TIME FLIES!

Well, I bet you were thinking that I had just about forgotten about you, huh?! I promise I haven't forgotten about this blog (like I did to the other one...oops!), but these past few weeks have been busier than I ever could have imagined. You're probably thinking, "Busy? How are you busy? Aren't you supposed to be on break?" And the answer is yes, you are correct in thinking that. But yall also know I'm not good at taking it easy. So here's what I've been up to since the White Coat ceremony...

Finals. Ugh. The good news is that they're over and I finished the semester out strong. The bad news was how ridiculous that week was. To add the cherry on top, after finals on Friday, I got my HepB titer drawn (and yall know how it usually goes with me and needles) and I got my flu shot (again, with the needles thing). Rachel and Lindsay came with me and Ryan to get it all done. I think they were hoping to see me pass out (like I usually do) and do something cool. Sorry to disappoint you, ladies. Lol. Then I headed straight from school (many thanks to my chauffeurs Melanie and Momma Brooks) up to Arlington to spend time with my mom and Grandma Hill. Poor Ry had to stick around and work a few extra days. It was great to see my family and really get to spend some time with them instead of having to worry about studying though. Grandma wasn't in good shape by the time I got there, but I'm so grateful that she was able to hang on as long as she did so I could talk to her a little. That really helped provide me some closure about the whole situation. So when I got up to Arlington, I was planning on spending about 4 days there, then heading back to Galveston until Christmas. Slight change of plans...I ended up spending 2 weeks there. I just couldn't leave my mom or my Grandma. My awesome, supportive husband came up to Arlington for a few days, then headed back to Galveston for about a week and held down the fort (with the pups and Tig), then the whole clan came back to Arlington for Christmas. I'm SO glad I stayed with my mom and Grandma...it was just us and Grandpa when Grandma passed away on Tuesday night around 10:30. The rest of the week was filled with emotions and so much to do, but we all got through it together with a lot of help from up above. My mom got a double whammy of emotions over the weekend when my sister Brittany decided to move out unexpectedly. The next week was just a whirlwind dealing with all the above plus trying to plan for all the Christmas activities. Before we knew it, Ryan was back in town and it was Christmas Eve! We had a small get-together at my mom's house, and it was really nice. We went to church, had the usual Christmas Eve activities at the Baileys house, then spent Christmas Day at the Miller house. Ryan and I packed up the fuzzy kids and headed back to Galveston that evening. So that brings us up to right about now...here are a few of the happy highlights from the trip:

1. I got to spend time with Grandma before she passed, I was with family during the time they really needed me, and I got to help write the obituary and prepare the eulogy. We all helped each other remember the happy, strong Grandma we all knew and loved. It felt good to smile and laugh a little.

2. I FINALLY (after having my old laptop almost 7 years) sucked it up and bought a new computer. I splurged on a Macbook Pro, and I LOVE it!

3. I spent 2 weeks with mom, dad, Brittany, and Aimee!

4. Aimee and I had a date night...Chick Fil A and a trip to Ulta. Does it get any sweeter?

5. Aimee's school Christmas program was adorable! I missed the Thanksgiving one, so it was really special that I got to go to this one.

6. Dinner and margaritas with Layla at Don Pablos. She knows how to help me slow down and get my mind off the "down" things in life. It was exactly what I needed. Although, I did get a phone call from Aimee at about 9 PM saying that I was out too late and needed to come home, haha!

7. Ryan and I spent Christmas with our families! There are some people who don't get to do that, ya know. It means a lot to us to get to do stuff like that every year. Christmas just wouldn't be the same otherwise.

8. Got to see Rachel perform with the Johnnie High's crew for their Christmas special! They all did so well, and it was great as usual.

9. Babe's opened in Arlington! So of course we had to go check it out!

10. We were able to go back to our church and see some of our friends there. So happy to see everyone again!

So I guess that about wraps it up! We are finally back in town, trying to catch up on rest, and attempting to put the place back together, and get everything done (move work schedules, arrange travel, etc.) in time to head back out of town for Grandma's memorial service. After that, I have to get everything in order to start school back up the first week of January. EEK, I still need to order my books! I told you, time is just flying by! Excuse me, UTMB, could we please have an extra week or 2 of break? Thanks...that would really be lovely. :) Hopefully I'll get some Christmas pics posted soon...we'll see...

WHITE COAT!

The past week or so has been absolutely crazy! We had our last Surgical Society meeting for the semester and 2 finals. One went really well, the other could have gone better. My anxiety just got the best of me and I didn't do as well as I could have, but that's ok. I still did well on the exam and still did well in the class. To add to the craziness that is finals, we also had our White Coat ceremony, which was super exciting. My parents, my sisters, and Ryan's parents all came into town to share in the fun. We had such a good time, and I'm really glad they were all able to come. On Saturday, we also went to NASA! I think Ryan and Dad would have stayed and just lived there if they had let them. It was really interesting. We got to see all sorts of crazy cool stuff and they even let us see mission control. We spent that evening in Kemah and got our picture made with Santa! It was refreshing to get to go out and just have fun for a little while with my family that I hadn't seen since August. Everyone headed out on Sunday and I hit the books again. 2 finals down, 6 to go. Should we start placing bets now on how little sleep I'll get between now and Friday? Hope everyone has a good week and the next time I post...I'll have completed my first semester at PA school! That's so crazy! But awesome :)

This is all of us before the ceremony

Me!

Mi Familia
Ryan's parents...and Aimee

He's the best husband in the world! Love you babe!

Sisters!

Coolest anatomy group in the world! Love these girls...Amber and Meagan.

Friends! Don't know what I'd do without these girls...Melanie, Bailey, Rachel, Lindsay, and Heather.

Group photo op! We're a pretty good looking bunch, huh?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I should go ahead and warn you that this post will probably be one of my more lengthy posts...:)

First and foremost, Happy Thanksgiving! Ryan and I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving full of good food and getting to spend it with the people you love. We slept in and just enjoyed spending the day together. We had lunch on the island at Moody Gardens, which was delicious! Sadly, we didn't get to see any of our family for Thanksgiving, but it's okay because they're coming to visit in a week for my White Coat Ceremony! Here are a few pics...

Here we are in front of the pretty Christmas tree...

There were some awesome decorations made out of fruit! This parrot was made out of pineapple...

And what's Thanksgiving without a turkey?!

I thought this was pretty...and it was made out of ice! Except the flowers, those are real.

So that was Thanksgiving for us! A little non-traditional, especially for us, but it worked out. We definitely did NOT brave any Black Friday shopping. Partially because I just didn't want to, but also because I was almost finished with my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving anyways. Hopefully next year it will work out a little better and we can spend the holiday with our families.

So with a few days off school, last week was pretty light! We only had one assignment due and no tests or presentations...I didn't know what to do with myself! On Tuesday, we had an awesome pot-luck and got to just sit and enjoy great food and everyone's company. We work so hard and we're always busy, so it was nice to slow down for a little while and just enjoy it. That's really about it school-wise for last week! Now, we just have to get ready for White Coat ceremony on Friday and start preparing for finals. Yup, we are heading into Week 14 which means that Finals begin! Holy guacamole, is this really the light at the end of this semester's tunnel?! I'm keeping my fingers crossed and my nose in my books hoping that it's the good kind of light, and not the train coming to smack me kind of light.

