open pasture gate and checked the overhang where they normally go to when I call- missing. At this point I start panicking. Because several times in the past, the horses have made their way up my driveway to the bar across the street, where patrons will give them beer and snacks (Mare's favorite is Guinness, by the way.) I hop in my truck and speed up my driveway, and they're still not there. I get back into my truck and drive back down the driveway to the house to get my cellphone, and magically there they were- standing inside the fence at the top of our upper pasture. Relieved, I called out to them again, but they still didn't move, and I had that horrible sinking feeling that something was wrong. I made my way up the hill and walked towards them.

"Hmmmm...all three seem BAR (bright, alert, responsive), normal positioning and stance, even breathing, Quinn and Mare seem fine. But why hasn't Bebe walked up to me yet like she normally does?"

The day before Bebe's incident, and about 20 min before dinner.

And then she starts to. And I see that the inside of her flanks, her stifles, both inside gaskins/hocks and the front of both hind cannon bones have wounds all over them, as if she had tried to jump something and got her hind end stuck and then panicked. FYI: Bebe loathes jumping. To this day I have NO clue what she had done- we don't leave any machinery out, all of my fences/gates were intact with no signs of damage or struggle, water tanks were fine, no logs out to jump. I ended up using a Betadine TM scrub and a triple antibiotic ointment/standing wraps on the wounds, gave a little bit of bute, and put her back in her stall. And the next day- the day before I fly back to St. Kitts- Bebe is off her feed (wouldn't eat her grain) with a swollen and hot left foreleg from the knee down to her fetlock. I then called my vet (also a Ross grad!) out that afternoon for x-rays to make sure she didn't chip or fracture anything in her carpal or metacarpal region (easily a $6,000 surgery at our nearest teaching hospital). Luckily, she had neither of those- it was a slight puncture wound causing the cellulitis/swelling.

The list of drugs my horse was on:

Lasix (furosemide)

Banamine (flunixin meglumine)

Bute (phenylbutazone)

Sulfamethoxaole

Trimethoprim

Gentamicin

Penicillin

Nitrofurazone (topical application)

So basically, her daily regimen was one shot of Lasix IV every 24 hours for 2 days, one shot of gentamicin IM once a day and one shot of penicillin IM twice a day for 7 days, 2cc's of Banamine orally twice a day then switch to Bute (2cc's orally twice a day) for a total week. When the gentamicin and penicillin run out, crush sulfa/trimethoprim tablets in feed twice a day for 11 days, cold hose the leg 2x a day for 20 minutes, wait for the leg to dry, and apply a stacked Nitrofurazone sweat wrap overnight.
The day before I leave.

Luckily for me, my parents were able to step up to the plate and help out a bit more, although I had a friend come out to give the shots since she was more familiar with and not afraid of the needles. My mom sent me a video of Bebe walking in hand last week and you can't even tell that she's lame anymore!
...
...
...
Anyways!
3rd semester so far has been a blast. Currently, I'm taking Pathology, Virology, Bacteriology and Mycology, and Pharmacology. I'm staying on top of all my work (mostly!), getting sleep (more so than last semester), and working out / eating way healthier (down 7 pounds since the beginning of the semester and am now averaging 3/4 miles per day on the treadmill.) We have our first set of exams tomorrow and Thursday, but I feel surprisingly ready for them. A quick rundown:

Pathology: Extensive and inclusive, you finally use all the knowledge from 1st and 2nd semester (yes, even the parasites) to begin learning how to evaluate, describe, and diagnose lesions. Was my most challenging class until I caught up with my work for BacT and Viro and learned how integrative all these classes are with each other. Studying for this class is difficult- there are no example questions that we could use as a guide, so we're kind of going into this exam blind. But thank God for multiple choice and deductive reasoning :)
Pharmacology: So far, almost exactly the same material as what was taught during my Vet Prep semester. Not worried about this class, but you should try and stay on top of the material. Plumb's Drug book will be your best friend.
Virology: It's nice and refreshing to see someone be as eager for students to learn as he is excited about the material itself. Dr. G is fantastic, and I always retain so much info from just attending lecture that studying the material later is almost relaxing.
Bacteriology & Mycology: Dr. R is very nice, very straightforward, and very fair. Additionally, we were her inaugural class here at Ross during VP, and she gives you the material from the clinical perspective (Rhodococcus equi is the most common bacteria you'll see causing foal pneumonia; Streptococcus canis is most common isolate and can be pathogenic/opportunistic in dogs and cats, etc.) It's a pleasure any time she lectures.

