How I Got Away With Vet School, or The End Of This Book.

 Hello Dear Readers, 

I decided that today I would write a true close to my blog on how to survive island school turned emotional release platform, turned very rarely updated blog about my life. Unfortunately looking back though this grammatical nightmare there is probably very little someone starting vet school at SGU might find helpful, outside of the fact that it is indeed very hard, but most people don't become vets because it is an easy thing to do, no we do it because it is the ONLY thing we can do! 

Okay so allow me to try and set things right on the front of help advise, which I will do though a anecdote on my meany failures, I failed to become a rich Baseball player for the New York Yankees (the then highest payed team in the sport), I failed to care about school as much as I should have (hind sight and all), I failed to win any of the several Tennessee 4-H officer positions I ran for, I failed to hold on to my amazing friends from my high school days, I failed to prep for the ACT which I took 3 times I believe (thank goodness for super-scores), I spent a year at community collage, before spending a year at UTK, where I tanked my GPA and made a lot of D's in very important classes, so I spent another year at community collage retaking several classes I failed to ever get my associate's degree, I went to Austin Peay to finish undergrad, after failing biochem I failed to find any other job to aspire to other then Vet, I failed to hold onto my amazing friends from collage, I failed to get into any state vet schools that I applied for, after being accepted to St. Georges University's spring 2017 class I was on track to fail four classes, I deceled three classes and made a D in the fourth, I moved into the new fall 2017 class I failed to meet and get to know new people, I struggled my way though the rest of vet school but failed to really become a part of the class, along the way I failed to kill or save the Improv comedy club, by the time we got to choose clinical year schools my GPA had started to recover but it was to little to late and I went into my meeting telling them that I just wanted to go some place that had the best food animal program that I could (read whats the lest bad place I can end up), after moving to Stillwater Oklahoma I failed to keep in contact with my vet school family, I also failed to keep good communication with my family, I failed not to fall for my roommate/classmate/beautiful woman, I failed anesthesia, I failed myself more times then I count. But I never fail to keep pushing towards my goal, sometimes the only thing that kept me going was the fact that I hadn't been kicked out yet.

Today at about 12:30pm I was given the title of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, along with all of my classmates including those from the spring 2017 term. the commencement was done online which still hurts because I honestly would have loved for the ceremony to have just been all us students seating in our old VSL class room hanging out and talking like old times before slowly meanding to our seats as all of are amazing professors made there way in to start hooding us before we all left to go hangout and party till we all had to go are separate ways... 

So if you have happened to stumble upon this blog take my advise, vet school is a very individual thing everyone has a different experience, so savor yours and share it with others, Laugh till you cry, Cry till you laugh, cram for a test, study for the rest, sleep in class but don't get caught, hangout with great people, learn, learn how to learn, live, make mistakes, make the grade, whatever grade gets you though, Re...lax..., panic! go see an improv show (it's only 5ec at the door), pray, pray, pray, work out, sleep in a hammock all day, eat whats bad for you. Close your eyes and take three deep breaths and then begin. Do all this and you too can Get Away with Vet School you can trust me on that I'm a doctor. TTFN

The End Or The Pandemic

Hello dear reader
At 8:04pm last night March 11, 2020. SGU sent out an email that I believe could have been thought out more and worded more clearly, the gist of the this email is that SGU is advising students to leave the island, do to the risk of COVID-19, which has been moving through the Caribbean. This has lead to a panic to leave, mostly in med school (there are just so many of them), most of the vet school is still in midterms, and while we in term 6 finished are midterms Monday, however we also have rotations that for some of us started on Monday afternoon, on top of this there was no wind up to this email, unless you count the email that we received around noon yesterday that informed us that nothing was mandatory anymore. now (7:25pm) we have been told that everything will be done online and no in person classes will be offered, Once I leave Grenada I am gone for good.
This morning I woke up feeling tired and stressed (normal), i got the bus to campus (it was almost empty, not normal), went to class where 3 lectures happened and a Q & A to try and dispel fears (we know what you know and we are trying to get you more information), even though this was handled by the overall university poorly, SGA and SVM are doing an amazing job handling concerns and panic. The small animal clinic opened its doors and is doing everything they can to get all the animals that are leaving Health certificates on short notch, the vet student community also staying on task as much as we can. I am going into surgery this afternoon.(it went well)

I started this blog in 2017 it was meant to help people decide if it was the right school for them, later that 1st term, I was really struggling with classes and ultimately deceled, that is when this blog became a therapeutic outlet for me to talk about the times that I fell and how I was able to get back up. that lasted for several terms, I would write whatever I was feeling sharing more then I would have had I been in person, I always tried to write as if I was talking to one person because I wanted everyone to read it to know that it is okay to struggle but it is not okay to give up. 