I had a few realizations/accomplishments this week...

1. I can shower, dry my hair, fix my hair, do my make up, and be nicely dressed and ready to go in 45 minutes. :) That makes me happy.

2. I can walk on a 4-inch balance beam in 4-inch heels! That's talent right there...

3. I redeemed myself! So most of you probably know that I'm domestically challenged. I can build stuff, take something apart and put it back together, ride a horse, and get a 30 on a last-minute MCAT without having studied...but ask me to cook and I fall to pieces, hurt myself, and catch stuff on fire. So you may remember a little incident I had a while back where I got into an argument with a steak knife while trying to make pizza (Yes, you read that right. Pizza and steak knife...I was attempting to open a bottle of olive oil.), and the steak knife won against my hand so we got to make a fun trip to the ER. Well something got into me on Friday night and I decided to try this whole cooking thing again. Ryan was at work, and what we had decided on for dinner really didn't sound good. I knew he wouldn't be up to catering to my every whim when he got done working Black Friday, so I got creative! I made a spicy chicken alfredo pizza from scratch. Yup, I made the dough, made the alfredo sauce, and even cooked and cut up the chicken. All without incident! Well...kinda. I screwed up the pre-packaged pizza dough. I hadn't planned on making my own pizza dough, but I had no other option at that point. And through it all, I didn't manage to hurt myself or anyone else, catch anything on fire, or sound the smoke alarms! And the best part...it was actually edible!!! I must admit, I'm pretty proud of myself right about now. :)

Change of pace here...some of you may know Stefanie Limerick. She and I went to Concordia together and she's one of my best friends. She's also a strong source of inspiration in my life. She's strong, passionate, determined, hard-working, too smart for her own good, and like any good scientist, she's just a little bit crazy. Not to mention, she has the cutest kid in the whole wide world! We try to keep eachother driven, grounded, on the right track, and focused, but we can also share in each other's nerdy (but awesome!) accomplishments and enjoy these crazy roller-coaster lives we each lead. She helps me understand the things in life that just don't make sense and she helps me find my voice and my drive when I feel like they're gone. I don't know what I would do without this girl! As I near the end of the semester, she's been feeding me motivational lines, so I thought I'd share a few of them with you! This week's line: "Chance favors the prepared mind," by Louis Pasteur. It's perfect as I get into this last long-stretch of tests.

So now I get to spend the rest of the weekend enjoying the beautiful weather through my window while I start studying for finals and getting ready for company later this week.

5 DAYS, 6 RED BULLS, AND 3 TESTS LATER...

Well, this week was pretty rough and I questioned if I was going to make it. For those of you that really know me, you know I'm not big on drinking caffeinated drinks. Whether it's soda or coffee or otherwise, I'd usually just rather have water. So the fact that I had 6 Red Bulls in 5 days says something pretty significant about how little sleep I was getting! We had a test Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so we never really caught a break. Plus, our hardest test was on Friday, so even getting through one or two tests, we still had the big one looming. The good news is that I made it! I could have done better on the first test...I just made one or two really ignorant mistakes. If it hadn't been for that, it would have been my highest test grade yet in that class. The second test went very well, and the third test...well, I was pleased. It's hard to believe, but that wrapped up Week 12! This week (Week 13) will be short because of Thanksgiving. And our professors must really love us because they didn't schedule any tests for this week! Yay! As a treat to myself for doing well this past week, I treated myself on Saturday. My body didn't know what to think. I slept in, went for a run, actually got ready, and went shopping! I'm a shopping machine-I knocked out nearly all of our Christmas shopping in like 3 hours! Then Ryan and I went out to dinner together and went to look at new laptops for me because mine is a bit on the fritz. But hey, it's made it for 6 1/2 years! I'd definitely say I got my money's worth with this one, but seeing as the battery only lasts like 45 minutes now and the charger has to be positioned very precisely in order to work...I think it's about that time now. Not to mention that it takes like 5 minutes to boot up or open any applications. So in short, it was a rough week, but it was also a good, productive week and now I can rest a little before finals start up in less than 2 weeks. Woooo Saaaa....I'm a happy little student :)

LAUREN GOES TO CLINIC

I made it through Week 11! This week was mainly spent working on small assignments, studying for a Clin Med exam (which I didn't do too shabby on...), and preparing for my last taping-a complete medical interview. Rachel, Melanie, and I also decided to brave it and go to St Vincent's Clinic on Thursday and start seeing patients. I know that's exactly what we are here learning to do, but it's so intimidating! Thank goodness we had some experienced PA and Med students on hand to help show us the ropes. We each got to see 2 patients that evening. I can't even begin to put into words how rewarding it was. I've been through 11 weeks of some of the fastest learning I've ever been put through, I've been sleep deprived, and I've felt like a failure because I've made B's on tests, taken out more money on student loans than I thought was possible, and had some groundbreaking experiences in this short timeframe, but those 4 hours where I finally got to put it all to use and make a real difference in someone's life...priceless. I'm bombarded day in and day out with new material and was getting to the point where I was wondering if I was even absorbing any of it any longer. My motivation was starting to slip because I'm studying more than I've ever had to (or wanted to...) but I still am not getting the grades I'm used to getting. It seemed like a never ending battle to absorb it all, and it's only going to get tougher in these last few weeks. But going to clinic and putting it all to use made me realize a few things. First, I know SO much more than I thought I did! I was explaining stuff to 3rd and 4th year med students...there's a sense of pride and satisfaction that comes with that. But also, I really do know this stuff well if I can teach it to someone else. Second, it all becomes worth the while. I came here to learn how to diagnose and treat patients...spending days on end buried in textbooks, highlighters, and tests is not exactly the love of my life, but I saw that my hard work translated into being more equipped to diagnose and properly treat these real patients. Third, these people TRUST me! I put on my white coat, and they will believe what I tell them, so I HAVE to keep up with the books and material to make sure that what I'm saying is accurate and true. If they trust me, it's my duty to continue to give them good reason to trust me and to provide the best care that I can. And the last thing I learned at StV's...I CAN DO THIS! It totally renewed my confidence and restored some of my drive. We ended the night at the PA fundraiser at SKY bar and sushi, where we had an awesome turnout! But it is funny how you don't recognize people as well when they actually do their hair and makeup and get ready...haha! People also brought friends and significant others, so we all went through this period of confusion of "excuse me...I don't recognize you...you aren't in our class." It was funny, but we had a great time and it was a success! Then Friday, Ryan drove all the way to meet me and a few friends for lunch. Isn't he the best! But I'm afraid we may have scared him a little bit. He's used to my craziness and I'm used to the normal crazy at school, but I'm sure he's not used to my, Rachel's, and Lindsay's crazy all rolled up in one. We were actually pretty well-behaved, I thought. Eh, he'll get used to it. So ya, that was jam-packed Week 11! If I can make it through Week 12 with 3 big tests, I can finally rest just a little for Thanksgiving before finals start. Yall please keep praying for me!

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT...

