Orientation starts tomorrow and this is how I’m feeling:

Aak!  It’s finally starting!  I just want to run and hide under my bed!  I’ve figured out during the course of my life that I don’t deal well with big changes.  At least, I dread them until they’ve finally happened and then I’m okay with it.  I remember going to class the first day of my freshman year of college, and just wanting to go back to my high school and try my best to blend in for another few years instead.  Can you imagine someone actually wanting to go BACK to high school??  Well, that’s how I feel now.  I’d like to continue on for a few extra years in undergrad, and somehow convince all of my friends to do the same so nothing changes and everything stays awesome.  Luckily my fears about going into college turned out to be completely unnecessary, and I’m sure that vet school will be the same.  I’m hoping to meet some fantastic people and maybe even make friends with a few of them, too.  I’m hoping the workload isn’t going to be as taxing as I’m dreading it will be, and if it is (and it probably will be), I’m hoping I’m up for the task.  I’ve busted my ass over the years to get where I am today, so if I have to work even harder for a few more years I’m sure it can be done. 

I’m going to write this so I can come back and look at it when I’m in the thick of school, probably on the verge of a mental breakdown:  why I’m going to vet school and what I’m hoping to accomplish.  I want to make a difference.  I’ve volunteered for years with vets, zoos, and all sorts of species.  I’ve traveled across the world to pick up elephant poop (though I did that at the zoo, too).  I’ve seen first-hand the challenges that come with raising animals, both at home and in a zoo exhibit.   And I want to help.  At the zoo, when I interned with the Large Mammal keepers, I was privileged (though some may not see it that way) to participate many times in collecting semen from the zoo’s bull Asian elephant Sneezy: one of the most eligible bachelor elephants in North America.  Through that I was able to learn about the difficulties in breeding elephants in captivity: the high cost of transporting and even maintaining elephants, the lack of a matriarchal herd of elephants in many zoos, fertility problems, high infant mortality, the still relatively low success rate of artificial insemination in Asian elephants, and a low gene pool that coincides with declining elephant numbers in North American zoos.  There are many big hurdles that face Asian elephants, and I would love to specialize in theriogenology (animal reproduction) to help solve those problems while, at the same time, continuing to make zoos more elephant and other animal-friendly.  Of course I don’t want to limit my expertise to elephants, but wouldn’t it be cool to be an expert in elephant reproduction?  I think that sounds so awesome! 

Speaking of all of this, I want to get in contact with the Oregon Zoo in Portland soon.  They have a very well-established elephant breeding program, and I would love to be involved with that and possibly shadow their vet.  Don’t get me wrong, going into zoo medicine is a VERY competitive field.  But if I don’t end up doing any of this, I know whatever I end up doing will still involve me making a positive impact on the future of animals and conservation in some way or another!

Anyway, wish me luck for tomorrow!  But even more so, wish me luck for next Monday, because that’s when all of the REAL work begins!  

Schedule and Study Time!

The countdown for school continues!  This has felt like an incredibly long summer, and for good reason; it’s more than a month longer than my summers usually last.  It is definitely weird starting school so late in the year.  I’ve always started classes somewhere around mid-August, and gotten out for summer around the beginning or middle of May.  This year is different, though, because Oregon State runs on a “quarter” system, rather than a “semester” system.  There are four quarters in a year, corresponding with the seasons:  fall, winter, spring, and summer.  Each quarter lasts for about 12 weeks.  Some classes do roll over into the next quarter (I’ll be taking Gross Anatomy and Physiology for my entire first year), but most only last a quarter or two.  I’m actually looking forward to the change somewhat; hopefully it will keep me more engrossed in the material since each class runs for a shorter length of time.  Since I’m talking about it, I’ll go ahead and share my schedule for the first year of school:

Fall – First Quarter – 9/24 through 12/7

Class	Credit Hours (lecture - lab):
Professional Orientation	1 (1 – 0)
Gross Anatomy	4 (1 – 9)
Microscopic Anatomy	4 (3 – 3)
Physiology	5 (4 – 3)
Intro to Animal Care	3 (1 – 6)
Veterinary Integrated Problem Solving	1 (0 – 2)
Total Credits:	18 (10 – 23)

