Diary of a Dick Vet

I’m very nearly done packing. Maybe. There’s always the one thing I forget to pack and end up needing deperately, but I’m try hard to avoid the inevitable.

I’m going away with possibly no internet access for 2 weeks, so when I come back I will either be (a) so at one with myself and nature that I renounce my internet addiction along with all of my worldly goods or (b) completely frazzled, having finally gone off the deep end after years of teetering on the brink. Bets are, of course, on option (b). Regardless, there will be pictures. LOTS of pictures, I predict. Stay tuned!

I am being stalked by a French woman named Eleonore.

I fear for my life.

Before I dive deep into my Animal Husbandry report for the remainder of the afternoon….

I’m sitting in the original anatomy/dissection classroom at Summerhall while I write my paper. I’ve been in the room several times before for group meetings, but the place still fascinates me every time I visit. The old wooden benches, the stained porcelain sink, the small chalk boards, all of it connects the modern version of vet school with the former version. The modern classrooms boast giants sliding chalk boards, cushioned chairs, and large steel sinks, but some things don’t change. Anatomy is still hard, and understanding it in good detail is still vital for studying vet med. I imagine the men (and maybe even women) who used to occupy this room were still just as hideously stressed as I am most days.

Not the best shot

Just another week in Edinburgh, then I’m off to the South of Scotland for lambing. I’m a bit nervous, but also excited for a little adventure. I don’t know if I’ll have internet, but there will undoubtedly be loads of pictures when I return.

Friday I didn’t have any class on the schedule, so my friend Lindzie and I decided to take the train over to Glasgow for the day. I’m kinda fascinated with the city, because it’s home to some of my favourite bands, namely Belle & Sebastian and Franz Ferdinand. I have a B&S calendar from 2008 titled ‘A Toast To Glasgow’ and I really want to visit some of the places photographed by the band members. I figure I have four years here, so I have plenty of times to visit my musical Mekkah.

The goal was to go to the Transportation Museum because it sounded like goofy fun, but the city centre map I bought when I was in Glasgow last also mentioned the ‘St Mungo Museum of Relgious Life and Art’ which really intrigued me. I couldn’t quite imagine what it might contain, so Lindzie and I decided to skip the transportation museum and check out St Mungo instead.

George Square. Uninteresting factoid: the city of Edinburgh has a George Square as well, which is where a large part of the University of Edinburgh resides.

We wandered toward the museum, passing boarded up and crumbling old storefronts, past the little humble mom-and-pop shops that seem distinctly Glaswegian. My Mancunian friend says Glasgow looks a lot like Manchester, so maybe its just Edinburgh that’s weird. Regardless, the vibe is very different from my home here. In a parallel universe I’m a vet student at Glasgow who visits Edinburgh and remarks on its foreignness. Funny where life leads you.

We found this map just when we were starting to feel lost

We stopped nearby into this garden, which was adjacent to some structure dating back to 1471.

As we crossed the street toward Glasgow Cathedral, Lindzie and I realised that the hill nearby was completely decorated in old gravestones - the Glasgow Necropolis. It seems to me a very American thing to be fascinated by old gravestones. They certainly date the landscape, and the old mausolea get me shakin’ in my boots. We decided to walk through the cemetery, like the tourists we are.

The Bridge of Sighs, so called because of the funeral processions that used to cross it.

We tried to find the most interesting names, but there weren’t many. Most likely because it was a rather wealthy cemetery, those buried were given good, proper English names rather than something sounding Scottish. There were lots of Georges, Williams, Thomases, Margarets, and Marys, which is a bit of a shame. The best we could find was ‘Dugald Bannatyne” which seemed appropriate for someone buried in Glasgow.

Lots of crosses

Kind of a shame her hand is missing, but at least she has amazing abs

It's amazing just how massive some of the stones are

The necropolis was next to Glasgow Cathedral. I was lucky that I was traveling with Lindzie, because she shares an interest in old churches with me. We were still determined to find St Mungo’s, but we had loads of time so we popped into the cathedral.

It was absolutely stunning, not to mention enormous! There were several little chapels adjacent to the main alter, and a few steps down led to the tomb of St Mungo, as well as the original apartment of the archbishop living in the cathedral (complete with bullet holes in the door to the room - intense!) Also under the main part of the cathedral was Blacader Aisle, which dates back to the 15th century.

The creation window

Blacader Aisle

We left the Cathedral in good spirits, ready to find this dang museum. Without much aimless wandering, we found it right next to the cathedral. Score!

Inside we were greated by all sorts of impressive art from various religions. The major religions were the most represented, so in addition to Christian art, there were lots of pieces relating to Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism. Ages ago, back in 7th grade, my history class spent a lot of time looking at world religions, and I’ve always found the subject interesting. I don’t know nearly as much as I would like, but I could definitely appreciate the art in the museum.

Upstairs was my favourite part: an exhibit dedicated to life and religion. It started with birth and many religious practices relating to it, from major religions to the obscure tribal-specific practices from all over, progressed to coming-of-age ceremonies (featuring a truly horrific picture of a teenage girl following her ‘circumcison’) through marriage, and then to death. The exhibit did a really bang-up job of looking at many different religions. If you’re in Glasgow and you’re looking for a good museum trip, St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art is where it’s at.

We still had two hours until we needed to catch the train, so Lindzie and I stopped in a cafe and had some delicious soup. The pot of tea I bought reminded me just how amazing something as simple as tea will taste, especially when on a cold day in a foreign city. We looked at the gift shop and I bought a postcard. The children’s exhibit on the top floor had a booth to make Sikh flags, so we made our own memorabilia.

It was time to go back toward the train station, but not before stopping at a small stone building we spotted on the way, labelled the oldest house in Glasgow. There were a few blokes sitting at a table inside watching visitors, but otherwise there wasn’t anyone else inside. It reminded me of my visit to Stratford-upon-Avon - so many interesting free exhibits and no one around! To be fair, people go to Glasgow for the shopping and not so much for the random tourist-y stopovers. Still.

I'm only 5'8", but I definitely did not fit in the doorways. It least the ceilings were high enough.

After an hour of exploring the busy city centre of Glasgow while we searched high and low for a sheet for our toga party Saturday night, Lindzie and I grabbed the train back to Edinburgh. There was enough light outside to enjoy the Scottish countryside one more time before we plunged back into reality. Ah, Edinburgh.

Glasgow on a Friday afternoon

I set my backpack down on a chair today and noticed a huge, probably growing tear at the bottom. Luckily, classes are winding down and I should become less dependent on my backpack, so it should survive to the end of the year, but still I am very, very sad. It’s a bit like losing a friend, in that my dirty, stained, tearing backpack followed me to school everyday for the past three years.

Oh well, it had a good run.

I’m sitting in a Starbucks near George Square, slogging my way through parasitology while I wait for my 11am class. Of all the topics I’ve covered this year, parasitology is by far my least favourite. I just keep reminding myself how important it will be when I’m in practise, especially if I end up working with cattle, as planned.

My EMS is a bit of a mess. I can only do one week in Ireland, which is still fab, but it does mean that (a) I need another EMS placement for the last week of Easter holiday, and (b) I will have to do an extra week of horse somewhere along the line. It’s a bit of a pain to break up my equine EMS into two weeks since I will have to complete two forms, but c’est la vie. I did contact a swine unit and I just got an email from the Uni saying that placement was approved, so hopefully that will go as planned.

I have a dreaded IPID (Into to Pathology and Infectious Diseases) exam tomorrow, which is why I’ve been staring at parasites a lot lately, and then the schedule lets up a lot and I can turn to writing my final paper and studying for epidemiology. Yay.