Cheese and Wine

Midterms are done for the time being and I feel so relived. I have another one in 3 weeks. I'm not feeling very creative, my brain is in melty mode. But, I could tell you a ridiculous amount of information and farm animals housing, growth, and nutrition right now if I was asked. For now, I'm going to finally catch up on some z's, then head out to cheese and wine with my classmates later this afternoon. I'll leave it at that, for now.

Here are some pictures from the farm this week. It was a beautiful day.  =)

They make the loudest baby baas

Learning to body condition score dairy cattle.

Proof that we do see the sun here.

Cute little teaser pony 

 Learned how to body condition score horses (and dogs), as well . I love them, they're so sweet. 

Bonus Picture. I see so many rainbows here! There must be soooo much gold. 

1st years, 2nd years

One thing people may not know about the Veterinary school in Ireland, and also in the UK, is that here, veterinary medicine is an undergraduate program. Normally students leave *secondary school (US version of High School) and go off to College/University (Uni). So, normally VetMed is a 5 year undergraduate program that is really tough to get in to. Interestingly, University College Dublin has the only veterinary school in Ireland. For us students with a prior degree, they have created the 4 year graduate entry program which is just the same as the veterinary programs back home in USA. Hence, our AVMA accreditation.

The first two years of the undergraduate program are an elongated version of our first year with electives (lucky undergrads...). During our second year, we combine with the 3rd year class of the undergraduates. Which is pretty confusing because by this time next year everyone in the school will call us 3rd year students, even though we've only been here for 2 years.

This semester we have started to integrate with our new classmates. It is really nice to see some new faces in our classes (seeing the same 40 people 40 hours a week can become daunting). It is a little weird because they're younger than all of us (sometimes it shows) but, they are expected to do mostly the same work that we do. They do remind us to not be so serious sometimes especially since our class has the tendency to do a lot of work and not get out often. I'm really excited to have new people in our class.  

This week, to help make the assimilation easier, there was quiz time. It was a way for us to mix up with some of the 2nd years, most of whom we don't know yet. We were asked trivia questions then, scored later on. My team didn't win, the questions were tricky! There were some prizes, and they fed us sausage, chicken finders, and sandwiches... so, I was happy.

All the other days of the week were uneventful. 

Tonight I watched the USA vs Canada hockey game. Canada won.. it's awesome for my Canadian classmates... A little sad for the Americans. We'll get over it. 

Two more midterms next week. So, as always, more studying for me.

*Edit: One of my classmates pointed out to me that high school here is not called college and is, indeed, secondary school. They sometimes add College to their name to "try to be fancy." I'm still learning! Thanks, Ciara!

Valetine's Day

I cannot believe another week has passed already. Time is going by so quickly, I have my first midterm on monday (Subject: reproduction) and another two midterms the following weeks (animal nutrition and farm animal/applied breeding). I'm in total study mode.

But, that didn't stop me from having fun last weekend. Anyone who is friends with me on facebook saw most of the pictures from Vet Ball last weekend. I had a really great time, getting dressed up was so much fun, and I can't wait to do it again. I still can't believe my dress is 7 years old...

 

The rest of my week was filled with class and studying, with the exception of Wednesday night. There was a VBMA meeting on marketing which was really interesting. I love that these meetings give me so many ideas on how I can, one day, contribute to a business (hopefully, one of my own at some point).

Also on Wednesday night, UCD Ents hosted a comedian show starring Neil Delamere. It was hilarious. I thought I would be worried that I didn't get much work done Wednesday night but, I had such a good time at the show that I left feeling care free and It was good. I always have to remind myself to unwind every so often... The next day I was back to studying.

This week at the farm we got to interact with calves. We did some disbudding (with local anesthetic), burdizzo castrations, and gastro tubing. I love it when we get hands on experience in school. Unfortunately, I only have one picture from the farm. It is a picture of a calf suckling on Colleen's fingers. They're too cute.

Today, is Valentine's day! Tonight, I am having a video date with Jason. =). I sent him a valentines day package in the mail last week so I really hope he gets it today.

Only 19 more days until he comes to visit me in person!!!

Trekking

I've been feeling kind of sick the past couple of days: tired, congested, sore throat. But, I have been pushing to get work done and by the end of the day I am so exhausted. I didn't even realize it was already Friday today. Tomorrow is Vet Ball and I am so excited to dress up and have fun with my classmates. I hope I am back to 100% tomorrow.

Other than that I want to write about last weekend and trekking. We took the 145 bus from campus all the way to the end of the line and there we got off and went to Brennan's Riding School.

I had such a good time. I didn't realize how much I missed horse back riding. It reminded me of when my best friend, Katie, and I used to go trail riding at her aunt's house on the weekends (except these horses would actually move for us). It was really therapeutic, I felt so carefree. I was so happy for those couple of hours even if it was raining.

My horses name was Morgan and he made me laugh pretty hard most of the time. He thought the trail was his buffet and liked to walk like a slow poke. The people working at the school kept tell me me to not let him trick me because in actuality he was one of their least laziest horses. Could have fooled me! He knew I was a softy and would let him get away with it. An additional perk of riding is that the Little Sugar Loaf Mountain in Wicklow is gorgeous and since it was raining but, not too badly we managed to capture a rainbow in the pictures (So pretty!). I know it is hard to see, because of the fog, but if you look closely you can see the Irish Sea and Howth in the picture as well.

I really hope I get to go again soon and I hope we can bring some new people with us this time. It was so much fun and so pretty. I just hope next time it's a little warmer and less rainy. 

Another thing we (Kieran, Collen, James, and myself) did last weekend, on Sunday, was meet up for our first study group. It was awesome and super helpful for Monday's abdomen and pelvis lab. We all felt really prepared. I am really excited to continue with it. 

Finally, after the study group, we went to one of the few bars showing the superbowl in Ireland, Rody Bolands. The crowd was awesome and the bar was really neat and sort of old looking. We had an fabulous time albeit the horrible game and lack of American Superbowl commercials. At least Red Hot Chili Peppers were awesome. We even made it until the end of the game... and to class the next morning!

The rest of the week was pretty normal... Class and studying. Yesterday I played with some calves and today I have class again. 

I know that school is hard and more often than not extra demanding. I can't stop myself from thinking these are going to be some of the best years of my life.