Third year around the corner!

I can't believe in 9 short days I will be back in school, back in class, and most of all back to the little island up north!  It seems like just yesterday my mom and I were loading my car up with things to come home for the summer!  Sadly, when you have as wonderful a summer as I have- time will fly too fast!  

Yesterday I opened the webpage that has our schedule, and another that has my course materials posted.  Then I took a deep breath.  I realized a few things pretty quickly- the first is that I am signed up for 11 courses this semester.  The second was I remember very little from last year that I probably need to remember.  Third I realized that it is real.  I really am entering my third year of vet school- I will be writing my last final exam (aside from the one really big licensing exam in 4th year), I will be expected to retain and implement things I have learned the past two years, and most importantly third year represents a turning point in vet school.  The labs are now much more hands on, the procedures are things you will be doing for the rest of your life, and the classroom lectures are preparing you for your future- both in rotations and beyond.  All of a sudden it hit me that third year is over the halfway hump, which means my real "adult" future is practically glaring at me, taunting me from afar- yet close enough so I can begin to see the outline of what may happen.  It's daunting, it's exciting, and most of all it's my goal.  

Once courses start up I will have more to say about what they entail, and what I am learning.  This first semester we had three lecture courses that were supplemental we could take if we wanted to.  I have opted to take all three, as I feel that in some way they will all likely come into play in the future.  They are once a week courses, and while it adds to the workload, this has become somewhat of a moot point for me- as vet school is a large workload anyways, 3 extra courses or not.  The first course is Advanced Anesthesiology. I really like the professor who will be doing the teaching, and it will be case based and focus on difficult patients and how we can best manage them under anesthesia.  Anesthesia is one of those things that doesn't go away- it's vital as a veterinarian (and technician) to understand and be able to use it appropriately, and I welcome the chance to review important things in this class.  The second course is called Integrative Medicine.  This will focus on alternative therapies like acupuncture, and while I am not sure many of the fine details for this course, it is clear that many clients have an interesting in alternatives to traditional medicine, so being able to discuss these even in just a cursory manner will be helpful down the road.  Lastly, I signed up for Intro to Exotics.  While I don't have any particular interest in treating the exotic or pocket pet patients, inevitably you get phone calls and clients who want you to deal with their small, slightly less traditional pets if you are a small animal veterinarian and I feel it's important to round me out as a vet to have an understanding of these patients.  

My summer has been blissful.  I did do a few shifts of work if someone was out and the clinic needed help, but mostly I focused on doing things I wanted.  I did get to expand my knowledge for surgical things.  I did get a tan.  I did spend more time with friends and family.  I got to go camping with some of my favorite girls- we drank, we swam in the water, we got sunburnt and hung out.  I don't know the last time I went camping- but I should make time to do it more often!  I also got to go with my father to Saratoga to the horse track, and even though we both lost all our money we had a lot of fun!  I am always in awe of the racehorses, they are such impressive creatures.  The first race we watched was a steeplechase and I had never seen one in person.  I wish that the biggest race held at Saratoga- the Traverse- was not the Saturday before I am due to head back to school, because I would love to go.  Depending on the results of the Derby, Preakness and Belmont, often big name horses that participated in those races appear.  This year, the horse who won the Belmont will be racing in the stakes.  Some year, I will get there!  

My lack of coordination continued and it has put a damper on the length of hiking I have been able to do this summer.  I fell and messed up by ankle pretty severely in the end of June and it is still in the process of healing.  About three weeks ago I fell again and hurt my knee on the same leg.  This too is still in the process of healing- and admittedly both would be doing better if I didn't insist about doing at least a short walk daily.  The dogs need exercise, I need exercise and summer would be wasted if I didn't get out and enjoy it.  I finally took a long hike the other night, close to 7 miles, and while I was sore the next day- the pain was certainly not as bad as it could have been!  I am hoping despite having a busy school schedule I will be able to get daily walks in still- especially on the beach as I enjoy wandering it.  

Having Ryker stay with us this summer has been wonderful.  He's smart, he's goofy, he's a good cuddler, he loves (and tolerates) Tizzie, you really couldn't ask for a better house guest.  I am going to have to have some visitations with this charmer when school kicks back up again- because I will miss him!  I thought long and hard about whether or not I was going to consider taking on a dog this year, and the even though I would love to, I can't see how it will be fair for the dog- especially next semester when I have surgery duties that are a huge time constraint.  I am toying with the idea of bringing my "fridge cat" Pepper back to school with me after winter break- it will depend on how things are going.  The nice thing about that option is that when craziness of fourth year hits she can easily transition to going back to living with my mom, if need be.  She really prefers being the only cat- somewhat of a pariah in the house at the moment- and she would love being the only kitty in the house.  I am planning to see what happens with my schedule this year and what the feedback is from my classmates who are enrolled in the surgical lab this semester in terms of balancing their time.  

Like all good things, this summer is coming to a close and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.  I needed to take some time to just do things I wanted.  I am truly an introvert- I enjoy and need my alone time to recharge.  In the past, being at work all day (even though I love the work, the clients and their pets), and then still having to find time to spend with friends, family, my own pets, and house sitting for others was very draining to me.  I found that I often turned down chances to go out and spend time with friends because I simply didn't want to be doing anything involving social activities.  Having had this summer to take advantage of ample alone time, I was also more excited and "rested" to do things with my friends and family- and go out and be social.  I took time to enjoy being outside, to work on some training things with the little black pug monster, and to explore books and more.  Maybe my cash flow is low now that the end of summer is here, and maybe I could have worked, saved more money and had a slightly lower student loan- but I have the rest of my life to work and pay on my loans- I don't have this option anytime in the near future.  

On a final note, I owe a huge thank you to everyone who has given my name out as a potential house sitter over these last several years.  I never have to advertise for my service, and I am very grateful for the good references and word of mouth that have given me the ability to house sit for a large number of clients and pets.  I have been house sitting since I was 13 years old- first just letting dogs out once or twice a week, and then gradually I began staying at people's houses for them.  That's close to 15 years experience doing this job, and I have enjoyed nearly every minute of doing it, in large part because I have wonderful clients and they have equally wonderful animals.  Every time someone calls and asks my availability, or messages to tell me they want to plan their vacations around my availability I am awed, and thankful.  Trusting someone to stay with your animals is a huge undertaking, one no one takes lightly, and it means so much to me that you all have allowed me to do it so long. With the close of this summer, comes the close of my pet sitting service in Vermont, at least for the next few years.  I am entering a time in my education where I will be very busy, and have very few opportunities to return home to see my family and friends.  In December I will return home for Christmas, but after that the likelihood that I will be home before August of 2015 is quite slim, depending on what my rotations end up looking like.  House sitting for me is serious, and I hold myself to spending the majority of the time you are gone to being with your fur children- which means I don't spend as much time with my own family and friends.  While I don't mind this at all, my vacations will not be long enough as it is, and I am going to dedicate the time over breaks to be with friends and family.  I hope you all understand, and I am happy to try and help you find someone else who will work for you, if I can.  

As the semester gets underway, I will try to post about what kinds of classes we have this semester as they promise to be more interesting than the previous two years! By now you are all aware of how poor I am at updating this, so bear with me if it takes awhile.  With luck, I will remember and have time to do it a little more frequently so that the posts are not pages long!