happy!

Well. Here I am! New York! JFK Airport! LOVE this place!! It's become like a true second home to me. At least the jetBlue terminal...I've spent WAY to many hours here. Anyway whatever..I'm on my way home!!! 

I am SO happy to be DONE! My first semester of nursing school is finished! It feels weird. It hasn't really sunk in yet. No more PATHOPHYSIOLOGY! As long as I pass :) I will. It was such a crazy semester. So much work! I know it's going to change. Not necessarily get easier, but there will just be more hospital time coming up and less class time. I have one less class next semester than I did this one. Hopefully that will help a bit! The schedule is pretty crazy though because I will be going to hospital twice a week instead of just once. It really is like having a very part time job while going to school. A part time job where you are on your feet and cleaning various bodily fluids all day! Interesting.. 

Anyway like I said, I am SO happy to be done and SOOO happy to be heading home! I have a lot of plans to take care of while I'm there but hopefully I'll be able to spend a lot of time relaxing too. With absolutely NOTHING on my mind! Not renal failure, not Cushing's disease, not white blood cells, not bed baths. Nothing to do with nursing school!! Needless to say I was desperate for a break. Very desperate. 

Can't wait to see everyone!!!

and you thought the day would never come!

Well it's been a while since I've updated this thing, hasn't it?? I did get a few scoldings at Thanksgiving so I figured maybe it was time for a new one...

Things have been very busy over here lately! Now with finals around the corner everyone is either panicking or...well, mostly just that. This is what it all comes down to and either you're ready or you're not! I've luckily been able to check a few big things off my list such as my lab practicum which I took on Wednesday as well as my ATI exam. The ATI exam is a practice NCLEX, which is the nursing board exam. It's a frustrating thing because we are only one semester into the program so no one is at all prepared for a board exam right now! Yet we still had to take something similar to it for a grade in class. We were told we would do poorly on it and not to worry, but it was still counted as a grade for my fundamental nursing course. I need all the points I can get in there! Needless to say it is quite frustrating. 

Other than those biggies, I still have 5 more final exams left. Then the semester is OVER! One step closer...I will be so ready to come home for my break. It was so great being back for Thanksgiving but it was SO short! I get over 2 weeks for winter break and I won't have to worry about anything except my looming Spring semester.

I told a couple of you (if anyone is still reading this thing anymore...) about a little pre-Thanksgiving dinner my roommates and I put together for our friends here. I decided maybe I could share a couple pictures from that! 

Here is my attempt at carving the turkey with Kevin...this may have lasted 5 minutes because I wasn't quite up to par. Kevin and Neal took over because apparently turkey carving is a man's job...Good thing we had a couple there! Pretty rare in nursing school!

Also I did a little persuading and all the guests agreed to play along with my preschool project of everyone coloring their own hand turkey then taking a picture of the group in front of it! Must be genetic. Also we still have nothing decorating our wall out in the living room so those baby turkeys ain't never coming down. Honest.

Anyway adding pictures on this thing proves to be quite the hassle so that's all you're gonna get =) Hopefully this was a good lil update (not so little as per usual). Can't wait to see you all for Hanukkah/Christmas/Just at home/Watch Arrested/Steal more Ben Folds! say it.

Ally and ...Ally's DAY. OF. FUN!

I hope everyone understands my Friend's reference. Well, hell week is officially over! I think I've told almost everyone about my week of work, but for anyone who doesn't know...quick run through...

Monday was a holiday (Columbus Day..more like a fall "study break") but I still had a paper due. I had to email it to my professor for my Health Care Delivery Systems class. It was supposed to be my critique of Managed Care but I focused basically on the negative aspects of HMO's. It was actually really interesting to learn about and kind of an eye opener. Pretty much what I got out of that is that I have been really lucky in my fairly sheltered life. I have a lot to be thankful for in that I can even just get basic health care and that I'm healthy! Anyway...

Tuesday was my big Nursing 050 midterm exam. That is my huge 7 credit class where we learn all the fundamentals of nursing in a whopping one semester (traditional nursing students do it in 3). Needless to say there is a LOT of material already and it was pretty overwhelming trying to sit down and study all of it. Luckily it went well and I do already know that I got  B on the test. Huge relief! I've come to terms with the fact that people don't get a whole lot of A's here...

