A day in the life of a vet student

Sometimes I feel like all I use my blog for is ranting about exams and grades, and/or talking about items and events completely unrelated to veterinary medicine. So I decided that maybe I should post something about (novel idea): the vet school experience!

Hence, please enjoy my summary of Thursday, October 22, A Day In The Life Of A Vet Student.
7:15 am: First alarm goes off. Ignore.

7:25 am: Second alarm goes off. Ignore.

7:33 am: Second alarm still going off. Resign myself to actually getting out of bed today.

7:35 am: Put in contacts, brush teeth, check FarmVille, give cats fresh water, get dressed, make bed, brush hair, deodorize.

7:55 am: Standard breakfast of toast and crunchy peanut butter, with a glass of orange-peach-mango juice and a vitamin. Check email and blogs I read.

8:15 am: Pack lunch (apple, yogurt, and string cheese). Debate what leftover entree to bring, then remember I left an extra pork chop in the fridge at school.

8:25 am: Get a kiss from CLH, make sure I put my ethics essay in my backpack, then leave for school.

8:55 am: Arrive at school. Look in the microscope lab and realize that some of the juniors have a class in there. Recheck the schedule for who is using the microscope lab and re-confirm that nobody was on the schedule to be using it. Meet friend who was going to do a microscope assignment with me; we are both disappointed that our early arrival at school has gone to waste.
9:00 am: Brief stop in the computer lab to check on FarmVille and RamCT. Discover I got another 100% on the second Preventive Medicine exam. (Equals happiness.)

9:10 am: Leave the computer lab intending to get away from the computer and be productive. Instead grab a newspaper and sit on the couches in the Pathology building lobby, getting a jump start on the crossword and sudoku puzzle.

9:40 am: Distracted from newspaper puzzles by nearby classmates engaging in a vigorous debate about health care.

9:50 am: Leave Pathology building and head over to our old haunts, the Anatomy/Zoology building.

10:00 am: Ethics class. Group debate and discussion about emerging social ethics in relation to animals. Discuss the topic of the essay we turned in today (How can veterinarians promote the "infinite human-animal bond" to market their services to the public, yet claim in malpractice suits that the owner of a deceased pet should only be awarded "market value" for that animal?). Relatively productive and interesting class, as far as Ethics goes.

10:50 am: Hike back over to the Pathology building. Decide I need a snack to make it through the next class, so get my yogurt out of my locker.

11:00 am: Bioanalytical Pathology (a.k.a. Clinical Pathology) lecture. Finish talking about tests for gastrointestinal disease (exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, intestinal malabsorption, etc.). Discuss several GI cases based on hypothetical clinical pathology results. Start talking about laboratory analysis of muscle damage and muscle disease.

11:50 am: Back to the computer lab to check email and FarmVille. Harvest strawberries; plant aloe.

12:15 pm: Head to the lunchroom to heat up my leftover pork chop. Also eat my string cheese.

12:30 pm: Make use of extra lunch time to work on Pharmacology flash cards.

12:45 pm: Classmate brings in a grocery bag full of junk food from his house. Grab myself a Snickers bar. Eat it and regret it, but only a little bit.

1:00 pm: Pharmacology lecture. The scheduled instructor is out with the flu, so one of the regular instructors has thrown together a last-minute lecture. The topic is phenothiazines, alpha-2 agonists, and alpha-2 antagonists.

1:40 pm: Lecture done early! Back to the computer lab intending to briefly check email, then work more on Pharm. flash cards.

1:55 pm: Leave computer lab, realizing I never worked on the flash cards.

2:00 pm: Preventive Medicine lecture. Entertaining professor. The topic is equine vaccinations - what to vaccinate for, what disease to use, how often to use, and how to decide all this stuff. Interesting information but nothing you need to take notes on, so I multitasked -- listened while working on those darned Pharmacology flash cards. Got through NSAIDs and midway into steroids. Still a ways to go.

2:50 pm: Yes, another trip to the computer lab. (No, I don't typically spend this much time there in a given school day.)

3:00 pm: Exit computer lab and head back to the couches in the Pathology lobby. Review recent Clinical Pathology notes -- mostly tests of renal function, as well as urinalysis findings.

3:15 pm: Hungry (again). Eat my apple. Continue studying.

3:45 pm: Realize how sleepy I am, and check the time. It's only 3:45! Put my notes down, pull up my hood, and curl up on the couch for a nap.

4:05 pm: Arise from 20 minutes of light dozing when a random group of vet students has apparently decided to hold a club meeting on the couches right next to me. I attempt to resume studying.

4:10 pm: The club meeting is getting loud and distracting, so I pack up my notes and move into the lunch room. I finish studying all the Clin Path notes, including liver tests, pancreas tests, reasons for hypo/hyperglycemia, tests of GI disease, and the muscle injury tests we started learning today.

5:10 pm: Stop by my locker to collect the rest of my things, then head to the parking lot.

5:20 pm: Arrive at the VTH.

5:30 pm: Attend dinner/lecture/wetlab hosted by the Behavior Club. Dinner is sandwiches, chips, soda, cookies, and brownies. Yum! Free, too (well, free after I paid $10 dues for the year).

6:00 pm: Second-year equine internal medicine resident lectures about equine behavior. Interesting material.

6:45 pm: Head to the back of the VTH to observe two of the teaching horses in the round pen. Watch them for awhile; pet them; they are curious and nosy. And huge. After awhile they get silly and start chasing each other around the pen and going crazy.

7:45 pm: Half the club is still with the horses, but I left my jacket at home today and have gotten chilly after an hour outside after dark. Decide to head home.

8:10 pm: Arrive home. Get the mail. Put out the garbage.

8:15 pm: Johnny & Simon can't wait another minute for food, or they might die. Good Lord, their dinner is almost 4 hours overdue. Feed them before they pass out from hypoglycemia.

8:20 pm: Change into pajamas. Check email and FarmVille. Decide to indulge in some Conceptis Puzzles while listening to last week's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me." Hilarity and entertainment ensues.

9:30 pm: Decide to write a blog post about my day. Wonder to myself if it will sound boring. Decide to write it anyway.

9:50 pm: Surprised at how long it took to summarize my day. Currently feeling tired. Hoping CLH gets home soon so I can go to bed. Looking forward to another Friday and another weekend.

9:51 pm: Signing off.