So far in my free time, I was able to go full-moon paddle boarding last week! A group of us were celebrating my friend S's birthday so we hopped in an car and drove to Whitehouse Bay. I happened to get the record of falling off the most (4 times in the first 30 minutes), but apparently my luck changed since it started raining and the waves got choppy enough that most people just sank to their knees and paddled that way. It was much more intense than what is normal for paddle boarding- so much so that the owner contacted us afterward and gave us the option of our money back or going out again on a free tour. Guess which one I picked? ;) Besides, it's a killer full body workout! Additionally, I was able to go on another trail ride on Nevis with a bunch of friends and ate at the amazing Turtle Time Beach Bar & Grill. Seriously. Go to this place.

That's it for now!

Hello kiddo's!

So I'm almost halfway through second semester right now, which means that I passed first (yay). And if you guys haven't heard, second semester is literal hell.

But anyways, I will try and give you guys an update on my life for the past few months and not bore you with the mundane schedule of my life currently. So let's rewind to right before the August break.

Apparently, my nightmare of a trip back to the United States is legendary here at Ross, and even halfway into the semester other students will still ask me, "Wait, were YOU the one girl on the Charlotte flight?" Yes. Yes I was. Just so everyone knows, it is common knowledge down here that you need to arrive at the Robert L. Bradford airport 3 hours or more before your flight, and if you arrive later than that, American Airlines can and will give away your seat even if you had booked months in advance. A friend of mine had that happen to her and she literally had to cry before they asked someone else to give up their seat since they had given hers away. With that knowledge in mind, I arrived at the airport at 1:45 for a 4:40 flight. AA has recently merged with US Airways, and previously you had been able to check in and get your boarding passes at those fancy kiosks and skip the line. When I tried it, neither US Airways or AA could find my flight info at all- even though I had been sent an email the night before with my seat number (guaranteed travel, essentially.) So I stood in line to check my two bags......until 4:25. I now had 15 minutes to sprint upstairs with my carry-on and personal bag, make it through security, and get on the actual plane. If I hit any of you readers on my way to the plane...sorry. Anyways, I made it up to the single room with 3 terminals and meet up with people I know who are on my flight who are all nursing various alcoholic beverages. And I hear an announcement, "Now boarding US Airways, final boarding call."

My friends didn't budge. There was a US Airways flight going to Miami which was supposed to leave at 4:30, and that plane was right in front. I saw a British Airways flight, and a Liat (a Caribbean plane), but didn't see my plane. You guessed it again! It was MY plane boarding, the Miami one was delayed, and my plane was actually parked a good 400 yards away down the tarmac. So my friends and I sprinted down and up onto the plane. Whew! 4:39. Made it.

And then we sat there. On the tarmac. For an hour. The pilot's voice came over the night, "Ladies and gentlemen.... St. Kitts radio tower will not answer me and I don't know why we're just sitting here." *Sigh*

Storms over St. Kitts; this happened to be
the day of my first Anatomy Exam

So finally we were able to take off. And 3.5 hours later, we found ourselves circling over Charlotte due to heavy storms, debating between waiting out the storm or flying to another airport due to our low fuel levels. Luckily we were able to land....except there were another 20 planes that had landed first and needed to get their passengers off. Since we were an international flight, we had to wait even longer since we needed to go to a gate to get through customs. Now I had a connecting flight to my hometown that was supposed to take off an hour after I landed- poor planning on my part, since it can take up to 2 hours to even get through customs without any flight delays, which the combo of waiting for an hour and taking forever to get off the plane just filled up. I resigned myself to just taking the next flight out. An upper semester friend of mine was in the same boat (same connecting flight, both from same region, it was awesome!). Imagine our surprise when we got to customs to recheck our bags, and the customs official said, all flights have been delayed due to the storm, your flight has been moved from 10:10 to midnight. He and I almost leapt in the air with joy. But we quickly calmed down and decided just to get to the terminal as fast as possible anyways because with our combined luck, bad things were sure to happen.

It turns out that our flight was delayed- but instead of midnight like the lady told us, it was only delayed until 11:05.

