Final Grades

I received my final grades a few days ago and I am pleased with them.  I actually did better on the final exam than I thought so that was nice.  My final grade for the quarter (we only receive one grade at the end of the quarter) was where I like it so I am glad.  I am enjoying relaxing out in Connecticut and plan to head to Vermont with my family tomorrow to visit my uncle, aunt, and cousin. Hope everyone has (or had) a Merry Christmas!

One Down!

I have finished my first semester of vet school and am still standing so I would say I'm doing alright!  I just finished the written part of the final exam this morning.  Now I head home tonight for a few weeks before I head back and bury myself in the books (and dog carcasses) again! The final was more challenging than the midterm just due to some of it being cumulative but I think I did alright.  Now I am looking forward to spending time with friends and family! 

My First Christmas Gathering 2011

I had my first Christmas party of the year yesterday.  It was at Jerry and Kathy's (my mom's first cousin and her husband) and myself, one of Jerry and Kathy's daughters and her family and my Uncle Dan and cousins Heather and Andrea were there.  We had appetizers for lunch and then visited for awhile.  Later on, after having some pizza for supper we played BubbleTalk:

As you can tell by this next picture, we had a really good time:

We really did have a lot of fun!  It was a nice relaxing afternoon and evening!  Thanks again Jerry and Kathy!  Here's a normal picture of my cousins and I to end the post:

My (former) Car

Today, I went to the auto body shop and removed all my belongings from my car.  While there, I snagged just a couple pictures.  I had an auto recycling company take it, they will give me some money for it once I give them the title.  Here's the pics:

Thus ends my ownership of the Taurus.

Today was my last day of class.  I am very glad.  Now it is study time although this weekend I intend on doing quite a bit of other activities.  I have most of this coming week to study so I'm not too pressed which I am glad for.  One week from tonight I head home!

Accident Update #2

Tonight I got a phone call from the auto body shop about my car and it is official, I have successfully totalled my first car.  (wow, what an accomplishment!)  The estimate for the repairs  was already 4300 dollars and that wasn't even everything.  So, now tomorrow I have to get in touch with the companies that buy cars like that.  Just what I need, something else to do!  Oh well, sometimes life just doesn't go the way you want it to, this just so happens to be one of those times for me!  But, on the bright side, I have one more day of class tomorrow and then I'm done with class.  This has been a bright spot for me as I deal with the post-accident excitement. 

Tonight, the U of I young group went to Schnucks (a grocery store) and carolled outside for the Salvation Army.  We carolled for two straight hours but it was fun.  Then we went to Brown House for hot chocolate, hot cider, coffee and fellowship.  However when I got there, the front door was wide open and the windows were open.  Apparently, its a good idea to have the flue open when you start a fire!  Once the smoke was dissipated and the windows and door closed the house warmed up nicely.   

Sunday School Hang Out Day

This past Saturday those of the U of I young group who were around watched some of the sunday school kids so their parents could go shopping or do whatever.  It was a good time and gave me a chance to get to know some of the sunday school kids better.  We played games with them, both inside and outside (as it was sunny and in the fifties) and just hung around and had a good time together.  Here are some pics from the day:

There were plenty of games to choose from!

This is Reuben.  His father is my second cousin who is a fourth year vet student at the University of Illinois.  He kind of looks like he is gonna cry in this picture but he wasn't.  He was fine the whole time running around and playing.  It was just at that moment when I took the picture that he happened to look like that.

These tunnels were brought for the little kids to play with (I think) but I'm pretty sure the not so little kids spent more time in them than the little kids did.  It kind of looks like Hayley is the jailkeeper watching over the two prisoners:

It figures, the engineering students would be building towers:

A couple more pictures from the day here:

Finally, here's Nathan and Greg juggling:

I enjoyed the day, it was a nice break from studying.  After today I have two more days of classes and then my exams next week.  I can't wait to be finished!

Accident Update

So, as a few of us suspected, the girl I hit last night was moving rather rapidly down the road.  Apparently she turned onto Lincoln Ave, the road I was turning onto, just a little bit down from the vet med driveway and accelerated rapidly.  A couple kids from my class who saw it happen said that she was really moving.  This makes it so I don't feel quite so bad (although I still do feel bad) because that may be why I didn't see her.  There were also cars parked on both sides of the road and it was drizzly out.   That would also explain why she spun me 180 degrees and pushed me right back into the vet med driveway!  I had to sign an authorization form so that they could look at my car.  I expect to hear back from them either today or tomorrow with the total damage.  Just what I needed to add to my already slightly elevated stress levels!

