RANT HERE thread

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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radiant23 said:
How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
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Ah yeah, about that. I did my own thing. Sat in the way back of the class and wrote notes on anything. Could it have been notes for that lecture? Yes. Could it have been different notes for a different lecture? Also yes.

If it's not working for you, don't force it. If you've got to figure something else out, then do it.
 
radiant23 said:
How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
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I was the official chair kicker for the guy who sat in front of me first year. He’d literally start to nod off and his head would fall forward or back and occasionally he’d snore so he asked me to kick his chair from time to time.

I played a lot of candy crush while I listened. I did better with something to fiddle with between note taking. I mean the vast majority of what you need to know is in the PowerPoints so I’d just mark down what they emphasized and stuff. Unless a class didn’t use PowerPoints (and that guy didn’t even allow computers at all, but it’s been a long time so I doubt that would fly today) then different rules applied.
 
JaynaAli said:
I was the official chair kicker for the guy who sat in front of me first year. He’d literally start to nod off and his head would fall forward or back and occasionally he’d snore so he asked me to kick his chair from time to time.
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My friend next to me was the elbow nudger for me 🥲 I struggled with this especially in 2nd and 3rd year. It was ROUGH. Would literally fall asleep WHILE actively writing.
 
radiant23 said:
How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
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I didn't actually have that many lectures that were that long, ours were usually 50 minutes. But when I needed to take a break to let my brain wake back up I played werewolf on SDN would work on something else for a bit and just note that I needed to come back to that point in the lecture again later.
 
SkiOtter said:
My friend next to me was the elbow nudger for me 🥲 I struggled with this especially in 2nd and 3rd year. It was ROUGH. Would literally fall asleep WHILE actively writing.
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This would never have happened to you if you'd just played WW during vet school like @Barkley13 and many others.
 
radiant23 said:
How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
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I don't recall ever having that long of a lecture, but for longer ones, honestly, I'd just get up, walk out of the classroom and walk around the halls for a few minutes then go back.
 
pp9 said:
Currently realizing how alienating it is to be going through pregnancy as a moderately plus-sized woman, and I'm only 5 weeks in. My social media has been taken over by everything baby/maternity/post partum and I feel like I'm 15 again trying to find jeans I like that also come in my size.

I've found a few TikTokers that are being honest about their plus size pregnancies so that helps. It's just already challenging going into this with a body I've always hated and wanted to change, that is only going to get bigger and won't look like the cutesy 'baby bumps' everyone goes nuts for (and that maternity clothing is designed around). Some of the questions these influencers have been asked are insane ('Will you even show?' 'Does ultrasound even work on you?') so while seeing their clothing recommendations has been helpful, it's also given me a bit more to stress about.
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Finding mat clothes is hard to begin with (esp when you are not a standard size - I’m super short and finding petite and maternity was rough).

Kindred bravely is bomb especially for nursing/pumping bras. Worked really well with my hands free pumps - I even saw consults in them sometimes and did surgery while pumping often. Macy’s was also helpful.

I’d maybe stay away from influencer content, or really any content of people who purposely put out content on social media about their pregnancy journey. Social media wise what I found helpful was DVMoms fb groups (there are some smaller subgroups if a bigger group isn’t helpful), which is full of vet moms who have been through it and have your back. I also went to an all women’s college with a really strong alum network so the pregnancy groups and parenting groups for alums was really helpful - there were a lot of peds, obgyns also going through pregnancy at the same time and offered a lot of support and expertise. I found joining groups with real people who are just getting by with their lives with similar stressors super helpful. Whatever issues you’re having, you’re bound to have others who have gone through it too. And these groups of moms typically take an evidence based approach you can trust.
 
Minnerbelle said:
Finding mat clothes is hard to begin with (esp when you are not a standard size - I’m super short and finding petite and maternity was rough).