So Steve and I were literally sprinting through the Charlotte Airport, banging our bags into people, yelling at them to move (because obviously, our flight was at the far end of the terminal!). I ended up losing a makeup bag with about $300 worth of makeup in there- whoever is currently using my Naked eyeshadow pallet I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY WITH IT YOU JERK!#!#$!$#!&@*(#&. Anyhoo. So Steve get to the terminal before me, and I hear the magic words:

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE ******* KIDDING ME."

It was 11:02. They closed the doors early and wouldn't let us on. All 35 of us who were travelling from St. Kitts.

What was funny was there was an AA flight to Philadelphia in the terminal next to us who closed their doors, left, came back and picked up the people from my flight going to Philly. But not our plane. Our plane sat there for an additional 50 minutes while one man screamed obscenities the entire time. Since Steve and I had gotten there first, we were able to be rebooked onto the 7:45 am Sunday flight with only 3 seats available. The next flight out was Monday. That poor man. Oh, and of course due to "weather related delays" AA didn't put any of us up in a hotel. We tried to argue that this was the airline's fault, and additionally it was the same day as the huge computer glitch out of D.C. that affected all flights on the East Coast that weekend. It didn't matter. Steve just looks at me and says, "What's one more all-nighter?"

At least our sunsets are pretty.

So after a long and horrible night in Charlotte (no food vendors were open so we were both starving), we get on the morning flight. Waited for another 3 hours on the tarmac because right before we were about to take off, we were taxied off to the side due to a "faulty parking brake." Steve looked over at me and whispered, "You look like you're about to murder someone." So then I got up to use the bathroom, and AA said, "Just kidding! Go ahead and fly, you'll be fine." While I was in there. The flight attendants wouldn't let me get back to my seat, which was LITERALLY 3 rows in front of the bathroom. I was stuck in there until they turned off the seat belt sign. It wasn't until I got back to Ross that I realized I could have pretended to hit my head, sued, and have my tuition freaking paid for. But I digress.

So I finally landed in my hometown, and all I want to do is pass out at home. I had called my parents, who were picking me up, while I was on the plane in Charlotte telling them to check the flight times as we were delayed. And when I got my checked bags, I walked outside, called them, and heard, "Wait, you just landed? Oh honey, we're still an hour away- we haven't even left yet! See you soon."

And for the next 5 hours I was given tours of the farm and got to see all the beautiful changes and renovations we made to it- all while delirious with sleep deprivation.


Break went as expected- saw friends, ate amazing American food, spent time with family, etc. And then I was excited to fly back to the rock and move in with my amazing.....coconut retriever! Everyone, meet Toothless. She's a 1 year old island hound, who had been hit by a car and put up for adoption by S.A.F.E. Named after the dragon from How to Train Your Dragon (Mom, if you saw the movie, you would understand. It's not a stupid name!).

She literally looks just like him when she opens her mouth. It's creepy as hell!

But thank god she's here. As I mentioned above, second semester is the weed-out semester. We have Anatomy II with Lanning, who is a fan of application Scantron tests with options A-J. It's not just about identification anymore, and the only LRC exam for the semester is the final. Every other exam is a practical, which scares the hell out of me. I was able to pass the first one with a C+, and honestly I'm just thankful that I passed. Currently I'm in Week 4 of a 9 week section of at least one exam per week. And it's only now that I've had an exam for each class that I have a grasp on how professors are going to ask questions.

For those who are interested:

Page 13/35 so far.

Physiology: Reich is Reich. Same as he's always been. His questions are tricky although he doesn't mean to actually trick you. My favorite class.

Immunology: A "dual-taught" class that has been taught largely (with the exception of one lecture) by a new professor named Dr. Toka. My least favorite class.

Parasitology: Frankly, the worst class of all time. Prepare for a level of detail you never knew existed. It's only a 3 credit class, but you easily put in just as much work for it as you do for Anatomy or Physio. Currently they are teaching it by taxonomic groups rather than host species, and we are the last semester out of three to have a different teaching style, so I cannot comment on classes for future semesters. Not my least favorite- I see why it's important, but I just get so bored with it.

Anatomy: It's Lanning. So know everything about everything. I'm not kidding.

I'm also in an elective called Food Animal Production, and if you were an Animal Science major, this is apparently just a recap of those classes. Meets once a week and is a night class, but is mandatory attendance. Provides interesting info but nothing you haven't really seen before, except maybe a few new breeds.

