Shopping

So my friend and I went shopping today in the hopes of getting some new clothes for the absolutely gorgeous weather we've been having! It seems spring has spring here in Scotland, and we are loving it! However, it seems that all the clothes here are pastel, day-glow, or under the impression that we are in Rio (ie: covered in flowers and leaves). So my question now becomes, where are all the normal clothes and when will they be back? Also is it like this in the states? I lived through 90's clothes once, I don't want to do it again!

Baptism by Fire aka What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger aka Lambing 2012

What a crazy 2 weeks it's been! If I never see a ewe vagina again it'll be too soon! My fingers are still sore and my arms a bit buffer than when I arrived, but I have successfully finished my first round of Lambing! So here's what happened: I thought that the girl who is a 3rd year that I was going to lamb with was going to come with me and stay for halt the first week or so, show me the ropes, and then leave to do her EMS. So imagine my surprise when I arrived only to learn that she was going to be there for 1 day nd the next day I was going to be all by myself! I certainly had to learn fast, and learn fast I did (at least I hope I did!) I was amazed when the farmer trusted me enough (at all) to be alone with his sheep and lambs and keep them alive! I've never worked with sheep, so my initial reaction was TELL ME WHAT TO DO!! To which he responded, its up to you! To which I responded WHAT THE F*@k?! (and a few other choice words, though mainly in my head). It turned out to be a great experience, though most of the time I was in a state of extreme emotional distress ie: at 3am when a lamb refuses to come out and you're pulling until you feel like you're the one who gave birth, and the stupid lamb STILL ISN'T OUT! and you keep pulling and even the ewe (who up until this point has been trying her damndest to escape from you while you're elbow deep into her vag with 1 arm and holding her down with the other) looks back at you with a 'get this thing the hell out of me' look and stands to better assist in the removal of her child. FINALLY the lamb comes out (you, sweaty, tired, glad that there is no cap on the amount of curse words you can use as well as for the fact that theres no one around to hear you scream them into the ewes wool) give the lamb its medicine and twin on another lamb (o did I neglect to mention that while you're exerting yourself holding down the ewe and pulling out her kid there's ALSO a pet lamb thats trying to nurse from your armpit sitting there so you can use the ewes fluids to rub all over the pet lamb so the ewe thinks that she has 2 kids instead of 1 so you can get rid of some pet lambs?) So thats lambing in a nutshell, vast stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, but all in all it was a great experience. I became a pretty good lamber, hung out with some cool people, played around on a quad bike, released some sheep, lambed inside AND in the field, and even got a rope around a few heads and learned a few tricks of the trade! Also tried my hand at 1 calving, though it needed to crank, so I basically was just shoulder deep in a cow, but good practise for calving in Aug! Though I can say, it was amazing to come home and have a proper shower and to not be covered in placenta and blood. Did I mention that we delivered some dead lambs, one of the legs got ripped off in the process of taking it out, and we decapitated it so that was pretty cool, and one ewe prolapsed her uterus, twice, so we had to sew her up, so that was cool. But good to be home, I was starting to get a little homesick towards the end!

 Texel

 the gang

 super preg with 4 and lots of fluid

 my new bff meg, riding on the quad bike in my lap!

 previous super preg sheep, no longer preg!

 more texel

 baby texel!

 le farm

 rainbow!

 holy cow!

 the other gang

 who says there's no surfing in Scotland?

 more farm

 Meeeeeeeg!

 hey meg!

the most regal blackface I have ever seen

Lambing!

All packed and ready to go lambing bright and early tomorrow! See ya'll in 2 weeks~

EXAM IS OVER!!!!!

HOOTYHOOOOOO!

Bi-Polar Weather

Todays weather oscillated between sunny, rainy, hail, and back again! O Scotland weather, how I have missed thee!

Jabs

Today was the most amazing day ever!!! O wait, I just studied all day, never mind! Though I did get inducted into a very select group of UK society, those with BCG injection scars! Its a right of passage (well not really) but at least when this stupid thing forms all us US kids who got the shot will have matching scars with all the UK kids! Here's what I get to look forward to over the coming weeks:
In 7-10 days time a small red swelling will develop at the site of immunisation. This will gradually extend to a circular area approximately 5-6mm in diameter
In 5-6 weeks time there should be a smooth purplish-pink scar which should become colourless in 3-4 months
If the reaction becomes moist or discharges pus, a dry dressing should be applied and changed daily until the discharge ceases
Fun stuff! So far it is uninteresting (knock on wood) but I've heard some interesting stores, so if anything cool (ie: gross0looking) happens I'll be sure to document it for ya'll!

Blue Skys Smiling At Me...

Today was another beautiful day in Glasgow! Too bad its the week before exams and we're all inside while the weather is amazing! So after studying for a while, and staring at thermoregulation with nothing absorbing, I decided to go out for a wee run! It was such a great day, and now that I've synthesised some vitamin D, (D3 to be exact) I'm ready to hit the books once again!

 From this...

 To this! yay sun!

Stuuuudying

Well its a week before exams, so we've all locked ourselves away in our study holes only to come out for food and coffee. On todays agenda: Body fluids and blood, yaaay, perhaps with a little welfare thrown in at the end there because its fairly straight forward. And, of course, it was a beautiful day here that I didn't get to enjoy because I was stuck inside all day with my blackout curtains closed to simulate night so I could study without knowledge of time. But soon it'll all be over and then its Easter break! And more studying, it never eeeends!!!!

Glasgow the Beautiful

Today was a pretty normal day, woke up and went to class as usual, learned some Endocrinology Anatomy form one of my fav professors, came home, cleaned a bit, then went for a run. I found this beautiful path towards the end and, even though there was a cone in front of it, I decided to push on to see what was down there. It turned out to be a path that ran right along the river, and though it was spectacularly muddy (see pictures of now broken in shoes) it was beautiful! It reminded me of being back in CA over the summer when I would go hiking in the hills and have the chance to explore up there. And I had my 'O crap I can't believe I'm living in Scotland' moment (it usually happens about once a week). Except it felt more like I was home. And even though I was somewhere new I felt peaceful and happy. And then I had to remind myself that I can't spend all day hiking around out here, I have to get back and study! So I turned around (still playing my super amazing zombie game!) and ran home, and studied blood for the rest of the day (woo!)
 And I can't wait to show Missy and Kelly around when they come this summer now that the flights are all booked!!! Speaking of Shout out to Kelly-she got her first acceptance to a UC!!!!! HOWLA!!

 so much for new trainers! they are officially broken in!