The end of the beginning, and homeward bound!

Wow, have I ever dropped the ball on updating my blog! I know that it's a common theme and to be honest, I don't see that changing anytime soon. Maybe in 4 more years. Yup, that's right- 4 MORE YEARS! I have officially finished my first year of veterinary school. That feels completely surreal and shocking! This semester has been filled with both challenges and triumphs, both personally as well as academically. I can't say I'd do it all over if I had the opportunity, but all we can ever do is take what we can from our experiences and learn from them. The constant love and support of Iain, as well as my family and friends, has gotten me through the worst as well as the best. 

Some highlights of this semester: My first blood draw on a sheep, my first experience performing rectal palpation/pregnancy testing on cows and feeling a calf's beating heart under my hand, learning to visualize a corpus luteum on an ultrasound of a horse's ovary. I've rediscovered my childhood obsession with horses, gotten some marks that have made me proud, and can fondly explain in intimate detail exactly what is occurring when Chester breathes at a slightly higher pitch due to his newly-diagnosed unilateral laryngeal paresis. There's no part of me that would try to pretend to be anything but the freshest of newbies with this whole veterinary thing. Still, I know a heck of a lot more than I did one year ago, and the amount of knowledge that I've been compelled to cram into my brain is fairly staggering. The thing that tells me that everything's going to be ok? The fact that I LOVE it. 

It's been difficult being away from home this semester. Mum has faced continued health issues, but is finally on the upswing, which makes me so happy I could sing (and nobody wants that!). Just in the midst of everything going on with her, both dogs developed acute medical issues back-to-back. Chester had to have a procedure done with the Medicine department, and it was an interesting experience being the client of one of my (very amazing, very brilliant) instructors. Incidentally, it was a tracheobronchoscopy- exactly the same procedure that mum had recently had. Unsurprisingly perhaps, I had a lot of fear about Chester having cancer. It turned out to be (very manageable) bronchitis, likely due to the wild and wacky air here in Perth. 

Just as the dust was clearing from Chester's experience, Dixie took a spill that left her immobile and maxing out her pain control quota. There was a short period of a couple of weeks where euthanasia had to become a very real consideration. She is a 10 year old Great Dane- we know that we're on bonus time with her now as it is. We were so grateful to have yet another Murdoch veterinarian do a couple of acupuncture home visits, prescribe some TCM,  and then bam- Dixie improved, put some muscle back on, and is a pretty spry (albeit ancient) girl again! As a side note, I felt proud of my university and proud of my vet program when I took both dogs into Murdoch for their care. Dealing with the fabulous clinicians, as well as the amazing and very competent 5th year vet students was very exciting and inspiring. Someday I'll be there, and it will come much quicker than I can imagine. 

When I was finally starting to get excited about being done with first year and coming home, I took a tumble off of a futon which sent my knee straight through our glass front window. I know, it sounds weird and unlikely and is most definitely embarrassing. Ironically, I was studying nociception at the time, which is involved in the perception of pain. I actually saw my patella (knee cap) before Maren and Iain made me lie back while they called an ambulance. I was in hospital for a few days after having emergency surgery to clean out all the glass, inject antibiotics into the joint, and check that the patellar tendon hadn't sustained any major damage. I was very lucky- apart from some minor damage to my medial collateral ligament, I am fine and have been walking without crutches for a few days now. 

An unfortunate result of this experience is that I had to defer three finals- two of the biggies (my anatomy and physiology theory exams), and an animal handling prac exam, which I can make up next year. I suppose hauling sheep and pigs up onto my knees, bending, kneeling, and otherwise running around the farm with cattle and horses are not conducive to having a 30-staple surgical incision. I found myself really depressed after the accident. I have such a new humble appreciation for what it might be like to adjust to living permanently with mobility issues. Not having my autonomy for that week and a half or so (and even now) was quite difficult. I was so fortunate to have Iain and some great friends who helped me through. I hated asking for help, however. Loneliness is an insidious creature; it creeps up and tenderly wraps you in its folds and whispers promises of things being better as long as you don't bother others with your pain. Still, I am so, so much better now. I have written the exams that I could and I will write the other two in January, in Vancouver, when I am capable of doing myself justice.

So in two days, I head home, with Iain just a day behind me! He is coming for 3 weeks, and to say that we are excited would be the understatement of the year. We have big plans for some actual proper time spent together, and with our families and friends. I have two weeks fully off (!!!), and then I start a full time job with Dr. Rob Spooner and his phenomenal staff at Yaletown Pet Hospital in Vancouver. Rob is a friend of mine from CAAT with fantastic politics and the wonderfully morbid sense of humor shared almost universally among the veterinary crowd. I am so looking forward to working at a progressive hospital which practices excellent medicine and quality of care. I'm so lucky to continue to have opportunities to learn from the very best of the best. I can't wait!

Well, off I go back to packing, cleaning, and sorting. All the best to everyone and for the Vancouver contingent...I'll see you all SOON, SOON, SOON!!! xoxo

Kangaroos have two vaginas, and other amazing vet school-related minutiae

I felt kind of bad about the blog post I wrote last night. I tried at the time to keep myself upbeat, but as I just read back through it, it's pretty depressing. As such, I've decided to post about some fascinating facts relating to reproductive anatomy and physiology, which is coincidentally exactly what I am studying at the moment! Here goes:

1) As per this blog title, female kangaroos do in fact have paired lateral vaginae, which is kind of a fancy way of saying that they have two vaginas. Lucky them?

2) The fibroelastic penis of the boar (male pig) looks just like an earthworm.

3) Bighorn sheep rams actually spend much of the year in bachelor herds, where they practice almost exclusively homosexual behaviour. In fact, females frequently have to mimic the behaviours of rams just to get the males interested in copulation. Also, around 10% of animals are "gay". Take that, extreme right!

4) Female hyenas are masculinized in utero, and as such they develop an elongated clitoris known as a pseudopenis. They actually do have to give birth through it, and as a result, ten percent of first-time mothers die during labour, as do around 50% of cubs. All I can say is yikes.

5) The mammary glands of dairy cows can weigh up to 60 kg.

I think that will do for now. Fascinating stuff, isn't it? Obviously, I've tried to include some of the more entertaining bits and bobs while avoiding the drier material...not that I'm sure all of you aren't desperate to learn all about histological features of the seminiferous epithelium, or the role of non-clustered hox genes in limb and organ development.

You're welcome. ;-)

EDIT: Because I am totally neurotic, I was humiliated to note that I had typed "fibrocartilaginous" instead of "fibroelastic" as a descriptor for the boar's penis. I hope I can be forgiven in light of the frequency that the word "fibrocartilage" comes up when studying anatomy. I am, nonetheless, embarrassed. *shame spiral*

Winter

Hello my lovely family (and friends? Does anyone else read this? Haha)- I'm sorry it's been ages since I've posted. There has been so much that's gone on that to be honest, I've avoided posting for that reason. Meanwhile, life marches on and things pile up even more (the story of my life, at the moment), so I may as well do a quick blog post about life over the past couple of months. I hope you don't mind the abridged version.

