First Quarter at UCD: Progress Report

I wanted to share some of the things that I have been doing my first year as a junior transfer student at the University of California, Davis. It's been a whirlwind so far! The classes are hard and getting harder, and they're fast! My largest class has almost 530 students and is taught by a grad student. My second largest class has just over 200 students, and is also taught by a grad student. That's not something I was expecting, but I am enjoying it very much. They're kind and really seem to want us to succeed. There's not a lot that they can do, since the class is based on a midterm or two and a final, but it's nice to know that they're sympathetic. 

I am an intern at the Center for Equine Health (http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/) which is located in Davis. This is the horse barn for the veterinary school, so as interns we (two other undergrad students besides myself) have the privilege of working with Dr. Sonder as well as a group of veterinary students looking to expand their equine experience. 

This red mare is one of the horses that was donated to CEH. One thing that I've noticed here 

This is my friend and I spending time with a warmblood over at CEH. 

This is #2513, my 8-month-old Holstein heifer that was assigned on October 21st to me for the Little I Stock Show that is hosted by the Young Cattleman's Association here on campus. The show is on November 23rd, so we have about a month to take a fairly wild dairy calf and tame her down, clip her, and get her ready for the show. I named her Abilene. Abilene the Holstein. :) 

Abilene and I made a big breakthrough today! (11/6/13) She allowed me to walk right up and halter her, which is a big step! She is getting great at leading, let's me run my hands all over her, and today she laid down next to me and we took a nap together. 

This photo was taken during my animal science 49 lab. It's the only fun, laid back class that I am taking this semester. Being able to spend time at the undergrad horse barn has been a wonderful experience! Even better are the friends I am making! I'm still not used to being around people who are as crazy about animals as I am. Well, almost as crazy, anyway. ;)

When I need to find a quiet spot to study, I typically go to the coaches room over in the ARC Pavilion. I have my own locker with my name and everything. In certain spots I get internet, which is nice, so I can really buckle down and study in the silence. 

My sleep schedule has changed dramatically while here at UCD. I used to need to sleep from about 9-10pm to 5am, but now, I am lucky to get five or six hours. Some nights I'm running a hard day off of three hours. The hardest nights are after men's club volleyball practice, when it goes from 9pm to 12am. Sometimes I don't handle the lack of sleep very well, and crash out in strange places...like at work! 

One of the silly horses over at CEH. This guy cracks me up! 

Castrating 4 month old mules during ANS 49 lab. 

My game face, just before a home game with the women's division one volleyball team. 

Here's my studying for midterms. I was very pleased, got my first "A" grade on a university level midterm, without the curve! 

The women's D1 volleyball team assistant coach has an adorable son, who I get to watch sometimes when she brings him to practice. One day, the gymnastics coach let us play in their giant foam block pit. It was a blast! 

For Halloween, I dressed up as a fire fighter! 

Here's the entire volleyball team for our Halloween practice. We had a game on Halloween night (vs. UCR, we won), so I didn't do anything this year for the first time in the history of my life. It's times like this that I can't wait for Sean and I to settle down and have little baby Millers running around, dressed up in adorable costumes and carving pumpkins, watching cartoons and eating buckets of candy. Maybe I'll even take them to Howl-o-ween down at the Living Desert, see if they can follow in their mom and aunt's (Holly's) footsteps of winning the costume contest they hold down there.