My first week at vet school has been a bit of a whirlwind. I was excited to finally start, but also pretty nervous and overwhelmed, especially when I arrived for the first session and saw the huge number of people waiting to get into the building.
My first impression of Sutton Bonington has been really positive. It is very green and relatively small, which makes it feel quite cosy. Being shown around the different areas for the different animals also made everything feel much more real. It was one of the first moments where it really sank in that I was actually starting vet school.
One of the best parts of the week has been meeting people. I met someone in my tutor group who I’ve been talking to throughout the week and I think we’ll remain friends. I’ve also found a group of mature students to spend time with, which has been really nice.
We had our first practical sessions this week, which was probably one of the things I was most excited about. It was my first time working with animals in a teaching environment. We watched the dogs as they walked into the room, observing their behaviour to assess their mood and how they were responding to us. We then palpated their spines and ribs to assess their body condition score.
That actually felt like quite a big step for me. I’ve already done things like assessing the welfare of my own cats, but doing it under guidance and being taught what to look for felt like I was properly on the road to becoming a vet.
We also had our first introduction to radiography. We positioned dummies into different views under an X-ray machine, then looked at different radiographs and compared them to work out what made a good example. It was interesting getting an early introduction to something that will become such an important part of the course.
I also personalised my dissection kit, although perhaps not quite in the way I’d hoped. I chose a base coat rather than a visible colour, which means my tools are now a slightly disappointing shade of… basically invisible. More importantly, whatever they used to coat them has made them incredibly uncomfortable to hold. So I’ve managed to make my dissection kit both less colourful and less ergonomic.
We also had sessions about student welfare and the different support available at university. One thing I particularly liked was the emphasis that everyone needs support at some point, rather than support being something only offered when you’re struggling. There are lots of different avenues available, which was reassuring to hear at the beginning of such a demanding course.
One of the highlights of the week was the trip to Twycross Zoo. It was interesting seeing how the habitats had been designed around the animals and how different aspects of the animals were highlighted for visitors. I found myself paying quite a lot of attention to the educational information around the enclosures and thinking about why particular characteristics or behaviours were being drawn attention to. It made me think about how much influence the way we present animals can have on how people understand them.
I haven’t managed to meet my Big Vet, a student in the year above, properly yet, so that’s something still on the list for next week.
Now that the first week is over, I think one of the biggest things I’m starting to realise is just how much there is to remember. It’s already becoming apparent how the workload can start to take a toll if you don’t stay organised, so I’m going to have to work out a system that actually lets me keep track of everything without constantly feeling like I’m forgetting something.
Overall, it’s been a busy first week, but a good one. I’ve gone from feeling nervous standing outside the vet school on the first morning to having already made friends, worked with dogs, taken my first steps into radiography and visited a zoo as a vet student. It feels like I’m finally getting started.
*ish