Tasty Exemption, Bittersweet Goodbyes and Cake

So today’s been kind of a long day for me. Just yesterday I took my first final which was in my third and last veterinary physiology course, which specializes in reproduction and endocrinology. It was a tricky 76-question true or false exam and both of my professors are known for being really unpredictable in this area. I stayed there in the classroom for almost 2 hours making sure I had put my best answers down.

I spent most of the morning being anxious about the results. I was going to wait until around 10am to head to college and see the results myself, but then I cracked and then just texted one of my professors and asked her what my standing was. About an hour I got a response that said, “Hey doc amie here. you passed 143. yehey”

And then I had the biggest smile on my face. :D

However, I found out later that some of my friends weren’t so lucky though. But of course I won’t go into that…

Lily, why has thou forsaken me? LOL

So, in a good mood and with it still being somewhat mid-morning, I decided to go down to Alabang in Manila to get a hair-cut (my hair was crazily long because I had not had the time to cut it these last few weeks) and also to pick up some needed supplies for my trip to Hong Kong. Once I got to the mall, I got some new clothes, got a new haircut and then also picked up some things for my iPod which I’ll be needing for my flight over.

While I was at Tony & Jackey’s, the Korean salon that I usually frequent for my cuts, I found out that my favorite senior hairstylist Lily was going to be leaving soon for Korea. Lily, is the sweetest Korean stylist I have ever had and she’s always made me feel at home whenever I went to see her, even with her broken English and funny mix of Tagalog and Korean. I’ve been going to her for over a year now and everytime she sees me she always has a big smile on her face and welcomes me with open arms. She’s also very good at what she does. I have rarely come out of there less than 100% satisfied. So it basically broke my heart that I would have to say goodbye to her for the last time. When I left I gave her a slightly bigger tip than I leave her usually, and she gracefully bowed and handed me a parting gift which is seen below.

Lily's parting gift... some Korean hair gel! Awesome!

Last night, after my final we celebrated my friend Pam’s 21st birthday. I keep forgetting how young the other students in my batch are… I remember when I turned 21. My two guy friends brought me to a bar at midnight and we shared my first legal drink. It was simple, subtle but utterly satisfying. This time around there wasn’t any alcohol, much because the drinking age here is 18 and all of my friends have already started drinking legally already, and it was nice. My friends came over, we had a BBQ and had some fun playing some games (e.g. Twister) and watched some TV shows, music videos (Korean of course… :P) and a movie. And of course there was cake. Very good, scrumptious chocolate cake. Yum!

A simple night out, but it was great. A good break to be had by all. :)

And now I’m home and just had dinner. I just got off the phone with my girlfriend. My girlfriend j, is about to hop on a jet plane at this very moment to head to Hong Kong. She’ll be heading there a week earlier than me to hang out with her family and stuff. As I mentioned before, I’ll be heading there this coming Tuesday morning, after I finish up my last round of finals.

So alright folks, I’m gonna just go read some more notes for my other finals and then maybe eat some ice cream and head to bed. I’ve got upcoming surgery, clinical rotations and veterinary medicine 1 finals to worry about so wish me luck with those!

Now I shall leave you with this very flattering picture of my friend Margaux on a Twister mat.

Good night ya’ll!

Finally! It’s Over! I Mean It This Time!

Ahhh, so another horrendous week over! I took my last Parasitology test for the semester. It went alright… I won’t say anything until I get the final results back.

We had to take our test today starting 7:30 in the morning due to a scheduled power outage at the college that would start around 9:00am. I’ve been studying all week and even though I knew I had to get some sleep I only managed to go to bed at 1am last night and then woke myself up at 5am again this morning. Trust me, it wasn’t a pleasant thing to do. Ugh.

Anyway, I got to the college and Dr. Baticados had us set up for the laboratory exam first. I was kind of scared at first due to the fact that I had always been used to taking the lecture part first, but it was good that we started off that way. I did pretty well on the lab exam and afterwards I found out that I passed that part. So we’re all good with that.

Next came the lecture part from Dr. Salcedo. When I saw the piece of paper that he handed me as the test I was a little scared. It only consisted of half-a-piece of paper and when I scanned the questions it consisted of three life-cycles and a bit of enumeration. Memorizing life cycles was always a pain for me. One parasite would lay eggs and hatch into larva in 1 week. Others would take 4 months. Some didn’t even lay eggs… some just laid pupa directly. And how many times did they have to attach themselves to the host? And where exactly did they molt? Did they molt on the host? Off the host? And where did they lay their eggs? Crevices? On tops of surfaces of water? Also, how long did they live? Did the male and female die after copulation? All of these questions ran through my head when answering the questions on life cycles. There was one on a type of Protozoa and the other two were about Demodex and the tropical cattle tick. Luckily, I had some background in those three things he asked, so hopefully I answered the questions the way he wanted. I gave it everything I could, so let’s hope for the best.

Anyway, it’s now 4:30pm and the test ended at around 10am. I don’t know what to do with myself right now. It’s weird, because I’m so used to taking tests every week nowadays. When I look at the time I think to myself, “What the heck am I doing? How come I’m not studying?” I just feel weird knowing that I’ve taken the last test of the semester and that I have just a little more than a week off. It’s crazy, but I guess that’s how taking up veterinary medicine goes.

Things aren’t easy when you take up a course in the medical field. My girlfriend in the States is currently going through a lot as well, but she’s passing her classes so that’s a good thing. We’re both stressed out and we really need some time to relax after awhile. You can’t just work, work, work all the time you know. If you don’t chill out every once in awhile you will find that you will burn yourself out, and that my friend is not something you want to do… especially in the middle of the semester.

So guys, fingers crossed, I passed that exam and passed Parasitology 1. If I do end up passing then it’s off to Parasitology 2: Helminths! Woop dee doo… Hahaha…

Tonight I’m going to go out with my Korean friend Jae and get some dinner and some drinks. I think I owe it to myself at least that much after this grueling semester. I’m also thinking of heading down to Manila to spend the weekend there, but I’m not sure yet. I’m running low on cash and have to see if I’ll be visiting other relatives this week.

Anyway, I’m off! 3rd semester is officially over! Woo hoo!!! :)