Ready, Set, Go

First week of classes completed. I'm feeling better about this semester, no surprise I guess, since I know what to expect. My clinical hours have doubled (gulp!) but I expect to be able to handle that. One good thing is that my big clinically-oriented class (Primary Healthcare Concepts) has two papers instead of a weekly quiz. Papers are my strong suit, I did so many of them for my on-line BSN classes. And I finally have a psych class. It's Intro to Counseling Skills and the professor is the woman mainly in charge of the Psych NP program, she'll be teaching the majority of our classes next year. I was anxious before the class (what if I don't like her? don't respect her?) but I liked her a lot. She made funny little remarks about psych things - (oh, tell me what you mean when you say that), she was relaxed, and I thought her presentation was smart. It's a group of only eleven, so it will be cosy and like a little family. I can only imagine how well we'll know each other by the end of this thing -- ha. So far only one person kind of bugs me & I can handle it. 

My other classes - Research and Pharmacology - appear to both be taught by excellent instructors. The Pharm guy has been nominated for a teaching excellence award & I see why. First class was fascinating. He encouraged us to take the class for a grade -- not pass/fail. I'm debating what to do. I gambled wrong last semester & gave up my A points on Pathophysiology. Really don't want to do that again, but OTOH, I don't want to be any more stressed than I need to. My research class will be a social experiment. We were assigned to random groups of 6 students (big class - 50 people - all nursing grad students have to take it, not just NP's). I had never met any of the other 5 people in my group. We have 2 big projects to do together. Who doesn't loathe group projects? And I really think 6 is too large for a group. I hope I don't have to discover new things about myself but I bet that's how the social experiment plays out.

It's been interesting to think about transitions this week. Beginnings and endings. On Thursdays, I have another long killer 12-hour day at school, but I do get a break from 2-4. So I decided to revisit some significant places on campus that I had not seen in 26 years, since I graduated in 1984. I haven't done much of that yet because I didn't have a long enough break in my schedule & seems like I was always in a hurry to zip home. I walked from one corner of the campus (the nursing building is across from the Erwin Center) up to the women's co-ops, where I used to live (across from Kinsolving dorm). Let me tell you, it was one of the most intense emotional experiences I've ever had.

Memories just flooded over me, it honestly felt like I was back in time. Let me try to give you a flavor. I passed by the business building and remembered when they tore down the old hall across the street. We lay on the grass and watched the wrecking ball hit it. I passed by the lawn of Batts Hall and remembered when Bret taught me how to whistle with a grass blade between my thumbs on a break between classes. I saw the computation center and remembered my job as a freshman at the counseling center (see? even back then, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up -- ha). I had to carry card decks of computer data to the center for processing. I walked by the big rusty communications building - still rusty - and remembered the day my boyfriend left for Germany and I was crying on my way to class. I ran into an old roommate in front of that building and had to explain why I was crying. Anna Hiss gym - laps and laps and laps in the pool, then hurrying home to the co-op for dinner. The Academic Center reminded me of many hours studying with Lori. We went there because we'd fill out a slip to request albums we'd listen to with headphones off reel-to-reel tape. Little different from an ipod. The Union reminded me of seeing concerts there - like Joe King Carasco in 1982. The Varsity Theatre is gone (most of the mural is still up); I watched a lot of art films there. And finally, I got to the co-op where I lived - Shangri-La. They have some silly name now, "Living/Learning Center". I couldn't go inside, all the doors require access codes (security is much tighter on campus these days). The big live oak in the courtyard where we did so many things - like our chili cook-off - is so huge. The back steps are still there where Kari and I would smoke clove cigarettes in the evenings (we were so cool). The tower chimed - same tune. Wow. It's all still there. It's such a privilege to be back.

P.S. to last post -- something important I forgot to mention is how important our guts are to our immune system and to healthy metabolism. There is a lot of research focus right now on the gut and the "good" bacteria that live there (natural flora). Some research shows that obese people have differences in their flora. So what can we do to take care of that? Eat yogurt or Kefir -- pro-biotics. It really will make you feel better and function properly.