Ok, so remember my "I.AM.SO.TIRED" post? Did you know that it gets even worse!? I didn't, but now, I do. I couldn't believe that I seriously reached a new level of tired this week that I didn't even think was possible. And I've got this disgusting, eerie feeling that it only gets worse until December 10. The good news is that this was week 10 of 15, so I've made it 2/3 the way of the first semester, ya hoo! The bad news is that over the next 22 days of school, I have 13 exams. Seriously, I think they're trying to kill me or send me to the looney bin! And that doesn't count any other assignments, presentations, or the White Coat ceremony where all of my and Ryan's family will be in town. We have heard that if we can make it through this semester, next semester is better, and clinical rotations are after that. It's also good that all the professors seem to understand/expect that we have completely lost our marbles and are beyond sleep deprived. That doesn't mean that they make the exams any easier, but at least they can laugh with us when we show "our true colors." They took a poll this week and asked us questions like "Do you feel that your exam grade does not reflect the amount of time you dedicate to studying," "Do you feel like you've lost touch with family, friends, and the rest of the world," and "Do you feel overwhelmed?" I think we all said yes for just about every question. Then again, if I didn't feel this way, something would probably be wrong. If this didn't overwhelm me and push me to my limits, I'm not sure that would be a normal response. In other words, I've lost my marbles and I'm (temporarily) proud of it! Poor Ryan...yall need to say some serious prayers for that guy for putting up with all of this. And who needs sleep anyways? I can sleep through December, except Christmas. On that note, I'm going to go load up on some caffeine and study for my next exams.

FINALLY!

Ok, so remember when we moved here back in AUGUST and I promised to post pictures of our new digs? Well, now that it's November, I figured I'd finally make good on the promise. This is the smallest apartment we've ever had, but I think we've done pretty nicely with it. I still think that the hardwood floors, nice kitchen appliances, and trash pickup make up somewhat for the size. :) Needless to say, we're barely ever here so it's safe and fits our needs 100 percent. Plus, I finally got my palm tree!

Here's the bedroom. Hey Sue, does the bed set look familiar? She got it for us one year for Christmas. And the bed came from my mom. This way, we still have a bed with sheets set up for us when we come back to DFW to visit.

Here's my office/sunroom. This part worked out perfectly, and the fuzzy kids can nap on the couch right next to me as I study.
Another view of my office-see, I really do use it! Please take note of the awesome palm tree right outside my window. :) And yes, that's an exercise ball. I sit on it when I'm getting bored studying to help keep me awake. This is also the desk where I keep my stash of chocolate to bribe me to stay put.

Our tiny kitchen! Isn't it cute? For those of you that know me really well, this probably doesn't surprise you. What might surprise you is that we actually use it; I didn't use the cabinets and drawers for extra closet space. Also surprisingly, Ryan let me bring the knife set! He wasn't going to let me after my accident and ER visit in Austin, but he got tired of cooking and cutting meat with regular dinner knives.

Here's the living room-obviously. Couch + TV = Ryan happy.

This is the view when you walk in. It's cozy, huh? But it's where we call home until I find out where my rotations are next year. Then, we might just be on the move again. Hey, at least we've gotten rather efficient with this whole moving thing.

AS PROMISED

Here are some pics from Andrew and Kelly's rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and wedding day.
Me and Ryan at the wedding
One of the gorgeous centerpieces at the reception

Ryan being mean to Kelly as usual...she's such a sport for putting up with it! I promise, he didn't actually touch her hair. Those two fight like brother and sister!

Ryan and Andrew-aren't they handsome!

Fun lighting with their initials on the wall!

I like this picture because you can see how beautiful the back of Kelly's dress is.

Kelly with her Dad. Such a sweet picture!

And the lovely bride! Isn't she just gorgeous!

The girls after pictures before the ceremony started

Yes, one of the pinatas made it to the ceremony! Of course!

Me and Ryan at the rehearsal dinner

The girls at the rehearsal

And here are some of the boys...we're missing a few ushers, a groomsman, and the groom. Getting them all together and to pose nicely (no middle fingers, no funny faces, etc.) was like herding cats.

And the bride and groom with the officiant

THE NEW MR AND MRS ANDREW DOUGLASS

Congratulations to the new Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Douglass! Kelly and Andrew tied the knot on October 30, 2010 in a beautiful ceremony in San Antonio following a 3-year engagement. The date was special because it was Kelly and Andrew's anniversary since their first date and it was Kelly's grandmother's wedding anniversary. It simply could not have been more perfect...

We all met up for the rehearsal at Sonterra (which went extremely smoothly, I might add!), then headed downtown for the rehearsal dinner at La Margarita. It was delicious! We had a great time eating yummy Tex-Mex (and margaritas...), visiting with family and friends, hearing awesome blackmail-worthy stories of Andrew, and causing as much trouble as possible. They gave us macarenas and pinatas...what else would you expect?! Kelly's dad and Andrew's dad both did their very best to make us all cry (and were successful) with beautiful, heartfelt thoughts and stories. It was one of those times where you can just feel how happy everyone was for Kelly and Andrew and we all could see that they were meant for eachother. As for the trouble-causing...Ashley's dad started it, right after telling stories that he knew would embarass Ashley. It was GREAT! He was playing with one of the pinatas and Ashley took it from him. So he started stealing them from other tables, and before you knew it...well...I'll just let you see the pictures. We had a shrine to Andrew and Kelly. I'll just say that. If you watch carefully, the shrine grows and develops...

Then, Ashley killed our pinata shrine...

We were also serenaded by a mariachi band! They did a great job! The night ended with a car-ful of people reminding Ryan to drive carefully...first, I said it. Then, Scott and Sarah echoed with "remember, you have precious cargo!" and Dan rounded out the group with the best line..."that's right, tonight you have 4 eggs in your basket!" We all about died laughing, and I'm surprised Ryan didn't try to find a cliff to drive us all off of...

Saturday was the big day! The guys did their thing, which mostly consisted of getting dressed, managing to not get dirty, and arriving on time. Ben and Ryan helped Andrew with a few last minute things before they all headed to Sonterra. The girls did theirs...hair, make up, etc. We all had some great hair styles thanks to Kelly's awesome hairdresser! Before we knew it, it was time to start pictures. Kelly first, then add in the bridesmaids, then family pictures. Then it was Andrew's turn. I love that they held to the tradition of not seeing eachother that day until the ceremony! People started arriving and just about before we could blink, the wedding coordinator came in and told us it was time to line up. The wedding party looked great, all the parents were so happy and glowing, Andrew was all dolled up and as handsome as ever (and trying so hard not to cry), but Kelly took the prize...I don't even have words to describe how gorgeous she was. She was a dream or like a fairy tale. She came down the aisle...Mr. Fetzer by her side so proud! He handed her to Andrew, then both Kelly's dad and Andrew's dad teared up and anyone that could see them just about lost it. The pictures they got with the scenery and sunset behind them were to die for! Andrew and Kelly were glowing, the ceremony and scenery were amazing, everyone was so happy...it was just perfect. After the ceremony, they had the usual picture sessions, then we all headed to the reception, which was a blast! We danced, had some delicious dinner, made very good use of the candy bar, and again, people made speeches it seemed with the intent to make everyone tear up...successfully again. We sent them off in style with sparklers! What an end to a great day. Andrew and Kelly are married! Congrats again, thank you so much for letting us be part of your special day, everything was amazing, and we love you!

I'll post a few pictures once the camera makes it back home...it's still en route with Ryan.