Kindred bravely is bomb especially for nursing/pumping bras. Worked really well with my hands free pumps - I even saw consults in them sometimes and did surgery while pumping often. Macy’s was also helpful.

I’d maybe stay away from influencer content, or really any content of people who purposely put out content on social media about their pregnancy journey. Social media wise what I found helpful was DVMoms fb groups (there are some smaller subgroups if a bigger group isn’t helpful), which is full of vet moms who have been through it and have your back. I also went to an all women’s college with a really strong alum network so the pregnancy groups and parenting groups for alums was really helpful - there were a lot of peds, obgyns also going through pregnancy at the same time and offered a lot of support and expertise. I found joining groups with real people who are just getting by with their lives with similar stressors super helpful. Whatever issues you’re having, you’re bound to have others who have gone through it too. And these groups of moms typically take an evidence based approach you can trust.
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I actually placed an order for Kindred Bravely last night - I am in need of new bras regardless and they have a decent clearance sale going on now! I've stayed off TikTok since I made that last post, though. I'm detoxing!

radiant23 said:
How do you all stay awake during 2-3 hour lectures? I get enough sleep, but after just 40 minutes or so I literally cannot keep my eyes open!!!
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2-3 hours!?!? No breaks in that? Our lectures were 50min, with 10min breaks in between. Our labs were several hours with no breaks but those have you taking a more active role so are easier to stay awake in of course. Even if we had a double lecture in a topic (or even triple, I think that happened too), we still did 50min blocks with 10min breaks.

Having something quiet to snack on when you start to get foggy can help. Or have a cold can of something ready (beer? white claw? diet coke? your choice! I don't judge :laugh:) to snap yourself back into reality. If you know you are a sleeper no matter what, sit in the back to save face. Or if you are sleeping to the point where there's no point in you being there, stay home and watch recordings (if this is an option, and you don't have attendance to worry about).

We had a notorious class snoozer...he probably had a disorder honestly. It never failed, he truly slept every single day. He would be out cold within 10min of a lecture starting (or rounds!) and at times was a sleep-talker. Or would just totally slump over. We probably all had to nudge him awake at some point. Idk why he insisted on sitting so far in the front every year but he did. Somehow every clinician and instructor found it funny, so he was lucky....there were times when some other students dozed off and got called out in lecture. Which is then immortalized in the lecture recording, lol.
 
ahh!! hadn't checked the thread in a while and come to find a lot of you guys are sharing the same experiences as me <3
i am rounding out week 2 of year 1 and, while it has definitely had a lot of surreal moments and i am so happy to finally be at this point, it has had some challenges too.

i'm ALSO having the problem of staying awake in lectures. we also have 50 min with 10 minute breaks but when i am on my last few of the day, i get soooo sleepy. especially physio-- i think watching after in 2x speed will be the key for that! also, in general, i prefer to just use the slides at my own pace because i am not much of an auditory learner anyway. the current strategy has been that i write my notes on the powerpoint before class, that way i have the time to visually organize it and mind-map it in a way that i like before class. during class, i drift in and out of focus but i try to take notes on anything that the prof says out loud that isn't in the slide. i also started drinking redbull again lmao.

there was also some discussion on being nervous about making friends and that's definitely the case for me as well. i am really good at getting along with people in class but making actual friendships is a bit of a challenge for me. it is still really early on so we will see! to rant a bit, some people are honestly so rude it is kind of surprising. you can see the cliques starting to form already and then they show up to all the social gatherings and kind of ice you out if you try to go say hi. so weird. i have made friends with my lab group though and they seem chill!
 
radiant23 said:
100% would, but most professors don't record their lectures.
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I'm annoyed on your behalf. Even most medical school programs offer asynchronous lectures these days w/ the understanding that you are an adult learner, a literal Professional Student, and by this point in your education, you know how you learn best. Any time I actually went to lecture in-person I would still have to rewatch the recording later bc I couldn't keep up or would get distracted.

