First day of class.... kind of.

Well things never go quite as smoothly as you anticipate. I had everything all planned out- left my house in plenty of time, had everything packed and ready to go. Then the day started laughing at me.
First, upon pulling up to the intersection of Duckpond and Washington St., I was instructed by a VT employee to either go right or left. Southgate (straight ahead) was blocked off by a series of police cars. Curious. As I proceeded to pull into the Cage (the huge resident/commuter lot next to the vet school) I noticed many of my classmates circling, looking for parking spots. Even more curious. Turns out all 400+ spots reserved for vet students were full- mainly because a huge quantity of stupid resident freshmen parked in our half of the lot. So after having parked in the Litton Reeves lot (something I swore I would never have to do after graduation), I hiked to the vet school and arrived just in time for class. Phew. We had claimed seats last Friday with sticky notes, so I had anticipated my seat to be open- hahaha, not so fast missy. Someone evidently did away with the system and I was stuck in one of the few open seats in the very last row. Bummer.
Dr. Eng begins lecturing our very first anatomy class ever. 45 minutes into it (with 5 to go), a VMRCVM administrator enters and walks up to speak to a perturbed Dr. Eng. Thinking it was related to nametags or lab times, etc., I don't think any of us were prepared for what followed.
Sunday morning, an inmate, (William Morva, 24) from Mont. Co. Jail was transported to Mont. Co Regional Hospital for treatment. While there he managed to overcome the deputy, wrestled his gun away, shot the deputy and then shot and killed a hospital security guard. Then he escaped towards Blacksburg. This morning, around 7:15, he was sighted on the Huckleberry trail, a popular hiking trail that extends from the edge of campus to Christiansburg. He was confronted by a police officer who he then shot and killed. Then he vanished. Someone reportedly saw him in Squires Student Center, on campus, and prompted an emergency closing of the university. We were then instructed to return home and stay inside with the doors locked.
So my entire first of my veterinary career consisted of a 45 minute anatomy lecture and a lot of worrying.
Thankfully they captured him this evening without anyone else being injured. Quite an adrenaline filled morning! To read the whole story, click here.
Now it's off to bed to try again tomorrow- a whole day filled with histology, immunology, and some fun Anatomy labs!