WHAT A WEEK!

Week 9 definitely packed a punch! It started off with a bang-3 tests on a Monday. UGH. And I'll just very briefly note that all 3 tests could have gone much smoother than they actually did. The bottom didn't necessarily fall out, but I was most certainly not pleased with my performances. It was fitting that the cruise ship was in the bay as I was leaving school-just to taunt me. And let me tell you, that day, it was even more tempting. I picked up my dresses for Kelly's wedding on my way home, and of course one of them just wasn't quite right...but it didn't help that I managed to forget my shoes and claim tickets on my way out of the house that morning. AWESOME. Tuesday held an unexpected 8 AM class and yet another test which went much better, followed by my brain just completely crapping out on me. I can't blame it though, we were exhausted. That was terribly unfortunate because I still had a large homework assignment due that evening and I had to pack my bags so Ryan could take them on to San Antonio to avoid having to check any bags with the airline later on. I'm still not sure how either of those actually got accomplished. Wednesday continued the excitement as Ryan headed out of town (and left me to hold down the fort by my lonesome...) and my cousin Ashley had her baby! Welcome baby Bodhi! Also, my Dad was in town for some business stuff, so I got to see him for dinner. Besides Ryan (DUH...), I haven't seen any family since we moved here in August, so it was really nice to get to visit with my dad. It really helped ground me again and kinda decompress, which, as you can clearly see, I could use a healthy helping of both. Thursday, I attended a luncheon to honor the donors of the scholarships to UTMB since I was a recipient of one of the awards, then headed to Katy after school to see Ashley. Yes, I love her. I drove from Galveston to Katy in rush hour traffic. If that isn't love, I don't know what is! Then Friday was the almost-big-day! I had class in the morning, then got myself to the airport (yes, I parked, got through security, boarded and all! All by myself! I'm a big kid now...). Once I landed, it was wedding weekend time! And that deserves a special post all its own. :)

Here's a picture of me with baby Bodhi...isn't he just adorable! Congrats again to the Slater Family!

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

This week was exactly what I had been craving since the semester started: no tests, only two assignments, and no meetings or homework to really speak of. My presentation went well, we only had one day of anatomy lab, and we even hit the half-way point of the semester. You're imagining the nice sunrise and feeling that serenity of the last blog post, right? That's where I should have been...except Monday we have 3 tests. BOOOO! Then Tuesday, we have another test. Then we have three anatomy labs this week and more homework and assignments on top of that. So I have essentially spent my one week of serenity planning for my next week of chaos. And oh ya, minor detail...MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING is on Saturday! So goodness knows I won't be able to concentrate on much of anything this week! But seriously, last week was still pretty good and I felt like I got quite a bit done, but I'm still fearing this next week. Thank goodness it ends on a good note with Andrew and Kelly's wedding. You will also be glad to know that this past Friday, I had to get my last Hepatitis B vaccine and I didn't pass out! It's amazing how actually following the advice of the neurologist helps...call me high maintenance or whatever, but it's better than more trips to the ER. I think I scared the poor nurse, but she'll be fine. Anyways, yall keep me in your thoughts and prayers this week...I'll need it! Ok, back to the land of Patho I must go...

SWEET SERENITY

It may have only been for about 10 minutes, but I finally caught a little sweet serenity. I was driving to school one day and caught a glimpse of this...so I pulled over and went and sat on the beach for a minute just to soak it all in. Yup, I got to hit the beach on my way to school...not many people get to do that. I figured there are 2 ways to look at this...1: the sun is in my eyes! OR 2: Wow, this is beautiful. Not everyone gets to go to school on an island and see a gorgeous sunrise like this nearly every day. It just makes me remember how blessed I am to be here doing what I am doing. If you look closely, you might even be able to see some of the big ships on the horizon! No cruise ships today :)

A GOOD DAY!

Do you know what today is?! It's the official half-way point of my first semester of PA school! Wa hoo!! Believe it or not, I've actually made it half way through this semester. It's weird because on one hand, I feel like I've been here for SO long because of all the work I've done and how much I've learned, but at the same time, it feels like I just moved in last weekend. The scary thing is that Christmas (and finals...OMG!) are practically right around the corner. I mean, white coat ceremony is only 6 weeks away! I miss everyone so much and thank you all for the thoughts and prayers! I might actually make it (through the semester!) after all...:)

LAYLA'S VISIT

Layla and I had such a great time! I'm so glad she came...it reminded me of some of the sanity I had before I started PA school. Did you know that there's a mall in Houston...well, a few, but I finally got to go to one of them! She came in on Friday evening, we had dinner, then went to see Secretariat at the movie theater. It was SO good! It made me want a pony even more, but Ryan was fully prepared for that reaction. I keep telling him that's what's on my Christmas/Birthday wish list, but he keeps telling me that I can get one after I graduate. Booooo. Anyways, Saturday, Ryan and I took Layla down to the island to show her around and we had lunch at one of the local restaurants. Then, Ryan headed to work and Layla and I headed out shopping! Can you say TROUBLE!? I've been deprived for months, so just letting me loose was probably not a good idea. We started at DSW in search of shoes, then headed to the Galleria, which turned into an adventure. I parked at the Dillards, then was informed that although I could see the Galleria from the parking lot, Dillards was in fact not really part of the mall. Who seriously designs stuff like that?! So we packed back up and tried again for the mall. Strike two...kinda. I ended up in the hotel portion, ran away from the valet guys, and made some sort of an illegal u-turn. And almost did a "Dukes of Hazzard" move as we got into the parking lot because I didn't see the dip in the driveway...oops, sorry Layla! Try again...we took quite a round-about way so we were on the right side of the road and finally found the parking garage where everyone was just sitting in line. I'm sorry, I wanted to PARK in the PARKing garage! Get out of my way!!! By the time we finally parked, I was tired and ready to go home. This is why I don't venture out much. We combed through the mall, which was disgustingly busy, but found nothing worth purchasing. That mall is NOT designed well by any means. But it's ok because Layla had her first experience in Tiffany's-every girl can use a little retail therapy in Tiffany's. Oh yeah, there were 2 quincinera's at the mall...lots off teenagers, 2 big ball gowns, and oh so many people everywhere! Arg. So then we headed (where else?!) to the Container Store because you can always find something worth buying there, then we met Ryan for dinner and had some yummy dessert at BJ's Brewhouse. She had to head back home on Sunday...sad face :(. Finding the airport and manuevering that was easier than the danged mall! So her visit was short, but I'm so glad she came and we had a lot of fun! It really helped rejuvenate me. Thanks Layla!

I.AM.SO.TIRED.