Wednesday was an exciting day because it was the first time my clinical group went to our hospital wing! We got to meet some people over there that we will be shadowing and had a tour of 4 Bles, our wing at Georgetown University Hospital. We were all excited to see it, but also pretty distracted because we knew in a few short hours we would return back to the lab room to take our head-to-toe assessment practical exam! We had to perform a full head-to-toe patient assessment in under 30 minutes (kind of hard when you don't know exactly what you're doing!) in front of our clinical instructor for a big percentage of our lab grade. Luckily my instructor is the sweetest lady ever and was really helpful. It ended up being less of a big deal than we had all thought and everyone actually did really well! It was fun too because we got to do them in these private lab rooms that look exactly like a real exam room. 

Finally yesterday I had two midterms in my "elective" classes. Theology and Environmental Ethics. Yikes! It's hard to focus much on those because of how busy we all are with the REAL reason we are actually here..to learn how to be nurses..Not philosophers and theists! It's alright though, because all through my time at Oregon I got to be pretty pro at these short essay type exams and pretending I understood everything..hahaha. Compared to my science classes here these tests were a piece of cake and all I regret is the unreal cramping in my hand from having to write so much for both. 

And there's my week! And ok, that wasn't such a quick run through sorry. It's finally done though and I couldn't be more relieved. Lin, I finally actually went running yesterday because I finished my 10 song playlist haha. And today I am going to go on a little adventure while all my friends are in labs and classes! I think I will go shopping at the Crystal City mall then take the metro down to Alexandria to see Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist to support the boy who my son (if I have one) WILL be exactly similar to....

Love him. If Nadal is your "son" Mom, then Michael Cera is mine. Although that's a bit creepy because we are probably near the same age. It's ok you all know what I mean. 

Anyway thanks for sticking with me during this very long post. I guess I just had a lot of recap to cover...How many dot dot dots did I use in this thing??

Thanks for the Txt, Chris Matthews

I've gotten to a point where I almost receive more text messages from political campaigns and news channels than friends...My phone will go off during class or whenever and I, as we all do, get excited that someone is trying to contact me! Then I open my phone and realize it's Chris Matthews. Who doesn't really want to be my friend that badly I'm sure, although who wouldn't be flattered by that?? Chris Matthews texts me at least once a day ever since I decided to do the whole "text vote about who did better in the debate" deal. Of course I don't regret it because I contributed to the amazingly biased (obviously texters are going to be young and therefor Obama supporters) poll that told me yesterday that 88% of texters believed Barack won the Town Hall Debate versus a lowly 12% for Mccain. Sorry my old friend, your one line zingers fell short of cell phone crazed 20 somethings! 

Today is the last day of this crazy week! Then I have to get my act together and gear up for a second crazy week...but probably it will be even crazier. I have a paper due Monday, a Nursing 050 exam on Tuesday, a lab practical exam on Wednesday, and TWO midterms on Thursday for Ethics and Theology. What is my life?! Remind me why I went back to school again...

Collage

An ode to Angerio...

"Then the circle of your friends will defend the silver lining..."

Duh duh duh...NOROVIRUS

Well..so much for my test on Wednesday! Most of you probably have already heard but it was moved to Monday due to the virus outbreak on campus. I guess there was something in the dorm food and it spread quite quickly. Last I heard on Thursday, there were around 200 kids affected and they are thinking it's the norovirus. Such a bummer! I wish my test wasn't changed though. I was pretty bummed about that because I felt ready to take it and wanted to get it over with! Oh well. 

On a happier note...my roommates are the best!

 They baked me this cake for my birthday =) Soooo yummy!

B Cells and T Cells and Inflammation

I'm taking this time right now to stretch my eyes and fingers by practicing a new activity...away from Patho studying! This is what I have been up to the last couple days. Especially yesterday I studied at the apartment from around 9:30 until 2:30 then headed over to Cosi (sandwich place nearby) to study with Kim until around 7:00. What a day right?! I'm learning and relearning all about the immune system, INFLAMMATION in particular (I swear it's Professor Angerio's most favorite thing to talk about in the whole wide world) and different kinds of cancers of red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma cells, etc. So leukemia's, lymphoma's, myelomas. All the really scary guys. Also anemia and all that goodness. If you haven't guessed yet we are learning just about everything that can go wrong with the blood...Today I'm moving on for a good dose of peripheral vascular disease. Yippee hoooooorray! 

