What a week! It’s been a whirlwind of learning the lay of the campus, meeting amazing people, and figuring out the school software (looking at you Blackboard!) while also taking in all the classes and practicals scheduled this past week. By Saturday I crashed hard and slept in way too late!

Bristol Veterinary School is a beautiful campus, full of grey stone buildings offset by green fields littered with grazing sheep and the leafy shade of old trees.

Classes have primarily been introductions to the school and coursework but this past week my group also had practicals and initial assessments in cat and sheep handling and one practical in milking cows at the campus dairy farm. We’re organized into different groups for classes, practicals, and groupwork and with an AGEP1 cohort of around 58 students, it’s been fun getting to know everyone in my group and class and realizing we’re all in the same boat of feeling lost on campus and slightly overwhelmed by trying to remember the names of every new person we meet! There are a large majority of Ontario students, a good chunk of Americans and of course British students with some people hailing from other international countries.

Getting to school has been a breeze now that I’ve been cycling to the campus — so much faster than walking! (Who would have thought?? Haha) It’s been a learning curve trying to balance how much I can juggle in my backpack without throwing my back out with my boots flapping away behind me… so I had to get creative after we got our vet student kit on Tuesday. Bungee strapping my boots to the frame of the bike ended up working the best but maybe isn’t the most aesthetic statement, lol.

Anyhow, first week is down with many, many more weeks to go! Next week is review of foundational content such as cell bio, homeostasis, and microorganisms and practicals in horses and cattle, which will be fun. It’s been a great start, full of new experiences, new faces, new locations, and learning. It’s hard not to miss all the people and places I left behind in Canada and times where the next 3 months can’t go fast enough… but it’s scenes like the picture below (taken after walking my landlady’s dogs early last week) that help me find the balance in the beauty and adventure of this new life.