Spring Break

Two Wednesdays ago I took my clinical exam and then it was off to Arizona!  Here are the photos from the trip:

Thursday we went to a desert museum in Tucson.  It was a pretty neat place. I thought this snake was kind of cool as it went above its branch:

Thought it was kind of funny that these lizards all lined up

Can you find the snake in this photo?

Heidi and I a "cave" at the museum:

These ears were to show how large our ears would be if they were the same proportion to our body size as they are for bats:

A great blue heron:

A few photos of the plants in the desert:

Bighorn sheep:

Not sure what kind of bird this is but thought it was a neat color:

There was a hummingbird area where we could go in and be with the hummingbirds.  I wasn't really able to get any awesome photos I got a couple of mediocre ones:

They had a free flight program where they had some trained birds flying around.  It was pretty neat. Here is the barn owl they had:

Some kind of hawk, I don't remember what kind it was.  There were actually five of them flying at the same time.  

They also had a peregrine falcon but it never landed on anything so I didn't get any photos of it.  Here are some photos of garden eels.  Their tails are hard and shovel-like and they use their tails to dig holes for them to hang out in, head out and tail in.  

When the fish that was in the tank swam over them they would go down into their hole and then pop up again once the fish was past.  It was really weird.

A moray eel

A deformed fish, its nose is all squished in, kind of like a bulldog

On Friday, we went to visit Heather and Andrea's Mom and Norm, and Norm's sister and her husband.  Norm and Janet (their mom) were staying at Norm's sister's house.  We spent time relaxing and checking out Cave Creek's western shops. 

They have a nice backyard.

Not sure what was so funny

Heidi and I in our "matching" t-shirts

 

They have two dogs, this one is Mini Me

This poodle's name fails me at the moment but she was a cool dog.  She even had purple nails.

Hanging out with the dogs:

That night we went to a cowboy barbeque and bull riding.

The bull-riders

Getting ready

Kind of hard to see but I took a couple photos of the bull riding

Saturday we hiked Bear Canyon.  We hiked 7 miles, tired us all out!

Who doesn't love hugging a cactus?

Sunday we went to church and then out to dinner.  Monday, Heidi flew out back to Connecticut while Heather, Andrea, and I went to an Arabian horse farm in Tucson.  It was nice walking around meeting some of the horses and enjoying the beautiful Arizona sunshine and warmth.

We also checked out Sabino Canyon in the afternoon before heading back to Uncle Loren and Aunt Joan's for a final dinner of barbequed ribs.  

This is probably my favorite picture of the whole trip.  I was going to take a picture of Heather and Andrea with the horse and happened to snap this one just at the right time.

I start clinical rotations on Monday, hard to believe the time is already here!

White Coat Ceremony!

Today was our White Coat Ceremony, the marker of the transition from class to clinics for us third year vet students.  There were a few speeches, and each of us had our name read off and a white coat put on us.  It was a good time.  Here are some photos from the ceremony.

Alphabetically I am right next to one of my best friends in my class Brittany B. 

Dr. Wallig was the faculty member who put my white coat on for me:

This photo was taken as Brittany B (I am between two Brittany B's in my class) and I were waiting to take our seats right after getting our white coats.

Max, my step-second cousin, he's a great guy

The always necessary, Connecticut/UCONN/U of I vet med classmates photo

 

Quick photo of Brittany M and I, she's another of my best friends in my class

 

These two, not quite sure how to describe how much I appreciate them.  This is Brittany M and Brittany B, my two study buddies.  Let's just say that when you spend hours upon hours together studying you get to know each other very well.  I dubbed them my "vet school wives."  They like to say that they have been teaching me how to be a good husband.  "His wife is gonna thank us some day" they say! :)

Junior surgery group!

My classmate Jess and I

 

Brittany B, Hilary, me, and Brittany M (photo courtesy of Brittany B's dad)

Throwback to first year, my anatomy lab group.  While I don't miss those days laboring over cadavers, our group was awesome (photo courtesy of Brittany B's dad)

Another photo of me and the B's (as I call them), apparently something was funny! (photo courtesy of Brittany B's dad)

I even got to go out twice today for food.  I was invited to go with Brittany M and her parents and aunt for lunch and then got invited to go with Brittany B and her parents for dinner.  Talk about spoiled!

