Week 11 of Semester 2 -- A Bit of Artistic Skill

Well, two more exams down--and I'm passing 3 of the 4 classes.  Immunology was a rough one though--he focused most of the exam on the material he already tested on in the first exam.  I have to get a B on the final to pass the class.  Ouch.  At least now, it's clinically-relevant material... we're going over hypersensitivity (allergic reactions) and autoimmune diseases, so it should help make things make more sense in my head.  I can do this...

Other than that, it was the last week of the sea turtle morning patrols.  I'm getting moved onto a night patrol after this on Thursday nights from 8-12am.  This is where I get to actually work with the turtles!  It's pretty exciting--we take measurements on the momma turtle, draw blood, move the nest if it's in an unsafe zone, etc. 

It's been a quiet week--Saturday was the ABC (Animal Behavior Club)'s bowl-painting event.  It was a REALLY nice change of pace from the usual frantic studying that we'd be doing on a Saturday.  The woman brought the bowls and all the glazes to the school and we got to paint our own bowls.  These were my two about midway through.  The one for Liamuiga has the paw print in the center and bones and balls along the top of the outside portion.  Reese's has a dead fish in the bottom (complete with X's for eyes) and a Pac-Man scene along the top of the outside.

Week 9 of Semester 2--Accreditation and Herpetology

Interesting title, no?

To start off, we had a great bit of news on Tuesday this week--Ross University was granted full accreditation by the AVMA... so that means we don't have another comprehensive site visit until 7 years from now!  This means that graduating from Ross is no different than graduating from any of the US schools, and we won't have to take any foreign equivalency exams (like the ECFVG or the PAVE). It's such a big step for our university--we've showed that we're as capable and competent as any other United States veterinary school.  They managed to get at least 90% of the student/faculty/staff population into this picture, I think. It's been a big celebration week as a result.

Wednesday was a parasitology exam... not fun... it was a tough one.  Next up is anatomy on Friday.  *fingers crossed*  Let's see if my meetings with Dr. Moffatt pay off--I mean, I understand the larynx and pharynx SO much better now.

I finally got my package in the mail, so I have a new laptop battery and charging cord!  What a relief!  It's so much more convenient to be able to sit in class without finding a nearby outlet.

This week's volleyball game was quite possibly the most fun I've ever had in a game.  It was full of laughs and funny volleys (like when Scott and I had a joint effort to get one over the net or when I shot it into the next court just trying to bump it up), and a good stretch of serves (I think I scored 8 points in a row just on serves at one point).  We won the first game and then went on to lose the next two... but we were very evenly-matched.  However, it was such a blast... and that's all that matters, right? 

Today was the morning of the next SKSTMN patrol--so far, my group is 2/2 for finding nests.  This one was particularly interesting, because it looks as though the turtle had come up rather high on the beach, started to dig the nest, got distracted/confused by the lights, and moved about 10 feet closer to the ocean to lay the nest.  This time, I was in charge of the recording--we had to measure the width of the nest, obtain a GPS coordinate, and then mark the nest (which is what that pole is in the left side of the picture) with the type of nest and the date.  Lucky me, I got to draw the path she took on the data card.  The walk along the beach felt so much longer this time, but I managed to survive much better in terms of the heat and physical demand of walking along it.

That's about it for this week, although it was a busy/rewarding one.  :)  I was supposed to meet up with Lindsey about the campus tortoises today, but she had car troubles so she wasn't able to... ah well, it's probably better that I took the time to study today instead.

See you all next week.

Week 8 of Semester 2--Managing to Find New Ways to Hurt Myself...

What a week... again...  at least there were no exams, so that was a plus!

Monday was a day off from classes, but insanely busy otherwise... with studying and everything other than relaxing.  I had to get 2 new tires, for example. 

Classes are going along as always--have a parasitology exam on Wednesday, so I've been focusing on that... and, after meeting with Dr. Moffatt (one of the anatomy instructors), she's been able to help me focus my studying for that exam in the following week.

I got my hair cut on Friday--I'd been told there was an excellent place by the Marriott (above the Rituals Coffee shop), called the Pink Daisy Spa and Salon.  Maxine was a wonderful stylist--reminded me of the hair salons back home.  You can tell she loves her job too.  I gave her free reign over whatever she wanted to do with color and just gave her a basic idea of the cut I wanted.  I now have bangs... I haven't had bangs since 7th grade!  I also let the stylist dye it a maroonish color.  I like it... most of the time.  I'm just not used to it yet.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day--woke up at 5:30 in the morning to head out to Keys Beach to start my first turtle patrol.  We met with Dr. Stewart for our training.  The beach walk is about a 2 mile stretch... very good workout, for sure!  There were 2 already marked nests on the beach, and we came across the third... so we learned how to determine the coordinates of the nest, took some measurements of the width and distance from the high-tide line, and just learned some of the basic leatherback turtle nesting behaviors so that the track patterns began to make sense.  By doing these patrols, we'll qualify to do night patrols, which are longer shifts, but we'd get to see the turtle digging her nest and work with the turtles themselves.  How awesome would that be?  I'll have to bring my camera out there next time... or steal some pictures from Alayna at some point. 

P.A.W.S. had their second adoption day of the semester--5 found homes, 3 cats and 2 dogs.  I'm hoping Tink doesn't stay with us as long as Trix and Foo-foo did.  :(  I managed to keep up with the website updates, so things were so much easier this time.  Midway through the event, I realized just how dehydrated walking the beach can make you--I had SUCH a headache.  I've also learned that I can't use the sneakers that I wore--they created a huge blister on my heel that ruptured through the walk.  Time to retire those and get a new pair of running shoes when I go back to the US in June for Rachel's wedding (and to get my filling fixed). 

That's about it--I need to head off to bring in the laundry and make the cheese sauce for the brocco-flower that we found down here.  :P  A little taste of home!

See you next week post-parasitology exam.