Bad bad bad bad bad!

I'm so sorry everyone for not posting for the past month and a half!! I've just been preoccupied with doing other things that I always forget to post!!
Since my last post, the following things occurred:
1) Halloween - I dressed up like a leopard!
Here's a picture:
I had a lot of fun putting on the makeup and this picture was actually taken after we came back from the vet halloween party because I forgot to bring my camera out with me!
I brought the ears from home and the makeup was done mostly with the eyes. Used gold eye shadow all the way to the brow, then made ( ) shapes with my black eyeliner and filled the space inside of each one with some brown eye shadow. It was so much fun to put on and I didn't even recognize myself in the mirror afterwards. I bought these knee high black socks from the store across the street and got a thumb and finger hole in each, £2 definitely cheaper than the >£4 black gloves at the costume store!

2) More school....
We were still learning parasitology, bacteriology, virology, immunology and inflammation and it was pretty boring. There wasn`t any animal handling and just boring animal welfare classes. I mean, even though the animal welfare classes are extremely important and we need to learn about taking care of animals and such, I couldn`t stand some of the classes. One of them for lambing was just a guy talking about how he charges farmers and nothing to do with lambing or husbandry! We also didn`t get to do any dissections or any type of live animal stuff since none of the topics covered dealt with that. We did however get to play with sheep poo and learnt how to separate the cysts and oocysts from the faeces. There were many types found fyi. Parasitology was one of the more interesting topics but definitely not the greatest topic to have a lecture on before lunch. Especially when pictures are shown of chick guts with coccidiosis or sheep with scabies!

3) Exams!!!! :O :O :O
We just wrote them a week ago and it was one of the most stressful exams of my entire life! I definitely didn`t write as much as I should have and I definitely didn`t do as well as I should have. Usually I have a good sense of relief when I finish writing an essay but instead of it I had a sense of regret. I can only hope that I wrote enough for 50% which is what I need to pass this module! If not, I'll be back in August to resit it. This I don't mind as much because I'll know exactly what they will be asking and I will definitely be more prepared for it!

4) London trip with Kyle
This was our first ever trip together and we left the day my exams ended. We had an amazing time but it was a lot more costly than I thought. The hotel was expensive to begin with and the room was very small. It had everything in it but there wasn't any room to walk around. On the plus side, we did have a tv and I hadnt watched much television at all since August. Stayed for four days and three nights and tried to see as much as we could. We ended up seeing most of the major tourist attractions but we're planning on going back again next year to see the things we missed such as the London Tower, St. Paul's cathedral (the inside of it) and catch a broadway show.
Here's a picture of us by the Tower Bridge:














5) Start of class again...
We started our new module, all about the body systems! There is a lot of information given to us in a very short amount of time, and I promised myself that I would stay on top of it, or at least not fall too far behind on studying on the notes. Hopefully the exam for it will go better than for my last module!

6) GEP pub crawl
It just happened tonight and we tried to organize the entire GEP class to come out for a pub crawl. It was a fantastic evening and I definitely wanted to stay out except I started feeling a little under the weather and I don't want to risk getting sick at a sweaty club with a suppressed immune system so close to going home. We had a great time and before the pub crawl started, a few of us went to the German market up by Princes street (the main shopping street). I might go back there during the week to buy some gifts because there were some amazing stalls there with some amazing gifts. There was also a lot of food...and I have to admit that I did eat a lot! I had a crepe with banana, cinnamon and sugar; a giant pretzel, half an apple strudel, and half a bratwurst.

7) Excited to go home!!
Leaving for Toronto on the 20th of December and I couldn't be more excited! I still have to go christmas shopping but seriously, I'm more excited to see my family and friends! I miss everybody a lot back home and I just want to go home and see snow! Definitely bringing back my snowpants and ski jacket in case there's a chance to go skiing while I'm back.

Hopefully I'll post again sooner!!!

