One down...

Well, one week down. It went REALLY fast, I think because I didn't really have to do much of anything. No real ED shifts. I had orientation, a day of lectures, a day of "nursing skills" (mostly IV's, 1 NG tube, no Foley's), a day of simulations, and a "fast track" day (suturing, back pain, a guy who maced himself- hilarious). Fast track is where they put people who have very straightforward problems and who should be in-and-out. And then I had this whole weekend off. So my first real shift is Monday. Weird! It was nice to have a week to settle in, but I'm kind of bored, I have to admit. This weekend included watching a TON of TV shows online, reading books (finished Mansfield Park, started The Metamorphosis, looking foward to The Jungle Books soon), calling friends, and basically just bumming around. The internet blocks Netflix, so I can't watch any movies, and there aren't any movie theatres within walking distance, so that's out. Not sure what I'm going to do for the next three weekends here! Hopefully one will be spent with my extended fam if I can find a way to get up there!

I walked around the town a bit this weekend. The weather was SO nice (70 degrees, clear skies), and the town is really cute. Tons of hills, tiny streets, trees, grass, old houses, Halloween/autumn decorations, etc. It definitely brought me back to college (yet again) and I am VERY nostalgic for my college town...still! I thought that feeling would go away but nope, I still miss it a ton. NO idea why, college was not the greatest 4 years of my life (not the worst, but not the best). However, I am missing my actual college buildings, the dorms, certain restaurants, shops, drives I used to go on, parks I used to run at, farmland...I could go on and on. What does all of this mean? I have no idea. I have lots of time to mull it over and maybe figure it out, though!

Even though I just got here, I am anxious to get home so I can do some things. For example- cook, decorate, re-re-discover things to do in the city, reconnect with some friends I haven't had a ton of time to hang out with recently, spend time with my sister and family (this may be the last year we are living in the same city, depending on where I go for residency). I could do a lot of those things here if I was going to be here longer than 3 more weeks, but it just doesn't feel like home (for good reasons, I think) and so everything I do is a bit temporary. I'm having a good time but I want to feel at home!

No good patient stories from this last week...the only kind of funny one was the 50 year old guy that accidentally maced himself in the face while cleaning his garage. Not sure how that happens, but I guess it did. He was laughing about it so I don't feel so bad laughing about it too. Hopefully I'll get at least one good patient in the next week I can talk about!