Sunday 4 October 2009

No rest for the wicked

So, we're two weeks into the new semester and already I'm starting to wonder why I subject myself to quite so much work. I'm tired, ill (freshers' flu again, seriously...), and just don't seem to have enough time to do everything (read, spend too much time procrastinating...). The workload this year seems to be unbelievably high compared to last year's already. We have an assignment due in more or less every week for the two vet courses this semester (an essay handed in on Friday, another due in this Friday, and a data-analysis one due in the week after). Luckily the FBLS courses are a little less coursework intensive, but they still take up time for lectures, labs, class tests etc. In fact, depending on the courses people have chosen, the number of hours of outside work suggested is suspiciously close to the number of hours in a week (possibly something to be looked at in the future).

On the other hand, I wasn't expecting this to be an easy course. In fact, part of the decision to take it was the challenge it would present. Although the realisation of the incredibly high standards is daunting, at the same time it has really encouraged me to work this year to prove to the faculty that I can reach the level they expect of me (although my flatmate may debate that having watched me finish the first essay at 2am the morning it was due in...). There's something exciting in being introduced to techniques that aren't even currently being widely used in the field (protein analysis techniques specifically, that are of limited use without the entire genome of the species being studied being sequenced. Hence very useful in humans, less useful currently in the veterinary field).

The courses themselves. Currently, I'm enjoying them. Well....mostly. As with any course, there's going to be some good bits and some not so good bits. Proteins, for example, are certainly interesting, and I love that our lecturer is a) working at a very high level in the field and b) pushing us well beyond what would be expected of the average second year, but it's not really my area. I will never love proteins, I will never have any desire to spend my life working on them, as much as I appreciate their importance to biology, they just aren't my thing. That said, the lectures are interesting and I always appreciate a look into what's going on in the research areas. Physiology is a nice mixture of revision of last year's work and pushing on to new concepts in related areas. FBLS courses...well...as much as I like the fact that they'll (hopefully) yield good grades without too much effort, there's only so many times you can go through the respiratory system without wanting to punch someone. At the same time, if I need them to get into third year, then so be it.

Coursework, as previously mentioned, is looking to be quite intense this year. The first essay (that has just been handed in) was on Proteins, a question that at first glance was fairly basic but turned out to be a little more problematic than expected. As well as covering the importance of proteins and their analysis in veterinary science, we were also asked to use four examples (two production animals and two companion animals) which was where I, personally, had the most trouble. Obviously there are many, many proteins in the world, the biggest issue is picking four that are both interesting and commonly used for analysis. I think I got there in the end, probably not my best essay, but hopefully enough to be a good basis for the rest of the year. Due in next for this course is a set of questions based on use of a protein database, an assignment I'm actually quite looking forward to. For me, moving away from coursework that's solely essay based is a good thing, I like having a taster of what we're likely to be doing in the future, and in a lot of ways I prefer data analysis to essay writing. Physiology is currently awaiting an essay on thermoregulation (which yes, I should be writing just now) for Friday. Technically it's an easy question, but if there's an easy question it's because they're looking for a lot more than covering the basics from you. Still, challenges are always good...

The one thing I'm missing so far this year is the labs. I've always enjoyed the practical work (seriously, nothing beats "So, today I dissected a sheep's uterus" for dinner conversation...) so not having it is a bit rubbish. Ah well, they should be underway by next week, something for anyone eating with me in the near future to look forward to!

Anyway, I should probably go and, well, write the Physiology essay before it causes a brain implosion. Flu has never been particularly good at encouraging me to work.

(As a final side note, I have three followers so far, yay! However, they are all physicists/astronomers. As much as this cheers my sould, it'd be nice to have someone who, y'know, does biology or something... If you're out there let me know!)