Second Term

Hey everyone!
It's been a while since I posted...and I really don't have an excuse why other than I've been really lazy and decided to sleep or watch a movie instead of post! I know it's bad but it's hard to update when I don't feel as though new stuff has really happened!
I did however buy a new printer with Kyle a couple of weeks ago. It's our first big purchase together! It's a Dell Colour Laser Printer and it's humungous!! But it's actually pretty small for a colour laser printer so I'll take it! :) Hopefully it'll last for at least the rest of my time here in Scotland because I spent waaaay too much money on it.
Speaking of spending a lot of money, I'm also planning on going to London in November. The Association of Veterinary Students has a "Vet Olympics" every year and this year is in London. It costs £95 but I think it's worth the money since it includes accommodations, food, travel there and back, and food! I checked how much the bus ride down was going to be and it's going to take 8 hours!!! Wow...my legs are going to feel like jello by the end of that ride! I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully I'll have a chance to see my aunt there.

Other than that, we've covered immunology, inflammation AND parisitology and I really need to get studying on that!

Ok need to update a little more!!

I apologize for not being able to update as frequently as I hoped but it's been quite a hectic month!
First off, I moved into my new residence, Sciennes, and it is right across the street from Summerhall, which is the vet building. This basically means I don't have to wake up for 9 am class until 8:55 am! I was put into a dorm with 3 other girls, 2 of them being freshers (17/18 year olds) and I wasn't too pleased at first. I wanted to live in a co-ed dorm because living with 3 other girls can become a bitch-fest really fast and I also wanted to live with people in my own program. Luckily, a fresher girl that was living in a flat across the road (still Sciennes apartments) wanted to move out of a flat with 3 guys my age and 2 of them were in my program. She contacted me and we swapped flats the next day. I couldn't be more happy because the week afterwards we had our first essay assignment due. And the week after that (which was last week) we had our exams for our first Animal Body Module I.
Did you notice how I said examS? Yea...3 days, 3 different types of tests. Wednesday was the practical, so a bell ringer. Thursday, written short and long essay questions. Friday, oral examination. Because of all of that, I barely left the flat and basically studied in the kitchen...which was fine because everybody else in my flat was basically studying too!
Me and 4 girlfriends decided to head out to Dublin for the weekend after our exams were done, and I was SO glad. It was my first vacation without my family and not with a tour group. I went to most of the historical landmarks and got a view of the night scene as well. Everything was expensive and I had stop thinking in converting money back to Canadian dollars because I wouldn't buy anything and probably starve to death.
We just had our first official day of class during the normal term. Learnt about cows and their different cuts of meat.

I love steak.

Studying in the Library

I haven't posted for a while, but basically everybody knows what I've been up to ----> STUDYING. While everyone else *cough* dragon boat team! *cough* have been going to Wonderland, the ROM, rock climbing....I've been here, in Edinburgh, studying my butt off. To be honest though, I have been slacking just a little, the internet speed is sooo fast here that I can't help but download movies in 10 minutes! Good quality movies too I might add. So far, I'm caught up on season 2 of True Blood (absolutely addicted to the show/Alexander Skarsgard), watched Get Smart (Steve Carrell, the Rock, Anne Hatheway) and watched Liam Neeson kick serious ass in Taken. Who knew Aslan could be so ruthless?
Anyways, here's a picture of the library I'm studying in right now. It's called the Main Library and is the biggest library of all U of Edinburgh libraries. It's huge!! I'm on the 5th floor and the lighting is amazing (very opposite of Thode I have to say!). I've gotten so much work done today in the past 2 hours than I had in the past 2 days because I came to the library. Therefore, the lesson I learnt today is to not study at home, and get my ass outside to the library.
Ok, time to get back to the skull. I'm almost done my outline!! Yay!!! :D

Student life

My anatomy haiku:

Everything hits me,
Bulldozing into my brain,
Anatomy....wow.