Currently everything is fine we where all hit hard, and we are all now leaving the Island, we are sad about the sudden end to our island life and leaving this big crazy dysfunctional family that we have come to love over the years of hard work together. I love all of my SGU SVM family/ Improv family I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to get to know you over the last 3.5 years and I wish we had a bit more time to have fun and learn together, and I know you will all be amazing, and we will all see each other again so this is not goodbye, it's just

Ta Ta for Now...

Sincerely, the soon to get away from vet school student.
Aaron Helms
Thanks Grenada its been fun. 

Twice late, Or Once loved

Hello Dear Readers,
I know its been Almost a month since I last posted anything, and I am very sorry about this Egregious lapse on my part. It will probable happen again because, and I am going to share a secret with you... I ran out of things to write about on this blog around the time I was thinking of starting it. So I have been trying to think of "new" topics to write about, unfortunately not that meany things are happening this term, I get up go to class, go to lab in the afternoon, and I study some, get grocery, pay rent, sleep some, hang out with friends and friend people. Its all very non write-able well I suppose that I just wrote about it but you see how dull that was.
Now if you will indulge me once more I will let you know that I currently plan to keep this blog going, however I am not sure when the next post will be, I know that I have some tentative vet stuff plans this summer that I will probable write about and up load during the summer.
On to the real blog post
 When I started this blog the idea was to show someone who was thinking about going to vet school in the Caribbean what it was like, Basically I was being ever so bold as to think that I could though inexcusably bad grammar help someone out, In all honesty I never figured that anyone would read it. but then all of you showed up ever week to read what turned into the depressed mumbling's of a failing Vet student, which is when a crazy thing happened my blog actually helped a vet student, it helped me, I commented to writing whatever I felt. Be that joy, fear, or sadness I write only what I feel, which made it a little awkward when you dear reader broke through the shield of words and supported me in person, even if by just checking on how I was doing in passing, it meant and means so much to me that you have all helped me get away with vet school and I know that I still have 2 years of school 1 more in Grenada, but I don't feel like I am drowning anymore I feel like I can see the distant shore and I might be moving slowly but I AM MOVING, which Is thanks to you Dear Readers,
I hope that my struggles have been able to help you in some small way. TTFN

Lossing Hope

Today Dear Readers,
             my 15 year old faithful Friend, Protector, and the smartest dog I've ever know, Hope, will die. In 2004 I was going to my first day of volunteer work at the Lincoln county humane society shelter, I was 11 and my mother and I had shown up on the wrong day and it turned out the shelter was closed it was one of the coldest Decembers in southern Tennessee with lows in teens, it was not ideal weather to be a puppy on the side of the road. So when a man pulled into the parking lot with a small brown-black puppy I knew it couldn't stay in the drop off pen over night so we called one of the humane society bored members who gave us the okay to foster her for a while, and as I tucked her into my jacket I decided that her name would be Hope, and when on the drive home she threw up a mix of cat food and bacon grease I knew that she was feeling a little better. when we got home we spent about an hour setting up a pen in the barn with a heat lamp and blankets food and water it was a great spot, but after the third time that she beat us back to the house we decided to let her stay in the house for a bit to tire her out but then this weeks old puppy ran to the door and started whining and when we opened the door she ran out and did her business before returning to the door to be let back in.
Fast foreword several months and Hope and I started obedience school and after graduating that we did a bit of agility, (which did not last long because she was to smart and would refuse to do parts of it). Hope went to one 4-H dog show and even went to a school with me once for one of my meany educational talks, she did not really enjoy the travel so she got set up as the first and only house dog of my family. She lived out the rest of her life as the family protector and no deliver driver would leave there car if she where outside, she would greet me at the door every time I came home from collage, and more recently vet school.
Recently she has been slowing down and over the last break I built her a ramp since she was having trouble using the stares to go out side, a few days ago she suffered a stroke, which she looked like she might pull though but unfortunately she just does not have the strength to keep going. Hope has had a powerful and lasting effect on my life and I can honestly say that without Hope I would not be where I am today, I would not be the same person as I am today.
"Hope I will miss you but gods going to need you back now, Go to him with no pain"
I love you Hope.   