Godspeed, I personally wouldn't have survived vet school that way.
 
couldhavebeenme said:
I'm annoyed on your behalf. Even most medical school programs offer asynchronous lectures these days w/ the understanding that you are an adult learner, a literal Professional Student, and by this point in your education, you know how you learn best. Any time I actually went to lecture in-person I would still have to rewatch the recording later bc I couldn't keep up or would get distracted.

Godspeed, I personally wouldn't have survived vet school that way.
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we have mandatory attendance for in-person, synchronous lectures but thank GOD they are recorded and immediately uploaded. you also get x amount of absences that you can use for family events and things of that nature, as well as sick days on top of that. it definitely takes off some of the pressure and frustration when you are struggling through a difficult lecture, because you know you can go back and try to learn at your own pace afterwards.

i feel like not offering or allowing recording very quickly becomes an accessibility issue for a myriad of reasons. i know you can pursue accommodations for this sort of thing if you need to. but, i feel like by now most schools by figured out that it is something that everyone benefits from and if you just offer it to everyone, then it's less paperwork on their end.
 
fauna said:
we have mandatory attendance for in-person, synchronous lectures but thank GOD they are recorded and immediately uploaded. you also get x amount of absences that you can use for family events and things of that nature, as well as sick days on top of that. it definitely takes off some of the pressure and frustration when you are struggling through a difficult lecture, because you know you can go back and try to learn at your own pace afterwards.

i feel like not offering or allowing recording very quickly becomes an accessibility issue for a myriad of reasons. i know you can pursue accommodations for this sort of thing if you need to. but, i feel like by now most schools by figured out that it is something that everyone benefits from and if you just offer it to everyone, then it's less paperwork on their end.
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Unfortunately, there are a lot of professors who are very loud about how annoyed they are when there is low in-person lecture attendance. I get it; they work hard to prepare materials and they are professors because they like teaching/interacting with students, but at the end of the day, everyone's goal should be to get you to know the information so you can be a good doctor. Whether that's achieved in a lecture hall face-to-face or from your home in your pajamas, it shouldn't really matter.

Sure, there are students who might get into a downward spiral of skipping class and falling behind, but we're adults and there's some personal responsibility in that too. I think I attended about 1/2 a semester worth of in-person lectures in all of vet school and graduated in the top 1/3rd of my class. IMO the only downside for me was I don't have many close relationships with professors (also influenced by COVID era vet school), which could have been an obstacle if I was pursuing internship/residency etc.
 
fauna said:
ahh!! hadn't checked the thread in a while and come to find a lot of you guys are sharing the same experiences as me <3
i am rounding out week 2 of year 1 and, while it has definitely had a lot of surreal moments and i am so happy to finally be at this point, it has had some challenges too.

i'm ALSO having the problem of staying awake in lectures. we also have 50 min with 10 minute breaks but when i am on my last few of the day, i get soooo sleepy. especially physio-- i think watching after in 2x speed will be the key for that! also, in general, i prefer to just use the slides at my own pace because i am not much of an auditory learner anyway. the current strategy has been that i write my notes on the powerpoint before class, that way i have the time to visually organize it and mind-map it in a way that i like before class. during class, i drift in and out of focus but i try to take notes on anything that the prof says out loud that isn't in the slide. i also started drinking redbull again lmao.

there was also some discussion on being nervous about making friends and that's definitely the case for me as well. i am really good at getting along with people in class but making actual friendships is a bit of a challenge for me. it is still really early on so we will see! to rant a bit, some people are honestly so rude it is kind of surprising. you can see the cliques starting to form already and then they show up to all the social gatherings and kind of ice you out if you try to go say hi. so weird. i have made friends with my lab group though and they seem chill!
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Rooting for you friend. Vet school is very cliquey - but it sounds like you’ve found your people! First year is hard. You’re doing great.
 