Deep, I know hahaha. Most of my anatomy practicals so far have been really intense and there is SO much information. We already have our first exam after Freshers Week (3rd week of September) and even though I'm studying and making notes, I don't feel like I'm really truly absorbing anything. Anyways, here's a picture of what I look at in the lab, they are prosected specimens so we haven't done any dissecting ourselves.Pretty awesome eh? This one is focusing on the extrinsic muscles of the tongue.

Other than that, a bunch of us went out Friday and Saturday night and I have to say that it was a LOT of fun. I usually don't get the chance to go out and dance and drink with people since Kyle's not a big fan of it. Also, I think jagerbombs are our staple drink now. Last night, we went out to a gay bar (Eddie, our token gay friend, had an excellent time btw) and the music was actually really good! It was nice not getting noticed and just being to dance like a crazy person. And the guys know what it feels like for girls in a straight club now :P. But yea, no more deets on that ok? hahaha

Anyways, I'm still trying to finish my EMS forms by the end of August and they are so time consuming!! None of the questions are specifically difficult to answer but each document has about 13-17 pages worth of questions. Bluh....

Gooooo school!

First anatomy class was last Thursday and I have to admit...it was like being hit with a giant anatomy MAC truck in the brain...up the nose, through every head orifice really. It was on the forelimb which I pretty much know but the professor, who was originally from Russia, talked a little too fast and put way too much information on his slides. He kept saying, "Don't worry, I'll touch on this later" which would make me feel a little relieved because I thought he would go over it in more detail later. And then after some more slides he would say, "so I already touched on that so we won't go into too much detail here...". WHAT?! Did I miss something? Anyways, I know now that I have a LOT of studying to do before classes and after and I should stop going out...
Speaking of going out...
....
....
I now know what it feels like to go clubbing until 6 am in the morning. It was definitely an interesting and sweaty experience but we were a big group and we stayed safe together. Didn't wake up until 2 pm today because of it but I was at least smart enough to put up my "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door. I forgot the night before and they ended up knocking on my door at 9 am. NINE!!!!! AM!!!!!! On a SATURDAY!!!! Ah well, good times to be had by all. For now on though I'm going to calm down a lot more with the going out and start getting my act together. I AM in school and I SHOULD be studying all the time right? Right?!
Other than that, went shopping for the first time yesterday with Graeme (my TO buddy!) and we both bought pashminas...not matching but pretty close. And then went to the Chinese store and bought myself instant noodles :)...just a little piece of home in Edinburgh heehee....

Anyways, off to finish my forelimb notes...*sigh*

Edinburgh

Hey everyone!!
I've had an amazing time in my first week in Edinburgh and I have to say that I think I'm really going to like it here. I was worried about the packing but now that I'm here, it's really amazing that I'm going to see all these beautiful buildings and castles for FOUR years!!! I'll be posting pictures on facebook soon but currently I can't log onto the internet with my own laptop.
This week, I was able to spend time with my family and walk around to most of Edinburgh's major landmarks, most notably being the Edinburgh Castle which is situations at the top of a dormant volcano, and Holyrood Palace; which is where the Queen and the royal family stay when they are in Scotland. I basically did a lot of walking this week and am now moved into my August accommodations in Pollock Halls.
Tonight, I went out with some of my fellow GEP-ers and I couldn't have been happier. I got to chat it up with many of them and get to know a few of them better than before. Currently, our class size is 68!! Which is a lot, and although people have been saying it will be like high school again (with the same people in all of your classes), cliques will form. Although I don't want this to happen, I have a feeling it will just because people have different personalities and some just don't fit well with others. I learnt that when I went to Australia for volunteering that i was able to make conversations and be more comfortable around some than others (although everyone was very nice!).
School starts on Monday with matriculation, which apparently doesn't involve some fancy ceremony but instead is all of the students lining up, paying our ridiculous sums of money and then jetted off to introductions and tours of the campus. Hopefully I'll be able to meet some more of my fellow students then and maybe (probably not though) size them up!!

Please comment!

