So things have been a little rough lately. I had my first exam today, which went fine. I had a fun time with Brooke on Saturday at the Tennessee Valley Fair. We got caught in a terrible storm, but had a fun time nonetheless. I introduced her to deep-fried Snickers, which she enjoyed! I've been feeling sort of lonely lately, really missing my friends, family, and just home in general. I miss my horse and I miss people who know me really well and understand me. I do have friends here, but I guess I just don't spend a lot of quality time with them. I do spend a lot of time with a few of them, but it is never in a fashion that would build a strong friendship or make deep connections. I miss Justin a lot and seem to question my being here occasionally.
Well the Labor Day weekend was amazing!! Justin and I stayed at his Dad's house and we saw all kinds of family. Saturday we went to Lake James and had lunch out on the boat. It was pretty windy and we were cold when we got out of the water. That night, we went to Hickory and met my grandparents and parents for dinner at Ruby Tuesday. It was so great to have everyone together, socializing, and enjoying each other's company. Sunday, Justin and I went to "Sunday Dinner" at Grandma Shirley's. This is the weekly event of home-cooking heaven that we try to attend whenever we're in town. We had BBQ ribs, green beans, fresh cream corn, biscuits, stew potatoes, and the most delicious blueberry cake I have ever tasted. Oh, and some homemade pina colada ice cream :) We then went to Justin's mom's house to see her and Rick, who had just come home from having back surgery. He is doing well, still in some pain, but glad to be home. Sunday night, Justin and I had dinner with his high school friends Katie and Heather. We drove to Asheville and ate at Applebees.
Monday, we went to Grandmamma & Grandaddy's for lunch and then parted our separate ways to head back to our respective worlds. I enjoyed every minute of this weekend. It was SO good to see Justin, to just hug him and have him physically next to me. The departure Monday was not as difficult as I had imagined, which hopefully means this will get easier as we go along. I did, however miss him a lot this morning when I started my day without him. I sometimes wonder why I am here when I really just want to be with him, but I know God put me here for a reason. I am sure one day that reason will be crystal clear, but for now I just have to push through the emotions, live one day at a time, and cherish the phone and skype conversations. What we have is amazing. I cannot put it in words. It is just unique, strong, and incredible. As much as it pains both of us to be apart, as much of a strain it puts on our lives and emotions at times, and as much as it STINKS...it will only make our time together more special and will ultimately make our relationship stronger. I have no doubt.
Today was uneventful and slightly boring. I was extremely tired, having to wake up at 6:15 after sleeping in all weekend. The advanced repro class had a dystocia lab today that the TAs had to set that up. They each had to figure out how the calf was presented, maneuver it around to where they could put chains on the legs, and pull it slightly out of the dystocia box. They enjoyed that and it was fun to watch their faces as they struggled to twist legs around, bring heads forward, etc. This lasted until 11:00 AM. I then ate lunch, ran some tracts over to the Therio lab, and read articles for a few hours. After my head started to nod and my eyes got googly, I decided to take a break and read some stuff for my research ethics class. Finally 5:00 came and I ran to wolf camera and lunged Essau. I think I'm going to ride him out in the big rolling pasture tomorrow! Oh, and I just realized today that Essau's neighbor is a mare. No wonder he pins his ears at her! I never thought to look, and with a name like "Sporty", I was under the impression she was a he. Whoops! A quick run to Wal-Mart resulted in a big failure on the one item I wanted (Granola). They also were completely out of eggs. I bought Special K Granola and some Kashi GoLean Crunch stuff that I am going to try out. If I cannot find Granola anywhere, I might shed a few tears, but hopefully I can find something to replace it.
Well it is back to reality now. I have another oocyte collection day on Friday and my first exam on Monday in my molecular biology class. I will be going to the Tennessee Valley Fair on Saturday with Brooke and hope to enjoy some roasted corn and deep-fried something delicious. I honestly do feel like I am living in a different world here in Tennessee. I feel like I have two lives, one here and one at home. It was nice to "run away" from TN for the weekend, but now I have to buckle down and get back to it. Wish me luck.
