Episode 50: "I'm really excited for VSAC." Victory Knight, Victoria Menendez

Summary 

In this engaging conversation, Victoria Menendez shares her experiences during the New Year, including her travels to Peru and Las Vegas, and discusses her goals for the upcoming semester at Purdue University. The dialogue explores her strategies for personal growth, effective studying, and the challenges of veterinary anatomy courses, all while reflecting on her journey from her first semester to her current experiences.

Keywords VetaHumanz, New Year, travel, goals, veterinary medicine, personal growth, studying, anatomy, kickboxing, Purdue University

Takeaways

• Victoria enjoyed a relaxing break traveling to Peru and Las Vegas.
• Meeting her boyfriend's family in Peru was a significant experience for Victoria.
• She aims to get back into the gym and start kickboxing this semester.
• Victoria is focusing on improving her studying habits and effectiveness.
• She is excited about the hands-on learning in her veterinary skills courses.
• The second semester is more rigorous, requiring a proactive approach to studies.
• Victoria is trying to get more involved in extracurricular activities.
• Her goal for the month is to establish a kickboxing schedule.
• She celebrated wins from quizzes and lab work in her courses.
• Victoria is navigating the challenges of large anatomy studies with determination.

Chapters

00:00 Exploring Travel Adventures: Peru and Vegas

03:09 New Year Goals and Strategies

05:31 Reflecting on Growth and Challenges

07:48 Academic Wins and Struggles

Transcript

Sandra San Miguel (02:21.646)
 Hi superheroes, I'm Pink Phoenix coming to you from Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine's League of VetaHumanz. This week we have VetaHumanz Live New Year's edition with Victory Knight. Thanks for being on the show Victory Knight. Alright, let's get started. How'd you spend that break?
 
 Victoria Menendez (02:39.76)
 Thanks
 
 Victoria Menendez (02:44.618)
 I spent, it was amazing. I did a lot of relaxing, a lot of traveling. So I, it was honestly the best. It was a good way to disconnect. I ended up, like I mentioned last time, I went to Peru with my boyfriend. He has family there. So I went there. We went for like a week. We came back. We spent the holidays here with everybody. And then we went to Las Vegas to celebrate my mom's 50th birthday. That was so much fun.
 
 And it was really nice because we're all 21, so you can access a lot of places and stuff. So was really fun when we did comedy shows, we walked around the strip, we did a whole bunch of stuff. It was so much fun.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (03:22.444)
 That sounds amazing. So tell us more. Tell us about Peru.
 
 Victoria Menendez (03:25.966)
 Yeah, so Peru, we've been trying to plan the trip forever. It's just like when you get there, you have to take several flights to different locations. So it's a lot of traveling time. when you like between you calculate the traveling time, you don't spend a lot of time there. But we went to Cusco, we went to Arequipa, and then we went to Lima. That's where we flew into. And we went to like a place called Huacachina. So it's like a literally like it's like surrounded by a desert. And you can do like we did like ATV on the desert. It's like a big mountain of just like dirt. It was really cool. We stayed at a hotel there. We saw his family. Then we went to Cusco. We went to like a whole bunch of places. was like a cathedral. There was like so many things. It was beautiful. The food was really good. It was really nice because I've never met his family. So was really nice to like meet him for the first time at least. But no, was really sweet. Everybody was so sweet. Everybody like the coach is beautiful. So I definitely will be back for sure.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (03:56.12)
 Yeah.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (04:11.099)
 cool. Whoa, no pressure there, right?
 
 Sandra San Miguel (04:23.05)
 Excellent. All right, so tell us about Vegas. Where'd you go?
 
 Victoria Menendez (04:27.632)
 Yeah, so Vegas, we stayed on the strip. We stayed at like the Paris Hotel and Casino, like hotel. It was really centralized. So we went, we did, we went to a thing called Area 15. It's like a fake like grocery store. And then inside like there's like different like little secret doors and there's like illusions. It was really cool. that. We did the comedy show. It was like a whole bunch of other celebrities that's like been there like comedy, like, so they definitely have a rep.
 
 We went to different casinos, we went to Caesar's Palace, we went everywhere. It was so much fun and I didn't even get, I probably gambled like 10 bucks and I won $27. So it was really fun. Yeah, I didn't want to risk too much. I was just like, it's simple. But no, my whole family went and my sister went and so was really fun. We're like a group of like, like seven, six of us. So yeah, so it was really nice. Yeah, she did, she did. She can't complain.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (05:03.406)
 Yes.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (05:17.901)
 Wow.
 
 So mom, have a great birthday.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (05:26.07)
 That's excellent. All right, it's New Year. Tell us your goals for the New Year and your strategies to get them done.
 
 Victoria Menendez (05:35.368)
 Yeah, I'm definitely trying to like with this upcoming semester definitely is a bit more rigorous than it was in full. And we're in classes a little bit more longer. So my goal for this semester is to get back in the gym, which I've started. I could be more consistent, but we started that's that's what matters. We also I'm also like trying to get into kickboxing. That's in the yeah, I called several gyms. I just have to like do like the consultation and see because it's hard because like I get out really late. So have to find one that works with our schedule.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (05:55.606)
 I love it.
 
 Victoria Menendez (06:04.784)
 And then I definitely want to be more effective with my studying habits. I met with one of our studying skills coordinator at Purdue. So I'm just trying to get more like Tennessee what else I can improve on just to be most as if you know effective and just kind of get the semester rolling.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (06:21.344)
 I love it. I love how you're reaching out and getting all the resources together for your strategy. That's just, it's perfect. So what are you most excited about for this semester?
 