Leaving VERY soon!! (In about 7 hours)

So I finished packing everything...I think. The end result is 5 checked in luggages and then 1 small luggage for carryon plus respective backpacks and purses from the rest of my family. I am so glad and appreciative that they are coming with me because without them, I would've had to buy almost everything over there and be even MORE ruthless about what to bring. The things that I've learnt from packing for school overseas is:

1. Weight and not size is the real concern when packing
2. Vacuum bags are only as good as when they are not torn by accident! (Had a clothes explosion last night)
3. Having family that loves you is totally awesome and makes you homesick even before you leave the country
   
4. Giant winter coats and thick sweaters take up the most room even when vacuum packed
   
5. Truly appreciate all of the great friends you have when you are leaving
   

Want to thank everyone again for saying goodbye to me at bubbletea on Thursday and especially to Wilter for coming to my house at like 12:30 in the morning on Saturday just to give me back my sunglasses! I hope you like the rockstar beagle!! It's a gift from the master of the watergun carnival game to the apprentice hahaha.
My flight is around 6:15 pm today and I should arrive Glasgow, Scotland at 9 am August 2nd. Gah, an entire day gone!!!!

Please keep in touch and hopefully you'll be reading my blog as I try to document how I'm crazy about going into veterinary medicine. I swear I'll try to post some more pics on facebook as well as on here if they are truly awesome pictures. I'll post my new cell # as well when I get one and hopefully I'll be able to skype with you guys when we're somehow both on the internet at the same time!! *Note* I'm going to be 6 hours ahead!! *End Note**

Good bye Canada!! You've been really good to me and now I'm going to walk into rain..lots and lots of rain!!

xoxo
Barb

Leaving on a Jet Plane (soon)

Time has somehow dwindled down to less than 2 weeks before I head across the pond. I've been able to get so much done this summer that I feel ready to go. One more time to hang out with everyone this Saturday (my LAST Saturday in Canada!!) and then I'll have to start packing.
I haven't been able to update people on my dairy goat farm experience but I'm sure most of you have seen my pictures on facebook. It was an amazing experience and I'm really sad that I was only there for a week. The goats were all very hilarious and the family were really REALLY nice to me. I was able to follow a large animal vet around for an entire day and somehow I got really lucky and was able to experience a very exaggerated typical day. Dr. Jenny Kungl was the vet I followed around, and she is definitely a vet I would trust my animals to. She knows her stuff and is so friendly and outgoing to all of her patients. I was able to watch her perform 2 twisted stomach surgeries, and was even able to stick my hand into the cow!!! I mean, not in the butt section, but through the incision that was made perilumbar on the right hand side. She injected lidocaine into 3 different nerves that branched off from the spinal cord and *shwing!* it was open. When I stuck my hand into the cow's abdomen, I thought that I would have a good idea of where everything was..except everything felt the same!!!!!!! Man, I'm going to fail SO BAD when I start vet school. The 2nd twisted stomach surgery, I felt the omasum and it was rock hard, it should have been like a stress ball, solid but still squishy. I felt like I was touching a basketball (with all of the little grippy things) with a thin slimy membrane over it. This meant that even if we fixed the twisted stomach, the cow would have still had the same eating problems and would have had a painful death (unable to digest). The owner was not too happy (although he was VERY nice to me!) and said, "oh well, that's too bad. I'll just call my friend to come in the morning to shoot her". In my head I made the D: face! I realized just how different the owners/patients are between large animal and small animal situations. Large animal, being mostly cows, horses, pigs, are part of the owner (aka farmer, usually) income and they don't usually see them as anything other than that. Compare that to the small animal, where a tiny little punting dog was adored by her owner, and she would do anything to fix this dog, no matter what the trouble was and no matter how much it cost.
I still haven't decided whether to practice in the large or small animal category yet, but now that my doctor told me I have a mild case of asthma, I might opt not to be too near hay and other dusty allergens too much. Yea, I know what you're thinking, "you have asthma, and you want to be a vet?!". Definitely is a tough choice for me, but I have always liked challenges and this will be the biggest one of all. I know I'm not allergic to dogs or cats (I volunteered in a small animal clinic for an entire year without problems) and it was after working at the goat farm that I started having breathing problems. However, I don't know if it's the hay or the poop or the combination because I've been around horses in Kyle's reserve and I didn't have ANY problems. Oh well, I guess I won't be able to avoid what I'm sensitive to until I finally run into it. I'm currently reading "Tell Me Where It Hurts" by Dr. Nick Trout and it makes me feel a little bit better that even a veterinary surgeon who wrote a book had an allergy to something.
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In other news, I went and bought vaccuum space bags today. Their not the ones we've seen on tv and I don't know if they'll work the same either...oh well, I'm excited to try them out later this week! Wait...is it a bad thing that I'm excited by a vaccuum sucking out all of the air from a bag?! Lol, I need to get out more.
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Went to Kyle's cottage this past weekend and although it was pretty miserable on the Saturday, the Sunday was amazing! We went tubing, went to Killarney to have some famous fish and chips, and got to spend some extra time with the guy I love. I just wished my dad had some more trust in me and wasn't so worried about me driving at night. He was pretty peeved when I saw him back at home. Oh well, there's not much more I can do other than shut up and take it. I know I didn't do anything wrong so there's no point arguing with someone else about it.

