Back by popular demand
Yeah right! I'm just starting to blog again cus a certain anonymous-person-lima called me a snob and insisted I thought I was too good to share the personal details of my life online anymore!!
Well here's the proof: I'm still the same old Vivian and probably more Vivianish that I even was before.
Where to start?
Well, I found out while in Africa that I had indeed passed my board exams. Strangely enough, I had a dream that I'd passed exactly the night before I found out. I jumped up and down in joy and screamed and then realised I was in the computer lab at the Ugandan vet school and had just terrified/surprised a bunch of African vet students with my antics.
Immediately after I got back from Africa, I found out that I had indeed matched for an internship and lo and behold, I mysteriously got my first choice!!! Thus, my fate was sealed and I was told I would be heading to New York come June to start a general rotating small animal internship which includes medicine/surgery/emergency.
Is this internship mandatory? Absolutely not.
If I wanted to just head into private practice and work as a vet after I'm done in Saskatoon, I totally could.
That being said, why on earth would I want to do an internship?
For starters, I feel like I'm too inept and incompetent to be released out into the world as a real vet. I kind of want the security blanket of an internship where I am assured I'll have a mentor.
Secondly, after I'm done my internship, I get a certificate for having completed the damned thing and then I can apply for a job and demand as much as a vet who has been working for 3 years instead of one that just graduated a year ago.
Finally, and this is the reason most people do an internship, I will have the qualifications afterwards to apply for a specialty residency program. Something like surgery, neurology, ophthalmology or internal medicine, etc.
I have to admit my original reason for applying for an internship was to do a surgery residency. Africa really changed me though and I realised during the trip that what I really love and would like to do is something related to ecosystem health and wildlife conservation.
But it was too late. I'd matched and if I pulled out, I'd screw up the match system and be blacklisted for three years. I also figured that since by some miracle I'd actually matched for my first choice (it's definitely not the norm!), that I should just go for it and do the damned thing. It's only a year long and it's apparently good for me if I want to be a well trained and confident vet (which I am certainly not right now).
Besides, I'd always wanted to live in New York for a while and here was my excuse!!!
So when I got a phone call from New York that afternoon, I accepted the position.
The last few months of vet school were a bit of a blur. At one point during my field service rotation, I really really regretted accepting my small animal internship and I really would have given my left nut (if I had one) to be a mixed animal vet. I still sort of feel that way but not quite that strongly. I do have to say that small animals are great and all, but there's a lot to be said about working outside on cows and being a farm vet.
I graduated on May 28th (that's DOCTOR Vivian to y'all now!) and managed to squeeze myself into my size 3 grad dress which I'd bought a few months earlier. Thank goodness for control top panty hose.
That's all I'll post for now.
I have a long-overdue appointment with the grocery store for some milk and fresh produce.
New York is unbearably hot in the summer, even if I'm not directly in the city.
It's going to be a tough year for me, so please leave lots of comments or send lots of e-mails to let me know you guys are out there and reading (or at least skimming- I know you do!).
Take care and I'll try not to make you wait too long until my next post!
Well here's the proof: I'm still the same old Vivian and probably more Vivianish that I even was before.
Where to start?
Well, I found out while in Africa that I had indeed passed my board exams. Strangely enough, I had a dream that I'd passed exactly the night before I found out. I jumped up and down in joy and screamed and then realised I was in the computer lab at the Ugandan vet school and had just terrified/surprised a bunch of African vet students with my antics.
Immediately after I got back from Africa, I found out that I had indeed matched for an internship and lo and behold, I mysteriously got my first choice!!! Thus, my fate was sealed and I was told I would be heading to New York come June to start a general rotating small animal internship which includes medicine/surgery/emergency.
Is this internship mandatory? Absolutely not.
If I wanted to just head into private practice and work as a vet after I'm done in Saskatoon, I totally could.
That being said, why on earth would I want to do an internship?
For starters, I feel like I'm too inept and incompetent to be released out into the world as a real vet. I kind of want the security blanket of an internship where I am assured I'll have a mentor.
Secondly, after I'm done my internship, I get a certificate for having completed the damned thing and then I can apply for a job and demand as much as a vet who has been working for 3 years instead of one that just graduated a year ago.
Finally, and this is the reason most people do an internship, I will have the qualifications afterwards to apply for a specialty residency program. Something like surgery, neurology, ophthalmology or internal medicine, etc.
I have to admit my original reason for applying for an internship was to do a surgery residency. Africa really changed me though and I realised during the trip that what I really love and would like to do is something related to ecosystem health and wildlife conservation.
But it was too late. I'd matched and if I pulled out, I'd screw up the match system and be blacklisted for three years. I also figured that since by some miracle I'd actually matched for my first choice (it's definitely not the norm!), that I should just go for it and do the damned thing. It's only a year long and it's apparently good for me if I want to be a well trained and confident vet (which I am certainly not right now).
Besides, I'd always wanted to live in New York for a while and here was my excuse!!!
So when I got a phone call from New York that afternoon, I accepted the position.
The last few months of vet school were a bit of a blur. At one point during my field service rotation, I really really regretted accepting my small animal internship and I really would have given my left nut (if I had one) to be a mixed animal vet. I still sort of feel that way but not quite that strongly. I do have to say that small animals are great and all, but there's a lot to be said about working outside on cows and being a farm vet.
I graduated on May 28th (that's DOCTOR Vivian to y'all now!) and managed to squeeze myself into my size 3 grad dress which I'd bought a few months earlier. Thank goodness for control top panty hose.
That's all I'll post for now.
I have a long-overdue appointment with the grocery store for some milk and fresh produce.
New York is unbearably hot in the summer, even if I'm not directly in the city.
It's going to be a tough year for me, so please leave lots of comments or send lots of e-mails to let me know you guys are out there and reading (or at least skimming- I know you do!).
Take care and I'll try not to make you wait too long until my next post!
posted by Viv at 5:20 p.m.
2 Comments:
Hey Viv,
Glad to hear you're alive and well :)
Ngoc and I plan to take a trip to NYC during the fall! If you're not so busy with your internship, you might get to see our familiar faces down there!
Isn't Gabe in NYC too?
so this is NYC NY? If it was nearer to Ontario I could see you all the time! "would like to do is something related to ecosystem health and wildlife conservation." remind me why you left research again? Oh yes now I see, you would still not be DOCTOR Vivian yet, you would be like me "PhD candidate."
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