A Test Trip to Baltimore

Yesterday I had my first orientation day of nursing school.  It was a one day thing - the next orientation isn't until August and it is a one day thing too.  And then classes start in September.  I can't believe it's coming up so soon.  Crazy!!

The day started out with a SHORT commute. 

This was the picture from the window of the bus heading into the city.  Looks a little dreary.
Who cares though - it only took 30 minutes!!!

This was the best thing EVER.  Rather than sit on a bus for over an hour, my bus ride was a short 30 minutes.  This was amazing.  It felt great.  And the bus drops me off a block from the nursing school and picks me up half a block away.  Totally convenient.  What is not so convenient is how I am going to get to clinicals.  I have to be there by 6:30am and they could be anywhere.  So, I am not sure what is going to work - should Ivan drop me off (even if it's a 40 minute drive both ways?), should he bike him and Evan to my sister's (a good option in good weather but not so great in bad weather), should we borrow my sister's car the night before and then he could drive it to her house in the morning?  Would she even be up for that?  We have some logistics to figure out!

The day was pretty interesting.  There were several dates we could choose so there were only about 1/4 of the class at this session.  Most people looked pretty young and a good number were still finishing their first bachelor's degree.  However, I did make friends with another girl who was 33 and talked to guy who was married, so there are a few "mature" students like myself too.  And it's not like I don't like 22 year olds, but we are in very different places in life so I won't be hitting the clubs in the evenings most likely (not like I did that as a 22 year old either though).

In the morning we reviewed our classes and labs.  Our lab/clinical uniform is khaki scrub pants and a white scrub top.  It is pretty hideous.  It doesn't sound too horrible but khaki scrub pants are not cute.  Think about grandma pants with an elastic waist band in khaki - that's what they look like.  And a white shirt???  Really?  And because I have a tattoo on my wrist, I have to wear long sleeves.  Apparently there is a no-tattoo policy.  At least it's on my wrist and not my neck.  I'd much rather where long sleeves than a turtle neck!

Then we moved on to drug calculations.  We did this for an entire two hours.  This is super important and we have an exam on drug calcs the first month of class and we have to get 100% to pass.  If you don't pass the first time then you have two more tries, but still.  It's a bit nerve-wracking having to get 100%.  On the other hand, I sure wouldn't want my nurse to have only gotten 90% on her drug calc test - so 100% is probably a good policy.

The other review we did was Anatomy and Physiology.  Yikes!

Sympathetic nervous system?  Cardiac cycle?  I better do a bit of reviewing!  It wasn't too intense though.  And here's hoping I can handle it all.  Everyone (staff, current students, and alums) kept remarking about how difficult the two years were and how different it was from any other type of classes/studying we've ever done (actually learning the information and retaining it, not just memorizing it for a test and then forgetting it later).  I just need to be as organized as possible and really buckle down.  And get my family on-board with my schedule.

All in all, it was a good day and made me excited to start!  Anyone else out there make a crazy life change in the middle of their life????