So moving to London has been a bit of an adjustment for me to say the least. It's taken some getting used to for sure. I miss green trees and fresh air!
Work wise, it's hard. Every spare minute we're supposed to be reading or doing something else I haven't yet worked out. Money wise, it's even harder. I can barely afford to do the things I want to at times. I feel sad when I can't go out with everyone because I just cannot physically afford it. But hey being skint, that's what being a student is about right?
Here's a little summary of the last 6/7 weeks...
- Freshers... that was mental. My age definitely showed! I can't keep up with those 18 year olds. Went to meet and greet on the first day I was here at Ice Wharf at Camden Lock. Which was good! Killed my feet so gave myself 2 nights rest haha. Wednesday was traffic light sports party at Sports Cafe at Leicester Square, which was good cheap drinks. Thursday, well that was the riverboat cruise. And an experience. We had to run about a mile and a half from Tower Hill tube to the boat along the docks. In 4 inch heels. My feet hurt so much, blisters everywhere! And I broke the heels on my shoes. But once we got on it was good, drinks expensive but we had a laugh.
- First week, well they certainly didn't give us a nice easy introduction. We were straight in there. A lot of the first week lectures went straight over my head.
- Second week, we did our first dissection. Extrinsic forelimb muscles in the dog. Which basically means we get a dead greyhound preserved with formalin and a dissection guide and told to get on with it. Wasn't as bad as I thought, but the formalin really irritates my eyes so I can't wear my contact lenses. I looked up the greyhound from his ear tattoos... He was nine years old and called Jimivy Silva, and was pretty rubbish at racing. Hadn't raced since 2004 so was probably a pet. All the dogs have been put down previously before coming in, mostly greyhounds who are ex racers.
- Third week was quiet, more dissections and directed learning sessions. These DLs are group work where you get set a problem then you all work out the answer and receive feedback. Part of making you an independent learner apparently.
- Fourth week was a strain, we had a full day of dissection of the dogs hindlimb, by the end of which I was exhausted and drained.
- Fifth week, we had an avian post mortem examination. Was quite interesting, but smelt a lot worse than the formalin embalmed dogs. I also had my small lab animal handling session, which was fun. The BSU at Camden has a variety of small handling animals for us to use and practice our handling techniques. They also rehome them at the end of the year.. I want a rat! :) They had mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits. I struggled with the official handling techniques with guinea pigs because I have small hands but the rest was ok.
- Sixth week, long and tiring. Tuesday was spent at Hawkshead on our large animal handling. I had cows this week and after bad experiences at a placement I was a bit apprehensive, but it was ok. I was very very cold and tired after a full day from 8-5ish. Next week we have the horse handling, so I'm looking forward to that.
Overall, I guess I'm enjoying it. I seem to have done a lot more work in the last 6 weeks than I ever did at Leeds in 3 years. But I knew it'd be tough. I hope I don't fail... we have 3 people in our year now that were on our course last year who failed. The best advice I've been given is to practice past exam papers now as RVC mark on buzz words, just like at GCSE which is a pain. I better get on and do some work, or eat or something. It's funny how I forget to do the basic things.
0 comments
