The Buddy System

Remember when you were in second grade and you'd go on field trips? The teacher would put everyone in buddies, to make sure no one got lost.

I'm now 24 and in vet school, and the buddy system still applies. At least at AVC it does. Each incoming first year is assigned a 2nd, 3rd, 4th year student, a faculty member and maybe a staff member. It's fantastic! You essentially have a built in support system of people who have been there and done that. It's also tradition to pass on your notes to your buddy. Today, I got my "buddy binder" from my 2nd year buddy (who is a sweetheart, and left me chocolate and Sharpie highlighters during my first week; I will be returning the favour soon!). Except it's not a binder. It's a box. A box containing three massive binders full of everything she did last year, and helpful notes about how certain professors test, where pictures are helpful, etc.

I went to a histology tutorial this morning. Dr Singh (who must really love to teach) was offering it. I've been having little coniption fits in histology lab, because I know exactly what I should be looking for, I just can't ever seem to find them. Example: Intercalated discs. I know what they are, what they look like and where they're found. But I couldn't find one on the slide. So today, I asked Dr Singh if he could point one out to me. He couldn't find any either. The slides are all of the same tissue, all taken at the same time, but all are slightly different sections. Think of a slice of raisin bread. It was baked at the same time with the same ingredients as the rest of the loaf, but might have more or less raisins then other pieces. Likewise, not all features are evident on all slides of the same tissue. But I can breathe easy, because I do know what this stuff looks like, and Dr Singh said that for the exam, we'll all have the exact same image on a powerpoint slide on the board, and the features will be hugely evident. One tiny thing for me to stop worrying about!