If you couldn't tell, I was exhausted when I wrote my last entry. Nothing's changed since then, but I've finshed orientation (and the first day of classes).
Orientation wasn't too bad. The 2nd year students were there to make sure things went smoothly... apparently their transiton in to vet school wasn't so great, so they wanted to improve the system. We got new ID cards that I suppose you're supposed to wear most of the time, especially if you visit the clinics. That way, they'll know that you know nothing. We spent time figuring out what kind of team player we all are, and we were strongly, strongly, STRONGLY encouraged to all work together. Or in small groups. There was also some talk about stress, how it's going to happen to you, and how to handle it. I think that talk stressed me out even MORE, since everyone keeps telling us what to expect but we don't really know what's coming.
(Yawn.) My recommended 7 hours of sleep a night just doesn't seem to be cutting it right now. Anyway, the first day of classes was today. My roommate and I walked in a little late to physiology, but that's all right. The professor is purported to be very difficult (he teaches the renal section) but today wasn't bad. An overview of the kidneys and a discussion of the grading policy. Then histology was fine, as I used a microscope A LOT in my last job, and we just reviewed some stuff.
The worst class, by far, is going to be anatomy. I've never had it before, and the lingo and amount of memorization is really frustrating. We all got a dog skeleton (in a toolbox, it's not organized AT ALL), and in 2 hours of lab we went over the humerous, ulna, scapula, and radius. Tonight I need to look at all the carpal bones and some other stuff my lab group didn't get to. Because today was the only day we had to review the skeleton of the forelimbs, and we're doing the muscles in the next 3 lectures/labs. It's a lot of stuff to learn. Thinking about it makes me tired.
Oh, the other thing we did was attend the vet frat house "Welcome back" party. It was in a barn, in the middle of a cornfield. Hmm. Kind of fun, I met some new people, but not really my scene at all. There's a bbq with the faculty tonight, and that should be interesting. I think I have free dinner for the rest of this week, that's definitely a perk. Oh, and the companies already started giving us free stuff. That's nice, too.
Anyway, I'm still excited that I'm actually in vet school, and I'm really looking forward to the Wildlife Clinic (we're being assigned to teams tomorrow evening). I'm jumping right in to it!