BALI

My trip to Bali is probably the most reasonable place to start, seeing as the remainder of my time in Perth after final exams was fairly uneventful. My fellow firstie Cat and I departed one balmy June evening for the airport, made the 3 or so hour flight to Denpasar, and stayed for that first night in Kuta. From Kuta, we headed for Ubud in the central highlands, about an hour and a half away. This was where we would spend the next week and a half for me, and two weeks for Cat. We had a phenomenal time there, and it felt so good to be involved with proper field medicine once again! We spent time working at the hospital/shelter facility outside of town, but also had (incredible!) opportunities to go out with the mobile spay/neuter team to different rural villages. We also spent one day out in the ambulance, which was an interesting experience. We met heaps of lovely people at BAWA, and one of the things that I really appreciate about the organization is that it is staffed entirely by Indonesian vets and vet nurses. Right from the start, we were thrust straight into the daily medical care of the animals at the shelter. The vets were all lovely and were so willing to have us do as much as we wanted, which provided for some great learning experiences.

The clinic itself was home to over 70 dogs and puppies, and probably around 10-15 cats and kittens. All animals are sterilized, vaccinated, and given parasite control before being adopted out- it's so nice to see a group so committed to humane population control as well as public health. Since 2008, over 100 people have died of rabies on the island, and (as is the case in most developing countries) the strain is dog rabies. BAWA provides free sterilization/vaccination to local people who are not able to afford it otherwise, and simply asks for a minimal donation for the services from everyone else. The mobile team is absolutely amazing- they work 5 days per week, traveling to different villages each day. They set up in a public area (often a temple!), and people either bring their own dogs in for surgery, or the team sets out with giant butterfly nets in tow to wrangle the local street dog population. The conditions are certainly different to what many of us spoiled by the privileges of the first world are used to, but the dogs (not to mention the people!) are a tougher breed altogether.

I promise I will try to post some pictures up here. My camera remains at large somewhere in the house, but I think I have a few good ones! Cat and I gave premedication and anaesthetic induction, and monitored surgeries. We also worked in recovery and administered vaccines, parasite control, antibiotic injections, and pain control. I can tell you there's nothing like the feeling of pushing the plunger on a syringe full of precious rabies vaccine in a place where you feel like that one small action genuinely COUNTS for something. One life saved, maybe more...

In our spare time (!!), we wandered the town of Ubud, visited Monkey Forest (a resplendent green jungly place filled to bursting with mossy stone carvings, ancient temples, and the titular long tailed macaques), purchased souvenirs for loved ones, and even climbed a volcano! The latter was accomplished after a 3 AM drive out even further into the countryside and a 2 hour uphill hike in the pitch dark. I think it would have gone better if I also hadn't been suffering from a touch of the (in)famous Bali Belly. Still, it was an incredible experience to watch the sun come up across Lake Batur with Lombok in the distance and Agung, another active volcano and the highest peak on Bali, casting an impressive shadow over the water.

Cat and I have excitedly discussed the idea of returning to BAWA each year to work with our new friends and continue to be a part of an organization that is clearly making a significant impact on the lives of people and animals in Indonesia.

VANCOUVER

Arriving in Vancouver after 35 + hours of traveling from Denpasar to Singapore to Hong Kong and then home was absolute bliss. I was greeted at the airport by mum, Fiona, Emma, Ken, and the most beautiful little nephews anyone could ever imagine, Will and Freddie. It was a little tearful, but so, so amazing. We went back to mum and Alan's and had a wonderful dinner together. I spent the next couple of days catching up frantically, and felt immediately like 3 weeks was just nowhere near enough time to be there. Then, on the Saturday night (I got back on Wednesday evening), we got some news that mum was sick. She was admitted to hospital and it was there that my family spent the next week or so, waiting for test results. I guess I don't feel like getting into all of the details here. All that I can say is that my mum is one of the most important people in my life (and in those of my sisters, and many, MANY other people). As such, I don't think I need to explain just how absolutely terrifying the whole experience was.

Amidst all of it though, I could appreciate the beauty of the timing, if this had to happen. I was and am still so very grateful that I could be there with my family during that time. It was very, very hard to come back to Perth. My mum is stable and will be undergoing some more testing, which is very stressful being that I cannot be there while it is happening. I'm still trying to find the best way to give over what ultimately I have no control over, and focus on my schooling, until I return again at the end of November. My trip home, with its unforeseen circumstances, certainly made me realize how very far away from home I am, going to school here in Perth.

Hmm...not sure what else to say about that. I made the decision not to accompany the CAAT team to the Yukon in July, for obvious reasons. That was disappointing, but still one of the easiest decisions ever to make (if that makes any sense!). I needed to be with my family, and I feel so lucky that I had that time with them. I am struggling quite a bit with homesickness right now, and the desire to be back home is so strong sometimes that it can be hard to cope. Still, I'm getting through with the help of Iain and the dogs, and some wonderful, wonderful friends. Please keep my mum and family in your thoughts this week while mum has a procedure done in hospital again. I have a physiology midterm on Thursday too, so I'm doing my best to concentrate on studying and keeping positive.

Still, with all this, I'm grateful to be here in vet school, with an amazing partner by my side, and a couple of great dogs. I will try to update more regularly! I hope everyone is well, no matter where in the world. xoxo

"Today, I had Corn Flakes instead of Sultana Bran for breakfast!"

The title of this post is exactly the kind of thing I would like to avoid in my blog. I don't write that frequently for a couple of reasons- the first is, of course, simply the lack of time. I feel that I'm reasonably well-justified with that one. Secondly, though, I don't want to write just for the sake of it, because there's no part of me that believes that every little mundane aspect of my life is grippingly readable (refer to title of this post, true though it may be!).

Still, apparently I don't blog enough for the liking of some, and for those people, the very trivial may be just fine (how flattering!). Goodness knows, I understand the feeling- I cling desperately to the every day goings-on back home like a lifeline when I'm homesick and just wishing I could take my nephews to the park or go for coffee with my mum. So, here goes: A few ramblings about my last few weeks here, before I no longer have the ability, time, nor inclination to update my blog for another month. :-)

After my triumphant last blog post when exams finished, I felt a bit of post-exam letdown. I'm not sure why I was surprised- I've never in all of my years of education experienced so much stress and anxiety going into finals for anything than I did a month ago. For me, post-exam letdown is a hallmark of being a perfectionist and weirdly neurotic, when the period after exams heralds a time to dissect my (never good enough) study habits, answers to questions I could have written better, and without fail, the thankfully-short but nonetheless desperately uncomfortable moment when I question whether I am cut out for this and whether I will ever actually be the kind of doctor I strive to be. In all honesty, I am prepared for many more of those moments. From what I've seen, every vet, let alone vet student, experiences them. I will be ok, because I know fundamentally and at the very core of my being that I have fought tooth and nail to get here, and that I'm in the right program, at the right school, at the right time.

