After spending the better part of the weekend in the basement of the veterinary school, going over my notes again and again, it's all just about over. Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal for the class of 2005's graduation. Tomorrow is also the official start of my last year of veterinary school. Even though I will not be on a rotation tomorrow with the majority of my classmates, my time has finally arrived. In fact, while some of them are celebrating the fact that "it's over," I'm still one final away from being totally finished. My only course on main campus has a final tomorrow morning at 7:30. By 9:00 a.m., I should most certainly be able to definitively call myself a "VM4."
It's very obvious that it's finals week. All of my bad habits are coming out. The fingernail polish that I had put on last Friday is slowly being chipped away in places. When I'm nervous or frustrated, I pick at my fingernail polish. I noticed myself doing it while thinking about a particular gross specimen on the pathology exam yesterday. It's not as if picking at the polish will make the answer suddenly appear in a bubble above my head like a cartoon character. But for whatever reason, it makes me feel better, I guess. The tube of GAP chapstick that I adore has been getting a lot of use this week too. Another bad habit, under the same circumstances, is that I bite my lips. And I probably bite them more now, with the taste of vanilla chapstick. Maybe if I lose the chapstick, it'll happen less. It's a theory.
I don't know where I picked up either of these bad habits; I don't remember being doing either in undergrad during finals. Veterinary school is obviously more stressful. Blame it on five tests in five days. Blame it on nights of fitful sleep and differential diagnoses swimming through my subconsciousness. On the positive side, though, I've had very little caffeine this week. I think I've been able to stay awake just on pure anxiety. It's not the tests themselves that make me anxious, but just the entire week. By this time tomorrow, I'll be much more relaxed.
And that relaxation will continue. I'll spend the next week relaxing, catching up on some reading, and packing. And of course, I'll be voting daily for both Jealousy Curve (Philadelphia) and the Jeff Johnson Band (Memphis) in the Zippo Hot Tour. You should vote too, after, of course, you've listened to the amazing sounds of either band - both totally different.
There's actually quite a bit of "stuff" to wrap up here in Ames before I head to the West Coast. That started today when I went to the bookstore at the college, and ordered some more scrubs. Adding to my traditional green, and several shades of blue, I purchased black and navy scrubs. I bought several little instruments: a needle holder, a curved hemostat, a plexor, suture and bandage scissors, and a penlight. After all, when buying cargo scrub pants, you'd better have something to fill all those pockets! My stethoscope has been hanging around the bar in my closet all semester; it's time to get that out again. I picked out a couple emergency medicine texts to add to my ever-growing collection, and ordered a neurology text. By the time I get to that rotation at the end of July, I want to be able to answer questions right in rounds!
And not that this has anything at all to do with finals week, fourth year, or studying, but this afternoon, I snapped this picture of Elly with my camera phone. Zeus (the roommate's cat) got some blog love earlier last week, so it's only fair to put in a picture of my own cat. This is her quintessential "princess" pose. All week, she's been crashing out on the bed long before I've been ready to sleep myself. Maybe tonight, we'll both get a decent night of sleep. Tomorrow, I won't physically feel any different, but anyone who has been in my same position knows: it's all different.
Here's to the last year...
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