Why I Could Never be a Vet

The first career I can remember aspiring towards was a vet. I always loved animals (probably unsurprising seeing as I grew up with at least 2 dogs and 2 cats at a time), so it seemed as if the obvious job for me was a vet.

Most little girls love barbies and dolls, I personally hated both… in fact I distinctively remember my older sister allowing me to play with her precious barbies and me continuing to pull their heads off (this seemed like totally normal thing to do…). I was more interesting in animals of all kinds, cuddly ones, toy ones, at one point I did ask for a Barbie – veterinary Barbie. I then threw away the actual Barbie and just played with the animals.

I was so set on being a vet, when we had to take one of our cats in to the vet to have some shots my sister had to leave the room due to feeling faint, but I stayed in, interested to watch and discover what was going on. I had no fear, what harm was a little blood?

I can’t put a day, month, or even year on when I changed, but I did. I turned into one of those people who DOES have the fear, I hate blood and all things gruesome. I am probably one of the most squeamish people you will ever meet! So I never made a decision not to be a vet, I just realized although I loved animals, I did NOT love seeing their insides. I mean realistically WHO wants to shove their arm up an animal’s backside? What kind of job would that be? Luckily there are some people who find that appealing… But not me!

So there it is, the reason I stopped wanting to become a vet. Unfortunately not liking blood or anything like that kind of makes you unable to go into any form of medicine… surprisingly it’s impossible to go through med school without getting your hands messy at one point or another. I don’t really think I need to explain why I wouldn’t suit being a doctor – but if you need me to spell it out I will – I used to pull heads off barbies. Does that sound like someone you’d like to treat you? No. I didn’t think so.

However, even if I had loved all things gruesome I still would not have been able to become a doctor, vet or dentist due to my lack of ability to understand any form of science. At school it was just something i wasn't able to get my head around... All the different enzymes in biology... and then something about Moles in chemistry?! The only Moles that I have the capacity to understand are the ones underground. Sure, the simpler stuff was ok, but as soon as it got to the remotely complicated stuff it all just went over my head. I guess I just don’t have the mind for it… this was the same with all kinds of science, biology, chemistry, physics… I did not understand any of them, and coincidently they did not interest me either. So that was that, I managed to get through GCSEs but swiftly dropped them after and have not studied them since. 

So needless to say any chance of a career in medicine went out the window a long time ago. It just was not to be… This is kind of annoying, because if you do a degree in medicine you know what you are going in to, which means you no longer have to think about what to do with your life – the work part of your life is mapped out for you! Sure, there’s a lot of very, very hard work, but other than that you don’t have to think about anything! Whereas here I am doing my degree in politics, wondering what on earth I should do with it… law? Journalism? Maybe marketing? Even a politician? (not my first choice but we’ll get to that another time…) the possibilities are endless, the hard part is finding something that I actually want to go in to.

So there you have it, I am pretty sure that my dream job is not anything to do with medicine... This does mean that unfortunately unlike medicine students I do have to keep trying to discover where my life is going, but hopefully it will be worth it when I finally find my perfect career. 

What Do I Want To Be When I 'Grow Up'?

Growing up always seemed as if it was so far away. It never really occurred to me that the time when I had to actually figure out what I wanted to do with my life would actually come. But here it is - my second year of university, the time that I really should start to figure out what I want to do. The problem is i'm no closer to knowing what I wanted to do than when I was little, indeed if anything I actually am further away! There were the early days of wanting to be a vet, then the dream of becoming a lawyer - which was quickly taken out of the picture when I saw my brother and sister go through the process and come out of the end looking tired and realising it wasn't all that great. 

I have never managed to find that one thing that I love doing; some people are naturally good at art, some at science, some sport. I unfortunately wasn't one of those lucky few. However, seeing as it is now necessary to decide upon something I figured I would write through my process of decided what I want to be when I am grown up.

I think I am going to do this through a process of elimination, going through the options and decided why this is definitely not for me. So, here it goes, why is it that I could never be a musician of any kind.

