University Dorms

First of all congratulations to everyone that has received an offer for UVM Kosice already! Go you! :)
I've had a few comments and messages asking for information about the university dormitories and what you need to bring with you because there isn't much info out there.

The rooms are meant for 2 people so they are a good size. Off the top of my head I would say about 12 x 14ft (approx. 3 x 4.3m). All the rooms have the following as standard:

2 single beds and 2 sets of bedding

2 desks

2 chairs

2 shelves (a lot of the rooms have more)

2 desk lamps

1 mirror

1 sink

1 refrigerator (some have a freezer compartment)

Large wardrobe/storage

Sometimes the previous occupant will have left some things behind as well, so there’s a bit of luck involved.

Here are a couple of views of my room when I first arrived. I have now decorated etc so it looks a bit nicer but this is what you can expect when you first arrive. Some of the rooms are decorated by previous students but mine wasn't so this is the 'dorms colour scheme'.

 

You can push the beds together to make a double, stack one on top of the other (which is what I have done so I have more space) or keep them separate and use one as a sofa. The bedding isn’t always the best quality and I ended up buying my own. 

Each corridor of 11 rooms has 4 toilet cubicles, 3 showers and a small kitchen area. The ‘kitchen’ is cupboard-sized and usually just has a microwave and a hot plate so a lot of people have mini ovens, kettles etc. in their own rooms. 

Pretty much everything you need for your room can be bought out here for cheaper than it would be at home so you really don’t need to bring much with you. All I brought with me when I first arrived was a suitcase full of clothes and it has been fine.  

If you’re a tea drinker and particular about what brand you drink I would bring some teabags with you. The only black tea blend that I have seen is Lipton Yellow Label which is nice enough but it’s quite expensive for not many teabags. Marks and Spencer also sell English Breakfast and a few other blends that are nice and work out fairly cheap (I only recently discovered this!).

Also if you like writing on nice quality paper then bring a few pads with you. All the lined paper I have found out here has been quite flimsy. 

I would bring a little first aid kit too with paracetamol and cold remedy in case of the dreaded fresher's flu. Even graduates aren't immune, apparently, since I came down with it fairly quickly in the first week of lectures! Paracetamol etc. can be bought out here over the counter but trying to ask for something in Slovak while you're not feeling your best isn't pleasant so I'd bring a small stash with you.

Other than that you can bring as much or as little as you want because as I said, most things can be bought out here.

I hope that helps, if I think of anything else important I will add it to this post. Now I am off to enjoy a few days at home while we have the long weekend off for Easter :)

Bye for now!

Lucy

Spring semester

I'm now over half way through my second semester at vet school and I can't believe how fast it has gone! It still feels like I just got back after Christmas. The work load has been similar to last semester but I think I might be getting better at coping with it because it hasn't seemed as intense as last semester.

We still have a lot of credit tests. Last week I had three which was pretty hectic, but they all went fine in the end. We have started some new modules about bees, fish, hygiene and nutrition as well as carrying on with some we started last semester like histology, physiology and anatomy. In anatomy we're now on to the organs which I am enjoying a lot more than muscles. It's really interesting and also a little bit easier which helps! The new modules are quite interesting, I'm getting quite into learning about bees, haha. The Bees lecturer is very enthusiastic which is kind of infectious. Plus I do like honey!

Kosice is lovely at the moment. It has been about 15C every day and very sunny. It isn't usually so warm at this time of year, the winter has been unusually mild. I'm definitely not complaining though!

I have received a few messages from people applying to start here at Kosice in September which are always welcome! If you comment me with your email address/other contact info I'm always happy to answer any questions you have about the course and the city. I remember when I was applying this time last year and how difficult it can be to find information. One resource that I found very helpful was the Kosice thread on the student room forum. It's very long now but you can use the search bar to search for keywords. I actually read the whole thing from start to finish, but that can be very time consuming!

I look forward to hearing from any new applicants :)

Next update will probably be around the Easter break because I should get a bit of free
time.

Bye for now!

Lucy

First semester complete!

My first semester of vet school is over! I had my last exam yesterday and now I have 6 days of nothingness before lectures start again next week. :)

I passed all my exams thankfully, but some of them were quite difficult. Certain exams were definitely harder to pass than the ones I took for my zoology degree. I could always be fairly confident about passing my zoology exams, but here I have a feeling there’s always a chance I could fail! Most of the exams are oral here which means we get the marks back almost straight away. My final marks for this semester are:
Anatomy – C
Genetics – C
Milk Hygiene – A
Latin – A
Slovak – A

There are a few different dates for each of the final exams so you’re able to choose when you take them; you can either cram them all in before Christmas or spread them out over the whole exam period. I took 3 before Christmas (Latin, Milk Hygiene and Slovak) and I left Anatomy and Genetics until the end of the exam period. I definitely needed the extra revision time for Anatomy and Genetics; they were by far the hardest exams! It meant I got a good long time at home for Christmas which was really nice and I managed to work a few days at my job at the zoo to earn some extra tuition fee money!

I also got to get better acquainted with this little man:

He’s still a bit wary of me; I think he might prefer my mum, who looks after him while I’m at uni. He will follow Ruby over to me if he thinks there are treats but he doesn’t climb all over me to get them like she does! I’m pretty impressed with the amount of hay he eats. I’ve never had a proper hay monster rabbit. Ruby eats a lot of hay but she eats it because it’s food rather than because she enjoys it. Willow seems to really love it and I’ve tried him with a few different types as a treat. For any other rabbits out there, he especially recommends Burns Green Oat and Excel Herbage Camomile ;) 

These last few months have gone so quickly, I’m now 1/8^th of the way through the course! I’m looking forward to starting lectures for next semester now (although a bit of a break is very welcome). We got our new timetable yesterday and it looks very busy. A few new subjects we are starting this semester are Animal Hygiene and Welfare, Nutrition and dietetics, and Diseases of Fish and Bees. We are also starting to study organs in Anatomy, which sounds really interesting!

Bye for now!

Lucy