Well it's certainly time for an update. Last weekend was very busy, but fun-filled! Saturday, I went with Brooke and Kim to Norris Lake, about 45 minutes north of Knoxville. Brooke's Bible study group rented a double-decker pontoon boat and a small boat for skiing/tubing. We arrived around noon and had a cookout with lots of yummy potluck items and desserts. We then boarded the boat and went out into the lake. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was very warm. Perfect weather for swimming! Not to mention, the water temperature was perfect as well, nice and cool! I am pretty sure the last time I swam in a lake and went tubing was about 8 years ago when I went with my aunt and uncle and family to a lake down in Georgia. It was not hard to get used to tubing again, but I was surprised at how much work it is on your arms! I am currently still a little bit sore even today. I fell pretty hard the first time and the second time practically lost my bathing suit bottom :o !! It was really fun and Brooke, Kim, and I had a great time hanging out, chatting, and enjoying the day.
After the lake, we went to a party at Schrick and Edwards's house for one of the PhD students who is moving. We had yet another cookout here and enjoyed more delicious potluck snackies and desserts. Brooke made a heavenly peanut butter pie (which I now have the recipe for). I enjoyed hanging out with lots of the people from the lab and the department in a non-school setting.
This week has actually gone by pretty quickly so far, which is great because I am really looking forward to going to the mountains Friday to spend the weekend with Justin!! I will be having dinner with my grandparents and parents Saturday, so it'll be great to see them too! This week has been pretty easy going. I rode Essau bareback Monday, have been going to classes as usual, and I gave blood Tuesday. So that is a whole other story.
I guess Knoxville doesn't have an American Red Cross center, so I went to Medic Regional Blood Center. Everyone there was super nice and it was great to give blood in a place that is permanent and set up for that purpose. I usually donate at blood drives where everything is brought to a location. This place had super comfy chairs to lay in for donating and everything was well-organized. I think I surprised the nurse with my vitals...106/72 BP, 46 pulse, 96.7 temp. When I told Justin these numbers, he said "are you dead?". Haha, I actually felt just fine, except a little bit cold. The donation itself went slow, as usual. My veins apparently have shrunk over the past few years because they never used to have a problem with them. This time, the vein was the same size as the needle, so I did bruise a little bit. I was running very slowly and the nurse kept coming to check on it. She found out that if she put pressure on the needle, my blood flowed faster, so she stood there holding it down for a good 10 minutes. This gave us some time to chat and I found out she is from Lenoir, NC and her mother used to live in Durham. Small world.
Today was my first hands-on Therio lab. We went to Cherokee Farm which is actually right behind JARTU. This is where the vet school does a lot of their labs on horses and cows. Our lab today was palpation of the cow and mare. The group was split in half and we palpated one or the other. Next lab, we will switch. I decided to go with the mare today. It was really awesome because I had only palpated one mare before. They are much different than cows. It is a lot easier to feel the cervix in a cow because it always feels the same way, like a chicken neck. In a mare, her cervix can relax and go flat when she is in estrus, so some of the mares did not feel like they had a cervix at all. This makes palpating more difficult because when you do not have a "landmark" to start from, it can be hard to find the other structures. I was successful in finding the uterus in each mare and in almost all of them I was able to find both ovaries. I look forward to palpating the cow next time because it has been a while since I have done that.
Tomorrow will most likely be a long day as I do not have much going on. I have 420 lecture in the morning (TA), a meeting at 10:00 with Edwards, Voy, and Ben, and BCMB discussion at 3:40. I hope it goes by quickly so Friday can go ahead and come so I can leave! My next update will most likely be after the Labor Day weekend.
Today was a much better day in the world of oocytes. I practiced slicing again and did NOT clot!!! YAY!! I got 35 oocytes from 8 ovaries (kinda low, but pretty good for a first timer). I retrieved them, denuded them, and pronased them. It was neat to see them in each step and to get some experience doing all of the procedures. It was also good to have more practice mouth pipetting. It was even harder today as I had to manipulate the oocytes and put a few in individual droplets of Pronase, which breaks down the zona pellucida. I also learned how to set up and clean up for all of these procedures. The day went by pretty fast and after a great ride on Essau, I'm back at home hanging out. Tomorrow is Norris Lake with Kim, Brooke, and her Bible study group, then a going-away party for Fernando (a PhD student) at Schrick and Edwards's house. Should be a fun day! Oh yeah, and I get to see Justin and my parents and grandparents ONE WEEK FROM TODAY!!
