Kicking the Tail

I have just finished my first week of vet school…and lived. It’s exactly what I thought it would be….demanding However, I also am smart enough to know that if I had tried this 13 years ago straight out of undergrad I would have epically failed. My teaching background has not only prepared me for basic fundamental concepts, but for time management and stress. Kudos to the 21 year olds in my class; they probably will surpass me in grades and I can’t say enough positive things about them. They are way ahead of where I was at their age. I also was worried about not fitting in with them, but I have found that not to be the case. I even have an officer position in the class of 2013! J

For the first few weeks, we have three core classes, Histology, Molecular Biology, and Anatomy. Is it wrong that I am excited about Histology? I have been teaching the function of the kidney, and its little functional units (nephrons) for almost a decade, but I have never seen pieces of nephrons under the microscope. As I sit anxiously in Histology, we look at a kidney section under the microscope. I light up like a Christmas tree… and this is not an exaggeration. I am grinning from ear to ear. So much so, that I feel my classmates think I’m a lunatic. It was awesome and spiritual. To see a deeper level of what I already know was exhilarating. The light bulb in my head definitely went off. This was definitely nothing short of amazing for me.

Molecular Biology has been fine this week. Everything we have done so far I have taught, except for some minor deeper details. I’m sure this week will be deeper. Anatomy is going to kill me if I let it, if I get behind. Fortunately, because of my background, I have been able to dedicate all study time to anatomy. After one week, I can successfully name all 37 muscles of the forelimb, identify them, tell you where they originate, where they insert, and what they do. If you had told me a week ago I would be successful at this, I would think you were probably smoking several illegal drugs. If I slip, anatomy will kick my in the a**; for this I am sure.

I have never mentally worked so hard in one week as I have this past one. The funny thing is I feel like I am in my niche; I feel like am ‘home’. I am right where I need to be at this point in my life. I do not want the next 4 years to fly by. I want to struggle, persevere, and embrace them. I kept telling my 16-18 year old students to go out and conquer the world, and go after their dream. I wanted to inspire them to go be bigger than they could imagine. I felt like I had lost my dream, and I wanted to make darn sure that they didn’t miss theirs. And when I least expected it, they inspired me to go out and get mine. So here I am going after my lifelong dream, and I owe part of this to the kids that I wanted to impact. We inspired each other, and that truly was unexpected. So much so, that a former AP Biology student of mine is now my classmate. I am honored.

I am so hungry to learn, and can’t wait for more….even if anatomy kicks my tail.