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!