It has been a long time since I posted anything here, so I will try to sum up the last few weeks. I got a cold and then got better and then I got the flu last week. I took all week off from work and missed most of my classes. I have a lab practical to make up sometime this week, but I did manage to take my lecture exam in A&P. I also took my first psychology exam two weeks ago. I have my first Biology exam this Tuesday. It is good to have the first round of exams done with for the most part, but having the flu was really hard with this schedule I am running. I have been trying to catch up on laundry and dishes this weekend.
On a more positive note, I had a great time volunteering last week. There was a doctor there that told me I could follow him around and observe. I got to watch him work as he talked to patients and their families and interview patients about their conditions. I also got to watch him put an IV into a patient's neck. Crazy. I am going to try to work up the nerve next time I go in to ask one of the doctors if I can follow them and observe, because it was really beneficial to me.
I will try to update the blog more so that I can post details and not just an overview. I have a lot of things on my mind, I just have not had time to get them on paper.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Let the Madness Begin
Tomorrow I start classes at Pellissippi, so I will now be attending classes at both schools every week. Sometimes I wonder if I have taken on too much. My adviser during my freshmen year showed me this picture while I was trying to choose my classes for the next term to illustrate why I should avoid taking too many classes at once. I thought it was funny. So here is my schedule:Monday - Work 6:30 to 5, A&P Lab 6:15 to 9:15
Tuesday - Biology lab 8:00-11:00, Biology Lecture 11:10-12:25, Psychology 2:00-3:20, A&P Lecture 6:15-9:15
Wednesday - Work 6:30 to 5
Thursday - Biology Lecture 11:10-12:25, Volunteer in ER 1:00-5:00
Friday - Work 6:30 to 5
So there it is, if you are wondering where I am when you are trying to call me, now you know. I am excited about having all of my classes going. I know that time is going to fly by this semester, I just hope that I don't get the swine flu.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
First Days
The first day was a long day even though I only had one class to attend. This was made worse by my need to get some extra sleep. I felt like a chicken with my head cut off all day, a little lost and confused everywhere I went. I made it though, one class and first day of volunteering down. I don't have any really good stories from this, but I want to get it out so I can move on.
This class is going to be interesting...Biology. Yes I despised it in high school and I doubt it is going to be a lot better in college, but things are inherently going to be more interesting because now I have application to the topics. I have Dr. R as a professor; that is Dr. or Professor R, not Mrs. R. Okay, thank you for the lesson in respect can we please move on to learning now. We spent the whole class period talking about how the class is going to be hard and how they want us to think on a higher level than just memorizing facts. I am cool with that, I can do both and I am glad to understand that her tests are going to be little fact memorization and more application. We have assigned seats, which is way weird for me but I can roll with it. I don’t' really care who I sit by, I am there to take notes and learn, I am not going to be a social butterfly in lecture. What sucks though is that I have already run off the people on either side of me. I have that effect on people. The girl to my left decided to drop the class and the person to my right never showed up. Oh well, now I don’t have to worry about bumping elbows when trying to use the arm rest, because that is just awkward. Also, we were put into teams and given team names. Teams will be used to do assignments together for lecture. My team name is baboon...I kid you not. That is all I really have on the first class, I am ready to get started learning. Next week I have the full week of biology, lecture and lab on Tuesday and lecture on Thursday.
I also had my first day as a volunteer in the ER on Thursday. I changed into my black pants and pink smock and headed to the emergency room to try and find my contact there, Debbie. They sent me back and Debbie showed me around and told me what all I could do. I signed in and started work, which was more standing around than anything. As a volunteer, I can clean rooms and beds after the patients are discharged, stock the linens in the rooms, transport patients once they are discharged, and I can greet the patients and see if there is anything I can get for them to make them more comfortable. I spent a lot of time talking with the nurses and ER techs and cleaning rooms when they became available. It was a slow night, nothing interesting to report. It made me excited about working in the ER in the future, even though there was not much going on while I was there. I plan to volunteer about 4 hours a week on Thursdays after class, but they are really flexible about my schedule, so I can pretty much come in whenever I have time and help out. I like that, at first I thought it was going to be really regimented, but they are just glad to have some extra help
This class is going to be interesting...Biology. Yes I despised it in high school and I doubt it is going to be a lot better in college, but things are inherently going to be more interesting because now I have application to the topics. I have Dr. R as a professor; that is Dr. or Professor R, not Mrs. R. Okay, thank you for the lesson in respect can we please move on to learning now. We spent the whole class period talking about how the class is going to be hard and how they want us to think on a higher level than just memorizing facts. I am cool with that, I can do both and I am glad to understand that her tests are going to be little fact memorization and more application. We have assigned seats, which is way weird for me but I can roll with it. I don’t' really care who I sit by, I am there to take notes and learn, I am not going to be a social butterfly in lecture. What sucks though is that I have already run off the people on either side of me. I have that effect on people. The girl to my left decided to drop the class and the person to my right never showed up. Oh well, now I don’t have to worry about bumping elbows when trying to use the arm rest, because that is just awkward. Also, we were put into teams and given team names. Teams will be used to do assignments together for lecture. My team name is baboon...I kid you not. That is all I really have on the first class, I am ready to get started learning. Next week I have the full week of biology, lecture and lab on Tuesday and lecture on Thursday.
I also had my first day as a volunteer in the ER on Thursday. I changed into my black pants and pink smock and headed to the emergency room to try and find my contact there, Debbie. They sent me back and Debbie showed me around and told me what all I could do. I signed in and started work, which was more standing around than anything. As a volunteer, I can clean rooms and beds after the patients are discharged, stock the linens in the rooms, transport patients once they are discharged, and I can greet the patients and see if there is anything I can get for them to make them more comfortable. I spent a lot of time talking with the nurses and ER techs and cleaning rooms when they became available. It was a slow night, nothing interesting to report. It made me excited about working in the ER in the future, even though there was not much going on while I was there. I plan to volunteer about 4 hours a week on Thursdays after class, but they are really flexible about my schedule, so I can pretty much come in whenever I have time and help out. I like that, at first I thought it was going to be really regimented, but they are just glad to have some extra help
Saturday, August 15, 2009
First Post Ever as a Blogger
I have decided to start a blog to document my journey through life and a career change. I graduated three years ago with my bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering but have since decided this is probably not the best path for me. I have started taking prerequisite classes so that I can apply to a physician assistant program next year. I plan to take an EMT course in the spring so that I can gain some medical experience prior to applying to PA school. So that is the basics on my plan and why I started this blog.
School starts next week. I am taking classes at two schools this fall and plan to volunteer one day a week at the ER of a local hospital. Oh yeah, I am also working three days a week, hopefully keeping up 30 hours so that I don’t lose my insurance. I am taking Biology 130 at UT and A&P II and Gen Psych at Pellissippi. Class starts at UT on Wednesday, so my first class will be on Thursday, Biology lecture. I hated biology in high school and I hope that I like it better this time around.
I can't guarantee that this blog will be even remotely interesting, but I am going to try my best to use it to tell funny stories, rant about things that bug me, and just generally keep people updated on what is going on in my life.
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