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Dragon boat practice this Wednesday! Ahh!! I can't believe I'm going to be able to be on a dragon boat ONE more time before I leave! Good luck to McMaster at the Montreal Regatta! You guys are going to be awesome! :D

Update on my life

Say whaaaat?! It's July already? How can this be? You mean I am going to be in Scotland in exactly one month?! Who am I asking these questions to? I have no idea......

Anyways, loads has been happening to me in the past couple of weeks since my last update, here it is as simplified as I can be because my fingers can't go as fast as my brain:

• Mac raced amazing at TIDBRF. Mac-Attack came in 1st in their heat, Mac-Row-Ni came in 4th in their heat, and Mac-Row came in 3rd in their heat as well as 3rd in our University finals. Let it be known though that for all of the Mac teams in the Premier Mixed Divisions, we were seeded 4th-6th which meant no one was expecting us to win any medals...we showed them didn't we? Mac-Row-Ni came in 4th which is a HUGE accomplishment because all 3 of our teams came in under 2:20 this year and we have more than 45 new paddlers this year. Thanks to everyone who came out to support us, we feed off the cheering and yelling from the sidelines. And PETER GEORGE came to cheer us on!! Holy crap! That definitely hyped up the crowd.
  The funny thing is that for Mac-Attack we were lane 6 while PA da Pirates were Lane 5. Oh wait..that sounds a little familiar doesn't it? Very similar (or should I say exactly the same) as at Milton Regatta when I rammed them and "Tim was hanging on for dear life" (quoted from the PA website). Whatever, we smoked them. They came in 4th we came in 1st so good job but I learnt how to steer...beat us now! Muahahahaha!!! The announcer even said it was a major upset when Mac Attack won...we got 2:14!!!! Best time McMaster has ever gotten since the dragon boat team was created back in 2002.
  
• Mac End of Year Party was held at my house. Had so much fun but it was definitely draining to host a party. Didn't get to play Rock Band 2 at all but now I know that the max volume for my tv is 89. Had a lot of BBQ food that is now overflowing in my basement freezer. Thanks to everyone who brought food! It was SO delicious!!! And who brought the cloudy jar of pickles? Is it still edible? My mom is afraid of it.
  
• Went up to visit Kyle in Sudbury for 5 days..definitely not enough time. Just came back tonight and I miss him already. It rained on and off so we didn't get to go outside much. We did play 9 holes of golf and I wish we did 18 now but I was so scared it was going to thunderstorm that I didn't want to risk a raincheck. I lost 2 balls in the bushes but Kyle found me 2 other ones. This really nice orange one that I didn't want to lose, even when it went into the water. I hung on to grass and reached to grab it when it fell in. My hand was definitely a different colour when I brought it out of the water...ew.
  
