A moment to appreciate.

I'm packing up the last of our things while my husband is at his last day of work before we move to Washington. Leaving Indiana is nostalgic for me. I've spent my entire life here, unlike Don who moved here when he was sixteen. But I'm excited for the move and the change of scenery, a new location and new friends.

It's made me think a lot about how good life is right now. I'm in my third year (technically, since I am a 5th semester Ross student that is the equivalent of a junior U.S. vet school student) of vet school, doing well with a strong GPA. My husband just finished his Master's degree and is starting a job that he's thrilled to be doing in a field he's wanted to work in for quite some time. Within two years both of us will be done with school and have good jobs. And we're happily married, in a stable, strong relationship. So strong that we can pick up right where we left off after spending months apart at a time.

Somehow, when I wasn't looking, that American Dream thing snuck up on me.

On to 5th!

Yesterday was torture. I was sitting in the SKB airport, continuously refreshing the page on myRoss where our grades would be posted. Even though they say grades will be up at noon on Saturday, they're always up on Friday afternoons. The time varies in a window between 12-5:30pm, but usually it's on the earlier side. So when by 2:20 grades still weren't posted and my flight was starting to board, I knew I wouldn't be able to check again until I reached my hotel room in Miami, as the Miami International Airport doesn't have free wireless. We landed, I got a shuttle to my  hotel, checked in, and once inside my room I threw my bags down and attacked my laptop with the internet access key they gave me at the front desk.

It's not that I thought I'd failed out. I didn't. I knew I'd at least passed everything. It's just that I went into finals with four A's and one B and I didn't want to come out with all C's. Most of my finals were pretty brutal. Surprisingly so in some cases, because those classes are usually ones that I excel in.

But to my surprise I came out with remarkably good scores!

A - Epidemiology
A - Pharmacology II
B+ - Clinical Pathology
B+ - Pathology II
B - Mechanisms of Disease

That last B is because I totally blew off the second MoD exam and only studied like 8 hours beforehand and got a C. Totally my fault and it is the only C I received on anything all semester long. My cumulative GPA is a 3.63 this semester, which means I am on the Dean's List for the first time since I started vet school! It's long overdue and due to my own laziness and the slight touch of mental illness I experienced last semester.

And now I get to start my break on cloud nine, and go on a road trip to move to an exciting new state with my husband.

HOORAY!

My husband is graduating in a few weeks with a Master's in museum science. We knew that his chances of getting a good job that he really wanted right out of school would be low, that he would probably have to work a couple of part-time jobs at art museums and such before he got to where he wanted to be - in a science museum, preferably working with kids.

Imagine our joy when today he was hired on at the Mobius Science Center in Spokane, Washington as an educational program developer. He's thrilled to pieces to have landed his dream job so soon. I'm bursting with pride and happiness for him.

This means, though, when I go home over break it's going to be a crazy whirlwind of packing and then making the two day drive from Indiana to Washington. It also means I'll barely have time to see my family before we leave. I feel terrible, because my mom requested time off to see me. Unfortunately I couldn't have predicted this.

I am, however, really excited for the trip! Don and I always enjoy road trips together, and starting over in a brand new city is exciting for both of us. We're both really looking forward to exploring a new place and finding new favorite restaurants, etc.

7 days...

The one week countdown to finals has begun. I'm kind of resentful that I also have two exams this week when I need to be studying for finals.

As usual, even if you start studying weeks before finals, there is just no way to fit in everything you have to review as well as keep up with old material. Something's gotta be on the chopping block. Last semester it was Pathology I for me, and this semester it's looking like it's going to be Pathology II again. I've got a really strong A in that class and only need a 30% on the final to pass. Basically it's looking like I'm going to study the night before that exam. It took me from an A to a B last semester when I did the same thing, but c'est la vie.

Not panicking this semester, though. The highest grade I need on any of my finals is a 57% in Pharm II. Everything else is 39% or below. There's virtually no danger of me failing out, and if I keep going with the same steam I've had studying Pharm II, there's little danger of me repeating, either. The final is 20-30% old material, which I rocked on the midterm and still remember most of so a brief refresher the night before the exam should be sufficient to allow me to ace those questions.

Anyway, thought I'd check in and predominantly let my mom, who I know reads this blog, know that I'm okay. I'm not freaking out. I'll be fine this semester, no worries. And now some pictures of MJ, my latest adorable foster cat.

More research.

Just thought I'd drop off this link. It's an article on the research project I'm assisting with this semester!

"RUSVM students are assisting by monitoring the reefs once per week, taking pictures and recording any changes occurring with the sea life.  The information generated will be used by the local government to document the different species of fish, lobsters, crabs, algae, and sponges that the reef typically attracts. Results of the research project will be made available to the Department of Fisheries, which may help them understand and assess the types of fish which may be increasing in number in these areas. The reef project is an example of an area in which RUSVM research may impact our community, as well as dramatically improve the marine environment and fishing industry throughout the island."

 The last photo in the gallery shows a group of juvenile blue-striped grunts utilizing the AR.

Island cookout.

Yesterday I had friends over for a cookout/pool party. There was a lot of yummy food; macaroni salad, Kugel from my Jewish friend, brats, grilled pineapple, and for dessert I made bananas foster. We swam, we joked, we ate... It was a really good day, and reminded me how important it is to have a support group, a family, down here.

That's not my apartment in the photos, by the way. The villa manager was kind enough to open up the villa for me so we had access to a fridge and freezer without constantly running back down to my place. 

Laura, Angie, Tricia and Sako.

Sako, Laura, Tricia, Jessica and Angie.

Tricia and Laura.

Group shot! One of the few Vanessa is in.

We discovered a collection of Carnivale hats and things got silly for a minute.

Flaming bananas!