New School Year

Sadly, I have not posted here nearly as much as I would have liked since the end of last year. My summer was great. I had a nice balance between work and relaxation, I went to Miami (see picture), and I read a lot of books.

I am now back in Dublin and 2 weeks in to my second year. A week before school started I was a peer mentor for the incoming class of graduate veterinary students. It was a lot of fun. I was really happy to give back to the incoming class. Answering lots of questions wasn't too bad either. I also got back out to the farm with a chance to review the material will be on our handling exam at the end of this year.

It turns out that this semester is "one of the hardest." I was warned multiple times from everybody, including lecturers. I've been spending a lot of time in class and studying but there have been plenty of fun times this semester already (first year nights at the horse show, new grad initiation night, dinner with the friends, etc). I guess my creative juices haven't really been flowing enough to keep up with the blog. But I'll try. I guess it doesn't help that I got the back to a new country sickness that I seem to get every time I travel between home and here.

Overall, I'm really happy to be back and in school again. I'm feeling lucky that I live in a house so close to the sea. I'm happy I get to go to the market in Dun Laoghaire on Sundays while the weather is still nice.

On a final note... today is Jason's birthday! So I should point out how lucky I am to have such a loving, supporting boyfriend during my tough journey through vet school. He really does make it all seem a little easier. =)

Easter in Switzerland

I've been on a bit of a break from writing lately since there hasn't really been much to talk about. With the exception of last weekend, all I have really been doing is studying for continuing assessments that we have had the last couple weeks of class. I figured everyone would get bored of reading about all of the nothing and studying I have been up to.

Last weekend I was finally able to get a bit of a break =). Colleen, Max, Micol and I went to Switzerland (Geneva and Lausanne) for the weekend. Micol lives in Switzerland and Max's parents have a house there. So between the two of them, Colleen and I had great tour guides/ translators. It's a reminder of how lucky we are to have made such great friends while in school.

When we first got to Switzerland, on Friday, we drove around Geneva, saw the united nations building, and stopped by the fountain at Lake Geneva (Jet d'Eau- one of the largest fountains in the world). For lunch, we went to Mont Saleve in France where I had a bit of a run in with walnuts and felt itchy the rest of the afternoon. Even with two hours of sleep, and Benadryl on board, I was able to appreciate the beautiful view from the mountain.


Saturday we went to Gruyere castle and ate some of the yummiest gruyere cheese fondue. Gruyere castle was converted in to a museum that is surrounded by a cute town that we shopped at. Then, after a quick stop in lausanne to get my pandora charm, we went to dinner at Chalet Suisse. There, we ate even more fondue (of the meat variety). I was so stuffed by the end of the day.

On Easter Sunday, after Colleen's first French Easter service, we spent the day in Lausanne relaxing. There was a market by the water and the weather was beautiful. We rode around Lake Geneva in a motor boat since we missed all of the lake tours for the day. Sadly, on Monday, we had to return to Dublin. Colleen and I both spent way too much money on chocolate at the airport. It is so delicious.

The best part about the return to the airport was that Jason was there waiting for me when I got back to Dublin! Thats right, Jason came to visit yet again!!! This time, he was on this side of the world for work, then afterwards he stopped by to say hi =).

Now, I am trying to relax for a few days with Jason before I have to study for finals. I cannot believe this is already the last week of class for the semester. Next week is reading week, then finals. I'll be home in just over 3 weeks. I can't wait to see everyone!

Here are the rest of my pictures from the weekend. =)

I got stuck in my room.

Yet another uninteresting week. Study, study, and more study.

Last night. I was getting ready to leave and meet up with some friends to go to The Mezz (which was really fun) and my door handle broke right off the door! I was stuck in my room. Thank goodness for roommates. I banged on the wall until Laurie came to my rescue.

Friends are great =). Luckily maintenance responded quickly and I had a new handle by the morning.

Nothing Much.

It has been a fairly uneventful week. Nothing much to talk about here. I did really well on all of my midterms so that makes me happy. We went to the farm this week and learned all about horse shoes. Also, I made a friend.

Laming in Scotland

Yesterday, I returned from my week of lambing in Scotland at Clonrae Farm with Kieran and Colleen. We had so much fun and learned and unbelievable amount. I am properly exhausted after spending a week there. Madge, if you are reading this, I cannot thank you enough for having us on your farm for a week, feeding us delicious food, and putting up with all of our questions.