Math wizards will take note that the amount of lecture and lab hours don’t add up to the 18 hours I’m credited for, but instead they add up to 33 hours!  I never understood why labs are often worth less credits than the hours they actually take up.  This happened in undergrad as well, for example, a class would count for 4 hours when I was really in it for 5 or 6 hours a week.  Never as crazy as this though; Gross Anatomy only counts for 4 hours when it really should be 10!  I’m not complaining, I’m just saying that there is some fishy math going on in the registrar’s office.  Anyway, continuing on:

Winter – Second Quarter – 1/7 through 3/22

Class	Credit Hours (lecture - lab):
Gross Anatomy	4 (1 – 9)
Microscopic Anatomy	3 (2 – 3)
Neuroscience	4 (3 – 3)
Physiology	5 (4 – 3)
Veterinary Integrated Problem Solving	1 (0 – 2)
Total Credits:	17 (10 – 20)

Spring – Third Quarter – 4/1 through 6/14

Class	Credit Hours (lecture - lab):
Gross Anatomy	4 (1 – 9)
Physiology	4 (3 – 3)
Immunology	5 (4 – 2)
Pathology	5 (4 – 3)
Veterinary Integrated Problem Solving	1 (0 – 2)
Total Credits:	19 (12 – 19)

The classes that I’m most excited for are Gross Anatomy, mostly because I love dissecting things, and Introduction to Animal Care, because I’m looking forward to learning the practical side of being a veterinarian in addition to the science-side, which I feel like I’ve already been working on for years.  Neuroscience sounds daunting, mostly because I remember trying to memorize only a small amount of nerves and whatnot in the nervous system when I took physiology last spring, and I’m sure this class is going to be much more in-depth. 

On another note:  Derek, the sweetest, best boyfriend in the world, put his programming skills to use and preemptively made me a study program called “Study Time.”  Some of you may remember using a very similar program (that he also made) to study structures in Mammalogy – this one is basically an updated, more reliable version of that one.  This is what it looks like:

It’ll be incredibly useful for studying structures like bones and muscles while I’m taking anatomy.  It’s super nice because, while I already have a favorite flash-card program that I love to study with (www.studyblue.com) they don’t really fill this niche of studying.  All I have to do is take a picture of whatever muscle group I’m studying, load it into the program, edit it however I want, and then study to my heart’s desire.  Derek even made his own file-type (.stf) for the program – most of you may not understand that much, but he’s really excited about it!  I also made the icon for the program:

Guess who I based it off of?  :)

If you are interested in using Derek's program, too, you can download by going here:  http://code.google.com/p/study-time/ and clicking the "Downloads" tab up top!

Much Ado About Nothing

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve got less than a month left until school starts.  Consequently, I still have a whole heap of things to do in order to prepare.  Between the school supplies I still have to buy, the vaccinations I still have to go through, and not knowing any of my classmates, I feel like I’m starting first grade rather than a professional program!  I’ve accomplished some stuff, but there is still plenty left to be done in T-20 days.

Here’s a haphazard list of things I’ve done thus far to prepare for school:

• Moved to Oregon
• Opened an account with a new bank
• Decided on a health care plan
• Bought a planner
• Learned how to use Microsoft OneNote
• Organized my binders and backpack
• Signed up for classes
• Ordered my dissection kit (So enthusiastic about this one!  I can’t wait to start dissecting!)

And heeere are things I still have to do:

• Cancel old bank account
• Actually sign up for a health care plan
• Buy more school supplies
• Provide my immunization records to the school
• Get a rabies vaccine (aak!)
• Class of 2016 BBQ
• Go to vet school orientation
• White Coat Ceremony!

Orientation and the White Coat Ceremony are big, mandatory events thrown by the CVM the Wednesday – Friday before school starts.  I don’t remember all of the details of orientation, but I know on Thursday we’ll be doing a ropes course, and on Friday there will be a tour of the vet school for family and friends.  The White Coat Ceremony, which takes place that same Friday evening, is a pretty prestigious ceremony that many medical schools (not just vet schools) host for their students.  I’m not entirely sure what all it entails, but I know there will be dinner and at some point we’ll be given our own white coats with our names embroidered on them.  Neat!  The best part of it all is that my mom and Dr. Shaw will be coming to visit that Thursday – Monday, so they’ll get to come to the ceremony and spend time with me before I start school.  I can’t wait to see them!

I’m really excited about my blog!  I’ve thought of so many topics to write about, and that’s just to tide me over until school actually starts.  My goal is to update weekly, and we’ll see how that goes.  Right now I’m actually trying to pace myself so that I don’t update too often!  Anyway, thank you for reading again!