First week report

Here's a quick summary of what classes I'm taking and what they're about.

Pathophysiology & Pharmacology: This is the scariest sounding class, but won't actually be that bad. It's mostly about drugs, how they work, and the diseases/symptoms that they can treat. The professor actually wrote the textbook, so her lectures are almost identical to the readings. I find this remarkably helpful.

Genetics: When I first saw this class on my schedule I thought, "Huh?" Turns out this might be my favorite class of all. Once we get past the really basic stuff, which I could explain in my sleep, we'll be talking about genetic diseases, genetic counseling, privacy issues, genetic testing, etc. Basically anything involving genetics as it applies to nursing practice. Also, the professor is awesome.

Nursing Science: This one will be dull. It's all about definitions of nursing, history, rules and regulations, scope of practice, blah blah blah. Some of it will be very important to know, but it's very dry. Luckily, class is only once a week. Unluckily, the reading assignments are huge and there's a quiz on the readings every week.

Health Assessment: This will be the hardest and most useful class. It's also the only one so far that includes a lab. In lecture we learn the theory behind assessing and examining patients (way more complex than you could ever imagine) and in lab we actually put the theories into practice. For example, I now know how to take blood pressure. We're expected to have the skills we learn in lab down solid by the time the next lab rolls around, so there will be a lot of practicing required outside of class.

These classes all run 8 weeks, so through the middle of July. At that point I begin a Therapeutic Interventions class and clinicals. Yikes. I'm starting a countdown already. One week survived, seven to go.

So, how did week one go, you ask? Well, basically all I can say is that I made it. As far as workload goes, lets just say that I'm almost caught up with all the readings that were assigned for day one, and that was after reading for 3.5 hours straight last night. Now, some of you may be thinking, "Why are you doing the readings? You never did your reading for classes at Willamette!" You're right, I didn't, at least very rarely. Well, all of the reading that I did last night applied to the lab I had this morning. That's 5 chapters of reading applied to a 2 hour lab. Seriously intense. By the way, I've given up on the idea of getting a job.

I'm still getting along pretty well with my fellow students. One of the faculty arranged a little bagel breakfast tomorrow morning that I will probably attend if I wake up in time. I seem to have fallen in with two main groups of students. There's Amy, Olivia, and Laura, who are somewhat quiet but very fun and will make good study partners, particularly Amy. There's also Jessica, Katherine, Chris, Lucy and Ally. They're very inviting, Katherine seems remarkably impressed by my bike riding and is the mom of a 10 year old, Chris is actually male which is a nice change (14 guys in a class of 100) and Jessica runs half-marathons, so we do a lot of talking about endurance athlete stuff. There's a lot of other fun and interesting people, and we're all still at the, "Hi, I know I've met you before, but what's your name again?" stage. It will be interesting to see whether these groups hold beyond the extra polite phase that usually lasts the first couple of weeks.

As for non-school stuff, well, I still do a little of that. I got the names and addresses of a few more people on the UofR cycling team, and will hopefully go riding with them soon. Also, my landlord moved out of the house with absolutely no warning. He says he'll be sending us contact info for paying rent, but hasn't yet. He also didn't leave a set of keys for the guy that should be moving in on June 1st. This guy is really pathetic as a landlord. On the somewhat positive side, since he's not going to replace the dryer he is going to reduce our rent. The amount hasn't been determined yet, but will be figured out by Robert, the formerly nameless roommate. I'm just going to invest in a clothesline, at least for the summer.

Before I get back to reading, I have to share a funny story from my Path/Pharm class. The professor was talking about communication (every professor stresses communication, not really a surprise) and put up a slide that just showed a bunch of sloppily drawn circles. This was apparently what her son had drawn in kindergarten when asked to draw what his dad does at work. The teacher called her and her husband in to talk to them about this, concerned that the boy had misunderstood the directions and should perhaps be held back for a year. Of course, they were appalled and immediately went home to talk to their son. They asked him what he had drawn and he said, "I drew what daddy does at work." Not understanding they asked him what he thought his dad did. He replied, "Makes rounds."