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katiemcat said:
Rooting for you friend. Vet school is very cliquey - but it sounds like you’ve found somebody your people! First year is hard. You’re doing great.
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i heard somethings about a class in a school i will not name. day one: cliques were formed and there was no bending the social ranking after that. it’s the one thing i’m nervous about for starting the DVM portion of my program next year, bc my MPH cohort and I (5 of us total) are quite close already
 
vampyrica said:
i heard somethings about a class in a school i will not name. day one: cliques were formed and there was no bending the social ranking after that. it’s the one thing i’m nervous about for starting the DVM portion of my program next year, bc my MPH cohort and I (5 of us total) are quite close already
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I think this is true for a lot of schools. I will say at my school at least some of the cliques fell apart and new ones formed due to drama / internal conflict.

Clinics will separate groups / force you to interact with people you usually don’t, which I think was a good thing for my class.

You will find your people with common interests / similar personalities / work ethics. Don't worry. While there are groups that stick strictly to their circles, a lot of people are happy to get to know someone new.

My biggest piece of advice is not to treat your classmates like competition. I think this hurts a lot of people early on. You don’t want to be the person who doesn’t share notes / inside info or the tattle tale. Also don’t be afraid to strike up convo with people, especially those who don’t seem to be interacting with many people. Often times those people are longing for social interaction just as much as you are.
 
katiemcat said:
I think this is true for a lot of schools. I will say at my school at least some of the cliques fell apart and new ones formed due to drama / internal conflict.

Clinics will separate groups / force you to interact with people you usually don’t, which I think was a good thing for my class.

You will find your people with common interests / similar personalities / work ethics. Don't worry. While there are groups that stick strictly to their circles, a lot of people are happy to get to know someone new.

My biggest piece of advice is not to treat your classmates like competition. I think this hurts a lot of people early on. You don’t want to be the person who doesn’t share notes / inside info or the tattle tale. Also don’t be afraid to strike up convo with people, especially those who don’t seem to be interacting with many people. Often times those people are longing for social interaction just as much as you are.
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Agree with all of this. There were definitely 'friend groups' in my class, a lot of it was naturally who you had the most time with (electives, extracurriculars, lab partners, etc). Others knew each other from undergrad and stuck with those people. While vet school is a very small group and leads to some high-school level socializing, I personally felt most people were at least fairly reasonable. We had 1-2 guys and a small handful of girls that I'd be happy to never see again, but you're not going to like every single person in your class. Such is life.

Clinics definitely make everyone get out of their comfort zones though. You'll become friends with people you haven't said more than a few words to and some people will pleasantly surprise you. Others won't, lol.

My class was not super competitive, luckily. Mostly chill and supportive. It is true that each class will have a different vibe though. Class above me earned the 'immature/whiny' label, class below me was ultra-competitive, heavy on the drama, and treated each other like crap at times.

As for social rankings...we did have the large friend group that went out to every school event, went to the bars every weekend, whatever. I don't know about there being a social ranking, but I guess you could say they were the 'cool' group? But at the same time, I didn't want to do all of those activities, so it didn't matter to me. If you want to be going out a lot, you can still go out with the friends you settle in with.
 
I also think it’s important to keep in mind that vet school is all consuming for those four years, but “this too shall pass” and this is just a short time in your journey to being a veterinarian for the rest of your life. Everyone needs to have friends and feel accepted and we want everyone to get along, be drama free, and have a good time. But also, in the grand scheme of things, vet school passes quick. I talk to exactly three of my classmates on a regular basis…my best friend and then the two other people who made up our core friend group. There’s others I may reach out to from time to time, and I still keep in touch with a lot on social media, but most classmates I will never talk to again and it’s easy to even forget some of their names now that I’m 10 years out. Especially with marriages and now adding in divorces as names change on social media.

But I agree with the sentiment that groups will change organically…fourth year I got to be close friends with someone I absolutely disliked second year. She turned out to not be so bad, haha.

My long term advice is to hang in there, and you’ll find your people.