So what have I done since finishing up? I've been taking the dogs on long walks, watching lots of movies with Iain and Geoff, and working bit by bit on my manuscript. It's been nice to walk the dogs during the day while it's warm, rather than at 6-something in the morning when it's freezing (look at me complaining..."freezing" in my mind now is 8 or 9 degrees), and I have to rush the dogs along so that I can bus into school on time. My friend and I went to the travel doctor to get our rabies boosters, and it is literally the only clinic that does them here. I suffered no real ill effects from it, other than a sore arm and a nasty-looking bruise that's still there, more than a week later. I have to get a Q fever test and vaccine done when I'm back in Vancouver, because I missed the boat and didn't get it done at uni a couple of months ago. We are on the farm all of next semester, so it's an important one to have. Q fever is a nasty bacterial infection that is spread mainly through the bodily fluids of cattle and sheep.

Apropos of nothing related to cattle bodily fluids, I had a really lovely birthday spent with some good friends and doing very normal things. Iain made pancakes for breakfast and then we went to a rally downtown at the Parliament building in Perth in support of a full ban on live export. Hopefully most of you would have received my emails on the subject of live export, and what can be done to stop it. Live export is the shipping of live animals to foreign countries, where they are then slaughtered. I won't get into a rant right now, but here's an appropriately biased website that generally shares my views. I am ok with the bias, because you won't find equal care given to both sides in any West Australian newspapers, that's for sure.

www.liveexportshame.com

The rally was disappointing in that there was a huge pro-export presence, and the pro-ban side was soundly overshadowed. Western Australia and the Northern Territory are the two biggest exporters of live cattle, so we expected that there would be a lot of people coming to protest a possible ban. The thing is, I and anyone else I know who is for a full ban is also in full support of protecting and preserving the livelihoods of farmers and cattle producers. This wasn't really reflected in the signs, posters, and chants by "our side", which chose for the most part to appeal to people's emotions rather than present itself as willing to work on a solution that benefits all. I genuinely believe that is possible in this case, though it will take time and patience. I am not ok, however, with the animals being "patient" anymore...this cruelty has been going on now for far too long whilst government bureaucrats claim ignorance and use pretty words to placate the population's ever-growing unease with this practice.  The treatment of these animals is absolutely horrifying, and too many Australians are passing the blame onto the foreign countries utilizing inhumane slaughter practices. If you can stomach it, I would encourage every single person to watch the recent "Four Corners" expose on the live export of cattle from Australia to Indonesia, which has caused such an outcry in the country. It can be found here, but I warn you, the images and footage you will see is extremely graphic and disturbing. Consider watching it anyway.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/special_eds/20110530/cattle/

Oops, I guess I went on for a bit anyway. My feelings about the whole debate are best summed up in this way: Animals are not televisions or iPods...if you are producing them, you are responsible for their treatment from birth to slaughter. No exceptions.

After that very brief departure from my initial topic (which was...?), in other news, I'm starting to throw clothes in a pile and think about what to pack with me to take to Bali and Vancouver. So far, I have my stethoscope, a couple of pairs of scrubs, and some clothes that I don't mind leaving behind when I fly to Vancouver. Living in Australia, it seems, is hard on clothes. Very few people have dryers here because the weather is so nice most of the year, so you can just chuck everything up on a line outside. Between the hard water and the moths though, our clothes have taken a beating. Cautionary note: Shake out dry clothes before folding and bringing inside to remove any unwanted stowaways of the arachnid persuasion! I am looking forward to picking up some new (cheap) clothes back in Vancouver, as when I arrive back in time for school starting in August, spring will have arrived and it will start getting hot again, unlike this hideous 15-22 degree weather we've been having, haha.

I am really excited for Bali, Vancouver, and the Yukon. What an odd/amazing combination of destinations! One amazingly privileged problem to have in vet school is the excess of opportunities, and not nearly enough time or money (!!) with which to pursue them. Case in point: My recent email from an Asian elephant sanctuary in Thailand imploring vet students to come and help out with various amazing things. *groan* Still, the experiences that I've had even BEFORE vet school, and now the doors that have been opened as a result of being IN vet school, are nothing short of miraculous. I have to really focus on each day and not let myself get caught up in all the hyperventilating, "I want to do it all, right now, otherwise bad things will happen, and that would suck, and, and, and..." kind of mentality. I have a whole lifetime in which to make the kind of difference I hope to make, and that starts with learning respiratory physiology and renal clearance calculations and the structure of fatty acids and neural organization. But you know what? Not right now, not anymore...I'm on holidays.

And just like that...

...it's all done! I am simultaneously bewildered and elated to announce that I have (barring any unforeseen circumstances!) officially finished semester one of school. That means that I am exhausted, puffy-eyed, a little worse for the wear, and 1/10 of a veterinarian.

I wrote physiology today and it went better than I thought it would. I was terrified for this one, so of course it had to be last, drawing the pain out to the bitter end, haha. It still felt a little surreal to sit outside in the beautiful autumn sun at the campus tavern and just chat with wonderful friends, and then head home to walk the dogs, who have gotten the short end of the stick lately. I took Chester and Dixie out for a really nice long amble, and it felt like late summer in Vancouver- warm but with a light breeze. Picture the smell of wood smoke to that, and you're getting there. The dogs were absolutely thrilled and it makes me really happy to see them so happy. It really brings home the idea that animals want to be where their people are. Chester and Dixie would be happy living in a box on the street, as long as they were with Iain and I. It's nice to have confirmation though that they are happy and settled, despite the stressful, expensive, time-consuming process of getting them here. Iain and I stressed about it constantly and worried about their ages (Chester and Dixie are turning 12 and 10 this year, respectively), their health (Chester with his mystery neuropathy), and whether it would be unfair for them to have to adapt to a new country, new climate, new lifestyle. As always though, they've risen to the occasion and made the most out of everything, as dogs always do. Ultimately, we knew that either all of us come to Australia, or none of us do. They are family, and they go where we go.

Now, onto my next projects. I have three weeks here in Perth to revise and submit another draft of my Steller sea lion manuscript, which was accepted pending major revision (emphasis on the "major revision" part) to a journal. I am hoping that after the semester I just had, it will seem like a cakewalk to make the changes necessary and send it back to the editor before leaving for Bali. I also have my birthday to look forward to, and it's so great that I get to spend it with Iain, Geoff, and others here who are not away for the winter break. I think too that I am going to do some touristy things here that I haven't done yet due to a chronic lack of time. Maybe a trip to Rotto (Rottnest Island) is in order? We are also hoping to go camping somewhere up north for a few days. It feels crazy to be living in a place where there is perpetual camping, all year round- usually Iain and I have to finish up in late September if we're lucky, and by late April we're chomping at the bit to go play outside in tents. Here, you can go all year...ALL YEAR! Too bad vet students are pitifully time-poor.

I feel a real sense of relief having the first semester done and out of the way. A lot of people say it's one of the worst parts of the whole degree (though it depends who you ask!), and I can see why that might be. Not only have I started vet school, but Iain and I have moved across the world and settled in a brand new place. We didn't have our dogs or a solid place to live for the first month, so we spent all of our spare time house hunting and trying to look like responsible, reliable tenants. It's nice to see where we were 4 months ago, and where we are now. Speaking of which, I have to go- I have friends coming over for pizza and wine. Let the celebrations begin! Lots to be happy, grateful, and proud about. Those of you in the northern hemisphere- see you very soon! xoxo

Surfacing briefly!

