Orientation

Well, I've survived my first two days of orientation which I guess is something. Adjusting to early mornings has probably been the toughest thing so far. Yesterday Ayden and I got up at the crack of 6:20, which is no small feat for us. Then this morning at about 5 a.m. I woke up with a raging allergy attack and a cold kitty literally draping himself across my face so I'd steaming up his belly with my breath. I was so out of it that I was tossing and turning, fretting in my half-conscioius state about a Swine Flu Authorization Form on Google documents that I needed to download and fill out and take with me to my VA orientation today. As if this isn't irritating enough, the stupid form does not even exist, so at this point my frazzled brain is actually creating imaginary paperwork for me. Considering the VA is a Federal agency, you can imagine the volume of REAL paperwork I've already had to wade through. So anyway, as I lay drowning in my own snot and now with cat hair papier-mached to my face and stressed about a phantom VA form, I finally just got out of bed. At 5:15 a.m. Help me Lord. On the plus side, I was up in time to take a shower and wash my hair (gasp!) and I had no less than 3 people tell me today that I have beautiful hair. :)

So far I've been photographed, badged, fingerprinted, stood in line for 40 minutes at 7 a.m. this morning for a coveted library locker assignment, ridden the MUSC shuttle bus all over downtown Charleston, and have been educated on all statistics regarding MRSA and suicide (did you know the majority of suicides are men over the age of 40? Men have no sticking power). But more importantly, I have been inspired. I had no idea I'd be this excited about what I'm going to be learning over the next 16 months! My teachers are going to be out of this world, which is something I'd been a bit concerned about after reading all the nursing school horror stories online. Yesterday one of the first things our instructor told us is that at MUSC they do not "eat their own young" like other schools, but that they hand picked us to be in their program and they are determined that we all graduate with honors. They have a 98% pass rate, while the national average is somewhere closer to 70%. And MUSC students have an average grade on their board exams in the high 90's, while the national average is an 80%. Which means that most of the nurses taking care of you in the hospital barely passed their state exams. Hmmm.

I got the impression that the instructors will actually be an asset to us, not something we have to survive. *whew* Speaking of which, I had to go to Trident today to request my final transcript and I literally had a full body shiver walking those halls. It seems so... dirty and sad after spending just two days at MUSC, with its library full of flashy new iMac computers and student fitness center complete with olympic pool. I looked around and felt so sorry for those poor bastards still plugging away at their pre-requisites like I have been for the past 8 years. I've gotten my first itty bitty taste of being in school for something I actually find interesting, and its positively intoxicating. And to think that tomorrow we get to find blood in fecal matter!!!!!

This Is Really About To Happen!

I start MUSC on Monday... ahhhhh! This week I've been trying to master dosage calculations (anybody ever even HEARD of dimensional anaylysis mathematics? Me either). Apparently MUSC cannot be bothered to teach it to us, so they said to know it before we start and we'll have a test on it in Week 3, which if we don't pass we can't continue the program. No pressure or anything. I'm pretty good at math, but this stuff is... greek. I've been alternately frustrated and panicked for going on 8 days now. But after parking my behind in Barnes & Noble for 5 hours while Ayden was in school yesterday and reading their dosage books cover to cover, I'm beginning to get a handle on it. I honestly almost wept with joy when I took a practice test online today and found myself getting about 80% of them right. And all I can think is, if this stuff is too easy for them to teach us, WHAT AM I GETTING MYSELF INTO? Then I get an email from MUSC today saying they are holding a lottery for the coveted study spots at the library, but you have to commit to use it 20+ hours/week, with at least 2 hours between 8pm-midnight four days a week. Who are these people??? Robots?

I've discovered a new passion: buying oober decadent school supplies with other people's money (birthday money is awesome). I never knew the joy of buying a ridiculously overpriced $12 leather bound notebook with pretty pink flower watermarks on every page... or the seriously sweet $10 dragon embroidered pencil pouch... or a $15 box of that best pens known to mankind that I keep sneaking into work with me just for the joy of writing with them. I'm thinking that these little creature comforts might help to make up for the fact that I will be forced to be one of the tattoo-less, jewelry-less un-special nursing student sheep for the next 16 months.