Edit: I also think that now that I’m graduated, when I do run into classmates at conferences and stuff, we’re far more friendly than we ever were as students. I mean it’s superficial catch-up type conversation like where you work, spouses/kids or whatever, and that nature. But I’d maybe sit and talk to them more now than I ever would have back in the day.
 
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I had a rough week. One of my grandmas died. The funeral is tomorrow. It's a complicated family relationship (grandparents through stepmom). My grandpa's sudden death from a fall on ice in 2022 was the second time that she had been widowed in her life. Something in her just broke and her health declined rapidly. I am really sad (haven't really wanted to eat, etc.), but don't have the same sense of devastation that I had over my grandpa. I think I did a lot of grieving in advance because she wasn't the person I remembered the past couple of years. She was also my last connection to my grandpa and would talk to me about him. My dad won't talk to me about anything stressful and my stepmom just won't talk to me. My grandpa's house was sold last month and he is really just gone now.

I went back to work this week and it was really hard on me physically. I feel awful and am in a lot of pain. My hips/back hurt so bad. However, all of my coworkers and students have now seen me walking without crutches now and I don't want the attention that will come from showing up to work with crutches on Monday.
 
katiemcat said:
I still have night sickness at 13 weeks someone pls help….
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Meanwhile, I keep forgetting I'm pregnant because the only consistent symptom I've had is more fatigue than usual...

A handful of brief bouts of nausea, but otherwise nada. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. I'll be 8 weeks next week while away at a conference/being forced to share a room with my coworker so if I'm going to start hurling my guts out, it will probably be then :laugh:

In a weird way, I kinda feel like all of the classic symptoms are a rite of passage that I'm missing out on. Is that weird?
 
pp9 said:
Meanwhile, I keep forgetting I'm pregnant because the only consistent symptom I've had is more fatigue than usual...

A handful of brief bouts of nausea, but otherwise nada. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. I'll be 8 weeks next week while away at a conference/being forced to share a room with my coworker so if I'm going to start hurling my guts out, it will probably be then :laugh:

In a weird way, I kinda feel like all of the classic symptoms are a rite of passage that I'm missing out on. Is that weird?
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No not at all! Before I was getting sick I was like um?!!!? It’s so weird too bc I’m only getting sick around 5pm now.

But honestly you’re not missing out I promise! 😭 I’m glad to hear you’re doing well!
 
Man. I missed out on the Backstreet Boys ticket drop this week because I couldn't be sitting at my computer when they dropped. Of course they're now sold out and at crazy resale prices.

Husband is already trying to plan a Hawaii babymoon which is exciting, but probably going to cost $5000 or so for a week with what he wants to do. I can book a hotel/ticket package through BSB still and not pay crazy prices, but after flights it would be $3000 at the least (without food) for a 3 day trip.

Some would say that we shouldn't do either with an expensive-ass baby in the future. Some would say we should just say yolo and do both. I lean towards the latter because we never do anything (the Japan trip earlier this year was the first major thing I've ever done) but that's still a lot of money to spend in a matter of two months. Someone tell me I'm not being insane.
 
pp9 said:
Someone tell me I'm not being insane.
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Financial freak here to tell you, "It depends."

What is your current situation? I know you don't have student loans and Mr. PP has a good job. That in of itself is thousands per month in the positive to me.

Will you go into debt for this? If so, what interest rate? How long would you pay interest?

Would you go into your emergency savings to do this?

Ultimately, I'm very paranoid about money. 8k in two months would send me into a stroke without big planning.
 
pp9 said:
Man. I missed out on the Backstreet Boys ticket drop this week because I couldn't be sitting at my computer when they dropped. Of course they're now sold out and at crazy resale prices.

Husband is already trying to plan a Hawaii babymoon which is exciting, but probably going to cost $5000 or so for a week with what he wants to do. I can book a hotel/ticket package through BSB still and not pay crazy prices, but after flights it would be $3000 at the least (without food) for a 3 day trip.

