We've been in class for just over 2 weeks, and obviously haven't had any exams yet, but the panic is starting to seep in... usually I wouldn't expect to start feeling quite this worried until the first set of exams was looming.
Initially I thought this semester would be great, what with getting out of class at 3 pm every day. But then I realized that while last semester we had labs scheduled till 4 on Mon/Thurs/Fri, it was only very rarely that we actually needed to stay the whole time. Plus we got done with class at 2 on Tuesday and 1 on Wednesday. But now with real classes in the afternoon instead of labs, we definitely stay till 3 every day.
That might be okay, because we have an hour-long break for lunch every day, when you can be productive and study if you can find a place to get away from all of the partiers in the cubes. However, I am so clever and decided to take the next business class (finance), which meets MWF during the lunch hour.
Fridays are still pretty cool. Next Friday we'll have our first lab (a.k.a. the first actual vet school class on a Friday). So on Fridays I can sleep in till 8 or so, work out and shower, have a leisurely brunch, and get to the cubes in time to do some studying before finance at noon, +/- more studying after finance. The only problem with that plan is the motivation to not sleep till 10:30 am, and to actually stay and study when I could be going home to laze around for the rest of the day...
Unexpectedly, I think the most stressful class this semester is/will be parasitology. It should theoretically be an interesting, useful class, but so far it just seems like a bunch of useless rote memorization. We have, say 11 species of ticks, 12 species of mites, X species of lice (both chewing lice and sucking lice, hurray), X species of fleas, X species of flies.... etc, etc, etc. And for each species we need to memorize:
* The proper name (e.g. Ixodes scapularis)
* The common name (e.g. black-legged tick)
* The distribution (e.g. East coast and SE U.S.)
* The life cycle (e.g. 2-3 years to go from egg to adult)
* The hosts (e.g. 3 hosts: 1st = lizard/small rodent, 2nd = larger rodent/dog/human, 3rd = larger animal/deer/dog/human)
* The disease-causing microorganisms that it can transmit (e.g. Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilium)
Repeat for every species of tick, mite, louse, flea, fly, etc.
The thing is, many of these ectoparasites only live in a particular region of the country (or have totally been eradicated in the U.S.). Once we move somewhere to settle permanently, I'll figure out what parasites are endemic to that area, and I'll get to know them pretty well. If there's anything I forget, well, that's why they make parasitology textbooks and reference books and that's why you keep one in your office. It sort of reminds me of having to memorize the atomic structure of all 20 amino acids in undergrad biochemistry, or having to memorize the 1st 25 elements on the periodic table in high school. Why??? You will never be anywhere that you have to know the atomic structure of aspartic acid and you'll have no way to look it up.
So I feel like I'm being forced to spend a significant amount of my time studying for parasitology when there are other really important things I should be focusing on, like neuro and nutrition and biology of disease.
Fortunately parasitology is only half of the course - in awhile we'll get to have virology instead. That'll be the same sort of thing, but hopefully not quite as intense.
My brain is full... if you want any info about fleas to stay in my brain, some of the tick info is going to have to come out!
parasite = stressful
bacterio = starting to
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"You will never be anywhere that you have to know the atomic structure of aspartic acid and you'll have no way to look it up."
ReplyDeleteThat's why I'm a music major, Becky!
Then again, some times I find myself wondering when it will ever be useful to be able to read Gregorian Chant... :)