Basically, I'm just putting my head down and trying to get off the struggle bus and onto the studying grind. My day now consists of waking up at 6:30 am, let the dog out, go to class until 5, go home, let the dog out, go back to campus and study until 11/12ish, go home, talk to the boyfriend, and pass out when exhausted.

Although I did win Island Idol on Friday. So I'll be enjoying my first massage in two years courtesy of Red Semester. WOOOOOOOO!

Wow guys, it's been a while! I noticed that my last post was made back in the middle of May, and honestly, not too many things have changed since then. I made a second hike up Mt. Liamuiga, I've been to Nevis twice, my parents visited me for a day and I was able to show them the campus and around some parts of St. Kitts....and lots and lots of studying.

There was one span in which I literally had an exam per week for 6-7 weeks straight, and it's almost impossible to keep up with all of your classes in a situation such as that. Most likely, you will try and study for each class 2-3 hours per day per class, and then realize that with an exam on Wednesday, you need to totally focus on PID at the expense of every other class. Then Wednesday night, you realize that you haven't touched Physiology since 3 weeks ago when you had your Anatomy practical and LRC exam, so you buzz through 18 lectures and realize you know nothing. So you panic, and after that exam the following Wednesday is the Micro exam........and so on and so forth.

So my hell month has finally ended, and now it's just crunch time into finals week. We have our Anatomy practical this following Friday, and one final each on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It's a bit overwhelming.

But don't stress! If you are reading this blog with the intention of going into vet school, you should understand by now that this is a serious and difficult endeavor, and vet school will be the hardest years of your life. But if you sacrifice now, you will emerge with a larger understanding both of what you are capable of and how it will all pay off in the long term! If you are like my parents or friends and just want to know what I've been up to, I'm still alive. (Roosifie, unfortunately I'm starting to have cravings for coffee......so I guess you win at converting me to the caffeine life!)

Right lateral view of canine thoracic cavity and branches of the aorta;
nerves are not included and instead are located in another drawing.

If you are interested, I do have an Instagram account where I post pictures of life on St. Kitts and at RUSVM, and recently I have been posting pictures of how I study, mostly through extremely colorful pictures/notes. I am a very visual and action-based learner, so I tend to live in the library with a classical music playlist and a stack of coloring utensils nearby while I draw out necessary anatomical features, species differences, etc. However, for conceptual lectures, I tend to re-write slides in words without pictures, and I'll add in some related diseases/clinical findings. I've found that showing pictures of these pages is fairly intimidating since I tend to write very small and the colors are impossible to figure out if you don't have my brain/method of thinking. There are also hidden references to badass quotes a la Samuel L. Jackson's Snakes on a Plane scene, or plans for what I will do when I get back to the States, or just venting my sheer frustration. Try and find out what your study habits are like as early as possible!

 Only 17 days until I get to go back to the US!!!!!

Thoracic and Pelvic branches of the aorta/ notable arteries directly
mentioned in our notes. Some organs have been removed for clarity.

Sorry for the loooong delay :(

(See title.)

My apologies to those who read my blog- after Valentine's Day, things got very hectic very quickly! A little summary of all the things that have happened to me between then and now:

This picture ended up on Instagram of me looking like I just
took a leisurely stroll. My shirt ended up dark brown, and I'm
covered in sweat. I was 9 pounds less at the end of the hike.




1. I hiked up Mt. Liamuiga, one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life. Here is some info if you are interested in hiking the volcano. I went with about 9 other girls who are all way more fit than I am, but we managed to do the hike without a tour guide (our crater descent only took 45 minutes, the ascent took 1 hour 35 min: apparently this is a pretty good time!). The views at the top though are totally worth the physical exertion. Once you reach the top, all I could feel was a sense of awe and extreme pride. But it got even better when we decided to climb down into the crater itself. The picture on the right makes it seem like like the crater is maybe 50 feet below the rock I'm standing on. It's actually greater than 1,000 feet, and the only way down- or up- it is by propelling down using ropes and roots to hold onto down an 80-85 degree slope. I have no idea how I made it back up the volcano to the peak again.
2. Went horseback riding on Nevis through the AAEP organization. We went riding on the beach, one of our tour guides took his horse swimming, and we only had one mishap throughout the entire trip. Best of all, the owner of the stables is originally from Pittsburgh, which was nice to have a little bit of home so far away! The horses were all Thoroughbreds from the racing tracks at Puerto Rico and St. Kitts, but they are very good mounts- most of them were bombproof, and while we had a beginner with us, everyone felt very safe throughout the ride.
3. Did very well on my last general block exam and the finals- ended up with 3 A's and a B for vet prep :)
4. Was able to go home and see my family, friends, and all my animals. Pretty much the entire break consisted of me traveling or riding (although there was one day I stayed at home because I FINALLY HAVE CABLE AT MY HOUSE YAYY) I also managed to fit in a horse show and managed to find a trailer, bring one experienced horse and one who had never been to a show ever, and two girls who have never shown before, and nobody panicked! And now I've given the girls the bug, because they've been messaging me with upcoming fun shows in their vicinity for when I come back to the States in August. (Rebecca and Carli- bring your A game!!)

