Wednesday, April 28, 2010

“I’m On The Pursuit Of Happiness And I Know

Everything That Shines Ain’t Always Gonna Be Gold

I’ll Be Fine Once I Get It; I’ll Be Good”

In honor of the school year almost being done, I figured I’d write an entry to close up my year.

Despite the fact that I’m counting the days until the end of exams and, more importantly, the end of my anatomy class, I’m actually less then ecstatic to come home for the summer. At least if plans remain as they are now I’ll only have to live at home for a little less then a month. Between going to Japan for the last two weeks of May and when my lease starts in July that should leave just enough time to spend time with everyone back home and get everything together for moving in. It also means I probably won’t be having to go back to the Scotland House to work, and if I do it will only be part-time for a month. I think I can do that.

I’m soooo excited to be moving to Richmond, though. In the past couple of months I’ve realized how much I’m totally in love with this city. It just has so much character and history. When you walk down the street to where my apartment will be every house has a story. Because Grove Ave. is one of the higher end streets a lot of the houses have been renovated and have plaques on the fronts of them that tell when they were originally built. Our apartment doesn’t have that, but we’re going to go down to the public library when we move in and look up the tax records for the house so we can figure out how old it is and everything. The other day in my nursing class we learned all about the history of the Medical College of Virginia (which later joined with VCU to become what it is today), all the things we were learning were so inspiring. It was especially cool to see how some of the first graduates from the School of Nursing were actually army nurses in the Civil War. It made me proud to be part of something that has such a rich history. I’ve decided that Richmond is exactly the kind of place I’ve been hoping to live in for a while now. It reminds me a lot of Cleveland in that it is very old-fashioned feeling. It’s little rough around the edges but when you look a little closer you see how beautiful everything here is. But, unlike Cleveland, it doesn’t get nearly as cold in the winter (although it still gets a little to cold for comfort) which makes it kind of the ideal place for me. Besides the fact that the MCV hospital has a really good orthopedic department, so it’s kind of perfect? I think so!!

Speaking of nursing, between learning about all the history stuff in class the other day, visitng the CLC (Clinical Learning Center), and going to nursing school picnic last weekend my drive to be a nurse has been rekindled (I’m not going to lie Anatomy kind of sucked it out of me). The CLC was interesting because we had a bunch of senior nursing students take us around and share stories and tips about their clinical experience. I didn’t even realize I’m going to be having my first clinical next spring, that’s both terrifying and exciting! At the end of class all the seniors shared some highlights from their time at school and it was inspiring to hear them talk about how rewarding it is when you can truly help a patient and know that they appreciate you for even the littlest things you’ve done. Then at the nursing picnic we met the incoming students that are joining our graduating class. These are the kids that just applied to nursing school this past semester. We all looked so classy wearing our little sundresses and having a picnic in the garden at the School of Nursing. Then we all signed our names on the sidewalk with chalk and took lots of group photos together, I don’t know, it was just really cute - almost sorority-like. It just made me feel like we were all a big family.

Outside of school I’ve been having a really good time branching out within my group of friends. Right after getting back to school from Christmas Break I can of felt like I only ever really hung out with Kae and Lauren during the weekend. I hated feeling dependent on only a couple of people in order to ensure I had things to do. But within the past month or so I’ve been feeling like I’m really starting to get integrated into the group. In particular I’ve been spending a lot more time with Sammy and Matt. But I feel close enough to everyone in the group now that I feel comfortable asking people to do things. Like the other day I ran into Forrest on campus and invited to go to dollar taco night with Matt and me. And it turned out that all three of us ended up hanging out for the rest of the night. The past couple of weeks have been pleasantly busy between school work and social things, but I also feel like I see so many more people on a weekly basis then I used to. Dollar taco night at Little Mexico has become a weekly event as well as girls’ night with Kae, Lauren and Jen at The Village every Thursday night. It’s also really nice knowing that if I get really bored at home in June I have a place to go up here if I really want to.

In other news, I went home two weekends ago for Josh’s birthday. It was really nice. I’m loving the fact that we’re like besties now. Not even just me and Josh, but his entire family. It’s like I’m part of the family now. I just hang out there as if it were my own house. Josh will need to go do something and I’ll just chill on the couch and talk to Zach or his mom. I was a little skeptical of how things would play out after Josh kind of poured his heart out to me after Easter, but everything seems good now and he referenced going to Florida together again, so I’m thinking that’s a good sign. It was really sweet and kind of heartbreaking when I was leaving that night because he walked me to the door to say goodbye and gave me a really long hug. The kind where you know they want to tell you everything their feeling through the hug. Ironically it reminded me of this one time Tyler came to visit me at work after I told him I liked him, but I was still dating Josh and right before he left we hugged and it was the most emotional hug because both of us really wanted to be able to do more then hug but we knew we couldn’t. The saga of me and Josh is so tragic, when you think about it. Haha.

At any rate, I have one more week of classes to get through, one more anatomy practical, and two exams before I can officially end my freshman year (isn’t it incredible we’re so close to being done with our first year of college??). I’m glad that as the year is coming to close I feel so at peace with everything. I wouldn’t change anything that happened this year, it’s been an amazing year and I feel like I’ve grown so much (so corny) but it’s soo true!

Love You Guys, See You Soon!

Cougzz

PS: I’ve decided to set aside some of my work money from this summer so I can get my second tattoo when I get back to school. The next one is going to be Anne Boleyn’s crest of the falcon holding the scepter on the right side of my back just above my underwear line. Right now I’m researching vintage tattoos that were really popular in the 1940s because I think that’s what i want my 3rd one to be. I’m thinking maybe a sparrow? Whatever I end up getting I want to get it on my left thigh, high enough that shorts would cover it up. Eep, I’m psyched!!