From an early age my parents were sure that I was a musical genius, and that this skill just had to be forced out of me through hours and hours of piano practice. My brother had been a chorister and a grade 8 flute player - so they figured what made me so different? So I went through three years of piano playing, practicing every day, trying my best... And at the end of those three years I had gone through three different music teachers and achieved a grand total of zero grades... I was still not even at the standard to do my grade 1 piano exam! After a long time of convincing my parents realised that PERHAPS the piano just wasn't for me... However, this didn't mean that there wasn't still a musical genius hidden in me, it just meant that I had chosen the wrong instrument! 

And so the process started again, only this time with the saxophone. The saxophone was not quite as much of a fail as the piano was, I was able to play and remember which notes were where (which was a large improvement...) and even sound quite nice at some points. However then we reached a new problem - I wasn't exactly gifted when it came to reading music... And by this I mean I could see which notes were which on the piece of paper, but when it came to extra funny symbols which were meant to all mean different things... it all just got too much for me! However this problem was slowly overcome and I became just about used to all the different symbols. THEN yet another problem arose... part of the exam I would be taking had some improvisation... this included knowing which notes sounded good together and having a beat - I could do neither of these and so, to cut to the end, I stopped playing the saxophone after roughly three years and again no grades... My worst memory of the saxophone had to be when I offered to play in my house music performance at school... During the rehearsals I just about held it together, not sounding great but that didn't really matter - it's not as if they could exactly ask me not to play seeing as I had volunteered). However, on the actual day of the performance for some reason my saxophone refused to play a single note! I had to stand on stage PRETENDING to play. I'm pretty sure that it was obvious that I wasn't actually playing seeing as the saxophone was a pretty crucial and loud part of the performance. So that was the first and last time I went on stage with an instrument...

So maybe an instrument wasn't for me...Maybe I had to use my natural musical talents - my voice? Well, there's really no story there... I have a vague memory in junior school of being turned away from the choir - either that or kicked out... Some people have a theory that everyone is able to sing, just some people have to be taught how and others are naturally good at it. I think that these people are wrong - and if they want me to prove it they can try and get me to sing! 

Other than that there was one last try with guitar; this lasted less time (partially due to being taught by a very pervy teacher who later tried to talk to me on Facebook through a strange alias...). I (and more importantly my parents) realised that music was not for me.

So there it is - the story of why I must cross of musician from my list of what I could be when I grow up. Hopefully I am one step closer to finding out what I could be. 

Christmas Holidays For Students

So i have three weeks off from university during the holidays. Seeing as my terms are 10 weeks long it is great to have the three weeks to be able to see friends and family. However... this is made impossible due to the amount of work that we are given over this break.

Most people have exams in January, straight after christmas. Many of my friends even have an exam on the monday our term starts at 9.15! As for me, i have four essays to write, all of which must be 2000 words and are worth 20% of my entire degree... (yes, i should be writing them instead of this partially pointless blog - it's called procrastination..). Due to these exams and essays our christmas holidays are not used as a time to relax and have a break, they are a time to get stressed about work...

I don't know about you, but this seems to go through my head: "If i don't do well in these exams, i'll fail my degree, then i won't be able to get a good job, then i won't have any money, then i won't be able to move out of home... ever... or i'll be in a lot of debt..." and so on...

I know non-students think we have nothing to complain about, we have long holidays and no worries... but i do not think that this is the case. Sure, when you have a full time job you don't have as much holiday or free time... BUT when you DO have that free time, it's just that, FREE time. Whereas when we have free time it is nothing of the sort. Instead it is a time to get more stressed and, to make matters worse, in the christmas holidays we turn to comfort eating, which never ends well... I can't count the number of my parents friends who have said to me "Oh, you're back from uni! that must be great, a nice long break, it's alright for some..." at which i have to reply "well.. yes, i am back... but i do have four essays of which count for 20% of my degree. But yes, you are right, it's alright for some.." through gritted teeth.

So, instead of coming out of the christmas holidays relaxed and detoxed, we are in fact stressed and (in my case) a great deal heavier due to the consumption of ridiculous amounts of food. And then, when we do get back it's not like we have any more of a break, it's straight back into 9.15 starts and lectures throughout the day.

Overall, i just want to get the point across that although students do have long holidays, this does not mean that they are relaxing and full of fun. I know it sounds bad, but i can't wait to have a job and never have to take an exam ever again. However i can't promise that at some point in the future i won't look at students and think "it's alright for some...".