Wow, I cannot even begin to put into words just how exhausted I am. I have never been this tired before-not even when I was in my senior year of undergrad, working full time, and about to get married and move to Dallas. Not even then was I quite so exhausted. This past week was supposed to be relatively light, right? Only 2 assignments and 1 test can't be this bad, right?! Apparently I was wrong and Week 7 got completely out of hand. I'm pretty sure it was some extracurricular events that helped though...I was fighting the post office because they keep losing my mail or I get it, but it's opened. Not cool, post office, not cool! Also, I've been on the hunt for a tailor to get 2 dresses of mine and Ryan's suite fitted. Sounds easy, but it's just hard to hand off $600 worth of clothing and "hope" you picked the right people to take care of you. So I finally found a tailor that other people had some really good things to say about, but the lady is only there one day a week, and of course, I missed my day last week. Arg. So after that, my 1 test of the week didn't go nearly as well as I had hoped. I really thought I studied well and was prepared, but apparently I was wrong. Granted, I didn't bomb it or even fail it, but I was nonetheless NOT satisfied with how I did. I think this was the first time this semester I really felt that way. Oh yeah, that day, I only got like 5 hours of sleep because I was up studying. For those of you who know how much I love my sleep, you understand what a big deal that was. The last thing that really got my week messed up was anatomy lab. I'm still not sure why, but the smell has just been getting to me lately. It happened last week, too. It's not one of those things I can just avoid, I mean, I have to go! But it's no fun being royally nauseated for nearly 2 entire days of the week, and basically not wanting any meat products or fatty foods for the other 5. Poor Ryan has had to put up with my face turning green when he even talks about dinner and my new "pickiness" when it comes to food. Hopefully this will go away soon...what ever happened to acclimation or fatigue!? Come on nose, work with me! The light at the end of the tunnel for this week...The Original for lunch on Friday with the girls (of course!) and Layla's coming to visit! I'm so excited! I have to keep my eye on the positives and try to put this week behind me...

JUST IN CASE...

And just in case you were wondering how truly nerdy I am...

Check out this video on YouTube. A few keys during the video:
1. Bates is a textbook. Bates is THE textbook (besides Patho of course). Bates basically gives us the why and how to the physical exam which is our bread and butter. You live, eat, breathe Bates.
2. "Capture your kidney" is part of our physical exam requirements. Have you ever tried to do it? Not so easy!!
3. They're dead serious when they say that we have to get B's in order to pass. To put this in perspective, you have to have a 3.0 in all your classes to graduate. I totally understand why and it's entirely feasable, but GEEZ! Talk about a rough ride...
4. Sadly, nothing I saw in this video did I consider "out of the ordinary." You think they're being dramatic? Nope...this is a pretty fair representation. Haha!

ENJOY!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX7jme2b0N0
Parody of "Low" by Flo Rida from the Emory PA class of 2010 documenting their first year of Physician Assistant training. DISCLAIMER: This music video was written, recorded, filmed and produced by students and in no way reflects the opinions, ideas, or mission of Emory University, Emory University School of Medicine, or Emory University Physician Assistant program.

I FLASH-MOBBED!

Studying, caffeine, physical exams, blood draws, and flash mobs! Hah, yes, this is the life I lead these days. In honor of National PA week and National PA Day for 2010, all three classes of PAs at UTMB (c/o 2010, 2011, 2012) all got together and did a flash mob in the plaza at school during our lunch break one day. It was definitely a new experience, but it was fun! It was nice that all 3 classes got together-I don't think you see that at every school. That's because UTMB is awesome. Here's the proof...and if you can't see the pictures very well, go to the UTMB website and just search "flash mob," I promise, it will pull us up. UTMB doesn't get all too many flash mobs. I tried to get the pics bigger, but apparently I've lost touch with technology and how to perform fancy acts like that.

Rachel and I got the BEST job!

STRANGENESS

This week (Week 6) was really just weird, but I can't quite put my finger on why. Don't get me wrong, I was busy as usual, but it felt oddly slow! Assignments, studying, 2 tests, and a surgical society meeting. Plus I met with a few people outside of the normal studying time in order to prepare for the tests. And I was stressing because I hadn't received my physical exam grade and all the other groups had. Maybe it felt odd because most of the nights I actually got to go to sleep before midnight, who knows. As it turns out, I ended up getting my physical exam grade on Friday, and I was quite pleased with it. As for the 2 tests, I did well on one of them, maybe a little better than expected. The other one...I did just fine, but a few of the questions on the test caught me offguard somehow, so I didn't do as well as I would have liked. I ended up missing the ones I thought I'd miss, but I still wasn't necessarily pleased. The cruise ship was there as usual on Thursday, so that stirred up the usual resentment. And I was in a bit of a funk on Friday afternoon. I don't know, I was just in a foul mood. Cool stuff this week though-we got to remove the heart and lungs during lab then dissect them! Basically open heart surgery :). It gave me flashbacks of getting to go into lung transplants with Dr. Garcia...and I remembered how awesome I really thought it all was. That kinda made me smile, then the smell caught up with me. Maybe that's what put me in a bad mood. That and catching the stupid train like 3 times this week. Oh ya, and the post office keeps losing my mail. So see what I mean? I had a relatively normal week and nothing necessarily horrible happened, but I was just in a funk. Maybe it's a release that I've made it through these tests accompanied by the lack of sleep finally catching up to me and some little annoyances are finally starting to irritate me just enough. But this week is going to better...you want to know why?! Because LAYLA is coming to visit on Friday! Wa hoo! And I only have 1 test and 2 assignments due this week, and no meetings. The bad news though...I have to get my last HepB vaccine and my flu shot. BOOOO! I'll make sure to tell yall next week if I pass out or not. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't have to call the cardiac team from the ER again.

BEAUTIFUL PROGRESS

I actually had a moment this weekend, and I felt kinda, sorta, just a little accomplished! I made it through a few tests and other various assignments/presentations, and they haven't kicked me out yet! Haha Seriously, I've made it through week 5, so I'm 1/3 the way through my first semester. This week, I had a Clin Lab Methods exam, a presentation, met with the oncology society, Patho homework due, then had my Physical Diagnosis test. The exam, presentation, and meeting went well. We haven't gotten Patho grades back yet, and I know I went over the time limit in my physical exam test. Yall know me...I got distracted and was probably lolly-gagging with my patient. I don't imagine I'll have any big problems out of either of those 2 assessments, but it's just a matter of how badly my nerves got to me in my physical diagnosis. I can do the exam backwards and forwards on my friends or Ryan, but give me someone I don't know, and it's a whole new world. It will just take practice to get used to that feeling and to figure out how to portray my confidence...which is usually completely shot when I know the patient can feel my hands shaking uncontrollably when I take their blood pressure and pulses. EEK! Ya, so that's definitely a work in progress. So now, I actually get to catch up on some of my reading and homework assignments because this week I only have 2 tests, 1 other assignment due, and 1 meeting. Yippee! I didn't think I'd ever say this, but I'm actually kinda glad that we're so busy. Something would be wrong if I had free time, at least that's what Holly tells me :). Plus, it definitely makes time feel like it's just flying by. I mean, it's already October! It's hard to believe that my interview was only like 8 or 9 months ago. It's crazy how life can change so much in such little time. Wow, I'm pretty blessed, huh? Yup, I certainly am. On that note, goodnight everyone!

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY!