• My visa has been accepted! So now I just have to wait for the WorldBridge organization in TO to give me an e-mail so I can go pick it up! I'm so happy that I got it done, I was really worried I didn't have the right documentation. Definitely nerve racking. I met some more GEP students on the Facebook group and I'm glad to meet people who are going through the same things as me. Although I just got an e-mail from accommodations people asking what I needed for my residence since I apparently have a disability. I have no idea why they have that on my application. I would remember if I checked off that question for sure!! Anyways, hopefully I don't get stuck into a res that is far away from all the other GEP students. I definitely want to mingle more with people next year and have some good study mates :).
  
• Going off to a farm for volunteering from the 4th to the 12th. I'm really excited but and hopefully I'll get to learn a lot while I'm over there. Which reminds me that I still have to fill out those EMS forms to hand in...*sigh* Time seems to be going so much faster than it was back in May...
  

Getting busy again...

So although dragon boat is slowing winding down (our last regatta is this weekend!) my week has been really busy. I finally got my visa letter from U of Edinburgh in the mail last Friday and have been working really hard on my visa application. There are so many forms that basically ask the same questions, and I have no idea whether or not I have to fill all of them out. There's an online application that I have to do, plus an Appendix and Personal details form from the UK Border Agency website. The online application cost $261.00!!!!! My god, I really hope I did it right. I had to take new passport-sized photos for the application and when I go meet with the visa application people, I have to get biometrics completed which are fingerprints and another picture. I'm already cutting it really close and I hope that the queue for getting a student visa to the UK is very VERY short. It's supposed to take 6-8 weeks and I'm meeting with the application office this Thursday and leaving for Edinburgh August 1st. And I'm really glad McMaster didn't screw me over either. Luckily, I was going to Hamilton anyways this Wednesday in the afternoon for dragon boat practice at Bayfront Park (we get a free hour from Lively Dragons for registering for one of their regattas) and now I can just go earlier to pick up my transcript! And I'm lucky because I applied to pick up my transcript after convocation waaaay in advance (like back in May) so I was on the top of the pile. *Sigh* It's pretty stressful right now with the forms and hopefully I have everything filled out. It even said on the UK Border Agency website that the main reason people are turned away from getting a visa is due to insufficient documents so I have the originals and copies of EVERYTHING. I should probably dress nicer too so at least I look like a student about to study medicine and not a student bum.
Hopefully the meeting goes well!! Wish me luck :).

NIN|JA

Ok, amazing concert!! This tour is NIN's last tour ever! Or so they say...I'm really hoping they'll tour again in a couple of years, I didn't get to see Trent Reznor's crazy biceps last night, he kept his leather coat on all through the show. Kyle and I waited and stood around the front of Ontario Place in the most disorganized line ever (we ended up having to switch between 3 different lines...). But we eventually got to the front of the line and got to stand right by the gate for the whole show.

Opening band was Street Sweepers Social Club and they were amazing! I had no idea Tom Morello was in that band and he made the f'ing show! He rocked out after every song and during one of his solos, he played the same string on his electric guitar but just turned the tuning knob back and forth. And in another one, he played it with his teeth! AND in another solo, he unplugged his guitar and took the plug to his hand and made some crazy sounds. At one point, he told everyone to "stand the fuck up" and he points to the crowd, "you two girls, I see you, get the fuck up. hahaha, that girl just mouthed the words 'fuck you, i won't do what you tell me' ". GREAT STUFF!!! The rest of the band was amazing. They started with the Star Wars theme song and they call came out with coordinated clothing, same SSSC t-shirts and these crazy Beatles Yellow Submarine-like coats. I wish they played more.

When they finished, the crowd was getting pretty rowdy, we were all PUMPED. They went crazy with the fog machine and I'm pretty sure I inhaled more of that fog than air for most of the NIN set. They only played for an hour and a half and they finished with Hurt which was amazing. Trent was rocking out too hard and ended up falling on his ass but he made it look cool. He was throwing all of the equipment EVERYWHERE. The set guys were busy for the entire hour and a half picking stuff up from the floor, catching the mics that he keeps throwing, and lifting stands up and down to accommodate him. We were able to stand in front of Robin the entire time and he made mullets look cool. It was semi-busy in the front and dreadlock/mohawk in the back, pretty intense stuff right there.