As I head into final exams for my first semester of vet school (!!!), I have about 3.2 seconds to reflect on how INSANE this last four months has been! My life here very much feels like a life I've been living for a long time- not sure whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. Honestly, I'm not surprised that vet school feels familiar to me- I've been working towards this life for almost 25 years. 

I have a whirlwind next couple of months. My first final is a week today, and the exam period ends for me on June 8th. I will be working on a couple of research projects right after that, and am hoping to have them completed by the time Cat and I fly to Bali on the 27th. I spend about 10 days there working with BAWA (www.bawabali.com), and then fly home to Vancouver for three weeks. Technically though, I'm not really there for three full weeks, seeing as I will be spending one of those weeks co-leading an animal wellness project in the Yukon with CAAT (www.caat-canada.org)! A team of us will be flying to the tiny village of Carmacks to sterilize, vaccinate, and provide parasite control to the community's dogs and cats. I am so unbelievably fortunate to have these opportunities! Every single day I am thankful for where I am and for the many people who love and support me along the way.

Speaking of people who love and support me...Iain has started his new job at one of the local universities, working in animal care. The workplace has already implemented some of his suggestions as far as animal husbandry is concerned, so he has already made a big difference in many ways. I'm so proud of him. He'll be holding down the fort here with the dogs while I'm away this summer.

My apologies for a short and probably pretty unsatisfying update, but I'd better get back to anatomy study. Chester is lying here next to me and feeling pretty thrilled about being prodded and poked in the name of science! I will update again when I've emerged from final exams. Love to all of you! xo

It's been a while!

I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted! I'm sorry that I've completely neglected the blog. I had to do a quick check back at my last post to try to account for what's happened since then, and I don't even know where to begin! I guess the biggest thing is that I only have three weeks left of actual class time in semester one, before moving onto finals and then a nice winter break. I have had quite a challenging last few weeks, hence my silence here in blog land. I wrote an anatomy theory exam, an anatomy practical exam, and a physiology exam, as well as numerous assignments and projects. I currently have a one week study break, during which I will be desperately working to complete another mass of projects. I will also be studying for biochemistry (I have an exam next Monday) and physiology (I have one more exam in a few weeks). I have to work hard to take things one day at a time, otherwise the sheer amount of work and the relatively short time frame left to do it in gets pretty overwhelming.

In the past several weeks, lots has happened. I made the decision to go home for three weeks in the summer, and I cannot wait. To be able to see family and friends again much sooner than I had anticipated is so incredibly thrilling. My mum was going to come out to visit in the Vancouver summer (Perth winter), but we found it hard to coordinate a time that worked for both of us. In the end, we decided that I would come home, so I am here doing my best not to count down the days! In addition to that amazingly unexpected treat (as if that isn't enough!), I will also be traveling to Bali, Indonesia for about a week and a half at the end of June to work with a group called BAWA (Bali Animal Welfare Association). I will be going with two friends from vet school (one in first year with me, and the other in fifth year), and we will be working with the veterinary team to vaccinate dogs and assist with spaying and neutering. Bali, like so many developing countries, is experiencing huge difficulties keeping a burgeoning rabies outbreak under control. The only viable solution remains the maintenance of a sterilized population of dogs with known health status, and BAWA is a phenomenal group working towards this goal. I am so excited- after a long, stressful term at school, this trip will be an incredible opportunity and an experience to help me keep ahold of my perspective.

In other news, today our best friend Geoff arrived from Canada! A friend of ours graciously drove us to the airport to pick him up, and it was so wonderful to see him. After three months, it felt like we hadn't even been apart. We went down to South beach in Fremantle and swam in the ocean. It was a cooler day today, only about 28 degrees or so (wink), so Geoff was thrilled. It was a gorgeous, sunny day for his arrival in Perth. After taking the day off to spend time with him though, I will once again be immersing myself in study over the rest of the week. He knows that I won't be available much over the next month or so, while I finish school and write my finals. That's the beauty of a best friend- it's ok to "just be" around them. 

Iain is doing really well, and so are the dogs. We are enjoying our life here, especially because we have made some really incredible friends. It feels wonderful to have people to share the crazy with; who understand exactly what it feels like to be at school for 9 hours, work til 3 in the morning at something, and then do it all again the next day. Iain is sort of vicariously going through vet school with me, I suppose. He is so incredibly supportive, patient, and understanding. He also feeds me when I get home after a long and exhausting day, my gratitude for which I can't even begin to describe. The dogs are amazing partners in this whole process, as well. Though the lives of vet student dogs may not be glamorous, they are always willing subjects for some live anatomy palpation and auscultation. I'm pretty sure attention is attention to them- whether they're being tenderly massaged or having their lymph nodes palpated!

It's getting late here, so I'd better sign off for now. I will do my best to write again soon. Lots of love to all of you! xo

Half way to half way!

I am officially half way through my first semester of my first year of vet school! Only six more weeks left of actual class time and then it's winter break. I write my last final on June 8th- just over two months away! Things have been moving steadily along here. I have now completed my first round of intrasemester exams (I wrote anatomy last Monday), and the ones that I know about went well. I think anatomy went pretty well too, despite the fact that I have NEVER been so nervous before an exam in my life. I woke up the morning of feeling physically sick and that feeling did not subside until I opened up my exam paper and went to town. I sure felt good after it was done, though!

I have an anatomy practical exam in a week and a half, as well as another physiology/histology exam the following week. I also have a couple of group projects coming up, and several smaller bits of homework to complete. Still, I am generally enjoying my school work and learning so much. Last week, during our cardiology practical, a group of us were gathered around the school horses in the barn, in our lab coats and stethoscopes. We took notes, and answered questions posed by the lecturer about ECGs and heart murmurs. At that moment I could have cried...I really and truly am a vet student. Sometimes it really just hits me in a very tangible way! During that prac, we auscultated horses (including one with a murmur than sounded like "lub WHOOSH dup), goats, sheep, and dogs. We did an ECG on a horse and on Leo the greyhound. I LOVED it.

Speaking of hounds, this week we got our two to the beach for the very first time one evening. A lovely vet school friend offered to pick all of us up at our place with her two dogs, and go down to North Freo to a beach that is always completely deserted at night. We went at about 9:30, and her dogs were safely tethered in the back of the truck while our two crowded in the back seat with me. Our friend has a beautiful three-legged pit bull, and a lovely black and white mix. Chester loved the other two dogs, and was thrilled to be able to tear around in the sand and surf. Dixie did so well with the other two dogs (she was on leash of course, and obviously didn't meet either of them face-to-face). We did the slow approach, and in no time she was happily parallel walking with one of the dogs on leash just 5 or 6 feet away from her. The "look at the dog" game has done wonders for her reactivity to other dogs. Both of them *loved* the beach, and we walked from 9:30 until midnight! On the human end, we had great conversation and a wonderful time. So I got home and worked on my biochem lab report until 2:30 in the morning...a small price to pay!

