My schedule lately has been wake up, go on farm calls, have some lunch, go on farm calls, go home, study for NAVLE, talk to Danny and go to bed. Out of all of my internal rotations, I think my current rotation (farm services) has been the most difficult. It's physically challenging (I'm short and cow butts are tall, cows are big and not always the smartest creatures on the earth and flail around dangerously on the reg and retracting uteruses is tough), intellectually challenging (there are approximately five thousand and forty-seven ways to get a cow ready to breed; also, please remember all of reproduction) and we're outside in the frigid arctic temperatures of a premature Canadian winter. That all being said, I'm learning a lot, loving the people and generally having a good time.


The rest of my life is kind of meh right now. NAVLE studying is boring yet necessary. I need to finalize my clinical conference paper to submit this weekend. I should start getting my apartment ready to be packed up because, oh yeah, I'M MOVING HOME NEXT WEEKEND :) I've also been getting the cold shoulder from residency programs, panicking about my future and worrying that I'll never get to do lab animal medicine. But that's kind of another story all together and I know I need to be a little more patient. So I guess in a few weeks time I'll either have a post about having an interview or I'll be further into my identity crisis. Stay tuned.

I like to do blog make overs at the changing of the seasons; as my little corner of Canada got a dusting of snow last night, I figured it was finally time to surrender to the idea that winter is indeed coming.

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want to do when I get home for good in 11(!!!) days. It feels like I have so much I need to do for vet-related stuff - finalizing my last two externals, taking boards, hopefully attending a residency interview or two, etc - but I want to do some stuff that I'm excited out, unrelated to school or my career. So here's my breakdown:

1) Food. My dad is a phenomenal cook, and I look forward to getting back into my parents' kitchen after six months of very, very limited kitchen supplies. They have a ton of room, a huge gas range, lots of useful gadgets and a dishwasher! I can't wait to make all kinds of things, from pecan pie to mashed potatoes to huge salads. I also want to go to all of the restaurants that I've been missing all this time: Chipotle, ChikFilA, Fuddruckers, any and all Mexican food places, Roti, Buca Di Beppo, etc etc etc.

2) Friends. I have so many wonderful friends back home that I haven't seen in six months! I have a couple of holiday parties I'm planning to attend, but I also just want to go catch up with these people.

3) Activities. Every year, my mom, sister and I go and paint Christmas ornaments. We've been doing it for years and whenever Danny and I get our own place, I know I'll take mine with me. Danny and I also go to the National Christmas Tree every year - it's just blocks from where he works and it's nice to walk downtown with him even if it's usually cold. I don't know what we'll do if we move away :( But I'm also planning some fun other activities, like going to see certain movies, maybe a hockey game, a couple of museums, etc.

After so long away from home, the last week or two before leaving always seems to drag for me. It doesn't help that this is the last time I'll be away from my husband for the rest of our lives! I get more and more antsy to start moving on - find a job/residency, find a place to live, start digging in for the long haul...all that fun stuff. Running on my last reserves of patience, but I just have to keep going!

This week was an epidemiology rotation and I can say with full confidence that it has been my least favorite rotation by a very long shot. I suppose I should mention that math isn't one of my favorite things, I resent busy work at this stage in my academic career and long drawn out Powerpoint presentations that talk far too much about little details of the regulatory government are not the best medium for keeping my attention; perhaps this rotation was destined to fail from the beginning. You would think disease outbreak and detective work and all that jazz should be exciting and engaging but in this context...no. So suffice to say I'm glad to put this one in the books.

Also this week, I presented my clinical conference case on Wednesday! Also glad to have it behind me, although I think the presentation went well despite the er, unpolished handling of certain questions afterward. I still have to polish my paper for the end of November and submit it for a grade, but my case advisor is encouraging me to publish it too, so I'll have some extra coordinating to do. Exciting, though!

Last but certainly not least, my match application is due on Sunday - ack. I had all of my materials save letters of recommendation in for a while and waiting on other people to contribute their pieces is nerve-wracking and terrible, per usual. It's a bit like applying to vet school, and I have faith that all will be sent in on time, but until I know that it's in on time for sure, I'm going to stress. Which is why I asked them to submit by today, so I don't have to fret all weekend about whether or not all my stuff is in. Instead, I will fret about possible upcoming preliminary phone interviews and whether or not I'll miss a call while I'm out at farms next week for my next rotation.

We finished early today, so I'm sitting at home in my sweatpants on the couch while it rains outside, working on my NAVLE prep. That's in less than a month, but I've made decent progress on my prep materials and I'm feeling...okay. Not confident but not panicked - yet.