2 weeks and counting!

It seems like professors always leave the most interesting lecture until the very end of the semester.

Well...interesting/awkward...whichever way you want to look at it.

You KNOW you want to look at it!

haha

Not only were we going over the reproductive diseases...but we were signed up for a photo shoot...apparently

Notice the guy in the corner setting up a "subtle" flashbox/thing.

We were asked to all sit in the middle of the classroom and be "natural".

For the first hour of class I was distracted by the camera's shutter going off and the flashing of all the lights.

When someone answered or asked a question in class...he got picture happy and would snap 10 in a row.

I can appreciate a photographer any day of the week...but please don't come in during Patho to do your work.

Maybe a more laid back class next time?

We were presented with our clinical options for the summer semester.

There were not a lot of options.

Either Medical, Surgical, or Medical/Surgical...and I think one Medical Oncology.

Either Duke/UNC/Duke Raleigh.

Either Mondays or Wednesdays.

I chose all Wednesdays for my top 4 preferences.

I know a 12 hour clinical shift (6:45 AM-7 PM) on a Wednesday will kill me, but I REALLY want my 3/4 day weekends (we have Tuesday clinicals on 5 random Tuesdays this summer). Classes are on Thursdays/Fridays.

I came home to a pretty surprise from my parents.

It was an early Easter present. =)

....and this morning, once again, the professor came right back to sex

Our "ice breaker" for the lecture, I kid you not, was to list nicknames for intercourse/vagina/breasts/penis/testicles.

The second part of our lecture, Jon Seskevich came to speak with us.

Guest lectures are always fun.

Here is a piece Fox News did on him 8 years ago:

He went through his relaxation technique with us for 10 minutes and it was very relaxing.

There are 3 parts including belly breathing, letting your body be heavy and let the chair/bed support you, and to have a phrase you repeat over and over in your head...ex: I can do it

When your mind starts to wander, bring it back to your phrase.

Most people will wander to "what if...._____"

Try to keep your thought positive and repeat your phrase.

During this, my mind wandered a bit.

My thoughts were not stressful, they were actually relaxing.....so I let it wander.

I almost fell asleep and he said that was natural.

Any type of change causes stress. 

I can't believe in just two short weeks I'll be done with my first semester of nursing school. I plan on doing a full writeup of what I've learned/the greatest challenges etc.

I booked a flight to Houston for the end of May to attend a wedding with my boyfriend.
I'm such a lucky girl to see him twice in one month.
I cannot wait to be back in Texas with my family and friends =)

Wilmington, Day 3

It was another 8 AM kind of day. 

We made a stop at Target, the gas station, and then Sonic!

Then it was beach time.

I was very surprised by how AMAZING the weather was...right after a storm.

We spent all day at the beach...and I have the sunburn to prove it.

first sonic drink in NC

froyo anyone?

koozies for two =) 

proud of my sunburn

Wilmington, Day 2

To my surprise, I woke up before 8 AM Saturday morning.

We had a mini study session.

I got my case studies done for the week and just about finished up my clinical evaluation. 

We knew a huge storm that had been moving across half the country was headed our way later in the day.

Our plan was to go to the aquarium. Anything indoors would be a good thing.

help me

playing with the fishies

Stesha!

cnidarian

home =)

giant lobster

It never really rained during the day. It was just VERY windy.

pretty trees

We were trying to find historic downtown and we made some wrong turns and ended up at the USS North Carolina. This ended up being a good thing because the river court from One Tree Hill was right behind the ship.

the river court from One Tree Hill

We could see downtown from across the river and drove over a bridge and ended up in the right place.

We walked around, grabbed lunch, and then ended our romp with some ice cream.

Downtown Wilmington

Lunch at RL

Downtown Wilmington

where we got ice cream

We spent the rest of the afternoon inside preparing to wait out the storm...that we thought was going to hit around 3.
We watched some movies and I finished my Stats HW for the week.

The storm did hit us around 7...right when we decided to go to dinner.
The restaurant was having some type of customer appreciation thing going on, so all the women got free roses.
It was also Prom night for the high schoolers around here. We were seated at a table with 2 couples all dressed up. (This was hibachi...thus why we were all at the same table)
What horrible weather for a prom night.
I was seated facing the window...which made me a bit nervous. I could see the trees blowing sideways and the rain hitting the window.
Luckily, we didn't get it that bad.
I heard the horrible news of the damage that was done back in Raleigh and across the US.

Wilmington, Day 1

We hit the road around 3 PM on Friday. We ran into traffic 15 minutes into the trip. haha!

By 6 PM we were checked into our hotel room and we got ready for the beach. 

Once we parked, we practically sprinted towards the beach. 

We were very excited.

Mini photo session was a must.

We even witnessed a proposal on the beach.

Notice the happy couple on the left side of the picture below:

We finished watching the sunset on the beach and then had dinner at The Lazy Parrot.
The atmosphere was great, but the food was mediocre. 

I'm off to the beach for the weekend!

I put together a video of some of my spring time clips:

Sunshine is free

Yesterday didn't end up going the way I had planned.

This is a GOOD thing.

Before the Patho Exam, I had flex lab.

We learned some new wound care stuff and had a chance to "change" a dressing.

We got to practice removing stitches, too.

I made my way downstairs to take my Patho exam. They were handed out and she skipped me =(. It was an accident and she came back to give me a test. After the first 4 questions I thought I was being Punk'd. The test wasn't bad. It was actually, do I dare say, easy?

15 minutes later I was done and ready to space out. We had to come back to class and work on some Endocrine case studies. NO ONE had read the chapter yet and luckily the teacher assumed that was the case. We made it through one of the two cases.

Since I ran the past 4 days, I decided to walk. Stesha wanted to join. By the time we got to my place to start walking, it was pouring down rain. We decided to go ahead and make dinner. I bought a new pasta dish and whipped it up. I wasn't too fond of it (too rich), so we went to go get sushi at Sushi Love.

After dinner Stesha went home. I was ready to walk and grabbed my rain coat. It was a cloudy and drizzly walk,

I almost got pulled over for walking "too" fast...hahahaha

Today's lecture in fundamentals was over caring for a surgical patient. We split into groups and had to work on different phases of the process. Some had pre-op, post-op, etc.

2 guys in our class volunteered to act as the patients.

It was pretty entertaining and the guys are great actors.

Chris being a patient about to go in for surgery

After class, I went for a 3 mile run and followed it with a 1 mile walk.

I ran into a goose! I forgot to bring bread...I've been saving up!

Enjoying my cool down walk

I had a lot of stuff I needed to get done.

I had a Stats Theoretical HW that needed to be finished before tomorrow.

Check.

I had some ATI modules that needed to be done for lab tomorrow.

Check.

I really need to get started on some Patho reading, but I am dead.

doing HW on the porch

it was sooo sunny and wonderful!