December the 30th 2015.
It has been nothing short of an age since I managed to rise up the energy to write one of these blogs. Honestly, if a friend of mine hadn’t managed to win a prize to showcase her work… I may be still trying to file through reams of paperwork in an effort to get ready for the next year.
Dedicating so much needed time to this is important especially on the eve eve of New Years. I try to steer clear of the normal noise and hubbub of New Years day, I like to feel that an effort to work for goals starts the day you start, not so much on a occasion. I do see that it is a nice milestone to plot, especially when its a milestone that applies to everyone else to.
As the title of this piece suggests, it has been yet again another hugely frantic year. This is to not take away from the accomplishments, many of which I hadn’t envisioned in January… it is just for me to take some time to recap my progress.
I am coming to the end of a very successful and prosperous term as President of my Student Union. Between my VP and I, the year has taken its toll on us. Balancing management of a very module-full schedule and SU commitments its not been easy. Our contribution has been nigh on outstanding however, I am delighted by everything we have completed. Having never had any seminars organised, within a year, we as a team organised a trip to Slovakia to a 2 day conference on Animal Behaviour and also to THE biggest congress in Europe at London Vet Show. To be able to facilitate these educational forums for the students ranks as my personal highlight of my term. It fills me with so much happiness that as students that we were all able to share an event of this magnitude. I am yet to scratch down my notes from the lectures I did manage to attend so I need to spend a few days, reviewing, revising and recapping to ensure it nestles somewhere in my saturated brain! There is now a central veterinary resource for all students, as frankly I was tired of the normal scepticism with sharing useful notes with peers. I wanted to promote a mindset that if we all open and have access to everything, we should all stand a better chance of covering more than previous. The response was and continues to be well received. I can’t quite thank the education reps for their hard work throwing together a resource so useful in such a short curtailed period of time.
Personally, I managed to write two of my favourite pieces so far for London Vet Show, one on feminism or the lack of feminist driven sentiment from male circles as well as the community as a whole. The second ended up on a newspaper for London Vet Shows, in which I aimed to drive home some large chasms with regards to ethnic/cultural diversity and veterinary medicine. As a mixed ethnicity vet student and how I am actively interested to hear the issues and problems from all marginalised demographics, I felt a social responsibility to comment. To be able to add my spin and opinion on the debate has had a profound affect on my relationship with women and diversity with the community. My hope is that others who read them, ended up echoing my same feelings. It is evident to me at least, more needs to be said regarding both issues (among others)
My summer placements meant a return to the charity clinics in Birmingham, one of which has a brand spanking new set of premises. By some stroke of luck, due to the changes, the staffing system was still a little stiff and resulted in me filling in as a “veterinary nurse/practicing vet student”. Off-guard and a little trepid, I managed to trawl through client after client and learn on the job. It was arguably the best extended experience as a vet student. Quantifying how much I learnt is not really possible. I was opened up to having my own consultations again, my own consult room, my own access into the system… a full-on but huge experience for me. 8-5 is not an easy shift at all! Especially when you mind is set at 110% in fear you might miss out an important detail. Practice makes perfect.especially in a high intensity clinic. I will do my best however to go back and take full advantage (can’t beat fancy new theatres). Oh… and I castrated my first dogs. I managed to cut too deep on my inguinal cuts and ended up making it an open castration but the experience was fantastic. My hands were more akin to a chronic alcoholic, I should really work on my adrenalin levels during surgery… again.. probably from practice.
BSAVA Congress was amazing. Need I say more… I have downloaded a bunch of audio lectures and desperately need to recap. I hope the lectures from BSAVA are still up on their website!
Exam wise, I still am yet to fail any finals/exams. The large majority of my grades remain to hit the top marks but since first year, I try not to take too much notice… I need to be proficient the day an animal needs my help not whether I got top marks in Genetics etc.
I started vlogging a bit more frequently however with all the other commitments, it had to be shelved momentarily to tie up some other loose ends… but it is coming back, I have a few topics which I do want to cover over course of next year. I am working to get that going sooner rather than later.
Another real personal achievement of mine was to have so many people call me an inspiration this year. It sounds cliché but to have had that from strangers at my time at the clinics, the vet shows, online, in person… the sense of pride in myself for what I have managed to achieve motivates me more than anything else. I met some fantastic people this year, made some exciting connections and I know it will continue in this fashion as long as I keep going and creating.
As for 2016, it could potentially be the biggest year yet, I have my thesis to get stuck in to and by all means, I aim to make it my total priority academically alongside “internal diseases” exams I have in Ruminants, Equine and starting in Small Animal. Veterinary Medicine has just got a whole lot more interesting in such a short period of time, so now it really is time to knuckle down and focus.
Busy busy busy…
Dready Vet 