Orientation and Week 1, or, Impostor Syndrome

Well, I made it through the first week of vet school.  Orientation went well and lasted most of the fist two days.  Here are a couple of video clips from the welcome speeches.  

I appreciated them starting with reassurances that there had been no mistake and we were indeed in the right place.  They talked in the optional Saturday orientation about "impostor syndrome" or the feeling that is rampant in high-acheiving circles that one is out of place or not as good or as smart as one's peers.  As the sole English major in the class (but not the only non-science major), I can attest that this does in fact exist.  Most of my classmates have a stronger science background than I do, but this week has been mostly review so I've been on comfortable ground.  I am slightly concerned about my ability to keep up when we really start to get into new material, but I'm trying not to worry about things that haven't happened yet.  Although classes have indeed been a little overwhelming, I am happy to report that it is no more overwhelming than I expected.  

So far, my biggest challenge is physiological chemistry, which brings back all my biochemistry anxiety from Sandwick's exams.  I have also had histology, molecular biology, developmental biology, animal use, and gross anatomy.  I spent 5 hours in the gross anatomy lab Friday doing the initial dissection of our dog and cat.  My group has four students and we are responsible for dissection a dog and a cat this semester and a horse and small ruminant next semester.  All of the animals used in gross anatomy are hospital patients whose owners have donated their bodies for teaching purposes.  It was very different than other dissections I have done to cut into an animal that has a home and a family before ending up in the lab.  The feeling of uncertainty I had over applying a scalpel to someone's pet combined with the strong smell of the embalming fluid when we removed the animals from their bags had me stepping back for a moment, but the queasiness passed more quickly than I expected and I jumped into the dissection shortly.  Our first dog was improperly fixed and was therefore unfortunately unusable.  I found myself feeling quite a sense of loss when they took him away as "tissue scraps" and he didn't get to complete his purpose.  Our second dog was in much better condition and was a boxer/pitty cross (I think) that had excellent musculature.  It was really easy to see all the extrinsic muscle groups that we were supposed to find.  We managed to find all we were supposed to on both our dog and cat, but it took all four of us dissecting.  We were going to go in Sunday afternoon to go over everything again, but it looks like Irene might put a damper on those plans.

I am looking forward to next week, which will likely be my last week of vet school in which I have no major exam.  I'll savor it.