After their set, Jane's Addiction came on but it definitely wasn't as rockin'. All of the songs sounded the same and I had no idea what the heck the lead singer was wearing...one of the pieces was a corset...wtf?Anyways, I don't really have much else to say about them, they were OK.

Overall, I thought the concert was great! I wish it was a little crazier, I wanted to be pushed around a little bit more and I was a little disappointed with the light show. There was a lot of strobe but it definitely wasn't like the big tv screens like their last tour. So I was a little disappointed that it wasn't crazy! Kyle thinks it's because of the mixed crowd, half being NIN fans and half being Jane's Addiction fans.

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In other news, the banners for Mac Dragon Boat are finished! They look super kickass and I can't wait for everyone to see them tomorrow at Pickering Regatta!! I just have to do some crude grommetting but other than that, it'll be super gnarly :). Also! I just found out I am now unconditional firm with U of Edinburgh which means I'm officially in their system and am a student for the new school term :).

Slowly spiraling into boredom

It's been about 3 weeks now since I moved back home and I am SOO bored! I just finished downloading some more DS games so hopefully they'll keep me entertained. The funny thing is, I have so much to do at home, like cleaning my room, organizing notes and textbooks, and even cleaning the house! But really, I'm not really motivated to do much of that. The big HD flat screen tv gets my attention every day unfortunately, and I'm slowly turning into a big couch potato. I did however get a membership to the YMCA and hopefully I'll get back to my ripped form (or rippier!) by the time I leave for Edinburgh.

Speaking of Edinburgh, my tickets have been booked. I am officially moving overseas on August 1st! It's a little earlier than I expected but I don't mind. We're apparently going through Thomas Cook airlines or airways and supposedly a really comfortable and affordable ride. Now I have to think about how much I can actually bring over since 20 kg is the max for each piece of luggage.

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Went to kareoke this Saturday, first time ever! I mean, what type of asian am I that I haven't gone to a creepy kareoke club until I was 21? Now that I think about it, it WAS a pretty creepy kareoke club. It was at Yonge and Finch called Twister Kareoke. There was only one entrance in and out and they actually went through our bags to look for any outside alcohol! Most of the rooms were in the basement (where there wasn't a fire exit) and we had to walk down this narrow mirrored hallway to get to our room. It literally reminded me of a brothel where you chose the room with the lady of your desire in it with some type of erotic theme. Anyways, I had a great time, sang some great songs and celebrated Tiff's birthday! Yay!! Also played Trauma Center for the first time on Wii, it's really addicting! I really wish there was a green liquid that would just increase vitals, and vitals was only represented by one number with no correlation with heart rate!

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Wish I went to visit Kyle this weekend. I had no reason not to. No dragon boat, and I only had a dentist appointment Saturday morning. :(. Oh well, will have to wait another 2 weeks then to see him! Miss him lots :(, it's so boring at home with no one to talk to (in person). Speaking of the dentist - damn! It was painful! I hadn't gone in such a long time that they had to use the special cleaning tool on me that hurt like a bitch. Every time that hook touched a nerve and I twinged, I thought to myself, " I deserved that for not going to a dentist ever in Hamilton." But now they're clean! and pretty! :D yay!!

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Dragon boat this Thursday! Pretty nervous, it's going to be our last practice before our first race at Milton and I really want us to fly through the water!! Hope everyone is as pumped as I am :).

Yes!

