A New Year

It's been a while since I've posted anything, partially because MEPN makes you want to take all your extra time to yourself. There's hardly anything left to share with others some days because you are so exhausted, but that made vacation super fun.

We had six weeks off, which started at the end of November and ran through the new year. What did I do? Everything. Nothing. I slept about 12 hours/night for a week. I ate turkey. I hung out with my boyfriend and my family. I danced all night. I took ACLS and PALS. We went skiing, backpacking, eating, eating some more, and skiing again. Then, we danced all night on New Years' Eve and then went skiing.

It was spectacular.

School started again, but for whatever reason, it's not as daunting. We're past the halfway point, our class has formed friendships, and we sorta know what's up.
I'm even taking an elective this quarter: Wilderness Medicine, which I love.
I became a student editor for papers (for researchers in the MS/PhD programs), using a paper which earned me a less than spectacular class grade, which is a bit frustrating - obviously it was good enough to get me an editing job using APA format, etc, but the professors took off points for random stuff last quarter, which was never really itemized. Whatever. My GPA is still high, and more importantly, I've learned the things I need to learn. And I can do them well. That's way more useful. Remember, it's about concept *and* application.

This quarter is about Pediatrics for us, with some Psych peppered in at the end. I'm loving working with children, to the point where I'm thinking about working in the PICU at Lucille Packard. Of course, eventually I'd try to move to the ED at Stanford (which has a wilderness medicine section to it), but I want to try something different for a while which could help me in my learning process and my endeavors that still encompasses what I want to do.

The job market is abysmal for us new grads. Kaiser revoked their contracts with some of their new hires, and that's pretty startling for us who have to take a year (or more) off.
Sigh.
In any case, the immediate happens to be enchanting me. I'm loving my pediatrics rotation. What a wonderful thing, to relate to children, to play games and to help them feel better.
I love it.

Now, the other interesting thing for me is watching the new applicants be nervous for their interviews. I've been following on allnurses.com, and the threads remind me of how scared I was. Many of the MEPNs wish they could be there for the incoming folks, but we weren't scheduled for lunches this year. If you're interviewing, relax, get some sleep, and know that we're all wishing you luck.
:)