Yesterday, some friends and I went to the beach during the day, which is something that we had resolved to do for ages now before the weather turns. It feels difficult to take a whole afternoon off of doing/worrying about schoolwork, but I think it's very important to do sometimes! We went to Freo, did some fruit and veggie shopping at the markets, and then went to South Beach. We lay around on the sand a little, but mostly swam in the turquoise water. There were a lot of little puffer fish, and they seemed to really like following us around. It was a little disconcerting, especially when they would brush against you unexpectedly (as you were gazing at the shark-spotting helicopter in the sky above)! After the beach, we went to a little dining area called Old Shanghai, which is sort of a food court with lots of different types of food. Best of all, it's nice and cheap- I had delicious veggie pizza and fresh pineapple/orange juice. Yum! It was such a gorgeous day, all in all.

It's been a nice, long summer here. Though technically we're now well into autumn (which doesn't make sense and kind of blows my little Northern Hemisphere mind), it has been unseasonably warm. Apparently the weather changes very quickly though- one day you are lying on the beach and swimming for hours in the ocean (like yesterday!), and the next day, you're wearing your long-sleeved hoodie and mittens and shivering in your non-insulated house. I cannot imagine the day when I might experience feelings of being *too cold* here...it seems impossible!

I am heading off to uni today (Sunday) to get a bunch of work done. I need to study for anatomy and physiology, do some research on the pathophysiology of acute canine pancreatitis, and do a little biochemistry reading. Wish me luck!

A few more pics

Since I'm going cross-eyed staring at picture after picture of dog muscles at the moment, I thought I'd take a break and add a few more pictures to the blog. Without further adieu...

This was taken in our shared house, in the first week of school. You can tell this because I look way too excited to be studying anatomy. Clearly, I was still in my (unfortunately shortlived) "I'm in vet school! Everything is cool and new and exciting and not stressful at all!" stage. Ah, distant memories.

Holding hands with a grey kangaroo at Caversham Wildlife Park, during a free day trip for international students. The photo is a little dark, but if you look closely, you can see a couple of goofy looking diprotodont joey feet sticking out of mum's pouch in the top left. The toes on their powerful hind limbs give the appearance that roos are perpetually flipping someone the bird- hilarious!

This is Chili the kelpie, AKA Neighbor-Dog from our old place. She is a young, neglected yard dog and I'm pretty sure this was the first time she'd ever been in a bed. She loved clicker training and I had a quasi-joking discussion with Iain about asking the neighbor if they would let her go to a better home (*cough* ours). I still miss her.

Our first wild grey kangaroos out near Byford (where the dogs were quarantined). These beautiful creatures were hanging out in the shade during one mercilessly hot day.

My favorite smell in the entire world...frangipani. I am still looking for a perfume that catches the smell perfectly, but have had no luck thus far. Walking down the street and catching a whiff of these delicate little blooms makes my entire day!

Sunset in the suburbs. Need I say more?

Outside at our new place! As you can see, the dogs live an existence fraught with toil and suffering. They now prefer to lie directly in the sand (to the right in this photo), and I'm pretty sure it's because they take pleasure in watching us sweep the floors multiple times a day after they track a beach's worth inside with them after their snoozes. In all seriousness, they love it here.

Thanks for looking!

A kiss for my loved ones

Because I can't be there to do it in person! Straight from a sunset in Freo, with love. xoxo

Iain's photoblog!

OOOH! And one more thing! Iain has created his own blog, which will consist mostly of photos. He thought it would be pretty funny to call it "Beaver Eats Kangaroo", so BEK it remains. The url is www.beavereatsroo.blogspot.com.

I am going to start loading some photos onto my blog as well, but Iain will be posting the lion's share on his. We have this huge backlog of photos and I know that many of you are eager to see some pictures of our adventures so far. Enjoy!

She emerges...

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been a while since my last blog post. I just finished a week of midterms (biochemistry and physiology/histology), and have another one a week tomorrow (anatomy). Thankfully, it's also our study break. I don't think I've ever been so grateful for a week off of classes! I will be using this time to camp out in the anatomy museum and rote memorize every little tuberosity and notch in every single bone, all of the appendicular and axial muscles plus all of their origins and insertions, and try at the same time to put it all together to form some kind of workable model in my brain of how animal bodies move. I cannot believe we have only had 5 weeks of classes!

My midterms, I think, went fairly well. I did already get my results back for biochem, and was really pleased. The physiology and histology exam was harder, but seemed to go reasonably well. The evening of our second exam, Iain and I had a bunch of friends over for a celebratory spaghetti dinner. The dogs love having company over because they get utterly spoiled and fussed over! Our friends presented us with newly-purchased cutlery and a plate/bowl set as a housewarming gift. We were so touched at their generosity! I really feel as if I already have friends for life in this program- it's still a bit surreal to think that we will be studying/working/playing together for the next 5 years, but I'm grateful for that fact!

I took Friday night and Saturday completely off from studying of any kind. Friday afternoon after classes, a few of my friends and I walked the three hospital greyhounds. It's a bit of a weekly event now, and it feels really good to get the dogs outside for a run and then, because they are greyhounds, a lazy snuggle in the grass. The current dogs' names are Leo, Suzie, and George. Leo is my most favorite color of brindle- dark stripes on very pale, almost caramel color. I will have to take some pictures next week! In contrast to the dogs we walked the first time, these three love people and actively seek out affection from humans. I have come to the conclusion that greyhounds have the most lovely kissable faces- I think it's something to do with their little pinheads that are so easy to cup in my hands! Friday evening, Iain and I packed some sandwiches and a blanket and walked to the local park, where our suburb was hosting a family movie night. They were playing a Japanese animated movie called "My Neighbor Totoro" on a giant projector, so we snuggled up and watched it surrounded by lots of families. It was so peaceful. It even got a tiny bit chilly as the evening progressed, which was a first! I went to bed pretty early on Friday, as I think I still needed to catch up on sleep from the week's events.

Yesterday (Saturday), Iain and I went to a marriage equality rally in downtown Perth. We went with two other vet school friends, Maren and Cassie. We had a really great time and it was so nice to see so many people joining together to speak out against legislated discrimination. After the rally, we had some lunch and did a bit of shopping. Perth city is like being in a whole different world from "south of the river", which is where we live. My normal day-to-day life takes place in the suburbs, and I rarely go anywhere besides school and home, and sometimes Freo. It was really nice to be out and about and not have to worry about getting home to study! Saturday was also wonderful because I got to Skype with family members for the very first time. Now that we've just had unlimited wireless internet installed in our house, we are able to do things like Skype which normally take up a lot of bandwidth. I shed a few tears, but it made me feel so much closer to my family members to be able to speak to them face-to-face!

This afternoon, my goal is to do some anatomy, some physiology reading, and one VPL (vet professional life) write up to feel good about my day's work. I'd better get on that now! Lots of love to everyone back home- I miss you all everyday, and I will try to write another update later in the week.

It's my life

This is going to be a much shorter post, because time is at a premium right now. I have now completed my first three weeks of school, and I can’t believe how quickly time flies. Iain and I have also been in Australia for just over 5 weeks! We are settling into our place, though we are still lacking furniture. At least now we have a fridge and a washing machine (which is incidentally still sitting in our driveway…it’s too heavy for the two of us to move inside on our own). The dogs have settled in beautifully, and it’s nice because this past week the temperature has cooled noticeably. I would guess that most days it has hovered between the high twenties/low thirties, so it’s much more bearable. The dogs have been enjoying the little park that is just metres from our house, and all the new smells must be pretty exciting!

