25 September 2011

I'm Doing It!

On the eve of the first full week of vet school, I thought it appropriate that I post an update on my first three days.

First of all, WOW. Looking back on all the material we've been given over the first few days of school, it's hard to believe we've only actually been IN school for three days. Three days! It seriously feels like weeks, and the amount of stuff we have to learn is absolutely unbelievable.

That being said, I have managed to surprise myself time and time again over the last few days. I have learned more in such a short period of time than I ever thought was possible, and am actually enjoying the large amount of work and how busy it's keeping me. In high school and undergrad, I wasn't a regular studier. Most of the time my attendance to lectures was enough, and if it wasn't then I'd just spend the night before the exam cramming (and quite miserably, I might add). For these first few days of vet school I've managed to stay on top of the material, and though it takes about 3 hours a night it's very do-able and I'm actually having fun. I did, however, grossly underestimate the number of notecards I would need for use to make flashcards. I bought 600 and have blown my way through nearly 200 in these first few days. Phew!

Even with all the studying I'm managing to work out a rhythm and maintain a life. I have a 5-hour a week work schedule and plan to join a club or two. Speaking of, I only have to pack lunch one day this week; the rest of the days have lunch lectures from various clubs that I might be interested in! So those will be fun. But I used Saturday to do nothing but sleep, and had a fun group study session at the VMAB with some friends this afternoon. I have to do some homework for Epidemiology, study some cell bio, and re-review anatomy, but I feel really good about everything.

I'm hoping this feeling sticks around, and with the help of lots of coffee, eating healthily, exercising, and establishing good study habits I'm pretty confident it will. My strategy at this point is to take it one day at a time. Every day that I walk out of that school I'm another day closer to being a veterinarian. As long as I make sure I get through each individual day, the rest will take care of itself. I'm actually doing it!

19 September 2011

And So It Begins...

WOW it's been a long time since I've posted! This summer seemed to take forever and fly by all at the same time. I spent a ton of time at the clinic and learned so many amazing things. The vets and staff there are the best, and I'm so very grateful that they tolerate me following them around and picking their brains all summer. Cherie and Robin and I moved into our new place at the end of August and we love it! In addition to Cassius we now have two five-month-old kittens named Sloopy and Gray.

I started working in Student Affairs at the vet school and I absolutely love it. The Student Affairs staff members are wonderful and I really enjoy helping others who are applying to vet school.

Vet school starts in 1.5 days, on Wednesday morning! I purchased my course notes, which fill one 3" binder and one 1.5" binder, today and in true Caitlin fashion read all the syllabi =) Maybe I'm just being naive, but I really can't wait. Check back in a few weeks to find me kicking myself over saying that but as of right now it all sounds pretty good.

Other than that, orientation was fun and my classmates are great. I've hung out with a bunch of them already and I can't wait to get to know the rest. Guess I have 4 years to do that =D

07 March 2011

Endings and Beginnings

Is there really a difference? Isn't one just a continuation of the other? When one thing begins, an ending is inevitable. When that ending comes, a new beginning is always sure to follow. That's how things have felt these last four years, an endless cycle of beginning and endings, endings and beginnings.

I had my last horse show ever with The Ohio State University Hunt Seat Equestrian Team on February 26th and 27th. When I joined OSET, I didn't really have a whole lot of expectations. I expected to keep to myself, learn a few things, and just overall have some fun improving my riding abilities. I never really expected to make new friends, become a more confident, competent rider, and renew that competitive streak I used to have back when I showed Ellie every single weekend during the summer. Perhaps that's why I surprised myself on Sunday when I hopped off my last IHSA horse with my green ribbon (darn that left lead!) and got a bit teary-eyed. My coach said I had a great ride, and when she noticed I was upset, she asked if I had been cose to pointing up for regionals. I shook my head, and she said "Then why are you so upset?" I thought about it for a minute. Regionals had been a long shot for me. I would have had to have won my class on both days at the show in order to point up. After my third place finish on Saturday, there was no chance of that, so the pressure wasn't really there. So I said the only thing I could really think of: "It was my last show." Slighty disappointed in my placing, I was, but even more so I was disappointed that I didn't have more time with the team. I was really quiet last year, and didn't realize what I was missing until I opened up a bit this year and got to know some really awesome girls and overall have an amazing time.