The size of the crater. Girl is 5'1''.

So I guess it's about that time where I describe the classes in more detail and my advice regarding the professors and how to study for the block exams. I'll try and approach this class by class.

          Microbiology- Dr. Rajeev is new to the island, but don't let that fool you! She is one of my favorite professors because she likes to have fun and make the class interesting, but microbiology itself is almost entirely memorization. Go to the TA sessions- especially if Kristen is TA'ing. She is a fantastic TA who mostly uses shortcuts, mnemonics, and diagrams/pictures to get important concepts across. Even so, it's possible to do well- most of my peers got A's in this class. But she will call you out if you're not paying attention in class, and she remembers those who are disrespectful...

          Pharmacology- Dr. Shokry (conceptual topics)/Dr. Boots (most of the math portion) dual-teach this class. It may seem at first that all you're learning is verbatim off of the Powerpoints, but this class is challenging, especially if you have difficulty with math-based applications. The exams are 10 math problems (beginning with conversions) and 10 conceptual multiple choice questions. Essentially, you should memorize the book that Dr. Shokry gives you verbatim, and his examples in the book WILL show up on the exam. Dr. Boots uses a lot more examples than Dr. Shokry, and often times will come up with math problems in her head and works them out in class with you. She tries to make class fun by sorting you into Houses a la Harry Potter, and based on your groups clicker answers, the House with the most points at the end of the semester gets a surprise. Elliot was our TA and I urge everyone to always go to his sessions- they were so incredibly helpful! 

Two weeks after our cow lab, this happened. So cute!

          Case-Based/Clinical Applications- This class may seem tedious at first, but towards the end of the semester, you gain an appreciation for all that goes into evaluating, diagnosing, and treatment of patients of all species. The Case-Based portion is a group discussion focusing on one case for a minimum of 2 weeks, and is almost strictly participation-based. Usually there will be a 1-2 page paper due every week that will require you to use textbook references from the library, and most online publications will not be allowed. The Clinical Applications aspect is where you'll actually get hands-on experience (on real animals!) with physical exams and pinpointing out specific structures and landmarks. You'll start out with a dog physical exam, followed by cows, the famous sheep day, a 2-week equine lab depending on the schedule of the various professors, and then a debate or two. You'll meet a variety of different professors, but your only requirement is to show up. Clin. App. is the class you will need to wear scrubs, boots, and/or coveralls and you will need your stethoscope. I know there is conflicting advice about what to bring, but I strongly urge you to just bring your stuff down with you instead of waiting to buy it from students here like I did. I didn't get my coveralls until the last two weeks (and by then we didn't need them).

          Veterinary Terminology- Dr. Heyliger is like your favorite grandfather who tells the same stories every time you see him, but he's just so adorable that you can't get annoyed with him. This class was at 9:00 am on Fridays, and you will need a cup or two or ten of coffee to stay awake. But he pretty much gives you the answers to his exams, and he tells you exactly what material will be on there. I'll warn you that he very quickly learns students' names in his class, and if several people skip his class, he intentionally makes the exams much harder. Please just go to class.

          Cellular Physiology- Dr. Reich. The rumors are true.