Now, a tiny bit of humor (even though I am an extremely serious person!).  My neurobiology lecture today was on the gross anatomy of the brain.  Before she started our lecture, our professor says, "So, today's lecture is really boring, I'm just gonna tell you that up front.  I am sorry about that.  I'm sure some of you are already looking up youtube videos or netflix."  It's not too often a professor says that kind of stuff, but if you knew Dr. Mahoney, you would understand!

Oops

Well, tonight was less than ideal.  I was pulling out of the driveway of the vet med building and crashed into a girl driving an SUV.  I did not see her at all before I pulled out and did not see her until I had crashed into her.  It was just boom, and that was it.  I spun her 90 degrees or so and she spun me about 180 degrees.  I'm not sure why I didn't see her although I believe she pulled off a road that is adjacent to the vet med driveway.  Either way it was my fault.  She was nice about it as was the cop which I was glad for.  I was even more thankful for the fact that, although she said her shoulder was a little sore, she was not hurt.  I didn't feel sore right then but my neck and back are beginning to feel sore. I hit her SUV on the rear left tire and adjacent area.  All we could see tonight was that I had popped her tire and cracked her drivers side running board.  I am hoping that that is all that happened to her car.  My car had its bumper cracked, right front headlight smashed, hood sitting crooked, drivers side door that scraped and made a racket when it was open, coolant leaking from my radiator, and also, while the car still drove, I couldn't turn it.  I had it towed and it is at a body shop right now to hopefully have the damage assessed tomorrow.  Luckily, one of my friends Kaleb is allowing me to use his truck for tomorrow and then I am getting my uncles car tomorrow night.  I also got a $120 ticket to top it off for failing to yield on left turn.  While this whole ordeal is a huge inconvenience, I feel that it has shown me how much I have to be thankful for:  1. neither one of us was hurt except some soreness 2. friends and family who are willing to help me out when I am in need 3. the faith and confidence that something will work out even though I feel like everything has gone wrong.

On to a better subject.  I took my second quiz today and felt good about it.  I am glad its over although now I have to start studying to be ready for the final next week.  (Although I must admit, I did not get any studying done tonight, I wonder why!)  Well, now that it is twenty after eleven out here, I suppose I should go eat some supper and get to bed.  Goodnight!  

12-1

Hello! I am beginning to get back into the groove now.  It's kind of hard to be motivated though when I have only two weeks of school left!  This week has been flying by.  I have spent a lot of time in the anatomy lab working on learning the muscles, arteries, veins, and nerves of the front limb of the dog.  Just this afternoon alone, I was in the lab for over three straight hours working away.  Hopefully I remember everything!  Tomorrow we start the horse front limb.  I found out earlier this week that when they posted part of our lab exam grades from before Thanksgiving break, some of the exam grades went to the wrong people.  So, I rechecked my grade.  To my surprise (and delight!) my grade was one that had been goofed up (so I had someone else's grade before).  My score for that section of the lab exam jumped 7 points higher and my total lab exam score jumped almost 9 points!  I was obviously excited but it wasn't the same for everybody.  One girl two people down from me lost seven points and a girl behind me lost ten! 

There has been a lot of scrapping for points on our midterm exam.  Monday in anatomy, some of the students were giving our anatomy professor a hard time about one of his questions on the exam and he got upset.  He said, "You have to take responsibility for you education" among other slightly raised voice remarks.  I have to say that there is a lot more questioning the professors about the exam questions in vet school than there was (that I was aware of anyways) in undergrad.  It is a very challenging curriculum and students want all the points they can get!

Now, yesterday morning I went to leave for school and my car door wouldn't close.  It would just bounce against the car and not latch.  Well, I had to get going so I just drove off and held it closed with my hands.  I finally got it to close when I was almost to school.  Needless to say, it was kind of annoying, hanging on to that door for ten minutes straight while driving (a little bit of the drive was highway too!).  It was fine the rest of the day and today although I did stop somewhere today to have it checked and they lubed the latch for me.  The guy said that sometimes moisture (there was a lot of frost yesterday morning) can cause the latch to not work properly.  Hopefully that will solve the problem!

This weekend I will remain in Champaign.  Saturday the U of I young group are going to be with the sunday school kids so the parents can have some time to holiday shop, etc.  I also have our second quiz Monday morning at 8AM so I have to study for that.  Two weeks from tomorrow is our last day! Can't wait!

I will end with a recent photo of my roommates and I:

Loren, Me, Josh