My Veterinary Odyssey so far
And so it has begun. :D
I've been living at the Royal Veterinary College campus in London for just over two weeks, and now feel that I've pretty much settled into student life. It was such a big transition to move so far away from home and I still Skype my family most days (still nagging them to get their webcam up - I need to see Mercy's little furry face!), but I'm relishing the independence.
My course is great and I've already learned so much in my first week of lectures. My course is quite specialised and there's only a handful of people doing it - I'm studying Veterinary Medicine combined with Veterinary Bioscience. Basically, this means I tackle the necessary medical knowledge from a more scientific grounding, rather than just learning lots of details as vets on the straightforward BVetMed must do. In this first year, I devote my studies to bioscience, interspersed with some animal handling classes.
I've been studying form and function of many classes of animals and their evolutionary adaptations this week, in great detail. The first assignment really threw us in at the deep end when we were basically told to go away and find out about human evolution from apes, and why we are adapted to certain types of locomotion. This involves everything from looking and muscle and skeletal structure, bone length ratios, and shock absorbance to the skull... all of it was fascinating. Indeed, in this week I've already written up histology practicals, two essays, and given a presentation on the reproductive adaptations of parasitic wasps and cuckoos (yes, really!)
London is a wonderful place to be, particularly Camden where I am living. Everything is vibrant and no matter where you go, there's always something interesting going on. It can be an expensive place to live, particularly for a student, but so far I think I am budgeting OK.
I've met some really nice, like-minded people, but it has also been a great help to have visits from old friends too! Particularly my best friend from senior school who now lives round the corner from me - she is studying Fine Art at University College London.
Here are a few pictures from the past few weeks:
Firstly, my room and little ensuite! The bathroom is an 'aeroplane' bathroom - everything is squeezed into a little space, but I'm grateful I don't have to share!
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We have college animals on site too... it is vet school, after all! I suppose it partly makes up for the fact that our own pets cannot live with us on campus.
The ponies (who can be seen from my window):
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The cows:
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One of the cats, supposedly his name is Tigger. There is a second cat whom I haven't managed to photograph yet! Both of them will occasionally wander in through an open window and sit around in the flat. :)
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More coming...
