Done and.... done

My 5th semester of vet school is over! Sound the trumpets! Cheers of excitement all around!

Or whatever.

Seriously, this past semester sort of flew by. Until we got to finals week. Then it slowed to serious snail pace.

From Friday (the last day of classes) to the following Tuesday (during finals week), I took 12 exams.

Yes, let's count 'em: 12

Friday:

1. Parasitology online exam (for parasitology rotation)

2. Parasitology practical exam (for parasitology rotation)

3. Swine medicine online final

Saturday:

Study, study, study, study, study....

Sunday:

4. Clinical Sciences 4 Ophthalmology/Oncology midterm

Monday:

5. Radiology final

6. ClinSci 4 Ophthalmology final

7. ClinSci 4 Oncology final

8. ClinSci 4 Critical Care final

Tuesday:

9. ClinSci 4 Dermatology final

10. ClinSci 4 Large Animal infectious/immune/systemic disease final

11. ClinSci 4 Small Animal infectious disease final

12. ClinSci 4 Small Animal immune disease final

(And I'll point out that I took #11 and #12 after arriving home at 10 pm from a handbell concert in Cheyenne.)

Whew!

Now, admittedly those finals were pretty exhausting. But I also have to say that I feel like I've accomplished greater advances in my veterinary education during this past semester than during any other term so far in my vet school career.

Through the combination of junior practicum and my Clinical Sciences courses in particular, it's been so neat to have the chance to integrate and put into practice everything that I've learned over the last 2 years.

For example, we've moved beyond 2nd-year "This is how different types of antibiotics work" to "We know that you all know how different types of antibiotics work, so let's see how we use them to treat dermatological diseases." We're past "Here are the basics of how different parts of the kidney function in a healthy animal" and on to "Here's what leptospirosis does to a cow's kidneys." From "Let's discuss the different life stages of nematodes (blah blah blah)," we've moved on to "This is the most common nematode in yearling horses and here's how you treat it." It's no longer just "Vaccines in dogs are either 'core' or 'non-core'," but "YOU decide which vaccines are most important for this particular dog which such-and-such a lifestyle."

And (drum roll, please) I've officially finished all of my core large animal courses for the remainder of vet school! On a related and somewhat alarming note, that also means that I've officially learned everything that I will supposedly need to pass all of the horse/cow/goat/sheep/pig/chicken/llama/alpaca questions on national boards...

Next spring's core classes will be Small Animal Medicine & Surgery I and II. We also have Applied Animal Behavior (which I'm sure will also include some large animal material, much to my disappointment) and Professional Practice Management (which had better be more useful than my non-vet-school business classes so far!).

But for now, it's nice to be on break. Yes, I'm continuing to be a nerd and spend time volunteering in Community Practice. And yes, I'll be itching to get back into classes within the next few weeks.

But I really feel like I've accomplished something big over the last 4 months.