This was my favorite experience of the year. My arms are bruised from trying to manipulate babies out of their mother's birth canal and my muscles are sore from lugging around buckets of water and tackling sheep but, it was more than worth it. I've become quite the sheep wrangler. They can be really tricky to catch and sometimes the process of doing so can be like bull riding a sheep.

Within the first couple of days at the farm I found this website that provided basic information about lambing sheep. I am proud to say we experienced every single one of those birthing situations, even the difficult ones (it's the best way to learn). This is the easiest way to see what we experienced without typing it out word-for-word. Warning: if you become queasy easily, this webpage may not be for you- Sheep101

For those interested, here is our daily schedule: We went out to the ewe shed every morning at 8 to feed the pet lambs (orphans) and water the nursing ewes, went inside for breakfast around 10, then back to the shed for lambing/feeding/watering until lunch around 1 or 2, after lunch we were back outside for more lambing/feeding/watering/bottle feeding until dinner time around 7. Sometimes that was the end of our day although, a few nights we went back out after dinner to bottle feed the pets again. Luckily, there were plenty of people around to help and pick up our slack when it was time for rest. We all brought some school work to do but, by the end of the day we ended up passing out instead.

While there, we were lambing Scotch Mules. They are a cross between Scottish Blackface sheep and Blue Leicesters. The ewes were then crossed with Suffolk and Texel rams. The babies grow nice and fast. The farm hand says we were there for one of the busiest lambing seasons they've had in a while. I think he said we had over 200 new lambs in that single week. I believe it, we were busy workers.

I cannot get over how cute the lambs were. I just wanted to squeeze them. I loved them even more when they were begging to be fed because they made me laugh. It amazing to see how much they grow in just one week. We saw them go from wobbly newborns to little rambunctious buggers hopping around in the fields. Here are a few pictures from the week.

I think this picture deserves recognition. The lamb stood on the ewe's back then, the ewe stood up. That takes some serious balancing. Too. Much. Cute. 

Finally, after all that, I decided I deserve to get myself a little present. =). New wellies with Scottish Terriers all over them. I'm obsessed. 

Halfway Through Spring Break

I'm posting from Scotland today!! It was my first full day at Clonrae farm, lambing with Kieran and Colleen. We are having a great time and have learned so much in only one day. I'm excited to learn even more this week. It's really neat walking through all the sheep and finding random lambs that were just born. Here is a picture of some of the little buggers I was bottle feeding today. They're too cute when they're hungry and begging.

Jason and I did make it to Howth on Monday, as planned. The weather was perfect and the peninsula is beautiful. I know what I am doing next time I need a break from school/ studying/ people. I was really sad to say goodbye Tuesday morning but, I am happy we had such a good time. Also, I'm sure jason is really happy that he finally got to see Google in Dublin.

I miss him already.

P.S. thank you, Aunt Renee, for my green scarf. I love it

That's all. The farm today left me exhausted and I am ready for bed.

Here is a bonus picture of Kieran's hands covered in iodine solution after she caught the bottle upside down. I couldn't stop laughing every time I saw her orange hands.

Galway

Right now we are in the midst of a 2 week long spring break. I'm posting a little late this week since my time has been tied up. Jason has been here since wednesday and we've had a really good time so far. Unfortunately, he is leaving on tuesday, bright and early. =(.

This past weekend we were in Galway. I am so happy I finally got to see some of the west side of Ireland. We took a Galway Tour Company bus through the burren and Cliffs of Moher. Here are some pictures from my weekend so far.

 

One of my favorite things on this trip was seeing a fairy tree. Fairy trees can be kind of confusing since there is so much superstition surrounding them. Some people believe if you harm the tree (break a branch off of it) you will have bad luck. Fairy trees have ribbons tied up all over them. The ribbons are tied to the tree as an offering of good fortune. I really enjoy the romantic aspect of it all. 

There are a few more adventures to come tomorrow (hopefully, Jason and I will be heading out to Howth, as long as the weather is nice), then I'll be back to studying some more. Next week I'll be in Scotland learning all about sheep and lambing. I'm so excited.