[stressful day]

Yesterday I took my state licensing exam! One more step toward becoming a licensed veterinary technician! Actually… there is only one more step – national boards later this summer, and then I will be done! It was a terribly stressful morning, though.

The test was held in Lansing (at Michigan State University’s campus) at 9:00am. Those of us eligible to take the exam had previously received letters that we had to bring granting us admission, etc. It clearly stated in the letter that if you were not there by 9:00am, you would not be admitted – no exceptions. Ok, no big deal.

Lansing is about an hour and fifteen minutes away from my house. I gave myself an extra 30 minutes to account for traffic, parking, etc. I left home, drove the 4 miles to the highway, got on the entrance ramp, and promptly noticed (too late to turn around) that the traffic on the highway was at a complete stop. I tried not to panic, it gets a little choppy through that area, and that was why I had given myself extra time. I was on the phone with my mom, who checked the local news website. “Um… the highway is closed two miles ahead of you, you’re going to have to get off.”

Only problem was that the next exit was two miles ahead – it was closed right after that exit. I turned on the radio, and learned that a tanker truck had leaked resin all over the road, creating a Hazmat situation. Everyone was being diverted off onto surface streets. I tried not to panic, but I knew that I was looking at a long wait. “Good thing I left early, huh?”

It took me 50 minutes to drive two miles to the exit, and another 20 minutes to navigate surface streets to get back on the highway at the next entrance. It was 8:20 by the time I got back on the highway, and I was still over an hour away from my destination. I was panicking! My mom went on MSU’s website, and called the number for the business office. I kept driving. My only thought was that I would get up there and be turned away for being late. This test is only offered once per year, so my next opportunity would be June 2014!

Mom called me back and said that she spoke with a very nice woman at the dean’s office who said she would try her hardest to get a message to the testing room explaining the situation and that I was on my way, but she couldn’t promise anything. She took my mom’s number down, just in case. She relayed all this to me, and said “Ok, let’s get off here so you can concentrate on driving.”

I tried to make up as much time as I could, but I was still 60 miles away at 8:35. I called Greg, and he tried to help calm me down. My plan was to drive there, plead my case, and hope for the best. It was all I could do. I thought for sure I would be turned away.

But I mentioned earlier that I took the test…

My mom called me back a bit later and said that she had just received a phone call from the woman proctoring the exam. She had heard about the highway issue. She told my mom to tell me to take my time, drive safely, get there when I could. When I arrived, go see her at the front of the room and she would let me take the exam, no matter how late I was! Mom saved the day!

I arrived at 9:30. The woman was reading questions aloud regarding slides that we being shown at the front of the room. She stopped the exam, walked over to me, and said “You made it! Good! Here’s an exam, so sit wherever you would like, and let me know if you have any questions.”

She was so, so nice! I took a seat at the back of the room. When she was done with the slides and we had moved onto the written portion of the exam, she walked over to me, put her hand on my shoulder and asked if I was doing ok. She told me that if I needed to see any of the slides I had missed, just to let her know and she would show them to me (they were printed in the exam as well, but in small black and white images). When I was finished and went up front to turn the exam in, I stopped to talk to her. I thanked her profusely for everything, and we chatted a bit. She was so concerned about me! It was extremely nice. I told her how panicked I had been, and she said “Well you seem to have handled it well!”

So I took the exam, and it was pretty easy. I will get my official results in 8-12 weeks.

Thankfully, the national exam is 15 minutes from home. Just to be sure, though, my mom suggested a hotel next door to the testing center for that day 😉