This week was a milestone in my journey of becoming a veterinarian. After 3 years of lectures and exams, I hit my last lecture of vet school. I can’t believe how fast the last three years have flown by! The excitement that I have for the final year of vet school is so hard to describe, and if I try I’m afraid it just won’t come across like I want it to.

Everyone knows vet school is difficult. It tries you in many ways, and in ways that you may not have thought. You are constantly required to work hard and study in your free time. You need to pay attention in lecture and take in as much as possible in preparation for your exams that just never stop coming. You are constantly pushed to learn more than you think you are capable of doing, and then asked to take a concept from a book and perform it in person during your practical classes. It’s difficult, it’s exhausting, but it is also completely worth all the work when you hit moments like this.

As a tradition at the Royal (Dick) Vet School we celebrate the last day of lecture by wearing a onesie to class! What’s a onesie? Take a look at the pictures and I’m sure you will get the idea. Also known as a one piece to some in other countries. A bunch of vet students dressed up as all types of animals running around the vet school taking pictures. Can you ask for more than that?

You can’t forget to take a picture of the groups you will be spending the next year with. These lovely people are my final year group. This is how final year works. You have six choices of groups to chose from that are all laid out with different free choice blocks throughout the year. You choose which block you want based on what you have planned. Once you are put into a large group, they then split you into multiple small groups of six-eight people. These people here to the left are about to become my best friends wether they like it or not. You spend all your time together working through cases and learning what you know and what you don't. I can’t wait to tackle final year with these people by my side. We will figure it out together and hope that when one of has no idea, someone else will.

Of course when you see someone with a better costume than you, you borrow their elephant head and put it on. It makes for a great game of “Name that Animal!” What do you think? Half toucan, half elephant. Maybe a “Toucaphant” or maybe an “Elecan” I’m open to ideas of what you think.

I do have to say that I wouldn’t want to wear the elephant head for a prolonged period of time.

Needless to say, I can’t believe how fast the last few years have gone. I am looking forward to the next year and getting out of the classroom and into the clinic. Being as hands on as I am, I can’t wait to put what I know to the test! And in a year, watch out for where I’ll end up as Dr. Danielle Poll!!