Part 2 - Early Days at College
The first day walking into the Ontario Veterinary College main building was very intimidating. If you've been up to see the Vet College in Guelph, Ontario you know what I mean. The main entrance is into a gorgeous old historic building with interesting architecture. As I surveyed the rooms trying to find the main lecture hall it dawned on me that a lot of world renowned Veterinarians had graduated from this prestigious college.
The main lecture hall for 1st year students at that time (remember this was back in 1980 and a lot of refurbishing has happened since) was an old fashioned room with steep stairs up to rows of wooden desks. The only "technology" that was available then was chaulkboards and overheads. There were no handouts and the students wrote furiously trying to take down as much of the lectures as possible. Our schedule was brutal. Nothing in the 2 years of regular university prepared me for the in class time and labs required in Veterinary College. It was easily 3 times the amount of work.
At that time backpacks were uncommon. In order to carry my heavy notes and books I carried a large briefcase... I know... I know.. what a nerd! That famous briefcase caused a lot of trouble for me in that first year. For some reason I was a little clumsy in those days - maybe my large body size... I don't know ... or perhaps it was an awkward phase I was going through. I was just getting to know my classmates and trying to make friends when I sat down in lecture one day next to a guy I had recently met. Turns out he was on the wrestling team at Guelph and was quite a nice fellow. At the end of the lecture I quickly stowed my notes away and slammed my briefcase shut... OOPS... right down on his finger resting on the edge of my open briefcase. Sigh. Not the way to make a good first impression on a new friend.
Then there was the time I was in the Comparative Neuroanatomy lab. We were studying the differences in the brains between various species. On exhibit was a beautiful professionally prepared large glass display about 3 feet high and almost a foot in diameter. Inside this display were a number of brain specimens pickled in Formaldehyde. There was a dog brain, a cat brain, a sheep brain, a rabbit brain, a mouse brain, etc... you get the idea. It was close to lunch-time and you all know how I like my lunches. At the end of the lab, I packed up my notes and hurriedly got up from my chair and headed towards the door, briefcase in tow. I then heard a loud CRASHHHH. Turning around, I was horrified to see that I had knocked over this glass display and there was now about 5 gallons of formaldehyde and pickled brains strewn all over the floor. It took me a moment to realize that in my haste to get food I had knocked the display over with my trailing briefcase. YIKES. Turns out they had to close the laboratory for 3 days while they tried valiantly to get the odour of Formaldehyde to dissipate from the room. Every time I saw the professor of that course from that moment on, he would look at me, smile and shake his head. I was a bit worried how it was going to affect my marks but luckily he was one of the nicer professors at the Veterinary College in those days....
To be continued...
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