August 15. The first day of class it rained non-stop and was overcast all day. I felt defeated. August is supposed to be hot and sunny, right? But I've learned anything is possible with Ithaca weather.
This week I did almost no schoolwork. But I did work in radiology, about ten hours total; volunteered on the Pet Loss Support Hotline about another ten hours; had a long doctor's appointment for myself; took Simon into the Community Practice Service run by the fourth year students because he was itching his right ear (he has an angry area of erythema but otherwise looks fine, I'm going to recheck him within the week).
I did finally get around to doing some work today and this evening called one of my classmates to discuss how woefully behind I am.
Me: I haven't gotten through even the first equine lecture on anemia.
Classmate: I haven't read those lectures. I think I'm going to just study them when I'm on my large animal medicine rotation, the exam questions won't be that detailed.
Me: What lectures? I don't know what you are talking about!
As it turns out, we were talking about the same set of lectures! Our professor gave us some lengthy handouts that far exceeded the level of detail she gave in her powerpoint presentation in class. I had somehow forgotten this and was studying the detailed handouts rather than the powerpoints (which we never got and weren't intially up on the website). Oops. The handouts are interesting, but I was finding them quite onerous to get through in a timely manner so feel relieved to find out that my classmate jettisoned reading them altogether.
This is one of the nice things about being a third year-- you have more confidence in your study habits, after all it got you this far. I think all of us feel far more comfortable being selective in what material we study. However, in the beginning I studied everything because I thought I wasn't smart enough to be in vet school. It was only after talking to my classmates later that first year that I realized many of us assumed that the admissions committee had let us in by mistake (never the case in vet school).
*
late summer
the night air is a perfect temperature
she luxuriates in the feel of air against bare legs,
bare arms
caressing her skin, enveloping her
she turns her face into the breeze
then winces
with its underlying iciness
goosebumps rising
late summer in ithaca
the betrayal foreshadowed
denial is her friend
but she can no longer pretend
this summer will last forever
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