So we got to cut up big rats in our last lab. What made it mostly unpleasant, to me at least, was peeling the skin off. Cutting through the muscles and sorting the organs and everything was fine, but something about peeling the skin off bit by bit just wasn't fun at all. The preservatives and such used weren't too fun either - they smelled kind of rancid.
It was interesting getting a chance to look at all the organs and the circulatory system, and I got my first look at the superior/inferior vena cava, which I've always wanted to see. In all fairness though, I don't think what I learned justified that poor rats slow suffocating death so I could do this. Their tongues were all stiff and hanging out of their mouths still when we got them. Oh well.
I also found out that next week is actually the final week of this course. I'd lost track of when it was supposed to end, and that completely shocked me since we just handed in our second exam. It looks like the time between exams wasn't particularly balanced though, and now I get to turn around and do my final over this coming weekend. It's just as good, really: this course needs to end. For whatever reason I'm not all that into things, and I could use two weeks or so to reset before I start the harder courses this fall. I have another trip booked for the beach, although this time I get to go with/be driven by my parents on account of having mangled my own car in the last attempt.
Looking forward to that trip - hopefully I can manage it without serious injury this time...