The past three days have been really great. Friday, I got my first experience with collecting oocytes. Jessy went to Bean Station after our Therio class and brought back a bunch of ovaries. I got to practice slicing, which is the process by which we collect the oocytes from the ovaries. Unfortunately, my experience ended with the four-letter-word that is not to be used in the lab...CLOT. When you're slicing ovaries, you are slicing the follicles (which contain the eggs). If you slice one that is too large, they tend to release clotting factors. If this happens, all of your oocytes will instantly poof into this mucous-like glob, which will not go through the filter, and therefore you cannot use them. Needless to say, I did not get to search for my own oocytes. Hopefully I will not do that anymore! For practice, I searched Becca's plate once she was finished with it. Searching happens after you filter the oocytes and put them in a gridded dish. This dish has a checkerboard pattern on it, which allows for easy and thorough scanning for oocytes. This is all done under a microscope.
The means by which we remove the oocytes from the plate is mouth-pipetting. This is a very tricky method, but with practice, gives you the most control and accuracy. Basically, you have a glass pipette attached to a long tube that you wear as a necklace. On the other end, there is a small plastic piece that has a hole in it. This piece goes in your mouth, clenched between your teeth. You have to use your mouth to draw the liquid (and oocyte) up into the pipette and then hold your tongue over the hole to keep it in there. You also have to realize that it is extremely difficult to maneuver microliters of liquid with your mouth. It takes a lot of practice and patience, but I got much better as time went on. It will also take practice to be able to identify every oocyte, as they come in MANY different shapes and sizes. While I was practicing, I got to watch Kim doing various other things to the oocytes. I watched how she denuded them (taking the cumulus off from around the egg itself) and then got to see the before and after of Pronasing, the removal of the zona pellucida. This was all very interesting and made the time in the lab go by quickly.
Saturday was pure relaxation. I slept in until 9:00 AM and then did a thorough cleaning of my apartment. I scrubbed, vacuumed, wiped, and straightened. I really enjoy cleaning (especially vacuuming) and it always brings a sense of accomplishment once I have finished. After my cleaning, I watched the last half of Stomp the Yard and all of The Prince and Me while doing some scrapbooking and crafty things. I ran an errand to JoAnn's and found a 5 for $1 scrapbook paper sale. I bought 15 sheets! :) Dinner was Buddy's BBQ...pulled chicken, baked beans, green beans, and hush puppies. If you ever come to Tennessee and like bbq, you MUST go there! Saturday evening, I spent a few hours on skype talking mostly to Justin, but a little bit to my parents. I love the technology these days!
Today was also quite relaxing. I went to church this morning where we started our Fall Festival of Faith. This morning's Sunday School class was very good, thought-provoking, and uplifting. I bought the book we are studying and am really enjoying it so far! I have decided to join the small group study for college students on Tuesdays at 9:00 PM that goes along with what we are studying in Sunday School. I think this will be a great way for me to meet some people my age and really dive head first into this book. I truly believe God led me to this church because I feel so warmly welcomed every time I am there. I have not met anyone that was not genuinely glad to meet me, interested in my story, and incredibly kind.
Although I still miss home, Justin, family, friends, Ivan, etc...things around here are beginning to feel comfortable. I am starting to feel like this is my life, like I belong here. I am getting excited about what I will be studying, what my research will be like, and learning everything I can in the lab. My "lab family" are all very supportive, helpful, and understanding. They know what it is like to be in my shoes and are always willing to answer my questions and teach me the proper techniques. The classes I am taking this Fall are going to be great. I told Justin earlier tonight how nice it is to be taking classes in only the things I need to be studying. I have no physics, literature, or history to trudge through like in undergrad. I am only taking classes pertinent to my research, and I love it!
The days go by slowly, but the weeks are fairly quick. This is good news, especially since I get to see Justin, my parents, grandparents, and future in-laws in less than two weeks for Labor Day!!!!!!!
