Fresher's Week and Dick Vet Orientation!

Fresher's Week is for all of the incoming freshmen to University.  It is the week before classes start and is full of events - from your particular school of study, societies (clubs and organizations), comedy, music and pub crawls after pub crawls. 

Vet school orientation began today!  We met at 9AM in Summerhall, where my classes will be for the next year.  This is the outside

It was an amazing welcome, followed by picking out which veterinary school's sports teams to try out (I'm going to investigate the Dick Vet Dixens, which is soccer, er football, and the women's rugby team), then on to the Southsider pub by 11am for pints and lunch with the Professor and my class.  There is also a univerity women's mountain biking team, which I will find out more about later this week.

I came back around 1230 and rested up.  This evening, we meet back at the Southsider at 7pm for a pub crawl.  I may last a few hours, but imagine some of the young guns will be out quite late.

Here is my Fresher's Induction Programme for the Vet School

Monday, 13 September

0900 Welcome Lecture by Professor Simon and 5th Years

1000 Dick Vet Sports Fair

1030 Pick up University ID Card

1100 Southsider Pub - Pints and Lunch

1330 Treasure Hunt around Edinburgh (not attending)

1900 Southsider Pub - 5-legged Pub Crawl (no clue what this means)

Tuesday, 14 September

1000 Welcome Head of School, Professor Elaine Watson

1020 Director of Teaching/Chair of Vet Education Prof Susan Rhind

1030 Director of Student Affairs Dr Geoff Pearson

1045 Coffee in the Main Hall

1115 Fire Safety

1145 Crime Prevention Officer - Community Safety

1215 Health and Safety

1230 Fundraising

1300 Edinburgh Dungeons Trip (not attending)

1800 Safari night - dinner, wine and dancing

Wednesday, 15 September

1000 Career and Research Opportunities in Vet Med (looking forward to this)

1030 EUSA Representative

1045 Disability Office

1100 Coffee in Main Hall

1130 Student Counsellor

1140 President of the Veterinary Students Council

1150 Association of Veterinary Students

1205 History of the Dick Vet

1300 Edinburgh Zoo Trip (not attending)

1300 Sports Teams Events - try teams out

I will be at my flat from 1300-1800 waiting on British Telecom to hook up my internet, land line and TV.  Hopefully, they will come early enough so I can check out some of the sports teams.

Thursday, 16 September

The Pope is visiting Edinburgh, so there are no activities until

1600 Stags and Hens School Disco (ummmm, no thank you)

Friday, 17 September

1900 Southsider - Beach Attire for Pub Crawl (huh?)

Saturday, 18 September

All Day - Sports Day with teams in the Meadows

Sunday, 19 September

Dick Vet Ceilidh at Teviot

As you can see, it's a fun-filled, packed week.  I will also be looking at any other University clubs I may want to join this week.

Glad to be here and glad to finally be started!

Hello All!

Hello from Edinburgh! It is time to start this blog, of which I have zero clue as to what I am doing, so please bear with me. This truly is a place for me to update family and friends all at once about my adventures in veterinary school, as well as this beautiful city called Edinburgh. In time, I will make the site 'prettier', but for now it's just going to have to do!

My dad and I sailed over on the Queen Mary 2. We departed Manhattan, NY on August 8 and arrived in Southampton, UK on the 14th. We made the long drive up to Edinburgh and he helped me move into a temporary flat and then into my permanent flat for the next year. I absolutely love it! I brought the two Bingo's with me (Harley and Mugsy) and they are finally settling in.

We have seen a bit of the city, but did not get too much time to do touristy stuff since we were dealing with my banking, schooling, flat issues and moving in general. Michael left yesterday to go back to the US and it's been very quiet around here. I guess I better get used to it. We had a great visit and I miss him already.

I needed to start somewhere, so the first post is in the books. Pictures and updates are to follow. I start orientation this upcoming Monday and classes next Monday. Being out of school for the last 15 years has me a bit nervous about the complete culure shock I am going to experience, but I am so excited for this journey to begin.