So as expected, there are good things about going to school in Galveston. Obviously, I'm basically on the beach! When the weather is nice...it's absolutely gorgeous! I'm on the island, so even when it's hot, there's usually a decent breeze. Everyone is pretty laid back, but we still get stuff done and we still do it well. Another good thing is that usually, you can get almost anywhere on the island in like 15-20 minutes, and you can walk most places when it's nice out. However, Galveston has it's "not so bright" moments. First, if it rains, the streets have a strong tendency to flood. One of the reasons I opted to purchase parking in the above-ground garage instead of taking my chances on the streets. If you'll recall, my little tank was almost swallowed by the UTSW underground garage floods about a year ago. I really don't need any re-inactment of that. Traffic is another issue-when there aren't any issues, everything moves really smoothly. But heaven forbid there's a problem. If a train comes, it takes an eternity to pass. Example-I was sitting at the railroad crossing today because the arms were down and the lights were on. There was no train. It took wasting WAY too much of my time for me to realize that I had 2 options because this was no longer OK: turn around and attempt (with fingers crossed...) that I could somehow go around the tracks or just go through the crossing like everyone else was doing. I'm not going to tell you which one I chose, but I will tell you that I didn't sit there and wait any longer. Also regarding traffic, if there's an accident on the big bridge, that's the ONLY reasonable way onto or off of the island! And this whole "laid back" thing is a double-edged sword. In the rare instance that I'm actually in a hurry...nobody cares. Not the drivers, not the lights, not the pedestrians crossing the street when the little orange hand is quite obvious. So as with any place to live, there are some really nice things and some kinda brutal things about Galveston. Now, here's the ugly:

Yes, that's a cruise ship. Now, don't get me wrong...I would LOVE to go on a cruise! And that it's so convenient is just awesome. But that's exactly the problem! Every week, usually on a Thursday, I have to drive by this stinkin thing and watch all the happy people go get on their pretty little cruise ship for a week-long vacation. I drive past them and just think that they're going to go enjoy new places, the sun, and just have a fantastic time. And I get to go sit in my classroom for the next 8 hours, then on Friday I'll spend half the day in a classroom and half the day in lab doing dissections. Thank goodness this doesn't usually occur on Mondays, or my friends might just have to drag me back off the cruise ship kicking and screaming. I'm only being mean because I'm jealous. I know those people go have a great time, and I can't wait to go sometime...probably after I graduate. I've tried to put it in this perspective: if I see the cruise ship once per week, that's one week (and one cruise ship) closer to when I can actually go join those people! One day...:)

GOOD TIMES

Just to add a little more chaos (in the absolute best of ways, of course!), I spent the weekend in San Antonio for Kelly's bachelorette party. We had SO much fun! I picked up Cat (Andrew's little sister) and we drove in from Houston. Ashley flew in to Austin, then she and Kelly drove in together. Amanda came all the way in from Laredo and just met us and Shannon (Kelly's little sister) in San Antonio. This was my first time to meet Cat or Amanda, so I was super excited to spend some time with them before Andrew and Kelly's wedding. We had lunch at Alamo Cafe (the best Mexican food in SA! Yum...queso...sorry, I got distracted!), got pedicures, then went to the Hotel Valencia on the Riverwalk. We got ready, then walked to dinner at Zuni Grill on the Riverwalk. Lisa and Anna (Kelly's coworkers in Austin) were so sweet to drive in and meet us for dinner, and we had a great time! Zuni was delicious...including the margaritas :) We went back to the hotel, threw Kelly a shower, played games and ate some yummy cake. Amanda was awesome enough to make Tshirts for us all with "Team Kelly" on them...they were super cute! The intention was to end the night with a chick-flick marathon, but we found E! and Keeping up with the Kardashians and The Soup were on, so needless to say, we never made it to the movies. We finally came back to life this morning around 11 and proceeded to go to breakfast at noon, then everyone parted ways. We had so much fun together! Congrats, Kelly...we love you so much! Here are some of the best quotes from the weekend:
1. Shannon: "...but you can call me Sunshine! And when the sun goes down, you can call me Starrrrr."
2. Kelly (as we are INSIDE the hotel): "Lauren, are we HERE yet?"
3. Ashley: "I almost flew fighter planes. Yup, they almost trusted me with multi-million dollar death machines. Then they figured out I was blind. So that's how I ended up in law school."
4. Me: "Well does it have wheels!?"
5. Amanda (to Cat): "Well, someone has come out of her shell! She's getting a little fiesty!!"
6. Cat: "NO! It's a mouse!" Followed by Shannon: "Whatever, it's some kind of rodent." They were talking about a stuffed animal. It got surprisingly heated! Haha
7. And of course via story..."TRAVIS!!!"

STILL KICKIN'...

Well hallelujiah! I'm still kickin over here! Last week was disgustingly stressful, but I made it. I did about as well as expected on my first test (Clin Med), and to my surprise, better than expected on my second test (Pathophys). And of course, this was only exacerbated by intermixed projects, homework, and working on my physical diagnosis which is an ongoing project. I nearly got beaten up by a few friends because I got 6 hours of sleep one night. To put this in perspective, they were upset because they only got 2-3 hours of sleep. Apparently I got to go to sleep somewhere around midnight, and that was unacceptable. We're a sad bunch, huh? It's amazing how you can learn to function on less sleep (and more caffeine) when it's just absolutely necessary. I used to be that person that "required" like 9 hours of sleep every night...PA school successfully shot that nasty little habit for me. I was reminiscing the other day...when I first got here, I couldn't wait for the next day! Oh yeah, I also had time for sleep and TV-yet another habit PA school has so kindly killed off for me. But the days seemed comparable to when I was working. Then, the pace picked up a bit. I was busy, but it was all manageable. Days (and weeks) started going by quicker and quicker...Now, I'm to the point where days literally come and go while I'm burried in my books. I can seriously look at my clock and have an "Oh crap, it's already tomorrow!" moment in the midst of studying. Sad thing is, I keep studying as if I hadn't noticed anything at all. Days are starting to blend together, and if it weren't for my planner and phone telling me where to go and what to do every day, I might just not get out of bed! I wouldn't know what to do once I got up! I can honestly say that this is officially the craziest thing I've ever done, but I can also say that it makes me happy :). Chaos and all, I'm still thrilled and so blessed to be here and be doing this. Here's to high hopes for week 5 in my sights...yup, week 5 is already here. Do you know what that means? Our semesters are 15 weeks long, so completing this week gets me 1/3 through my first semester! I'll keep up the hard work (and praying...) and yall keep up the prayers for me, please!

REALLY? WEEK 3 IS ALREADY GONE?

Ya, so Week 3 flew by! I can hardly believe that this week is going to be our first round of tests. EEK! To summarize what I've been through so far...Orientation was everything you'd expect it to be. Week 1 scared me. Week 2, I finally thought I was getting a groove. Week 3, everything I knew up til this point really just went out the window. I have no groove, I had no groove, and I don't expect to get one. This whole program will definitely by "fly by the seat of your pants" and a lesson in flexibility. The things I was scared of in Week 1 seem SO trivial now, and I have a whole new set of things to be scared of that will probably seem trivial in 3 more weeks. And oh ya, I think I've lost my marbles. If not, I'll be consistently losing them from here on out. Apparently that's normal and everyone else is also losing or has already lost their marbles...so my professors tell me. So this week I spent coming to terms with all that. I've entered this new state...I call it tranquil delirium. I'm here, I'm happy, and I'm certainly moving along at pace...but sometimes...well, ya just never know. :) Lindsay prefers the phrase "getting hit with a very informative freight train." It's great and we are really learning SO much, but it's still that getting hit with a freight train feeling.
My big accomplishment for the week was my first blood draw! Yay! It was my first attempt, and I nailed it! For those of you wondering, no, I did not have my usual adverse reaction to needles. Apparently that's only when I'm the one being stuck. I'm so excited and was so proud of myself! Thanks, Erik for being my pin-cushion!
I guess that's about it for now. If you don't hear from me in a week or so, you can most likely blame my Clin Med and Pathophys exams this week and my Physical Diagnosis exam check off. If you don't hear from me in 2 weeks or so, you may want to call Ryan and check in with him, as I probably won't be up for talking about how it went! Haha

A LITTLE CONFIDENCE BOOST

I was taking a mental break today and found this...check it out!
http://www.sahs.utmb.edu/pas/Prospective_Students/CLASS_STATS.pdf

The stats have been posted to the UTMB website for my class' admissions. It makes me feel pretty good that out of that many people, I'm actually here. It makes everything all seem SO worth it and really motivates me when I notice my ADD (and the pretty palm tree right outside my window) taking over my studying. Yay, it's like a fresh dose of focus and confidence!

