Wouldn't ya know it, I logged onto Blackboard yesterday morning and low and behold there glaring back at me from the screen was the line-up of this Fall's classes. Instant panic, mortification, excitement, anticipation, all those radical emotions, consumed me like Cookie Monster eating some chocolate chippers. Because I share so well, and truly am a team player, I immediately logged onto Facebook and posted the news as my status message. Knowing some of my classmates are not on Facebook (for shame) I texted them so they could share in the morning's delight.
After next week, Labor Day Monday will be the only Monday that we do not have an exam until after final exams the week of December 14th. (Is it Christmas, yet??) We have two exams our second week. Mondays are our Principles & Concepts and the Maternal/Newborn class. The Monday exams flip flop between the two classes. There are five weeks where we'll also have an exam on Tuesdays, in our Health Assessment class. Dosage calculations will be combined into those exams. We have two case studies due later in the semester for P&C, as well as two assignments each for the other two classes. There is reference made to care plans in the syllabi, but nothing giving any specific information as to how many we'll have to do, or any other requirements.
I'm pleased with my clinical group assignment. The nineteen in my class from this past Spring are all returning and there are 7 LPN transition or wash back students joining us. One of them is in my clinical group. I hope all the new people mesh as well with our original group as we all have so far. We still have one male classmate, amongst all of us girls.
The clinical schedule looks like it will be interesting and provide us with some really good experience and learning opportunities. This semester we'll rotate through our local hospital as well as one that's in a neighboring county. My group only spends one week there (that being two days), which is fine with me since it is an hour or more away. We'll rotate through med/surg/telemetry/ortho and OB units where we'll receive hands on training. We'll also do observation only training in the ER, OR, PACU, radiology and other such places. We also do a peds rotation at a local pediatric clinic. It is also observation only.
As it is, today I am excited, yet still very anxious and nervous about this semester. I'm choosing to go in thinking as positively as possible. I'm even going in giving our instructor the benefit of the doubt. The primary second year instructor is the one from my mental health class who pretty much "taught" from PPTs that were straight from the book. I'm hopeful that she'll expand upon this year's material more than the MH material as she has more experience in the other areas.
Today I'm off to do some grocery shopping at my favorite place in the world (ha!), a military commissary. This evening the guys and I are going to see Inglourious Basterds. Tomorrow I'm not sure what we'll do early on. LB has try outs for a local showcase type baseball team in the afternoon. Big B is going to Crue Fest. I was originally planning on going but have decided against it (I may have mentioned this before--early senility...). Instead I'm having some friends over for a last hurrah of summer, a "ladies night in". We'll eat, drink, be merry and just have a good ole time. Sunday I plan to get a head start on my reading, and do some last minute home/family organizational type things.
Then Monday we're off to school!