Term 4 Or, The Ocean is like a Big River

Hello, Dear Readers
another term started last week for me, and the craziest thing is that I am not super stressed Yet. I am sure that before long I will be back to normal (read extremely high) levels of stress will be back, but for now things are going smooth. I have settled in to my new apartment, I am still getting back into the swing of early morning classes/writing, so this will be a short post.
Now as I sit in my hammock looking out at a inlet of a bay, it reminds me of the porch I would sit on in undergrad only then it was the Cumberland river and barges, now its the Caribbean Sea and sailboats/ships. Its amazing that my mind made a 2,324.62 mi connection (I looked it up) but I am sure that if I asked around almost everyone would have something that reminded them of a simpler time in there life. but then again I might just be a bit odd, but I can't be the only person who sits on their porch and listens to sad bluegrass and folk music but maybe that's just the Tennessee in me...
TTFN
P.S. for all the people who read this in the states it's 80 degrees F as I write this.

 

Burning Bright Or, Wave Goodbye

Hello Dear Readers,
The term is rapidly drawing to a close, with finals starting on Friday. This term has been kinda all over the place and I feel like it just started last week, it also feels like a year has gone by. The realty I started this dumb blog a year and a half ago, that is... just wired to think about, 1.5 years since I first stepped foot on to this little island nation. I have manged to learn more information then I would have thought possible, but now I get to experience another unique aspect of island vet school... saying goodbye to friends, yes in state schools you still have to say goodbye to upper term friends when they graduate, but hear there is something happy sad about knowing that you won't see someone around school anymore. We are all happy to see them going to clinical year but when they go they get scattered all over North America, which is kinda sad to think about, also the fact that no matter how much we all say we will get back together. Someday is a awful long way away and time pulls everyone in different direction, don't miss construe my words I believe that at some point I will get to hang out with those friends of mine that are leaving this at the end of this term. I will really miss seeing them around campus, talking to them about vet stuff, improv things, and car stuff (even if they didn't care), thanks for all the support. I can't wait to see how you all change the world my 6th term friends, I know you will even if you don't really want to, because that is the power of this crazy stupid way of going to school has, we are all stronger then we where and waving goodbye to good friends has never gotten any easier for me even though I have more then my fair share of experience at it. I am starting to get a bit of experience waving hello to old friends, and that gives me hope.
Goodbye till next term Dear Readers have a very merry Christmas, TTFN

 

 

Incoming Or, Why Vet School In Grenada Is Not Bad

Hello Dear Readers,
Firstly let me apologize for not giving you a heads up on the date switch, if you didn't see, I will be doing a post this and next week but then finals start so I will be "done" for the term with posts. So I will still have the right number of post for the term, anyway on to the meat of this post.
a couple of weeks ago I was talking to my family and they told me that one of the people I knew back in my rabbit show days was going to be starting vet school in the spring? I don't remember of the top of my head, the important thing is that she would be starting vet school HEAR at SGU. To which I responded "Why?", and to understand this reaction you need to understand the group attitude at SGU SVM which in a nutshell is that most of us did not get into the schools we wanted to, and this was are 2nd, 3rd, 4th...etc etc etc choice, some people start hear so they can get a leg up and then try to transfer out as soon as they can, there are parts of the ladder group that transfer out, and some of the later wind up staying.
The really interesting thing is that most of us love "most" of the professor, the classes a good, the schedules are bad but you get used to that, and sure the schools higher ups care more about the med school, but you have to remember that this "school" has a CEO. But overall the SVM side of things really cares about us students and wants us to be good vets someday, so let me get back to my question of Why? she was coming hear for school, and I will be honest I don't know the actual reason why she decided to come to an Island school, but I have decided to devote the rest of this post to why SGU is actually an amazing vet school and why people might make the choice to come hear, so buckle up, sip the kool-aid, and lets see if I can think in the positive for once.
Let's start with my favorite thing about going to vet school here in the Caribbean, the people, not just the locals (which are great but I have written about them before) but the professes, and other students, and staff, are amazing. I have classmates from all over the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, UK, Grenada, and the professors are from an even wider range. On top of the sheer range, people here are super nice and welling to help out, I think I've been invited to no less then four Thanksgivings this term (unfortunately I need to Study), vet school is hard but being able to hang out/study with friends makes all the difference. Also we are all on an island together so the vet school as a whole is a very tight family, where professors do there best to look after the students, and we students try our best to keep professors happy, the long and short here is simply that, the people are SGU SVM and without them it would suck. And it's still going to suck at times, but the fact that the Twinkie (yellow food trailer) lady knows what kind of bagel you like makes things a little better, when a professor tells you a funny story about how he had a professor fall asleep during his own lecture will help, and when your friends go out of there way to cheer you up that will also help a lot.

Island School is little scary when you start, and a little tiring once you get going, but all in all I wouldn't trade the friends I've made or the experiences I have had here! For all the pie and ice cream in the world. I feel like I lost the flow some where in there... maybe not? Talk to you next week TTFN.