Week 2

Wow, I can barely believe it, but Week two has already come and gone! And I must admit, it went much smoother than week one. Ryan came back into town Sunday, so I was very happy to get to spend some time with him. Monday was fantastic because we didn't have school for Labor Day. Yay, a day off school! AKA...another day to study. Tuesday was a little stressful because I had my medical terminology test. Everyone has to pass this test with at least an 80 or else you can be kicked out of the program. No pressure, right? Well, I got a 96, so I get to stay, yippee! I also got the rest of my financial aid, so I was just about ecstatic! Wednesday was mental overload as usual. I'm starting to accept the fact that Wednesdays, for one reason or another, are just pretty much brutal. Good thing Pappasitos is apparently aware of this and continues to have half-price fajitas ready for me and Ryan. Thursday was good, but a little stressing at the same time. I had a check-point that I had to pass regarding my physical exam procedures. It's quite a bit to remember, but I passed. Yay! I'd gone through it like a billion times at home (using Goosey and Mav as my test subjects) and run through it mentally, but I still got a little nervous knowing I was being graded this time. The bad news is that next week's check-point is all the stuff from this week, plus an entire new section. So it's twice as much to remember. That will be fun... Thursday, we also had a meeting about one of the clinics that the students have the opportunity to volunteer at. Yup, you read that right; I can go see patients now! Of course, I'll have a senior student that I get to shadow at first, and I'll always be under supervision-someone has to sign off on just about everything I do. But the main reason for my going to school to be a PA (patient care and interaction)...now I can go do it! I'm thrilled beyond words and can't wait to get started. I'll probably do my orientation and get started next week. They said this experience will also really help us with our classes because it puts all that text-book and lecture stuff into practice and it will start to make more sense. It also helps prepare us for clinical rotations next year. Plus, we get exposed to some of the top specialists in their fields, so we have the opportunity to learn SO much in addition to our classes. So that was all Thursday-definitely a GOOD day! Friday was the usual: class, study, lunch with Lindsay and Rachel, anatomy lab. Fridays are good days :) I've also started a tradition that I refuse to study on Fridays once I get home from school. First, anatomy lab is A LOT of information that I really need to let soak in. Second, it's the one time all week that I allow myself a little TV guilty pleasure. I'm dead serious when I say that I don't watch TV any other time during the week except maybe 30 minutes of news right before I go to sleep, so this is my little reward for making it through another week. I also keep candy in my desk drawer as a bribe to stay in one place and study, but that's another discussion! A few random things this week...my computer was at one point on a steady downward spiral into crap-ville and my phone decided that I couldn't use the earpiece, but instead that I needed to do everything on speaker phone. Both of these incidents were highly annoying and would have been expensive to fix, so I was quite displeased. After a stern talking-to, both the laptop and phone have decided to behave in order to evade my threats of demolition. I win!...for now at least.

HERE WE GO! WEEK 1

Week one was a series of ups and downs...
Monday went relatively smoothly. Got to the school in good time, parking was smooth, made it to the right classrooms, etc. I was extremely surprised (pleasantly) by the few classes we had that day-I really hate to say this in fear of what may lie ahead-but I was a bit underwhelmed. I left that day feeling like I had missed something. I expected to be nearly in tears, needing to study for 10 hours that evening, and feeling like I'd gotten myself in too deep.
Tuesday was a bit more like it. I felt challenged by some of the topics, but still not overwhelmed. I certainly needed to study, but it was all do-able. And to reflect on my previous post, at this point I STILL had not received any of my financial aid. Rent is due tomorrow. I think that was more stressful than the classes themselves.
Wednesday was bad. I was not happy. I threw myself a pity party. I wasn't to the point of crying just yet, but I definitely shut down. Thank goodness Wednesdays are half-price fajita night at Pappasitos, and you just can't leave Pappasitos without having had a margarita. I might have had no money, but at least the margarita provided some temporary sanity and made it bearable for a short period of time. It was especially nice to do something not school-focused.
Thursday was better. I finally got some of the financial aid money, and the classes didn't seem quite as overwhelming. I was still trying to figure out how I was going to study best and I still needed my routine, but it was at least coming in bits and pieces.
Friday was pretty good. Only 1 class and 1 lab, plus I got to relax and go to lunch with some friends. And I made it through anatomy lab! Yay! The smell was a bit intense, but I did better than I thought I'd do. As far as the smell goes, I changed clothes when I got out of lab before I drove home, changed again when I got home, worked out and ran for 45 minutes, showered with scented shampoo and body wash...and was still catching whiffs of the preservative solution that night. I'm going to have to find some mechanism to deal with that one...
Saturday I met with my study group for the first time. There is just so much material to cover, that if we tried to do it all individually and do it as thoroughly as we'd all like, we wouldn't sleep and we'd be eating apples while we shower like Holly. The point of the study group (as I learned...) is to help sort through the abundance of information and get it into some format that's easier to study, while still making sure you hit all the objectives. Getting it from paper to brain is of course still all on the individual, but this helps immensely. Plus, we're all as type-A as eachother, so it works out pretty well. I left that meeting really feeling like this might all be possible! Holy crap, did I really just have that realization!? That meeting made the weekend (a 3-day weekend thanks to Labor Day, I might add!) much less stressful. I honestly think I was way more productive than I'd have been without that meeting-I'd have simply been overwhelmed.
So the good news is...I made it through week one and I'm fairly optimistic! Yay! I don't really have any bad news about that week, but the ugly news is that it's only week one of fifteen. Oh well, one week at a time. :)

