...oh my!
People... I survived my first 2 days of nursing school!!!
Sunday night, I had a hard time going to sleep. I was worried I would over-sleep, and that my shoes would be wrong, that my pants were too long, blah blah blah... I decided not to try to force myself to go to bed early and figured the adrenaline would keep me going all day. So I watched tv and talk to Jess (tried to talk about anything but nursing lol) and fell asleep around midnight. I got up at 5am, wide awake. I wasnt nervous. I got dressed, feeling super confident in my scrubs (yes, even with my pants and shoes. lol. 90% of what you worry about never happens). I drove my hour & half in the rain. sigh. But I didnt let it get me down. Plus, I felt completely at peace because my absolute favorite radio station, Q100, came in clearly all the way through the middle of nowhere. :) I am never up early enough to hear my favorite morning, The Bert Show, but I got to enjoy it the whole way to school. Which never happens. And almost completely without static. I can only assume He was looking out for my nerves ;)
When I got to the school, I sloshed through the rain, inside where I saw all my classmates in white :) Nice to see scared familiar faces. Since we had 2 meetings, I recognized some people. I found a seat and got books out. At exactly 8am, everyone stopped talking, face forward, and stared at the instructor. She laughed and said "I guess its 8am". Its so nice to be in class with dedicated students that WANT to be in class.
We began by going over the rules, confidentiality, and conduct. Obviously, I can never go into detail about what I do or what I learn... Sorry. The best thing about this first day is that all of our class instructors & clinical instructors were there with us. We met them all at one time, so we are all on the same page. Its Cooperative Teaching they call it. I dont know if this is how all nursing programs are ran, but I like it. I also like that they have been in nursing for 30-40 years, working in every aspect of it. Even areas I didnt even know existed, like forensic nursing and being an expert witness in court cases (making roughly $150/hour to read documents). In preparing for the semester, they all sat down and went through the schedule. They made sure we wouldnt have more than one test/project in a day. Queue the angels singing now. :)
We played an ice breaker came, in which we had to throw a yarn ball to someone while holding on the a piece of the string. I immediately started panicking because I CANT THROW OR CATCH. Well... apparently no one else could either. :D Luckily, one lady standing only 3 feet from me threw it to me so she wouldnt feel embarrassed throwing it. After I introduced myself, I handed it to the boy next to me. Haha.
We continued the day by watching a video with a "what would you do scenario?" I couldnt believe how absorbed into this video I was. I even thought the acting/filming was good. You know how bad school videos can be. Monday, was technically our lab day, so we also spent time learning about taking vital signs. By the end of the day, (8am-445pm) I was beyond exhausted.
Jess also started her internship on Monday, which I think she is really going to enjoy. One of the benefits, I think she loves the most... is she can wear basketball shorts everyday! WHAT?!? Yes, only my love would secure an internship where she can wear basketball clothes. ;)
Day 2- We spent the day in regular lecture classes. Which were just as interesting. I already know a good deal about vital signs from my CNA training, but still interesting to learn it from a different perspective. And once again, our other lecture instructor and 1 clinical instructor were sitting in the back. I love that they all keep up with each other, there is a clear visible bond between the two lecture instructors, which I think makes the atmosphere a little friendlier. I know it wont always be this cool, calm, and collected, but its definitely a nice first impression.
I have 2 classes and 1 clinical this semester, so I only go twice a week. Lets refer to lecture instructor 1 (morning class) as L1 and lecture instructor 2 (afternoon class) as L2. And eventually my clinical instructor as C1 :)
L2's class is more fun and interesting. No stress. She says it not anything we will be tested on for NCLEX but its just interesting stuff we should know about the history of nursing. She said we should all think about continue our education past the associate degree... and several hands shot into the air. Question after question, about the future came up. That made me feel good that we all want more and intend to go as far as we can. She seemed very pleased with how much we want to know about where to go from here.
All in all, it has been a very good experience. Its a lot to take in but as L1 keeps saying... "We are going to eat this elephant one bite at a time."
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