Quite a few things have happened since I last wrote. First, I picked up a part time job in Glasgow at a bakery (Bradford’s) just a few blocks from my flat. They have several stores in Glasgow so all the baking is done at a central location and delivered to our store twice a day. I really enjoy working in such a small neighborhood shop. The other employees and the customers are great and the atmosphere is very relaxed. I also get 50 percent off anything I eat in the store, which may be very dangerous seeing they sell lots of pastries in addition to wonderful bread.

As for traveling, I took a weekend trip up to the town of Glencoe in the highlands. The valley of Glencoe is reported to be one of the most beautiful locations in the UK and is the site of an infamous massacre of a McDonald clan by Campbells under English orders. There is a lovely new visitors centre with several short movies and information about the geography, history, and natural history of the area. It is so beautiful there even in the winter. I really would like to go back in late summer when the heather is in bloom. This time I went with a friend and we used it as a time to relax and walk and also to study. One of the most enjoyable aspects of traveling in Scotland has to be the wonderful breakfast at B&B’s. It's horribly bad for you, but absolutely wonderful.
In addition to a bit of R&R, we also had a bit of adventure stumbling across a very wet field on a very dark night with only a little key chain flashlight. We had taken a short cut (still about 1/2 mile) on our way to a little restaurant; not realizing just how dark the night was without streetlights. After stumbling along forest paths and across fences in the pitch-black night, we reached the bistro only to find it was closed for the winter season. I can hardly believe we didn’t get into some kind of trouble before we finally managed to get back into town. Need less to say, we didn’t take any more nighttime short cuts! Looking back the next day, we realized that we were literally inches away from jumping into a very full ditch when we jumped over a gate. What a mess that would have been! Ah well, those are the memories that stick with us the longest.

I guess I’ll find out in a few days if that study break helped. The exams seemed to go well, but it's always so hard to judge. Anatomy was awful with a three hour written test, a lab practical running to about ninety minutes and a histology practical. It worked out to approximately six hours of exams for that one class!

This next term is going to rush by as we have an increased lecture time and I have several riding club competitions. We have four competitions in about six weeks. This is the first year that the vet school riding club has been in a serious league (British University Sports Association). Previously we had small competitions with other vet school, which were relatively easy. The BUSA shows, on the other hand, run the jumping at a height of over three feet and have more challenging dressage test. We’ll see how they go!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the New Year.

P.S. I have arrived safe and sound back in my flat and had classes all day today. Six hours of lectures to be precise. What a way to ease back into the grind. They must be going with the idea its better to jump in headfirst than to leisurely get used to the idea. Also, in accordance with standard Glasgow University method, there were two different timetables going around and it was rather chaotic with people turning up in different rooms and at different times for the same lecture. We had our first schedule changes today as well. Just to keep us on our toes. Is there any hope for better schedules in the future?

Till next time.

God bless,
Rebecca