Hi Everyone!
Many of my friends and family have asked me about my life so far in Scotland and the many things I have experienced in just the short time that I have been over here! So, in order to keep everyone updated I have decided to start a blog about my adventures during my five years (yes, it is really a five year program) in Scotland studying Veterinary Medicine and Surgery at the University of Glasgow! I will do my best to continually keep you updated by posting on this blog, but please keep in mind I am now a veterinary student and that comes with a pretty hefty work load!
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| University of Glasgow's Main Campus |
I will apologize now for the length of this first entry, but I feel the need to catch everyone up for the past couple weeks! On September 2nd, 2010, I left beautiful, sunny Southern California behind to head over the pond to the rainy city of Glasgow. Approximately, 14 hours later my mom and I arrived safely in Glasgow and to my surprise so did all my luggage! From there my mom and I traveled to an area in Glasgow called Anniesland where I was greeted with the very generous hospitality of my Big Vet, Amy and her adorable new Irish Terrier puppy, Radley! The next morning I moved into my flat (apartment for you Americans), which is also located in Anniesland. My mom and I spent the week learning our way around the town, visiting the vet school, traveling the pubic transport buses, and fighting with customer service representatives at the bank in order to open a bank account. Needless to say, America is one-step ahead on customer satisfaction. On Wednesday, September 8th my new flatmate, Sara, arrived with her mom and twin sister! The next couple days were spent getting settled in to our new surroundings. We constantly kept adding to the list of things to do and get…one of my favorites had to be discovering we didn’t have any potholders when we were attempting to take our dinner out of the oven! On Saturday, September 11th, my mom flew back to California and I was left to start the adventure of a lifetime!
On the following Monday, Vet School Orientation commenced. I soon realized I was sitting in a room with 150 other first year vet students from all over the world! We finished the week having learned about our curriculum, participating in crazy pub quizzes, and being totally lost on the vet campus even though we had been given a tour. On Monday, September 20th classes officially began! All the first years take the same classes, which include Biomolecular Sciences, Animal Husbandry, Anatomy, and Physiology. My first week was slow as it was mostly review and I was not scheduled to go to Cochno Farm. This is the farm that is owned by the vet school and it is where we do our dairy cattle, beef cattle, and sheep practicals.
This past Saturday, my friends Sara, Kendall and I went on a tour of Oban, Glencoe, and the Highland lochs and castles. We managed to have beautiful weather and had a wonderful day exploring small towns such as Oban and Inveraray and visiting a few castles. As we were leaving one of the castles a wedding party arrived…apparently you can rent out the castle for special events. Imagined getting married in a castle that overlooks a beautiful loch! All in all we had an amazing trip! I have included a few pictures below from our tour!
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| Kilchurn Castle |
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| Kendall, Sara, and I |
This week has proved to be a bit longer, but the adventures continue! Monday was filled with lectures all day including a 2-hour lecture on sheep breeds! On Tuesday my flatmate and I visited Cochno farm where we learned about cattle restraint. We learned how to cast a cow (i.e. cow tipping!) and also learned that the U.K. cattle industry has yet to adopt squeeze chutes and they solely rely on the head gate to keep the cow secure…a little scary if you ask me! We then had a cat and dog handling class where we learned the basics of handling dogs and cats in a clinical setting. On Thursdays we have classes at the main university, so bright and early this morning we caught the bus up to campus. Tomorrow has some more interesting experiences in store! Friday is anatomy day…in the morning we have anatomy lectures and in the afternoon we will be dissecting a dog to learn about the muscles and bones of the forelimb.
I think that’s the basics for now. Sorry for the scattered update, but I hope to keep you more regularly informed of life here in Scotland! I miss everyone and I hope you are all doing well!
