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!