I have a ton of review to do this weekend, on everything, but particularly on Physiology. We had an utterly mind-melting four-hour lab on Thursday, and a group of us headed to the campus pub afterwards. It was great to just chill out and decompress with a group of great people, all of whom are in the same boat!

Yesterday (Friday), I went to the vet hospital with a couple of other girls to walk greyhounds. We ended up walking Wacky and Chrysler, two dogs who are fresh off the track. The dogs were quite flat in demeanor, and had absolutely no interest in us at all. They seemed excited to go outside, but once we were out there, they did very little- mostly just stood there, or trotted a little, or stared at bushes or at leaves blowing in the wind. I figured out why the experience bothered me so much, and realized that it is because these dogs expect nothing from people. They’ve likely never had a reason to before, and whether it’s animals in shelters or these two beautiful boys, it makes me sad. I gave my two extra hugs when I got home last night.

Yesterday afternoon, I also attended a lecture by raw pet food guru Ian Billinghurst. He is the Australian veterinarian behind the unfortunately-named B.A.R.F diet, which stands for Biologically-Appropriate Raw Food, or Bones And Raw Food. First off, I will say that I do believe strongly that raw feeding is an excellent option for most dogs, and almost all cats (our dogs have been raw fed for many, many years!). I was, however, a little disappointed by the presentation. Dr. B is a lovely man, and I did have the opportunity to chat with him post-lecture. I told him that I had worked at True Carnivores, a raw pet food store in Vancouver, and that he had many fans there (he lectured there many years ago!). It was also great that the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) was offering continuing education points for veterinarians who attended- that is a huge step for a veterinary organization surrounding such a controversial issue! I suppose, given all this, that my expectations were very high going into it.

The biggest issue, and it is an issue when it comes to raw feeding, is the lack of sound science supporting it. Making sweeping statements that cannot be supported sends up the red flags, especially when speaking to a room full of skeptical scientists! I think that it is important to acknowledge the lack of science behind it. This doesn’t mean that the idea behind it is wrong, or that it is not an excellent option for many animals. There should be nothing to hide. If in your practice you have 1000 animals on a raw diet, and 1000 animals on commercial food, even if you yourself can see a huge difference, it is still anecdotal evidence until proper, peer-reviewed studies are published. Calling it anything but diminishes the potential for changing minds, in my opinion. At any rate, I was so glad I went and it feels good to be able to put on my critical thinking hat, even (especially!) surrounding issues that I support.

On a different note (I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief!), there may be an opportunity for me to go down south in the winter (June) for a week or so. A friend is going to helping with lambing on a sheep station, so I may be able to tag along. I know next to nothing about sheep, so this would be a great opportunity. We’ll see what happens!

Take care everyone!

The dogs...

...are home! A huge thank you to Karen and Sarah, who drove us out to Byford in Craig's diesel-sucking beast, helped load two bedroom-sized dog kennels into the back (well, Chester's wasn't quite that big), then drove us home with two very large, hot dogs in the back drooling down their necks. Chester sat in my lap and Dixie snuggled up with her Iain, and we made it home.

They got the grand tour of our new house (which has an orange tree in the backyard-an orange tree!), and loved it right away. We had the bedroom all air conditioned for them, and they seemed pretty thrilled with that. They ran around and explored and even got the zoomies- not too shabby for two senior dogs in 38 degree weather! Next up was the full beauty salon treatment for the two stinky mutts. They were both brushed and bathed, and had their teeth cleaned and nails clipped. Only then were they allowed to pass out in our bedroom...on our new mattress, of course.

Because of the disorganization of our move, we don't have many dog supplies yet- a definite first for us! Case in point? The dogs' water dish is actually our new wok, but I'm pretty sure the critters don't care about the details. They are home, and our little family is back together again.

Moving day!

I thought I would write another update this morning because I think this weekend is going to go “poof!” and disappear before I know it. The title says it all…it’s moving day! It couldn’t come soon enough for Iain and I. It was another day in the low 40’s yesterday, and another night with no air movement in our room (as well as another night of being woken by screaming fights across the street, but I digress). Our new place has air con in our bedroom (!!!); to say we are looking forward to that is an understatement. We have a new mattress being delivered today but other than that, our house is completely bare. Like, not-even-a-fridge bare! We’ll have to build up to what we need a bit at a time.

The only thing more exciting than moving, is the dogs’ homecoming tomorrow! We are driving out to Byford with Karen, who’s boyfriend has generously lent us his ute (utility vehicle) in order to transport both the two dogs as well as their alarmingly large crates. I CAN’T WAIT!! I haven’t seen them now in over two weeks, since school started, because there are no visiting hours on the weekends. Iain has, though. I’ll make sure to write a little update when we get them back. They are going to love the house (and the air con, no doubt!), the huge yard, and the lovely park down the street. As soon as we can find a cheap little car, they will love the beaches too! Fremantle will only be a 20-minute drive from our house.

This past week was incredibly busy (I’m pretty sure I’ll sound like a broken record soon enough). I have a lot to catch up on this weekend. It seems like I can’t work hard enough right now to get myself to a place where I feel really good about what I've done. I leave at 7:45 AM, and get home anywhere between 5 and 7 PM, depending on whether I have to stay at school to work or not. Iain makes dinner, we eat, I start work again, but I am not yet able to stay up past 10 most nights. I am still so tired in the evenings, so there is a sense of panic as I work to get things done before my body fails me, haha. I am not alone- a lot of the people I speak to in my program seem to be experiencing the same kind of thing. I am sure as I get adjusted to my schedule, things will feel less frenetic and more balanced (shh…let me have my moment!). I also need to do at least one non-uni activity each week to de-stress, and I have decided that it will be a dance class of some sort. I was really excited to see that there is an active burlesque troupe in Perth (might be a little far, but we’ll see once we have a car), and there is also a belly dancing school in Freo! I will likely pick one of those things to do one evening per week. Also, I am joining the gym at Murdoch, and they have a bunch of different group classes, including modified ones during the day so that students can go between courses. I think that this will help to keep stress in check, as well.

Iain and I celebrated his birthday on Wednesday, so I worked extra hard on Monday and Tuesday to get my work done so that I could take the evening off. We went out for dinner in Freo, then went to watch the sun set on the beach. Afterwards, we went to Baskin Robbins so that Iain could have his favorite chocolate chip mint ice cream, and then we decided to have a long walk home in the darkness. It’s been really muggy here in the past few days, which is uncommon for Perth. That combined with the excessive heat makes it feel more like the tropics. At any rate, it was a really nice evening, and it felt really good to have made sure that we could spend it together with no anxiety on my part about schoolwork. Iain capped off the night with a phone call from Judy and Isla (his mum and sis), which was so great for him. It’s still kind of surreal that we can be 15,000 KM away from our families and still be able to have a conversation on the phone with them.