Weekend/Milestone Exam

This past weekend I was in Connecticut for a funeral on Saturday and a wedding on Sunday.  I was really glad I was able to make it out for those two occasions and it was real nice to see everybody again, even if for a short time! 

Today was my Milestone Exam. It consisted of 170 questions covering the last year and a half or so of school (approximately 600 hours of lecture).  It actually wasn't too bad although I had no idea of the answer to the first question which made me nervous at the beginning.  It came as a packet as the exam was 54 pages long!  I'm pretty sure I probably passed so let's hope!

This afternoon is my white coat ceremony, in which us 3rd years get our white coats (rather than our blue ones we have now) which marks out transition from class into clinics.  It goes from 330-530 or so (counting the reception).  Wednesday morning is my clinical exam and then off to Arizona I go!

Done With Class!

Yesterday was my last day of class forever!  It sure is nice to have that behind me!  Today and tomorrow are days full of studying for our final exam on Thursday and Friday.  A week from tomorrow I will officially be on spring break!

One More Week

Just one more week to go before I finish my last class quarter of my academic career.  And only and a half weeks before my spring break comes!  Monday is my last day of class, then I have two days off and Thursday and Friday are my final exam. It's a good thing we are near the end because I'm having a lot of trouble paying full attention in class, it must be that senioritis!

An update on my getting kicked out of vet school: I was called in to meet Monday with the head of the vet hospital.  He informed me that they had called the police Saturday night on us.  But, by the time the police got there, we were already gone.  Luckily, we were able to talk through it and I didn't receive any punishment.  He was fine with me being there at midnight but I didn't have my name badge on and I didn't identify myself to the tech.  So, now I know what to do for next time.  He actually lectured to us for a couple hours today on  airway disease in dogs and cats and he actually kind of poked fun at me before one of the lectures.  So, I think we're cool (or I hope so anyways!).

Tomorrow night is parent and church appreciation night at Champaign church.  My grandparents were supposed to come but they couldn't, then my two study buddies were supposed to come but now they can't, so I'm all alone for the second year in a row!  

Well, this week will be full of studying so I'm sure it will scoot on by pretty rapidly.  I just keep telling myself, "you only need to be motivated for one and a half weeks and you are free." 

Final Surgery Day

Yesterday was our last day of junior surgery.  I was the floater so I had the easy job.  We had a real nice, little white male dog who had to be neutered.  The surgery went just fine.  It's hard to believe that junior surgery is over, I can remember looking forward to junior surgery with both excitement and hesitation as a first and second year vet student.  Now, it's all in the past!  We have begun the home stretch of classes.  After today I just have three days of class left.  Two weeks from today I leave for Arizona!

Weekend

Last night I had three guys over my house: Justin from Mansfield, OH, Andy from Junction, OH, and Philip from Bluffton, IN.  They were on their way back from a work trip in Oklahoma and wanted to go to Champaign church as they had never been there.  They got in last night around 8pm or shortly thereafter to my place.  We ate at Kofusion, a pretty nice restaurant in downtown Champaign that has a small variety of entrees but they entrees they have are incredible.  All three of them really loved their food.  Then we did a little tour of main campus and stopped by Brown House to see Ned.  Ned played his violin for us and we also sang a few songs.  Then, probably around 1130pm or so we headed off to the vet school.  I showed them part of it but when we were heading towards the large animal clinic when the tech who was on duty for ER stopped us and asked us what we were doing.  I told her I was giving them a tour to which she responded, "A tour?  It's midnight, not a good time for a tour.  I talked to the doctor on ER and you guys need to leave."  I just kind of looked at her and she repeated that we couldn't stay and needed to leave.  Now, I know it wasn't the perfect thing to do but we walked towards the large animal clinic hoping that she would just go back to where she was supposed to be and leave us alone.  Well, she decided to follow us so we headed out.  So, yes, I was kicked out of my own school last night.  Today we were in Champaign church and then they headed out and now it's study time again!
Photo taken at Brown House: L-R: me, Andy, Philip, Ned, Justin