Hello World Wide Web! Oh how I've missed you! The tenants of the apartment next to mine moved out last week, requiring the unplugging of their services. Apparently the cable man unplugged the wires to my apartment instead and I have since been without cable or internet, until tonight. So, many things to update since I last shared my thoughts.
Last week ended fairly well. I spent a few hours Friday learning CASA (computer-automated sperm analysis). It is a program used to analyze sperm (motility, concentration, etc) and I will be using it to run stress tests on some bulls once I perfect the technique. It is not a difficult task to perform, but there are many specific steps that require immense concentration and aseptic technique at all times. It takes some getting used to, but I am more aware of where my hands are, where the pipette tip is at all times, and how to keep things sterile that need to be.
Saturday was a lab-wide sushi party held at Louisa's house. Louisa works in the lab and lives about 45 minutes from Knoxville in an area that is full of rolling hills, green fields, and trees. It is very pretty! I, being a person of particular taste, was skeptical at first about trying sushi. I do not eat seafood, so I did not know what I would be able to eat. When I arrived, there were a plethora of things we could put in the rolls other than seafood. I made my roll with tempura-fried green beans, cream cheese, and cashews. The rice Louisa made for it was white, fluffy, and sticky. Yum! She also made some delicious potstickers (pork, mushroom, cashews, various seasonings, oils, etc stuffed in a little triangular, thin pastry). It was nice to be with everyone in the lab out of the lab setting and to meet most of their significant others.
Sunday, I visited First Baptist Knoxville which is downtown. I attended Sunday School in a combined college/young careers class. The worship service is very similar to Hayes Barton, which was comforting. They have a fabulous choir and sang many familiar hymns. The pastor, Dr. Sheill, gave a great sermon on being our own, unique selves and allowing God to restore us when we're led astray. I met two other girls there who were first-time visitors and they were extremely nice. I plan on going back to FBK as they are starting a 6-week Fall Festival of Faith, which is a church-wide curriculum during Sunday School using John Ortberg's The Me I Want to Be: Becoming God's Best Version of You. I'm glad to have found a place where I can attend, that feels familiar, comforting, and welcoming. I know it will help me immensely to have a church family to guide me through the journey ahead.
Essau has been doing very well. Everyone still OOH's and AHH's over him, which I think he enjoys. I have lunged him a few times and ridden him a few times. It amazes me the difference in his gaits between the two activities. He acts like a 20-year-old Quarter Horse on a lunge line, but a 4-year-old Thoroughbred under saddle. I guess that's just part of what makes Essau special.
Today was the first day of classes! I started the morning with Theriogenology over at the vet school. It is a class for 3rd year vet students, but Jessy and I seem to fit right in. The course is going to be spectacular! We have about 10 different professors teaching it and will go in depth into the reproductive systems of male and female for each of the main species. I really enjoyed our lecture today, a brief overview of sex determination/differentiation, female reproductive tract, and abnormalities of the female tract. Jessy and I realized that we saw one of the abnormalities last week while cutting tracts! I made an interesting observation while waiting for the class to start. The vet school classes seem to have the same environments no matter where you are. I can feel the energy in that room, the bonds between classmates, and it is the exact same as when I am around Justin and his vet school class. I just thought it was cool how similar they were. I guess being with the same 80 people all day every weekday for years yields similar effects.
My next class, Molecular Biology & Genomics, was very quick. Our professor simply went through the syllabus, answered any questions, and dismissed us. We will start with our first lecture on Friday. That class will be an in depth study of the cell. It will cover a lot of information I learned in genetics, as well as biochemistry. There are two different professors teaching it and we have weekly discussion sessions.
Some other tidbits: While I did not have cable and internet for the past 5 days, I "read" The Da Vinci Code. By "read" I mean that I listened to it. Rankin and Kristen (from HBBC) let me borrow a bunch of books on CD for my long trips in the car. I really liked it! The book itself was very magnetic, suspenseful, and interesting. It reminded me a lot of National Treasure. I also very much enjoyed having it read to me. I find that when I read books, I am somewhat slow, and get tired quickly. When I could listen to the book, it allowed me to picture what was going on in my head more clearly and also allowed me to do other things (ie brush my teeth, cook dinner, etc). I just started Angels & Demons tonight, which is 15 discs compared to the 5 discs of Da Vinci Code. This one will take me MUCH longer to finish...
