Happy 2020 everybody!
I hope everyone had a rested winter break and a wonderful Christmas.
This break, I went to California to spend some much needed time with my family and my beloved pets. California was much warmer than Scotland at this time of the year, so I gladly soaked up all the sunlight and warmth the sunny state had to offer. I chose not to do any clinical EMS this break, and just focused on my family and of course my pets. To be able to enjoy home cooked meals, and to cuddle Marco and Polo (yes, that’s my pets’ names) was exactly what I needed to unwind after a tough semester. With all the delicious food and cuddles, I am now feeling recharged and ready to face the second semester of third year!
In this semester, we are heading into the massive unit of Cats and Dogs. Leading up to this, I’ve heard many things about this semester, but mainly that it is hard but very interesting at the same time. But anything worthwhile doesn’t come easy! As someone that is looking to practice with cats and dogs in the future, I’ve been patiently waiting to start this chapter of vet school. I am excited to face this challenge.
On top of the Cats and Dogs module, we also have practicals scheduled in every now and then, encouraging us to continually practice our clinical skills with horses and farm animals. As I have minimal previous experience, these practicals are much needed to improve my skills as well as build my confidence.
Third year is also when we have to start thinking about our SRC (Student Research Component) projects. SRC is a module that spans the rest of our time here at the vet school, and it gives us a chance to plan and perform a research project in a topic/field we are interested in. Although we don’t have to worry too much about it in the third year, we do have to start coming up with research questions and finding our supervisors for our project. Currently, I have a couple of budding ideas that interests me, and I’m curious to see where they would lead me down the road.
2020 is looking to be a busy year so far, and I’m ready to face all that it brings!