Week 3 - The Ups...The Downs

Every other Friday is test day here in nursing school, so of course I started out the week full of the promise of a regimented and rigorous daily study schedule. I always start test weeks out that way. Then I chuck that plan and wing it. Of course I would never advise anyone else to do that. Stick To Your Plan. But me? I guess I don't like boundaries...even self-imposed ones.

This week, however, I was sidelined a little bit because of the dreaded insomnia thing. It hit hard Tuesday night and I actually hit a record of No Sleep Whatsoever that night. That put me into a fog and made studying terribly difficult. Luckily the test went well, I think. Will get grades back soon and then we'll know for sure. I'm taking steps to figure out the sleeplessness in the meantime.

Everyone keeps asking about the dorms. Last week I described the periods of wildness from the denizens here, and it can be wild. Though my room is now a cute little haven, one can't ignore the sounds from the hall unless one wants the fan to be set on "jet engine" in order to drown it out. However, I'm adjusting...and the price is right!  :)

Plus I've confirmed something I've always thought about me; I love living in small spaces. LOVE it. I have been mocked for setting my sites on one day living in an Airstream trailer. Some may consider my 600 square foot cabin small...but I have always thought I'd like to try even smaller. Even just temporarily—a trailer...a boat. And now I am putting it to the test in this 9' x 11' dorm room.

Why? I love the simplicity of it. Perhaps I'm still traumatized by the weeks of sifting through all of my personal belongings down at the beach in order to prep my cabin for the renters and get my things into storage. There were hundreds of items I had forgotten I had, or hadn't touched in many years. Now I have all that I need, organized into this little space. And there is little room for clutter, so I can keep it pruned back. I have always said all I need is a comfy place to sleep, a relaxing place to sit, and some place to cook. I have that here and its really all I want. And my rule when moving in was, nothing comes in unless it is beautiful AND functional. (Preferably multi-functional.) What a good rule. I have one bowl for my oatmeal, a pretty one from Anthropologie. One mug for my tea -- the same one I've used at home for years. One travel mug. One place setting of cutlery. It is really quite freeing.

Down with clutter and excessive, useless STUFF!

The other thing I have learned from this move is this: As much as I have had a wanderlust over the last decade, now I know that the beach will always be home base. I don't think I could go for good. I will take time outs to have adventures, but I will need to return to the place (and the people) that feed my soul. I guess I had to leave to know that.

This is the quote I have posted on my FB page. It fits.

"I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage, with my books, my family, and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give." - Thomas Jefferson

Week 2 Nursing School -- Where the Wild Things Are

After a relatively easy first week of lectures and films studying the various laws, governing bodies, professional standards, health & safety requirements for the nursing field, we begin week 2. I will admit, the amount of outside-class work -- they weren't kidding, it is staggering. It is also a logistical problem if you'd like to decamp the dorm room and go hole up anywhere else to get some work done. This is because the textbooks require a dolly. Entire forests were mown down in order to provide them. And since I dropped a cool grand on these babies, I'm damned sure gonna read them.

Now that I'm comfortably nested in said dorm room, I find I'm not the only one. Those following me on FaceBook this week know I have encountered several bigger-than-a-breadbox cockroaches in my room. Nothing like a major freak out in the hallway to bring us nursing students together. The friendly and responsive Environmental Services guy from the hospital informs me that my pets are American Cockroaches. (Nice that they're domestic. The other ones are...German. Nuff said.) Anyhoo, we grow things bigger in the USA...my insect tormentors are upwards of 2 inches long, and not smart enough to get out of the way of a 4-inch stiletto.

Needless to say...despite my new memory foam mattress, I'm still not sleeping.

And speaking of wild things, we've got the 2-legged variety here in the dorms as well. I have dubbed them the Gaggles of Giggling Girls collective. They jump around being silly due to various stimuli: the onset of Jersey Shore on tv, a sighting of a cute medical resident, and various other indiscernible reasons. I see myself as an obvious outsider, however I am welcomed into the fold as a visitor -- a la Gorillas in the Mist. I'm resisting any true bonding thus far, since I'm not sure my self-esteem can handle being dubbed Dorm Mom. Still, my favorite moment with the kids so far was when I disclosed to one of my classmates in the hall that I had a date that night, while a gaggle was walking by and overheard. Much squealing and hopping around ensued, followed by pleas that I let them help me "get ready." It was quite endearing actually.

It seems my design skills won't need to be entirely forgotten. We are tasked with building a Professional Portfolio in a binder over the next two years, compiling our experiences and credentials that will, one hopes, help us find that crucial first nursing job. Looking at the professor's example had me cringing inwardly. While I'm sure her credentials are lengthy and impressive -- the book itself looks like it could be at home in any high school locker. And since my former job had me overseeing multi-million dollar proposal packages, I say pish tush to this softball assignment.

What I'm really scared of is giving an enema to an incontinent and combative alzheimer's patient.

The book I can handle.