Well, I'm a third of the way through my two-year exams!  I had a biomolecular exam on Monday and Tuesday and an animal husbandry practical on Wednesday and today.  The first exam was all essays - five in total - covering all the biomolec material from the last two years.  The second day was only multiple-choice questions covering the same material.  I'm sure the essays I wrote were OK, but I'm confident I did well on the multiple-choice so they should bring my marks up.  Biomolec has been my best/easiest class and I would really like to get a distinction in it.  Oral notices for Biomolec will go up on the 27th so if I see me number listed, I know I have an oral for the distinction mark.

Today I had my food/farm animal husbandry practical, again covering all the material from the last two years.  I was scheduled to have my oral at 11:45 so I caught the minibus up to Cochno at 10:40, my appointed time, and had a while to sit on the grass in the sun and revise the material with my friend Jen.  It is a beautiful day and that got the oral off to a good start.  In the twenty minutes I had with Dr Cameron, he asked me questions on dairy, beef, nutrition, pigs, sheep, and genetics.  The questions started out easy, but pretty soon he was asking some tough stuff.  They really try to find out what is your overall level of knowledge and tailor the questions to your answers.  I couldn't believe how relaxed I felt answering questions on bovine ketosis and how much silage to feed a dairy cow, etc.  I really have come a long way in regards to general farm knowledge. After I was finished, Dr Cameron said I did well, so let’s hope the essays go as well when I take the written portion in two weeks time.

The companion animal practical on Wednesday was a bit of a joke.  I had to ID ten dog and cat breeds, ID ten horse colours, age four horses based on photos of their teeth, and analyse some cat food.  It only counts for 10% of our final mark, but every bit helps.

As for non-school news, I have found a place to live next year.  It’s a semi-detached house in an area called Jordanhill that is primarily residential with a very nice feel.  The house has four bedrooms, a lounge, large kitchen, storage room, and dinette and although it needs a bit of work, I think we (I’ll be sharing with two other American vet student; Tiff and Jen) can make it a very nice home for the next three years.  It is going to be repainted and redecorated before we move in and I will probably get a bit of my own furniture to replace the old stuff that is there now.  There is also a huge garden (i.e. backyard) with lots of grass and rosebushes.  The garden is completely hedged in so it's very private and inviting.  The landlord (a really sweet old Irish guy) is willing to give us half rent for July and Aug since we won't be able to move in till September.  He has had four vet girls living there for the last three years and is very keen to get the same for another three years.

After my exam today, Tiff and I went down to check out the park that is just a few blocks from our new flat.  We sat in the sun by the side of the pond and studied physiology for a couple of hours.  The park is huge with beautifully maintained flowerbeds and lawns.  I can see us spending quite a bit of time studying there next spring.  After studying for a while, we decided to take a study break and walked over to an ice cream van in the park.  Looking at the menu we had no idea what things were (such as oysters? from an ice cream van?) so I had to ask the guy what everything was and he must have thought I came from another planet.  I'm sure everyone here knows these things from the time they are two.  In the end I bought a wafer, which was two very thin wafers with marshmallow in between dipped in chocolate, topped with soft serve vanilla ice cream, another thin wafer, and drizzled with raspberry syrup.  Absolutely impossible to eat, but very nice!  And now I don't have to look like an idiot next time I want to order ice cream in a park.

Well, it’s time I get back to physiology. The exams are next Wednesday and Thursday I have a lot to cover before then. I’m also working all day tomorrow at the bakery, which eats up a lot of study time.

God bless,
Rebecca