First 2 weeks of Vet School ✔️

First of all, so sorry for the delay in these posts, I have been without a computer for a couple days as mine was in for repairs. Perfect timing with all our courses being online! Anyways, it's been a very interesting start to vet school with everyone trying to figure out everything online, so here's how our first two weeks went!

Our first day of class just consisted of a few online lectures, nothing new or exciting. Our second day of school started off with our first lab: suturing and surgical instrument handling! This lab was so much fun. Of course we were socially distanced in the lab room, and all fully decked out in PPE including lab coats, face masks, hairnets, gloves, and shoe covers. We learned all the basic surgical instruments such as needle holders and forceps, as well as how to properly hold and use them. We then learned how to cut (fake) tissue using a scalpel blade. Finally we got to string, where we learned three different types of sutures: simple interrupted, simple continuous, and cruciate. We got to practice each a few times until we the hang of the movements. Next week (hopefully) we will be picking up our personal suturing kits so we can practice on our own!

To start off our second week, our first lab was cancelled. There were issues with COVID outbreaks int he dorms, so they decided to cancel the labs on Monday, which was supposed to be our injections lab (which we'll make up later in the year now). Luckily, our Tuesday lab was still able to proceed as it was our diary farm visit! We took a bus up to the university's dairy farm and got to spend about 2 hours learning about dairy farming in Scotland. For the most part it is pretty similar to how it is in the US, however there are some slight differences due to the weather here, such as the cows are mostly housed indoors. And of course we got to pet some babies! (unfortunately no pictures though)

As far as school, other than our two labs its all just been listening to online lectures. So far everything in our lectures has personally been review from my classes at Cal Poly, so it has been a nice transition while figuring out everything about living in a new city.

Of course it hasn't all been school work! Last Wednesday I tried out for the competitive riding team for the main university, which competes in combined shows of dressage and jumping. It was so nice to get back in the saddle again. There were only 10 of us at the tryouts (they did a preselection as they had to limit the number of people riding), and actually to my surprise I was the only American. They had us ride 2 horses, the first just on the flat, and then the second horse we got to jump some tiny jumps!

My first ride was on a nice bay gelding, and my second was this adorable paint cob! I hadn't ridden at all in over a month, so I could definitely tell I was a bit our of shape after two horses. It was so much fun, and made even better when I found out I made the team that night!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/8bdc26_4ffaf34934194c93932175e486087c42/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

And ponies aren't the only fun that's been happening. I also was able to take a trip with my friend over to Dumbarton Castle, which I'll make a separate post about.

My friends and I have also been out trying different restaurants (all in COVID-safe manners). The first week of classes we went to Brel on Ashton Lane in the West End. This was our second time eating there, as we were expecting it be their fondue night, but unfortunately they weren't able to get their cheese shipment in. We weren't too disappointed though, as the food there is amazing anyways!

We also decided to go down to the city center one night to a place called the Absurd Bird. The restaurant tried to imitate a classic American diner, and its menu focused on fried chicken, so of our we were in heaven. The drinks there were also HUGE and amazing and very reasonably priced, so that was nice too! I had Korean BBQ fried chicken wings which were also amazing.

And to top it all off, I finally got my diploma from Cal Poly!!!