It is amazing how things can change in just a few days. I am very glad no one saw me Sunday and Monday (except Justin). I was a wreck! What with him leaving and me being all alone in a new, strange place...let's just say I was not my normal self. I went into the lab Monday after taking him to the airport to get the rental car and spent the entire day reading safety rules, doing IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) training online, watching videos specific to certain animal species, and taking care of other random paperwork. It was quite boring, but it got my mind off of the mess and kept me busy.
Tuesday was a lot more training as well. I started the morning doing Blackboard training (which I am already familiar with from NCSU). That was easy and went by quickly. I met Brooke, who is in charge of most of the lab as far as ordering supplies, doing some of the more dangerous tasks, training new students, keeping track of paperwork, etc. She showed me around the lab and we went through the safety rules and stations in each lab. I also got to help Kim and Jessy (two graduate students in their second year) cut up some tracts that Jessy had gotten that morning from the slaughter house. By the time I got back there to help, there were not many left, so I only got to prepare one (which was simply to cut the rectum away from the repro tract). Sorry for anyone with sensitive stomachs!! I really enjoyed Tuesday because I got to start doing some things other than reading and am getting to know the girls a lot more!
Today, Essau came to Tennessee!! His new home is RiverTenn, which is about 10 minutes from the lab and about 15 or so from my apartment. Tam and my mom brought him, driving through the night when it was coolest. We unloaded him, walked him around a bit, and put him in his new stall. He is in the last stall in the barn (one long row of stalls). He has a bay QH neighbor who is very quiet, thank the Lord! Essau went in there and started munching on hay like he has lived there for years! I was so relieved! I got all of my stuff in order and headed to the lab.
Once there, I did a pipette training worksheet and then Kim taught me some lab maintenance items. Jessy went back to the slaughter house this morning and brought back 30 half tracts (cut at the cervix) that we had to rinse and bag for use in later courses/labs. I learned how to change the carbon dioxide tank which is used in the incubation containers which house the embryos. I also learned how to check the carbon dioxide levels in the incubators, as well as the weekly "check" of each container. This included reading the temperature, CO2, and O2 levels displayed on the outside, reading the actual temperature inside, checking the water level in the water baths, and checking the pressure of the CO2 and O2 in the tanks. It was nice to actually learn something in the lab!
A bit later, all of the girls (Kim, Jessy, Brooke, Louisa, and Becca) and I went on a cupcake run. We went to a little store called The Cupcakery and I got a cinnamon streusel cupcake. Yum! It was fun to relax and I really enjoyed getting to talk with everyone. Not to mention the deliciousness... I went back to the barn to check on Essau around 5:00 and he was content. I took him for a little walk and then groomed him in one of the outside grooming stalls. He seemed to enjoy that. I am really surprised how relaxed he is and how quickly he has adapted to the new place. Everyone there loves him and thinks he is beautiful. He's a very different horse than all of their stock horses and walking horses. I'm so glad he is settling in nicely and I can't wait to start riding him. I will be lunging him in the arena tomorrow so he can get used to that before I try riding.
Things are much brighter now. I have my little (but actually rather large) piece of home just down the road and am enjoying my time in the lab. I know this will be an amazing learning experience and I think I am ready for it now. If you had asked me three days ago, I would have said, "Please take me home."
This album has some pictures from the barn!
So things have been a little rough lately. I had my first exam today, which went fine. I had a fun time with Brooke on Saturday at the Tennessee Valley Fair. We got caught in a terrible storm, but had a fun time nonetheless. I introduced her to deep-fried Snickers, which she enjoyed! I've been feeling sort of lonely lately, really missing my friends, family, and just home in general. I miss my horse and I miss people who know me really well and understand me. I do have friends here, but I guess I just don't spend a lot of quality time with them. I do spend a lot of time with a few of them, but it is never in a fashion that would build a strong friendship or make deep connections. I miss Justin a lot and seem to question my being here occasionally. 