The same thing, I suppose, will go for Pre-Vet Club. The first meeting I went to last year, I was hooked. I never missed a meeting after that, and when I was elected Publicity Chair towards the end of last year, I dove head first into all things OSUPVMA. The friendships I've made during my time with this club are going to extend into the next four years of vet school, and who knows beyond that. I've loved serving as Publicity Chair, and will soon have to relinquish my spot to a newly elected member who will serve from this Spring Quarter until next.

Moving on from these things has really made me look forward into the next few years. I've always been kind of a late bloomer. I didn't start band and drama club in high school until I was a junior. I didn't play softball till I was a senior. Because of my transfer from LCCC, I didn't start OSET or OSUPVM until my junior years of college. The one thing all of these things have in common is that I wish I would have started them earlier because then I would have had more time to do them. The latter two were pretty much out of my control, but the others-the main reason I didn't start earlier was because of fear. Fear I wouldn't be good enough, fear I would make the committment and then not want to do it, fear I would make a foold of myself and in the end, I just plain had fun. So looking ahead to vet school, I really hope to have the courage to try new things. Anything that looks like it might be fun to me, any little opportunity, I hope to seize it. Maybe I will run for class president. Maybe I will join the Equine club. Maybe I'll restart the LGBT club. Who knows? But I plan to make the most of every possibility that I'm fortunate enough to get during my years in vet school.

As far as the here and now, I'm in the final week of the last Winter Quarter of my undergrad career. It's been a rough quarter and we'll see how it turns out. With two quizzes, two homeworks, three projects, and a campus tour to do this week, along with my usual classes and riding lesson, it's gonna be a hectic one. Finals week, hopefully, will go pretty smoothly and then I'll be home free to be on my way to Chi-town with Cherie. But, like all the other endings, this one is just followed by another beginning-Spring Quarter is just around the corner!

18 February 2011

Ohhhh Boy =)

The last several months have been a complete whirlwind, hence the lack of blogging throughout the entire interview/acceptance process. That being said...it went REALLY super fast. Allow me to provide you with a brief synopsis.

September 30, 2010, 11:15 pm: Hit the final submit button.
October 1, 2010, 10:00 am: Burst into tears because I thought some of my supplemental answers were crap and there was no longer anything I could do about it.
November 19, 2010, 9:45 am: Recieved the interview invitation email. RSVP'd for a morning interview on December 16, 2010.
 December 16, 2010 8:30 am: Interview day. Got there an hour early, met an AWESOME friend from SDN, interviewed (the fastest ~25 minutes of my life), thought I did awful, moped the rest of the day during the info sessions, tour, etc.
December 22, 2010 9:52 am: Got THE EMAIL. Best email ever. The one that begins with "congratulations."

And that was it. It was over almost as quickly as it started. Of all the emotions that took over that day, relief was the greatest one, followed by several brief moments of panic when I realized that now I have to go to vet school. But in reality I can't wait. I created our Facebook page, and have already spoken to many of my future classmates. I feel like a know a bunch of them before we've even met and I think we are going to have a totally awesome class. It's going to be a great mixture of people I already know, people I sort of know, people I've only met on the Internet, and people I've never seen in my life.

In the mean time, I'm trying to move past this pervading sense of senioritis. I have to pull off a C in physics this quarter, but other than that I could fail the rest of my classes and vet school would still be there when it was over. Now obviously I'm not the type to just go and do that, but it's hard to get motivated for some of the more dry classes in my schedule.

Thankfully, this quarter is three weeks from being over. Then it will be a fun spring break, ten weeks of spring quarter (with some AWESOME classes), and then a summer that will be spent in the clinic and in a truck. I can't wait.

So I think that's about it for now...I'm so glad that the admissions process is over for me FOREVER, and I wish those still waiting as well as those applying this upcoming cycle the best of luck. It's grueling, it's draining, and it's completely amazing. Enjoy it, because it really is over in the blink of an eye!