Last night was very exciting with the debate. I actually got a call from Bryanna

 who invited me to an organized event put on by Dems for Obama in DC. The debate was being shown at a really cool bar down on U Street (kinda a hip, upcoming area) called Bohemian Caverns. Here's a picture of what it looks like...found the photo online at their website. It was really cool! It had two sides, a restaurant side and a bar side. The Bar was where I went to watch the debate. They have this huge three story place and each story has a balcony, all looking onto the same big wall where they projected the debate. So everyone (a h

uge amount of people by the way) was watching the same huge screen. Everyone was cheering and booing and it was all really exciting. A perfect study break! It was kind of a far trip on the Metro so I didn't end up getting home until pretty late but definitely early enough to wake up early again this morning and start off my day right with lots of reading and note-taking! It's starting to get quite exhausting....

Also last night Bryanna gave me a birthday present! It was so nice of her. She made me these really cool earrings (see the picture??) and I LOVE them! She was actually wearing some herself when I got to

 the bar to meet her and I told her they were really cute. She was like, "Well actually I have something for you!" It was so nice of her. I love having such a good friend close by and I wish I could just see her more often. I love all my new friends but it's always nice to have a familiar face and someone who really knows you well around. 

Anyway there is my latest update. Tonight after a long day of studying we are going to have our friends over to watch the Sex and the City movie at our place. How lame. But we will definitely be bonding over our love of corny SJP and our utter distaste for hemostasis. Love you all!! 

I Told YOU!!

They're out to get me...Birds. I was ATTACKED today by a bird! I knew it was only a matter of time before you all saw that I was right and they really are evil. They are winged evil creatures. I was helping a girl get her backpack out of a ditch and a crow or some evil black bird swooped down and clawed my head!!!!!! I rolled around screaming. And the girl was screaming. And multiple people around were screaming. 

I was so excited to get home from my 12 hour school day and I was NOT prepared for that...

Seymour Butts

So here is my first official blog post about school! I bet you were all wondering if I really was doing that here...=) The most exciting thing I have to update about is my whole clinical/lab situation...this is where we are doing our real learning of "how to be a nurse."

Now we don't get to go to the actual hospital for a few more weeks so we are still down in the lab all day. Which get's a little boring! But a lot of it is pretty fun and hands-on. For example last week we practiced doing wet to dry sterile dressings on a wound. So we learned how to set up a sterile field, how to put on the sterile gloves (a LOT harder than you might expect!) and how to apply the dressing. We did it on these gross little fake butts that were a little too life like with all these wrinkles and pimples on them. It was funny because we noticed a little company tag on the end of the leg and the butt is actually named "Seymour Butts." Everyone got a pretty huge laugh at that. Whether it was because of that being very funny, or because we had all woken up at 5 in the morning is a good question! Anyway, Seymour had lots of wounds and we practiced all the techniques for the different ones. It was probably the most exciting thing we have done so far in that lab! Hahaha. We also all had to wear shorts and tank tops so we could practice giving each other bed baths. Some of it seems a little ridiculous now - like when they teach us how to clean someone or make a bed. But hopefully soon after we get through these basics it will speed up and get a little more interesting! Also when we get into the actual hospital the day will go by a little more quickly I'm sure. 

So there is my big exciting school update! October is the big month of every bit of work and exams crashing down on us so I'm sure you will all hear more about it then =) xoxo!

Oh...

And one more thing...I officially have registered to vote in the grand ole state of Virginia! Just adding to the attempt to swing the state blue =) It will be weird to have to walk to the polling booth and vote instead of just sticking it in the mail...but it'll be worth it!

