Well a very odd Christmas present. This was the exclamation of my classmate as we put away our cadavers this morning. At AVC, every second Wednesday morning, we have field trips to farms in Semester 1. We didn't have one today, so five of us diligently headed into the formalin den (I mean, anatomy lab) to go over anatomy. We spent about an hour and a half, going over muscles and insertions and trying to figure our way through the extrinsic muscles of the thoracic limb. Then we put them away - the cadaver bags are bright red, and we tie them off with green twine. So in a way, she was right. They do look like Christmas presents. Odd colour combination if you ask me.
As we were putting them back in the cold room, I did a double take. To my right, a dead goat. To my left, a dead goat in a tub of formalin. In front of me, a single horse leg wrapped in plastic, and a dead pony hanging upside down from the ceiling. In short, the cold rooms of vet schools vaguely resemble a scene from a horror movie. You get used to it. (For the record, the goats and pony are probably specimens to be used for next semester - I fully expect to see them in January when we start large animal dissection.)
We're almost done Week 1 here. I'm still in the stupidly giddy phase - I'm sure that will wear off soon. I'm weird excitedly for a class called Integration of Structure and Function. It's the first chance that we really get to apply the new knowledge we have to actual cases, even if they're hypothetical. We did a little of this at Dalhousie when I took Medical Bacteriology (by the way, if you're a Dal student right now, take this course - it's awesome, and Dr Davidson is awesome). I learn really well this way, and I'm a bit jealous of some American friends I know who are at schools with a more problem-based curriculum. I won't get to see what it's really like until the middle of next week though.
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