Victoria Menendez (06:24.876)
 Yeah. Exactly.
 
 Victoria Menendez (06:36.31)
I really, we're two weeks in, I would say, two weeks? Yes, we're two weeks in. I would say I'm most excited right now for VSAC. The skills are getting a bit more like.
 
 not more intense, but they're like, I'm like, oh, okay, like, yeah, like, this is definitely like really important. And like, so it's definitely picking up, which I really like, because it's very hands on. So I really do, I'm really excited for VSAC. And I'm also really excited for A &I. Like last semester, I was like, okay about it. But now I'm like, we have, we get set with new groups, and there's just new cases. And now it's like building everything you learned last time, like on top. So your flowcharts are like multiplying.
 
 It doesn't even fit on the page anymore. So it's really fun and you start to narrow things down. It's just a little different this semester. I guess it's just because it's building up everything. It's definitely more entertaining. You definitely have to put your brain to work.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (07:35.074)
 That's good. Yeah. And that's when your flow charts will turn into concept maps that you can keep for a lifetime and keep expanding.
 
Victoria Menendez (07:41.071)
 Yep.
 
 Victoria Menendez (07:44.704)
Exactly, so that's really, it's been going really good.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (07:47.886)
 I love that. love that. All right. Here's some self-reflection time. You're entering your second semester. It wasn't that long ago. You were starting your very first semester. How are you different?
 
Victoria Menendez (08:01.946)
 Mm-hmm.
 
 I think...
 
 Victoria Menendez (08:08.784)
I mean, from last semester, I came in with a very like, let's get it rolling. And it kind of obviously died down toward the end, because you're just, you've given it all, you're like slowly. I'm back to that. I'm like, okay, I give it my all. You gotta just try to do your best now. So if you need room to have buffer, that's like, just trying to get what you can as well, with everything, with all the classes and everything. So definitely having that same mindset of doing the same. And I just want to be like, yeah, I just.
 
 I don't know, I would just say that like the same mindset, but like you had, I just gotta push out a little longer because the classes are a bit harder this year, this semester at least, sorry. And I wanna be more proactive with like outside school events. So like the kickboxing, we went to like a Christian dinner hosted by like the Christian Fellowship Club. So I'm just trying to get a bit more involved that's like not only like off campus related, but like kind of just get more involved and stuff. So I'm definitely trying to do that as well.
 
 Same mindset, but a little bit altered. Today, I think there's like an, I'm doing an X-Doran event. So I'm trying to do different, yeah. I'm, yeah, it's quite a bit.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (09:10.734)
 Okay, I like it.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (09:17.602)
 Got a lot going on.
 
 Okay, we've talked big goals for the year, semester goals. How about one goal, one step for this next month before we speak again?
 
 Victoria Menendez (09:30.958)
 I want to hopefully have like, like personal or whatever, hopefully to start like, set up kickboxing schedule, hopefully. I spoke to the person that like, you should come in and do the walkthrough and then like, we can work out. I'm like, okay, we can do that. So that's personal. And I guess for academic, I think staying really, really on top of like my like notes and making sure like, by like, hopefully by the end of like the day, like my notes are already
 
Sandra San Miguel (09:39.342)
 Okay.
 
 Victoria Menendez (10:01.208)
done and updated for the day of, like for what we went through. So they don't keep piling up. I've been doing pretty okay with it. I haven't fallen behind. It's like, like physiology has become like there's, we have physio so much and it's like becoming a lot, but I'm not too behind at all. So I'm happy with that. So it just kind of my goal is to like stay kind of on top of it, especially now with exams going to start. So now you spend more time studying, not trying to catch up on your notes. So that's my goal.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (10:25.326)
 Okay, that's solid, that's solid. Okay, it's only been two weeks, but what's been your biggest win?
 
 Victoria Menendez (10:34.768)
 My biggest wins? Well we took two quizzes and those went really well. So it was like a review and then like a histology lab thing. So those went really well. I guess that was a win and...
 
Sandra San Miguel (10:41.111)
 Okay.
 
 Victoria Menendez (10:52.142)
Yeah, I would say like, yeah, I would say those are my wins.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (10:56.366)
 All right, anything else you want to share with our listeners?
 
 Victoria Menendez (11:00.79)
 Yeah, I would say that although VSAC and A &I are my favorites, so far, large anatomy has been a little rough. It's been a little rough. It's a lot. It's a lot. And you're working with different sources instead of trying to kind of narrow down what you kind of see works best for your studying. So I'm still trying to figure that out. I'm doing different things, but that's definitely a work in progress. At least large anatomy.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (11:26.476)
 Okay, what are you doing right now in Largen?
 
 Victoria Menendez (11:30.16)
 Well, we just finished the withers neck and back and then now we're doing the thoracic limb. yeah, so you're working on like the lecture notes and then the dissection. So, where our ponies are like huge.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (11:35.374)
 Okay. Okay.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (11:44.91)
 And the fused radioulnar bone. Okay. I've got bones in the office. If you want to come down and practice, some of them aren't Miller. I'll bring them back. After Monday, we'll have all the foreleg and the hind leg. So you'll be set.
 
 Victoria Menendez (11:48.844)
 Yeah, exactly.
 
 Perfect, thank you so much.
 
 That's it.
 
 Victoria Menendez (12:02.658)
 That is okay. Perfect.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (12:07.214)
 All right, well, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your awesome break.
 
 Victoria Menendez (12:14.64)
 Of course, thank you.
 
 Sandra San Miguel (12:16.79)
 You can learn more about other League of VetaHumanz superheroes at VetaHumanz.org. If you liked this episode, please subscribe, rate, and share with your friends. And remember, use your powers for good.