Got my mark back for anatomy, B+ baby!!!! Ok, so it's not the best mark but it's good enough! Now I have to play the waiting game until May 15th when I can actually pick up my transcript from the registrar. Ugh...damn you McMaster! I have to go ALL the way to Hamilton just for my transcript..booo, maybe I'll stay for a couple of days and hang around and do nothing...because I am very good at doing nothing. Also got news that the bat lab is going bat catching on May 20th, hopefully I can go! It's always great to see us nab some wild bats. It's hard to tell if they have rabies or not but when we caught the bats from the same farm last year, they were all rabies-free. So, on that day, I'll have something to do in Hamilton!

Haven't been doing too much the past couple of days except being really pumped for dragon boat today and starting to make my packing list for Edinburgh. Dragon boat was so amazing today! It was our first practice and even though it was a rough start due to lightening, we still got a solid hour in. I got to feel the boat move but I know that everyone can pull so much more! I'm really excited to see how we do next week when we work on starts and finishes!

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My mom told me today that my packing list isn't good enough. I have to stop thinking of packing for a vacation, and start packing for my life. I still can't believe I'm going to be living overseas for four years!!! That's a long time! And I keep forgetting that my friend Heidi will be in Glasgow in 2 years so we are totally going to hit up the town when she does teacher college there. Glasgow and Edinburgh are only an hour away from each other. So it's basically like the distance between Hamilton and Toronto, but greener and rollier hills!

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Went to bubble tea tonight too. How the heck does the chinese waitress hear green tea when I specifically said BLACK tea?! I mean, she even repeated my order back to me when she left. Those crazy chinese ears...

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Ok, I think everyone knows by this section of my writing that I don't really have a one-track mind. I went to go see Il Divo last Tuesday with Kyle and it was so amazing! They are sooooo talented! And a little bit sexy (Urs, you hottie you). We had floor seats so we were really close to the platforms they were walking on while performing. During their encore I got to go right up to the stage and shake their hands. They were really soft...definitely been manicured haha. At the same time , it was a little disturbing seeing how the majority of the audience were children, middle-aged women and seniors. Especially when one of the members asked the women to dance "sexily" during one of their faster songs. Also, Kyle was telling me that everyone who lined up to get coffee at Tim Hortons were men (including Kyle...). I wish that more people listened to classical and operatic music or even try to open up their minds to it. When I mention classical music to some of my friends, they automatically think "boring", and it's not true. The slightest change in the chords or notes changes the whole attitude of the piece and it can make some dramatic differences. But I guess I'm a little biased since I do love Il Divo and I love how they pour their hearts into every song they sing. And I mean that literally because veins and arteries are popping out where they shouldn't! Also they were wearing sexy Georgio Armani suits all nice...well, I was mostly looking at Urs again...

Ok, losing my train of thought again. Been up since 6:45 am and it's now 12:15 am so I guess it's time to play a couple of games of Sudoku and watch one more movie before I head to bed.

:)!

Almost Done University

I can't believe it's almost over. I have one exam left, my most important exam in the history of my McMaster exams! The course is Vertebrate Anatomy (Bio 3F03) and I need to get a least a B in the course to get into vet school at U of Edinburgh. I already have unconditional firms for both U of Glasgow and Royal Vet School (in London, England) but Edinburgh really is the place I want to go to. I already paid my deposit so I have to ace this exam so really, I chose the one school that I would make me still worry about grades. I don't mind though, I've never been to Scotland and I think it would be most AMAZING experience ever. Once that's over, I don't have to worry about much this summer except waking up early on Saturday mornings for dragon boat practice. Which I am sincerely looking forward to. I can't wait to start yelling at people again! Nah, just kidding, I can't wait to feel a boat move and see how fast the boat can go.
I'm hoping to use this blog at least once a week when I'm across the pond to keep people updated on what I'm up to. I have a xanga account too but I only have that so I can comment on other people's pages. I am looking forward to some amazing animal experiences when I'm over there!

On a totally different note, I was told Lindsay Lohan was asked to star in a whole bunch of porn movies?! FML...who wants to see a red-headed skeleton get crushed by steroid-pumped men? Bleck, disturbing to me...I hope she turns it down.
Oh, and Shaheen for Britain's Got Talent 2009! He's so adorable!

Cheers,
Barb