In actuality, I loved having class with him. You'll hear the phrase, "The liver is a gracious and magnanimous organ" over and over and over again, and you'll finally get an appreciation of why the liver is so important. It's a shame that most of my previous classes ran out of time to teach about the liver, and merely saying "the liver clears toxins from the body" is a gross understatement to its capabilities and functions. However, this class is very fast-paced, and is the graveyard for many students. Many of my friends were very worried around finals about whether they would advance to 1st Semester because of this class. His exams are challenging- 15 multiple choice, 15 True/False questions. I'll let you guys know- he is not trying to trick you. You need to read the question literally, word for word, slow down, and just think about what he's asking you. Here are some example questions: 

1. What do the enzymes glucokinase and protein kinase A have in common? 
1. They catalyze reactions in the glycolytic pathway
2. They have an active site for ATP
3. One of the substrates in the reaction they catalyze is a protein
4. They catalyze the oxidation of one substrate and the reduction of another substrate
5. They are peptides

1. What are the two reabsorption pressures at capillary endothelium
1. Capillary hydrostatic pressure and plasma colloid oncotic pressure
2. Capillary hydrostatic pressure and interstitial fluid hydrostatic pressure
3. Plasma colloid oncotic pressure and interstitial fluid hydrostatic pressure
4. Plasma colloid oncotic pressure and interstitial fluid colloid pressure
5. Interstitial fluid hydrostatic pressure and interstitial fluid colloid oncotic pressure

1. IP₃ is an example of a calcium binding protein. 
1. True
2. False

1. Lactate is a gluconeogentic substrate
1. True
2. False

See? These aren't too bad.....

One of my favorite ladies in my life.

You'll cover all of these subjects by Week 14. Just stay on top of your studying- don't go out to the beaches every single weekend, and plan to study about an hour or two for every hour you're in class. I would study for about 4-5 hours per night and rewrite out the notes or listen to lectures again through Lecture Capture/Panopto. The weekend days were devoted to reviewing and cutting down my notes to eliminate concepts I knew very well and reviewing those I didn't. The night after our block final.....well we'll just say we were happy to be on an island and even more happy to be done studying for two weeks (Dad- I still did well in my classes).

And a happy v-day to you too!

What week am I in? Is this week 6 or 7? Nope, definitely week 7 which means I'm HALFWAY DONE with Vet Prep! In honor of Valentine's Day, my OL group did a secret valentine exchange.

Proof that you CAN bake with the toaster ovens provided-
may look messy, but they turned out delicious.

My friend's Valentine's gift! Fresh picked flowers
and a bottle of sauvignon blanc.

We all got pretty creative with our gifts, ranging from wine to handpicked flowers to Double-Stuffed Oreos and Hershey's Kisses (thanks Christina!!) to cheesecakes to cute handmade Valentine's pictures taped on all of our doors. A few girls and I wanted to celebrate a bit further, so we went over to the Marriott for some R&R by the pool. We only spent about 4-5 hours there, but the experience only solidified why having your own transportation is almost crucial on St. Kitts.

Not the best picture, but hey, we were all jumping
around the entire time.

     We had contacted a local taxi to take us over to the Marriott and told him we would call him when he should come and pick us up. The drivers' rates are variable- it costs $20EC (about $8 US) per total ride, but some drivers have you pay $10 EC for the ride there and for the ride back while some just have you pay upfront or when you get back to Ross. Anyways, we each paid all of our money when we got to the Marriott which was a bad idea overall.

    We called the guy around 4:00 who told us that he would come and get us at 4:45.  He didn't show up. We called him at 5:00, he said he would only be a few more minutes. We called him again around 5:20, he said that he was right around the corner. As soon after we called our fellow VP friend to come and get us, he showed up saying that fellow students had wasted his time which why he was late. In any case, it didn't matter- we were still late getting home. Normally it wouldn't be such a big deal, but we were with a first semester friend who had to be back by 5:30 so she could walk her kennel dogs. It is part of your grade for 1st semester to walk your dog(s) on time, and you can only walk them at certain times throughout the day. We didn't get back to campus until 6:00. Moral of the story- make sure you research your taxi drivers. There are about two who really respect students and understand their time constraints- figure them out and you'll be ok.

   So after that, a few of my other friends went to a free concert celebrating the opening of St. Christopher's Harbor. The opening act was a local reggae guy named Banky Banks (who was pretty fun!) But the real fun and headliner- Darius Rucker. And it was free. He sang most of his top charting songs, both from his solo career and a few Hootie and the Blowfish songs, and most of us students were only about 30 feet from the stage. It was honestly one of the best concerts I have ever been to, and it was just another reminder that life on St. Kitts is not as different as that in Pittsburgh.

I leave you with this gorgeous parting gift. Until next week!

Happy almost mid-semester break from yours truly at the Marriott on St. Kitts!