Back to Reality

Alley has not left my side since I've been home.

Tuesday morning arrived and I had to face reality.

School is back in session.

I made my breakfast and eased my way back into my routine.

As I drove to class, I realized it wasn't going to be so bad.

I was actually surprised at how easy it was to slip back into my NC life.

I feel like I have a double life.

One in Texas and one in North Carolina.

I found out on Twitter during my first class that Duke School of Nursing is now ranked 7th in the nation! What great news.

This brings us up from what I think was 15th or so the last time the rankings came out...and before that we were 29th...several years ago.

What an honor, to be attending the 7th best nursing school.

We had boxed lunches provided for our meeting with the dean today.

She came in and informed us of this ranking and discussed it with us.

She also let the class express our concerns and whatnot.

I've realized there are a lot of complainers.

I'm just happy to be here.

boxed lunch from McAlister's

After Patho sucked the life out of me, I went to dinner with Stesha and Nicole. Tonight's delight: chipotle!

I returned home, watched some TV and then decided to finish up my stats HW that is due Thursday.

I literally spent the rest of the evening in bed. I'm really trying to relax after traveling.

Oh! I forgot to mention that some new things are blooming and I snapped some shots.

Some are blurry because I was snapping them while I was driving. I hope to spend an afternoon one day trying to get some good shots on campus or in the gardens.

Here we are at this morning (Wednesday).

I was tired!

My super sweet boyfriend decided to keep me up on the phone for a couple of hours last night.

I was entertained and enjoyed it, but my butt is dragging. I plan on passing out after I finish this.

We focused on geriatrics (elderly) in class today.

We did an exercise to put ourselves in their shoes.

To imitate being legally blind, fold a plastic bag once. Now look through it and try to read a number out of a phone book.

We also ate some chocolate while holding our nose. It's hard to enjoy food when you cannot really taste it. There were several other examples we went over.

the sensory kit

I found this hilarious!

For lunch, I tried a new place across the street in Trent Hall.

It's called Grace's Cafe and they have everything! Breakfast, Asian, American, and bubble tea!

I was in heaven.

We spent the second half of the day going over death and hospice care.

Talk about a sad day.

We made it interesting.

We got to put ourselves in the patient's shoes and tried to simulate how we would feel if we found out we had a brain tumor.

the whole class enjoyed themselves

my wee little boots

After a really long day, we still had an "open house" to attend.

It wasn't really an open house. It was more like a lecture where we had to sit another 2 hours.

We were given information on our community health sites. There are 5 or 6 international and 5 local sites.

Coming into the program, I really wanted to go to Tanzania.

After looking at all the options, I've realized this probably won't happen.

Due to costs/dates/my expectations, I'm thinking about participating at a local site. There is a lot of the population around here that needs help, and I think I would enjoy myself just as much. I would be saving money and I wouldn't have to take 2 weeks out of school to travel.

I know I would be extremely tired and these trips lead right up into finals. It seems like too much.

I finished editing my video from Spring Break

Well I'm out!

Later