Namaste

Hi everyone! New update time =) Not TOO much is new in my life right now but I am trying out a new kind of activity. Lately I've been going to this hot yoga studio and have started practicing yoga! It is so great. Me and my roommates go together. They have basics classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights and then all levels classes we can go to on the weekends. I absolutely LOVE it!! It is such an intense work out. It is in a hot room which is set to usually anywhere from 95 to 98 degrees inside so the minute you walk in you're sweating. As the class goes on, of course, it gets a bit sweatier!! I have already started to feel my body reacting to it. My posture in particular actually! 

The first week of classes were free because they want you to come a lot and get a feel for what it's like. After that, they charge $10 per class for students which is a discount. So we thought we might just try to go about twice a week. The way we see it, we used to spend around $20 per week at LEAST going out in our undergrad school bars. This is a healthier and more justifiable way to spend our money!! I bought a yoga mat on Amazon.com and I'm super excited for it to get here =) I hope this is something I really embrace and get into because I love the way it makes me feel energized and strong! I definitely recommend it. Very challenging and satisfying. If you want to just check out the place I go, just for fun, the website is downdogyoga.com.

  

Other than yoga we do go to the gym at Georgetown and it's actually really nice! I have swam a couple times there because they always have lanes open for lap swim. The pool and the gym in general is MUCH nicer than Oregon's. I guess the people here have more money or something haha. 

Anyway, that's my two cents about my love of yoga here. I'm going to drag Shira there when she comes to visit me! Love you all!

xox0

Here I Am...

Well here I am! After the first month of my new life I can definitely say it is nothing like my old one. I love my new home, my new roommates, my new friends, even my new school as intense as it is. I am definitely kept busy with homework, reading, and studying. But I thankfully manage to get a little fun time with my friends here =) I thought maybe I'd share a few pictures so everyone can get a feel for my life here visually! 

These are my loooovely roommates! This is our second n

ight together and still before school had started. We had a lot more time for fun back then =) I'm of course on the very left. In the middle is Kim who is from Michigan. She's really fun and we have a lot in common. She played softball all through high school and is really sporty/competitive like me. We are on the flag football team together that another girl in our cohort started. She also likes all the same shows as me so I have a definite tv watching buddy for all my shows...she even knows all the right characters to love on Project Runway!

 Thank God....And then on the right is Becca from North Carolina! She is super fun too. 

Really funny and has a weird sense of humor like me. We both get in weird moods and go off 

on the weirdest jokes. I love living with both of them! We have a grea

t time together. We tried to be somewhat tourist-y when we first got here and visited the monuments and even went to this "screen on the green" event which was the screening of Superman on The Mall. This is a picture of our view! We could barely see the screen...That's the capitol building in front of us though! It was really pretty once it got dark and everything was lit up. We try to keep busy with school and everything, but every once in a while we definitely need to have some fun! There is a great happy hour bar, 1223, in the Dupont area that we have gone to a couple Fridays already. It is so much fun! We have gotten big groups from our cohort to go and everyone always has a great time. In the picture above, we are at that place. This is Kim (not roommate, another who is from Boston), Katherine from LA, and Jessica from Indiana (I met her during my interview). Here is another time we went to the same place with a huge group!! I will go through everyone from the left to the right =) First Becca (roommate), Emma (Kentucky - introduced me to my love of Gossip Girl), Jessica (Indiana), Jenny (Kentucky), Katherine (LA), Neal (Kim my roommate's boyfriend), Kim (roommate), Susie, ME, Kim Hayes (Boston), Kirsten (Orange County), and a girl who is living with Jenny and Emma...can't remember her name! This is just a REALLY fun group of girls who I have a great time with. This was the night of the big hurricane and we had a big tropical storm here...which I got caught walking home in! Becca and I were SOAKING wet...

As you can see in this picture!! This is us walking home. It's ok though we were still happy. We were just happy not to be thinking about Patho or wet to dry sterile dressings!!!!! 

Anyway, as you can see I've found some really fun people to hang out with which is a relief. We realize that our time here right now is kind of a calm before the storm. Pretty soon our workload is really going to come crashing down so we're all just trying to prepare for that! I will definitely update all of you on when that happens...Mom and Dad I'm sure you're going to get way more than just updates =) Possibly panic calls?? Get ready!! Hope you find this blog to be fun to read! I thought it would be a good way to let you all know what I am up to. I love you all!!!