Last weekend was mostly spent studying, and in between, I did clicker training with the neighbor’s kelpie. Chili is smart as a whip and the kind of dog I wish lived with any number of my dog sport friends back home! She took to the clicker like every other dog does, with glee, once she got over her initial hesitation and unwillingness to offer new behaviours (likely in the event that she would be punished, I think). I never thought I’d say that if I could, I would have myself a lil' stock dog! I will miss Chili and Mandee’s dog, Tama. They have been good little surrogate dogs, but this time tomorrow we will be reunited with the real deal!! Did I mention that I am ecstatic?!

One other interesting note about living in Western Australia for dog nerds is the presence of so many dogs with intact ears and tails. The practices of ear cropping and tail docking are illegal here and may only be performed for medical reasons by a registered veterinarian. Despite the fears of opponents to laws like these, there has been no increase in breeders just doing it themselves, though that used to be legal. There is a very hefty penalty, and it is enforced. Seeing Weimaraners and Vizslas with tails is refreshing, and I just saw my first Rottweiler here the other day, with his lovely long tail wagging happily. I always marvel at Dixie’s gorgeous goofy ears, and wonder why anyone would want the first months of the relationship with their new puppy to include pain and discomfort for their new companion?

An interesting side note for my pit bull peeps: There are breed restrictions here on American Pit Bull Terriers, but NOT American Staffordshire Terriers or Staffordshire Bull Terriers. Back home these are usually lumped together under the “pit bull” umbrella.  The restrictions here do not involve mandatory spay/neuter, and you can still sell them provided you inform buyers that they are restricted. This means that they must be muzzled at all times and wear a special collar that identifies them. This law, in contrast to the docking/cropping laws, is poorly enforced…when everybody’s grandmother is walking her little Staffy Bull or AmStaff X down the street, and the dogs here frequently look so non-descript, I just don’t know how this would be expected to work. Breed specific legislation is useless and discriminatory anywhere you go in the world.

On the other hand, ex-racing greyhounds have a terrible reputation and must be muzzled under law in public. How’s that for a shocker! These dogs are generally very placid, gentle, and quiet. Some come equipped with a substantial prey drive, and are not safe with small animals, cats, and/or small dogs, but you can say this for individuals of all breeds. Greys have this kind of dignified elegance that I really appreciate. Still, they have suffered some of the same PR issues as pit bull-type dogs, which is to say that when a greyhound kills a cat or small dog as the result of an irresponsible owner, people wring their hands and cry out “won’t someone please think of the children!” There is a massive greyhound racing industry here in Australia, and WA is no exception. I have heard that the industry spits out dogs to the tune of 90,000 per year. Yikes. So who’s really the victim here?

Oops, looks like I went off on a bit of a dog tangent there! Shocking, I know. What else…I have a weird bite on my foot that I got at night. It was really painful, and then itchy. I’m not sure what’s worse- seeing something bite you, or discovering a nasty bite and not knowing what inflicted it, or when. As long as it’s not from the ubiquitous but dangerous redback spider, I’m happy. Anyways, I should get back to packing here. I also want to mention that I am behind on responding to emails from people, but that I will get to them! I appreciate the correspondence so much. Thinking about all of you back home and sending lots of love. Until next time!

First week of vet school

Last weekend, Iain and I took it easy- sort of the calm before the storm, I guess. We spent Sunday in Fremantle (Freo, to the locals), which is a beautiful little port town on the Indian Ocean. It’s only about a 20-minute bus ride for us from our neighborhood, so we tend to spend a fair bit of time there. Freo has great shopping, restaurants, and beaches (I can’t wait until Chester gets a taste of the dog beach!). It’s quite a trip to be down at South Beach and watch the shark-spotting helicopters cruise up and down…a little disconcerting, but I’m grateful nonetheless! We have also taken to visiting the weekend markets (kind of like a cheesier, more lurid Granville Island) to buy our fruits and vegetables. We left on Sunday afternoon laden with a bounty of fragrant passion fruits, watermelon, mangos, nectarines, and peaches, among many others. We also try to get in a good sunset-viewing from Bathers Beach at least once a week. Last weekend, while the sun dipped below the horizon and the sky turned a brilliant orange, we watched bottlenose dolphins frolic about no more than 50m offshore. It was magical.

One of the best pieces of news that we could receive, the night before I started school at that, was that we were offered our first (and only, by that point) choice in houses to rent! We are completely over the moon about it. It’s clean, comfortable, and our landlords are wonderful people. We signed the lease on Tuesday evening and we move in next Saturday. Next weekend will be a big one- moving day on Saturday, and picking up the dogs on Sunday!! We are going to have a “welcome home” celebration for the dogs Sunday night. It will be such a relief and a joy to have our little family back together again.

OK, now for the school stuff! Monday heralded my first day of official vet school classes at Murdoch, and it has been full steam ahead since then. The semester begins with physiology/histology, anatomy, biochemistry, and an interesting course called veterinary professional life (VPL), which focuses mainly on the “soft skills” that are so essential to being an excellent veterinarian. Our VPL lecture series brings in a new vet speaker each week from a variety of areas, so I will really enjoy that. Having classes all day is definitely something to get used to all over again! I am so excited and thrilled to finally be here. I have met a whole bunch of wonderful people, and really feel the sense of camaraderie that comes with embarking together on an intensely challenging program for the next 5 years of our lives. There was a membership drive for the special interest groups on Thursday, and I have officially joined the wildlife, bovine, surgery, and animal welfare groups. The wildlife group is very active, and some of the activities on the horizon include a raptor handling workshop in Margaret River, and wildlife post mortem workshops, where a local rehab facility brings in animals which have not survived to be examined and dissected by students.

Of course, one of the other things I want to do is hook up with a group here in Western Australia whose mandate is similar to my favorite group back home, the Canadian Animal Assistance Team. Sure enough, one of my classmates told me about Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities (AMRRIC). I will admit to getting a little excessively excited that this group exists! Vets Beyond Borders is active here too, and they appear to work primarily in India. India is also on my list of places to visit, to get a sense of and to hopefully be involved with the extremely successful Animal Birth Control (ABC) projects that have been in place in parts of the country for many years. These groups focus on sterilization of street dogs, as well as vaccination and parasite control. Dog rabies, in particular, kills more people in India each year than anywhere else in the world.

First things first, though. At the moment, my priorities have to be the distal forelimb of the dog, enzyme kinetics, and nerve conduction velocity. Still, I love that we are getting right into clinical material as well, right from the start. My anatomy lab last week focused on radiography, and I felt grateful for the very patient vets that I have worked with in the past who have explained images to me and allowed me to have a crack at sorting out what I’m looking at. We were also assigned our group term projects in physiology, and my group will be researching acute pancreatitis in a dog. After seeing so much of that at Vancouver Animal Emergency Clinic, it will be really fascinating to dive into the physiological basis of this disease. One of my friends’ group was assigned GDV, commonly termed “bloat”, in a dog- as a member of the number one breed affected, Dixie Dane was promptly offered up as an examination subject!

