In one of the vet school's stunning examples of scheduling, I had a class at the vet school this morning at 9 and then had to sit around for several hours till the next class at 1:30. When I arrived at the vet school this morning, I just happened to run into another first year who told me that the lecture hall had been changed. Thankfully, I have given up trying to figure the schedule out so I just roll with the punches. For example, I got an e-mail tonight from one of the professors saying that he thinks there is a lecture Monday afternoon and he is pretty sure it is in a different hall than normal, but he won't know till Monday about class Tuesday morning. The entries in my day planner have been erased and rewritten so many times I think I can see through the pages!

On a calmer note, last weekend was my church's weekend away. We spent three nights at a rented out youth hostel in Rowardennan on the banks of Loch Lomond. What a beautiful place. I spent four hours one day, sitting on a sofa, looking out the windows at the loch watching the changing colors. Not all my time was spent as a couch potato. I did attempt to climb Ben Lomond (Ben means mountain) which is a Munroe (Munroe = any Scottish "mountain" over 3000 feet tall), but I only made it about 1/2 of the way up. The views were still incredible with sweeping vistas of the loch to the south, the highlands to the north, and Stirling to the east. I could even see the Wallace Monument about 30 miles to the east. I also hiked about 8 miles of the West Highland Way which is a very popular trail which runs from Glasgow to Inverness, several hundred miles away. The Way runs along Loch Lomond for all 22 miles of the loch and covers an incredible variety of terrains.

Somehow my weekends have been full of walking lately. The weekend before the retreat was my kennel rotation at the vet school so I spent several hours walking greyhounds. Every Saturdday and Sunday four first year students are assigned to kennel rotation, which involves walking the dogs for an hour in the morning, cleaning their kennels, feeding, and walking and feeding again in the afternoon. Its really not bad, but because I was to lazy to make a lunch before I left in the morning, I had to walk home for lunch which meant I walked about 14 miles that day! Between two round trips to the vet school - 2.5 miles each way - and 2 hours walking dogs, I was exhausted. That was also the day it tried to snow. Nothing ever built up, but it snowed off and on all day. My friends from California and Florida loved it and had to get pictures in it.

In addition to all the walking, I have taken up a new sport. My first fencing class was on Monday and I fell in love. Seeing how I grew up on Errol Flynn and Zorro, I suppose it is natural to be enthralled with fencing. The feeling is incredible. I learned a few parries and attacks and had a bit of a "fight", if it can be so called at my stage, and was hooked. My introduction to fencing came through one of the families at my church. The club they attend meets in the same building as our church so it is very convenient for me to attend. Although the Uni has a fencing club, I always try to get away from the Uni and out into the community as much as possible, and I really like the people in this private club. In a few more months I hope to get my own foil, so I can practice at home.

As for the academic stuff, I got the results back on my latest anatomy exam. I was very glad to see that I had significantly improved my marks over the last test. Although my first marks were certainly acceptable, I knew that I could/should do better and was relieved to find my extra studying paid off. The next exam, in June, will be the hardest because it covers the nervous system and has an incredible amount of information to cover. Can I just say, "I hate cranial Nerves!"

Also, last Wednesday, I presented the research of my SDLA (Self Directed Learning Assignment) group. Each SDLA group of about 15 students is given a topic, mine was DNA vaccines, to research and present to the class, and then each student writes a paper on some sub-issue of their group's topic. I was one of three in my group who gave the presentation, and I am very glad its over. Trying to coordinate that many students on one project and get a unified result is madness. Now I just have to write my paper (2 page max), which I think will be on the role of apoptosis in improving the efficiency of naked DNA vaccines. The most frustrating aspect of the paper is actually the length. It would be easy to write a 10 page summary paper on the topic.

Regarding my web page, there are lots of new photos up including a bunch of a castle I visited recently - Linlithgow Palace. There are also photos of the area where I live, Glasgow city, and some of the fun things I have done while here. Photos of my church retreat should be up sometime this weekend :)

With only four more weeks to the end of the term, I am really looking forward to Easter break. As soon as my exams finish, I am flying to London to spend the weekend with a good friend from home and then I am off to Northern Ireland to do three weeks of lambing. The farm is just south of Belfast so I hope I can do a wee bit of sightseeing in addition to the lambing. Once I have finished the lambing, I am heading back to Glasgow to meet my Dad so we can travel around Scotland for a week before the final term starts. Depending on the weather, I would love to make it up to Loch Ness and perhaps rent a car to see some out-of-the-way castles.

Well, before I think of even more things to write, I'd better sign off. So, till next time...

God bless,
Rebecca