ORIENTATION WEEK

So the first week, yes this was an entire week long, was all orientation. It started on Saturday at 8 AM at Moody Gardens here on the island, and Ryan got to come with me! I'm still not sure he was all too pleased with that. It was orientation for the School of Health Professions, School of Nursing, and School of medicine. So all those entering students with their parents or significant others-quite a crowd! It's always comforting to walk into a room of like 800 people and know that you don't know a single person besides the one you came with. Can we say intimidating?! I have to admit that by the end of the day, I had found another familiar face. It was someone that went to Concordia with me back in 2007. I think we were both relieved to see eachother if for nothing else, because it was a familiar face! So we listened to a bunch of people from different areas of expertise, then the students went to a community fair while the parents/spouses went to a little meeting of their own with some of the faculty. The community fair was pretty interesting-different organizations from the school, local restaurants, and other "local" businesses like banks, churches, etc. The best part was that everyone was giving away free stuff! Goodness knows that regardless of how useless it probably is, if it's free, I need it. I'm such a sucker. So after that, the parents/spouses got to leave, and the students had lunch and listened to more speakers. After that, they had a pretty useful session where the incoming students got to have some peer-to-peer time with the students in the class ahead of us from our particular program-no faculty, no family, etc. Just newbie student to experienced student so we could ask just about anything we wanted to and get an honest answer. Good idea, UTMB, good idea. Anyways, the rest of the day was ice-breaker activities with students from other programs...they made it decently fun, but I haven't seen any of those people since, so I'm not really sure why we didn't do that activity with people from our own program. I know they'd love me to say that I have "synergy" and am always interacting with people from other programs, but I'm still getting to know all the new peeps in my OWN program! It's kinda overload to be trying to meet everyone here on campus... Anyways, then spouses were allowed back and we had dinner and casino night. I came home exhausted and with more paperwork then I knew what to do with...and a little overwhelmed to say the least. We had Sunday off-I guess to absorb and readjust...it's either that or to go home and have a panic attack...still not sure which one. Monday was a little better because we were on campus and I was with the School of Health Professions, so I could finally start to see some familiar faces. More speakers, ID photos, etc. Tuesday and Wednesday were more speakers and some sessions specifically for PA's. Those days, I also managed to come to the realization that I was about the only one who had not received any of my financial aid. Oh ya, and I needed to get all of my equipment and books-about $1500 worth-by Thursday. That was a big HOLY CRAP moment! Needless to say, I spent a few hours in the financial aid office having panic attacks, but they really helped me out and we got it situated. One of the highlights of this week was a little party at the school called Plazapalooza. Everyone gets to come-all classes from all the schools, and many of the married students brought their spouses, too. They had dinner, a mechanical bull, rock climbing wall, games...it was pretty fun! It was also nice to get to socialize with some people outside of the classroom/lecture setting. The best part-I survived the "first week" and managed to get all my supplies in line. Ya hoo! I call that mission accomplished. That WAS the hard part, right? HAHAHA

WE MADE IT!

In classic "Lauren" fasion (I love a little chaos every now and then), we got moved into our apartment on a Thursday evening, and started orientation on Saturday. Wa hoo! Told yall this would be an adventure. And yes, Ryan was supposed to be joining me at orientation, so it's not like I could go to school and he could stay back and unpack. We hired movers to unload the moving truck, which was a first for us-we usually hire family and friends! :) The guys were awesome! Those of you that have helped us move in the past will be especially amazed by this-they had the entire truck unloaded and everything upstairs in 45 minutes. I was speechless-another first.
The drive down here was pretty interesting as well. We loaded the moving truck on Wednesday and decided to just wait and drive the next day. So Ryan drove the big moving truck towing my SUV (a sight in and of itself) for the 5+ hour-long trip through downtown Houston. We decided to tow my car instead of try to drive it because it is 11 years old with 160,000 miles on it...we were afraid that when it saw we were going to Houston, it might just roll over and die. I drove Ryan's truck with Mav, Goose, and Tig. Tig hates car rides and proceeds to meow the entire time-about once every 5 seconds. He kinda sounds like those toys that kids often play with-it's a tube and if you tip it one way, it makes a noise going one way on the music scale (almost an extended "whoop" noise), and if you tip it the other way, the noise goes the other way on the music scale. Well, whether you know what I'm talking about or not, please trust me that it's extremely annoying! Then, the cat starts thrashing around in his crate. The dogs have settled down in the backseat, but the cat is just going nuts in his crate in the front seat, and I had no earthly idea why. He's been on car rides before and didn't attack his crate! Oh, that was another thing, if I tried to put my hand in his crate to soothe him a little, he'd bite me. Jerk. Well come to find out, he needed to poop. And he did. In his crate. We still had 4 hours of driving ahead of us, and my crapped-on cat is sitting in the front seat with me. Isn't that just precious? So I immediately pull off at the next exit and into a Dairy Queen so I can brainstorm on how to get my crapped-on 20-pound cat out of his dog crate without letting him out of the truck and without getting poo on myself, the truck, or either of the dogs who think this is the most interesting thing they've ever seen. My plan of attack was to pull the crate, cat, and all out of the truck and put it all on the ground right next to the truck with the door open, open the crate real quickly, grab the cat in the cleanest spot possible, toss him in the truck, and shut the door real quick. Don't laugh...it made sense at the time. Surprisingly, it worked! And the cat wasn't even a mess at all. However...yall KNOW there had to be another part to that...while I was trying to get the cat out of the crate, my 90-pound Maverick leaps out of the back seat, out of the truck, and right OVER me to escape the truck. Now, my dog is running around the DQ parking lot just steps away from the highway. FREAK OUT TIME! That was one of the few times I used my "mom" voice, heard it, and didn't care. "Maverick Miller, if you don't get your...back in this truck right now!..." Sad day-I'm getting old. But hey, it worked. He came back and jumped right back in the truck with that "I'm sorry, mom..." look on his face and his tail tucked between his legs. Ok, so we are all back in the truck (except the crapped-on crate which got to take a joy ride in the bed of the truck for the rest of the trip), and the cat apparently got his wish to ride like the pups-not in a crate. It was circus.
The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful until we got into Houston and my GPS took me some stupid round-about way to get to the apartment. I'm sorry, I thought this was simple...exit the highway, turnleft, apartment complex on the left. NOPE. We sure did exit and turn left-at the wrong road, followed by a right, followed by missing my next right, some street in an alley of some sort, another right and my GPS told me I had "arrived" at some intersection-no houses, no apartment. Grrreeat...but nonetheless, we all made it safely, and we love the new apartment. I'll get some pics loaded once we finish decorating it.

TEARFUL GOOD-BYES

Having to tell my boss that I'd be leaving my job to go back to school was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do...I honestly think following through with it was even harder. I loved my job, my coworkers, and my patients, but Christal and I both knew that this is what I needed to do. God wouldn't have given me this awesome opportunity otherwise. Being a PA is of course what I so badly wanted, but having to leave was extremely difficult...and tearful to say the least. I didn't take any pics of my last day (probably because I couldn't stop crying-thanks Tisha!), but here are some of the pics from when we went out to celebrate.

The whole gang: Christal, Sheran, Micha, Lucy, Me, Dee, Portia, Shenique, and Jasso.

Me with my Tisha. I love her!

Tisha, Me, and Shenique

Tisha, Jasso, and Me

Jasso, Tisha, Sheran and Me

Me with Portia

Me and MICHA, MICHA, MEEEECHA!

I love all these girls and am going to miss them more than words can express.

HOW IT ALL STARTED

So as many of you know by now, I was accepted into PA (Physician Assistant) school at UTMB in Galveston-YAY! I was accepted after my interview in January 2010 and started school in August 2010. Since I couldn't bring all of you with me, I hope this blog will help you keep up with what all I'm up to these days. Hopefully you'll also get a laugh out of some of the stories...goodness knows I have a knack for getting myself into some interesting situations. Holy Guacamole, Shennanigans, and a whole lot more to come! This is definitely going to be an adventure...:)