Some would say that we shouldn't do either with an expensive-ass baby in the future. Some would say we should just say yolo and do both. I lean towards the latter because we never do anything (the Japan trip earlier this year was the first major thing I've ever done) but that's still a lot of money to spend in a matter of two months. Someone tell me I'm not being insane.
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If it won't deplete an emergency savings account and won't put you in a financial struggle go for it.

I'm firmly in the yolo category. Money doesn't go with you when you die. So use it for happiness when you're able.
 
battie said:
Financial freak here to tell you, "It depends."

What is your current situation? I know you don't have student loans and Mr. PP has a good job. That in of itself is thousands per month in the positive to me.

Will you go into debt for this? If so, what interest rate? How long would you pay interest?

Would you go into your emergency savings to do this?

Ultimately, I'm very paranoid about money. 8k in two months would send me into a stroke without big planning.
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DVMDream said:
If it won't deplete an emergency savings account and won't put you in a financial struggle go for it.

I'm firmly in the yolo category. Money doesn't go with you when you die. So use it for happiness when you're able.
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I mean I definitely haven't 'budgeted' to spend $3k so it would come out of my savings, but I would be a decent way away from $0. Definitely wouldn't go into debt. And Mr PP is very, very far away from zero (non-vet people 😒) but he wouldn't be paying for BSB, I would because it's my thing (we usually split stuff that way). Thus far I'm under the impression that the Hawaii trip is on him so there's that. Probs should confirm lol.

The things that are holding me back are the 60% pay I'd be getting during maternity leave (aka STD since my zoo doesn't do paid mat leave), and in several years I'm hoping to take a few weeks unpaid sabbatical for boards studying. Will $3000 matter in three years? Who knows. And going would satisfy my inner 7 year old.
 
pp9 said:
I mean I definitely haven't 'budgeted' to spend $3k so it would come out of my savings, but I would be a decent way away from $0. Definitely wouldn't go into debt. And Mr PP is very, very far away from zero (non-vet people 😒) but he wouldn't be paying for BSB, I would because it's my thing (we usually split stuff that way). Thus far I'm under the impression that the Hawaii trip is on him so there's that. Probs should confirm lol.

The things that are holding me back are the 60% pay I'd be getting during maternity leave (aka STD since my zoo doesn't do paid mat leave), and in several years I'm hoping to take a few weeks unpaid sabbatical for boards studying. Will $3000 matter in three years? Who knows. And going would satisfy my inner 7 year old.
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Meh, yolo! :laugh:

All my savings is in one account as well... so that is money for cat vet bills, emergencies, vacations, etc. I just make sure the savings doesn't drop significantly (well, minus recently because I have been out of work, but that is a story for another time). If using $3k won't make it so you struggle to say pay for a car mechanic bill, then you are good.


Plus, if you go, I will have to ask for video because my mom is obsessed with BSB lately and I will have to show her your videos. 😉
 
pp9 said:
I mean I definitely haven't 'budgeted' to spend $3k so it would come out of my savings, but I would be a decent way away from $0. Definitely wouldn't go into debt. And Mr PP is very, very far away from zero (non-vet people 😒) but he wouldn't be paying for BSB, I would because it's my thing (we usually split stuff that way). Thus far I'm under the impression that the Hawaii trip is on him so there's that. Probs should confirm lol.

The things that are holding me back are the 60% pay I'd be getting during maternity leave (aka STD since my zoo doesn't do paid mat leave), and in several years I'm hoping to take a few weeks unpaid sabbatical for boards studying. Will $3000 matter in three years? Who knows. And going would satisfy my inner 7 year old.
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Go so I can live vicariously!!!

I went to a concert and did a meet n greet over a decade ago now (oh god that makes me feel old) and it is still one of my favorite memories. Very much wish I could see them live again.

And it sounds like it's an okay financial decision. So I'm in full support 🙂
 
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