Parked by the window at Seatac airport awaiting my flight back to PIT by way of Chicago. Hoping the weather all along my route will cooperate and get me back on schedule.
It's a gorgeous northwest day...blue sky acting the backdrop to our stunning Olympic Mountains in the distance. Finding it very hard to leave home...again. Clearly, my homesick blues have already set in and I haven't even squeezed myself into my teensy coach seat. (What would it be like to fly everywhere first class?!)
Tomorrow kicks off Term 3. I am dreading it entirely. Not sure one week in between terms was enough to refresh my batteries before the hard work begins again. Plus, we will all be returning to the lecture hall, minus a couple of students who didn't make it. It's a bittersweet beginning. I realize we may lose a few now at the end of every term, but saying goodbye is still hard. These are folks we go through tough things with...all-night cramming for exams, scary encounters on the clinical units, and even just the mundane sharing of crappy cafeteria food together. Inevitably...we bond.
We return to find out what clinical rotations we'll have and where. I'm looking forward to that information...very much hoping to be placed at my 1st choice...the big city hospital located nearby, and NOT the smaller, suburban hospital that's a half an hour away. I'm living on borrowed time with the little beater-car I brought here, and hoping to stretch that time by keeping long commutes to a minimum.
I'm not sure of everything we'll be learning clinically this term, but I do know we'll be getting our IV training. I am VERY excited about that! Another skill that will make us more useful on the floor. Also -- I know we'll be getting a rotation into the OR. I'm looking forward to that, but with some trepidation...hoping the experience is interesting, AND that I don't disgrace myself by wussing out when things get gross. Which they will.
Finally, I do dread how busy I will be over the next 10 weeks. Selfishly, I'm hoping my new exercise regime I began when I moved here doesn't get sidelined when the schedule gets full. Taking my runs (nearly) every day is such a mental-health break. I don't like slogging along on the elliptical in the gym when it's too cold or snowy outside, but even that is better than no movement at all. Exercise has been such a de-stressor, and a welcome escape from the dorms.
In any case -- it looks like time to pack up and board the plane. To everyone I was able to see, and to those I missed this time -- know that I love you and will see you soon.
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