It’s hard to believe that nine years ago I was standing on a stage in Košice, Slovakia, receiving my veterinary degree.
I’d had a dream—one that felt a little crazy at the time—and I was finally coming out the other side.
I’d never imagined living in another country. Yet I sold most of my belongings, boarded a plane with nothing more than a rucksack, landed in Budapest, and took a taxi across the border into Slovakia. Five years later, it was time to leave: a little wiser, a lot more tired, and with the licence to do something I had dreamed about for years.
I shipped my book collection back to the UK, packed my bags, and caught a coach home.
From the beginning, my goal was to become a European specialist in small animal surgery through the European College of Veterinary Surgery (ECVS). In my mind, the route was simple: one year in general practice, one rotating internship, one surgery internship, and then a three-year residency. Six or seven years, and I’d be there.
Reality had other ideas.
I will complete my surgical residency on 11 September 2026. However, because of the ECVS training pathway, the earliest I will be eligible to sit the specialist examination is February 2028.
Looking back, it has been an incredible journey.
I am a very different vet from the one who walked into general practice on that first day. Different again from the vet who started a rotating internship, then a surgery internship, and finally stepped into residency without quite realising one of the biggest challenges of my career had begun.
Along the way, I passed the synoptic examination (at the second attempt) for my CertAVP in Small Animal Surgery, became an RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Small Animal Surgery, and completed a Master’s in Veterinary Professional Studies at the University of Liverpool. That graduation ceremony was on a much bigger stage than the one in Košice—and somehow even more nerve-racking.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the way I also made a mistake.
A hosting error eventually led to both drchris.vet and VetSchoolDiary.com disappearing from the internet before I realised what had happened.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been rebuilding both sites as best I can.
Over the coming months I’ll be sharing life as a surgical resident, publishing regular evidence roundups, and writing about the lessons that continue to shape me as a veterinary surgeon.
Going forward, drchris.vet will become my home for new writing, reflections and evidence summaries. But I also want to keep VetSchoolDiary.com alive because it tells the story of where all of this began. It documents the uncertain student who simply wanted to become a vet.
So, if you’ve found your way here…
Hello.
I’m Chris.
This is my story.
Note: There are still quite a few posts that I need to restore from old draft notes and archived copies. Where possible, I’m restoring them to their original publication dates to preserve the timeline of the journey.