This weekend, I will be studying to ensure that I am caught up before we start some heavier topics and practicals next week. Sunday evening though, Iain and I are going into the city to meet up with some friends, so that will be a nice break. Next week is also Iain’s birthday, so we have planned something nice to do on Wednesday evening. I have been a little homesick this past week, and it seems to go in waves. My family and some good friends were really there for me this week, so I really appreciate that. I had a one-liner, “just thinking of you” message that arrived exactly at the right moment, on one of my harder days. I know I also need to catch up a bit on sleep...the past few nights have been really hot and we don't have air conditioning in our room. We sleep, instead, with frozen bottles of water. Thursday night, there was an incident across the street from us whereby there was screaming, shouting of death threats, and car windows being smashed. Iain called the police, and they arrived shortly after that. Later on that night, another incident occurred in the street, and it was my turn to phone the police. The emergency number in Australia is not 911, but 000. It's interesting because you have to say what suburb and state you are in prior to being connected, whereas in Vancouver 911 gets you a Vancouver dispatcher. Ah, cultural differences! 

Occasional homesickness, anxiety, and police incidents aside, Iain and I are really, really happy to be here. It was the right decision, and I think that will only become more apparent as we settle into our new life. 

"Discoverers Welcome"

I was up really early this morning, so figured I’d do a bit of writing. The title of this post is what was written on my carry bag after I purchased my textbooks at school the other day, under the Murdoch crest. I liked it! Anyways, about our time here so far: The first day that we arrived in Perth (a Friday), we walked around all day to get our bearings. It was close to 44 degrees Celsius and after arriving at 6:30 in the morning, we’d vowed to stay up until a somewhat reasonable hour to try to kick the inevitable jet lag. After a long day of wandering (“don’t stop walking. Just never stop walking!”), we ended up at Kings Park, which is a huge area of “bush land” right there in the city. It is absolutely beautiful, and we saw a ton of birds, including: Australian magpies, rainbow lorikeets, little corellas, galahs, willy wagtails, wattle birds, and many more. We also spotted several of what looked like little skinks- I still have to try to find out the species. I think Kings Park warrants another visit sometime soon, when a) we have the dogs back b) it’s a more reasonable temperature and c) we aren’t running on empty after about 60 hours with no sleep! Iain and I were both blown away by the parrot species here. In Vancouver, we have pigeons and crows at the park. Here, you’ll find flocks of parrots; no big deal. It does make me cringe even more when I consider keeping cage birds as pets. These guys need to fly!

Transit here is pretty decent, if you happen to be close to or right on a transit line. The suburbs (there are tons and tons of them!) are very spread out, so it makes getting around a time-intensive process if you aren’t right where you need to be. We had come here fully intending not to have a car, and to just use transit. We are now pretty sure that we will likely need to pick up an old beater, especially because we have the dogs. That will probably come after we’ve settled in a place, and I still intend to use transit to get to school. Iain and I both purchased “SmartRider” cards, which get you up to 25% off the regular fare. For me, as a full time tertiary student, I get 25% off of the concession fare, which ends up being a significant savings. Right now, we are living in Hilton, which is a bit of a sketchy neighborhood. It’s about halfway between the university and Freo (the beach town!), and just a ten-minute walk to the bus stop on South Street. That’s the street that Murdoch is on, so it’s just a 10-15 minute ride to school from there.

Perth and its surrounding areas are quite beautiful. It is a temperate, Mediterranean climate, though it feels a little tropical with the palm trees everywhere, and the heat. We've heard that the winters have been pretty dry for the past few years, and the temperature apparently hovers on average between about 15-20 C. It seems really weird to me to have a winter that is that warm, with so little rain! As such, water is expensive here, and is one of the utilities to contend with when renting a place. It's why we don't want a big, grassy garden- tenants are responsible for the care and maintenance (including watering) of said garden! 

One of our favorite things to do has been to visit the dogs in quarantine. We miss them a ton, and wish they could be here with us right now, but the 30-day quarantine period does give us time to find a place. Byford Quarantine Station is unsurprisingly located in Byford, which is about 40 KM outside of the city. For us, that translates to 3 buses, 1 train, and a total of 3 hours each way to get to the pups for our one-hour visiting period. The upside is that Byford is very rural, so we have seen wild grey kangaroos every time we've been there. We heard our first laughing kookaburras there, as well! It was also pretty cool to see a hazard road sign that simply said “bandicoots”.

The staff at Byford is lovely, and we feel confident that the dogs are receiving great care while they are there. Still, it’s a kennel. Chester and Dixie are sharing accommodation, which is nice for them and which will make their time there less lonely and more bearable. The first week we were there, the dogs were on their 7-day vet hold, so couldn’t leave their kennel. By last week, they had graduated to being able to use the exercise yards, which is fantastic for them. I did some range-of-motion exercises with Chester’s legs, and a bunch of massaging. I think that the lack of exercise has made him a little extra stumbly, but when he was able to run around a bit, he quickly regained some of his balance and coordination.

I can’t wait to get them back. The major issue for us right now is lack of a permanent place. This has been incredibly frustrating, but we are no strangers to lack of pet friendly housing options! The difference here though is that we don’t have anyone (parents!) to fall back on. We pick the dogs up from Byford on February 27^th, and we need a place to take them. We are waiting anxiously to hear about one place that would be perfect for us, and we will know by tomorrow. We have several strikes against us (I am a student and Iain doesn’t have a job yet, we have two big dogs, we’re younger than they would have liked, etc.), but the couple letting the place really liked us. We’ve done absolutely everything possible, so now it’s out of our hands. It would be nice though to get some good news for my first day of school!

Last Thursday, I had my vet school orientation, and met my fellow students for the first time. I LOVED it. Before it started I was a little worried that I would be a lot older compared with everyone else. In Australia, as with the UK, students can attend vet and medical programs almost right out of high school, after just one intensive year of prerequisites. Many of the international students, on the other hand, seem to be closer to my age or older. Age really doesn’t matter, either- I think that vet school is a pretty good equalizer! People are so nice, and I think that many of us had those “first day of high school” nerves. I have met people from all over Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, Canada, the States…it’s all very cool.

I will be joining some special interest groups on campus as well, including the wildlife, animal welfare, and veterinary surgery groups. I will also be joining the porcine and bovine groups, because I know less about pigs and cattle, relative to some of my other favored species. I will be taking things one day at a time though, and not taking on too much all at once. They keep greyhounds here at the teaching hospital, for blood donation (greyhounds are universal blood donors) and for student palpation/auscultation work. They adopt them out after they have been “retired”…uh oh! Greys are my other favorites, next to the pit bull breeds. Monday I start first semester off with a bang, at 8:30. I have an Anatomy lecture, but other than that, the day is pretty heavy on the Biochem. I have two hours of lecture-type stuff, and my lab. Looking at my jam-packed schedule, I haven't been in class this much since high school.

I just can’t believe I’m finally here. I can safely say that I will be thrilled when school is the major stressor…school stuff I can handle. Goodness knows I’ve been there before, at least to some degree. It’s the “hey, what about a house to live in?’ stuff that can wake me out of a dead sleep in the middle of the night. Still, we’ll manage, one day at a time!

The Antipodean adventure begins!