I haven't updated the blog in 3 months. I don't know that anyone even reads it, but in those three months since I wrote, here's what's happened in a nutshell:
April
--I finished up the end of my semester, completing my big research paper in capstone, finished my capstone hours at a grand total of 245 over the course of the semester.
--I GRADUATED!!! I am now a BYU alumnus and it's totally awesome. Here is a link to pictures if you haven't already seen them on facebook, (click me). As a nursing class, we got together to have a banquet dinner and there was a fun slide show of pictures over the course of nursing school. Then we went up Provo Canyon to burn our old "student nurse" ugly white scrub tops. If you've never burned something "meaningful" before, I highly recommend it. It's very therapeutic. Homework, old scrubs, old pictures of people you would rather forget.
May
--I was home in Connecticut basically the whole month of May. What did I do you may ask? Sat around on my rear for 4 weeks :) It was so great to relax and just chill. My mom did have surgery while I was at home so helped a lot with that. And by help I did a lot of driving around. Which I don't mind, I like driving.
--Janelle and Julie came to visit while I was home and it was so fun to see them. Julie is the funniest little girl ever! Love her :)
--While I was home I also managed to land my self an awesome job. After much pestering and multiple emails a week (my mom always taught me, squeaky wheel gets the grease) I finally got the job offer for the place I did my capstone.
June
--I came back to Provo at the very end of May, study for the NCLEX for two weeks and PASSED!!! While I was home, my dad gave me a blessing that I would be calm and peaceful for the test and that I would pass. That blessing and lots of prayers were a huge comfort to me and I truly was calm going into the test. So much so that I surprised my self. I had no trouble sleeping the night before. I went into the testing center and just dug in. I got 75 questions, which was the minimum and it took me about an hour and half. It crazy how 4 1/2 years of education can come down to a simple 75 questions...well not so simple, but small. :) The next day after the test was really hard, and nerve racking waiting....but when I saw that Registered Nurse next to my name, it was wonderful!!! See my license here :)
--I started in my new job on the Thoracic ICU. Wow. It is a crazy intense learning environment. I can feel my brain hurting at the end of the day with how much I learn, but I love it! Hearts are so cool!!!!...and I'm a total nerd but that's ok :)
--Also, Wimbledon was on. And it was crazy this year. 11 hour matches, Roger losing so early, Roddick losing to #82?, Serena being the only top 20 left in the semis, Nadal sweeping the final (snore worthy)...hopefully the US Open will be more exciting :)
July
--I'm 4 weeks into my 12 week orientation. I am learning a ton. I am also enrolled in a Basic ICU class as part of my learning. I love this class because it's basic, but not too basic. Most of the people in the class have been nurses for 2-3 years and are only now starting in an ICU so they approach it in a way that we already know basic nursing, which is really good. Work is busy, but I am loving it. I do a lot of driving but hopefully I will be moving to the hospital sooner so that my 8 hours/week commute will get cut down.
I'm going to try to be better about updating, even though I'm not sure too many terribly exciting things are going to happen...except I am going to be getting the new iphone in a couple weeks. That's exciting :)
