Orientation is a WRAP!

After three days of orientation we are officially ready to start school.  We were inundated with tons of information, went on a tour of the school and got to meet some great students/professors/faculty. 

On the first morning we were greeted by Dean Hill and she definitely got us excited about what we were about to start.  "The world is our plate" she explained and with our degree and experience in and out of the classroom we will be able to take on the world after we graduate the program. 

One of the things I a most excited about is getting involved with SOURCE, the Student Outreach Resource Center, which places students from the nursing, medical and public health schools with community agencies who are interested in service learning and community based experiences in the community.  This is a great way to combine the skills/knowledge I picked up in undergrad and grad school and combine it with my new nursing skills/knowledge (and I can get a Federal Work Study job through them too). 

One of the things we were reminded of was the history of the school, as well as the legacy we are about to join.  While it is a little daunting, I am definitely excited to start this journey and see where I will be at the end of three years. 

Quick breakdown of the class:

• 161 students from 33 different states
• There are 9 people who have recently wrapped up their Peace Corps Service
• 7% male which is above the national average of male nurses (2-3% of the workforce) 
• The majority of students graduated with a Liberal Arts degree (me included!!)

This weekend will hopefully be a mix of exploring and studying - yup tons of reading before I have even stepped into a classroom, but c'est la vie. 

Joys of Summer

Sure there are tons of great things about the summer ... longer days, no coats, BBQ's, fireworks.  One of my favorite things would have to be farmers markets and then going home to make dinner with whatever I found that morning.  Tonight's recipe ... Tabbouleh

Ingredients:

• 1 cup bulghur wheat (usually with the dry bulk items)
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 2 lemons, squeezed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic minced
• 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
• 1 cup chopped parsley (I abhor parsley so I leave it out)
• 3 cucumbers, seeded and diced
• 2 cups tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1-2 sweet peppers, medium diced
• hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium diced
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Salt to taste 

Place the bulghur wheat in a large bowl, add the water, lemon juice, olive oil and two large pinches of salt.  Stir together and let sit until almost all the liquid is soaked up.

Add all the other ingredients and stir.  Check to see if more salt is needed.

Let the Tabbouleh sit for a couple of hours in the fridge (I like over night best). 

Almost Saved a Life

1 Pint of Blood Can Save Up to 3 Lives

Every 56 days or so I will find the nearest Red Cross blood bank/blood drive and give a pint of blood.  Unfortunately after a trip to the Dominican Republic I was benched for a year due to the possibility of contracting malaria.  When I was able to donate again, I decided to postpone it due to my bike trip; I was going to need all the red blood cells I could get to pedal over 4000 miles to the West Coast. 

Today I headed out to a local drive and after being checked in I got a new phlebotomist.  Needless to say my needle stick missed the first time and after several minutes my vein had hardened before I could donate my full pint of blood.  Now dear reader don't let this scare you off.  Of all my donations, this was the first bad experience I have had - if your person does not look too confident you can always ask for someone else. 

Here are some fun facts:

• Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood
• More than 44,000 blood donations are needed every day
• The number of blood donations collected in the U.S. in a year: 16 million (2006)
• Share of the U.S. population eligible to give blood: Less than 38 percent

Ready to take the plunge and get stuck?  Check out the American Association of Blood Banks website to find a place to donate near you.

Getting Ready to Fly with Some Blue Jays

With orientation in a little over 34 hours, I have been trying to get lots of last minute things together.  Today's sojourn was downtown to the medical bookstore to pick up some books I could not find online and get my scrubs.  Trying everything on definitely made everything real - maybe a little too real.  Pardon the bad Craigslist/online dating picture, but none of the roommates were home to capture the outfit.

Best part about clinical uniform is that I get to wear a pair of Dansko clogs.  You should read this as uniform shoes which feel like you are walking on clouds.  The JHU uniform handbook reminds me of the one we got in upper school describing what exactly we can and cannot wear.  Nothing too out of the ordinary.  I will have to wait to dye my hair blue until after I have graduated - too bad. 

In some of my downtime, I have been getting some studying done ... 

lots of fun math bringing me back to my Algebra days

The Never Ending Quest

As my friends in DC will attest, I am always on a never ending quest for a great cup of coffee.  It took me two years to find my favorite, secret coffee shop and then a few months later it became the talk of the town; being voted the best independent coffee shop did not help matters. 

Usually my preppy, monogrammed self finds an uber hipster, fixie bike crowd; despite the strange looks I get while waiting online, nothing will stand between me and some good joe.  

After some googling and trial and error I think I have found my place, Artifact Coffee.  Despite it having just opened this summer, the place is usually packed.  While I would love to make it my regular study spot, it is a bit far to be lugging books for class so I will tuck this one away for light reading days. 

32nd Street Farmers Market

One of the best things about weekends, besides sleeping in and grabbing coffee at my favorite shop, are farmers markets.  Every Saturday everyone from the 'hood grabs their reusable bags and heads over to the 32nd Street Farmers Market.

This one is HUGE compared to the 10 stall markets I would frequent in DC and PGH.  

I still have some of my Food Stamp money left over from my AmeriCorps term of service which I can use here.  The best part was once I had collected my tokens I was given $10 in fruit/vegetable incentive coins!  AMAZING!!

While I missed most of the berry season because we were on the road, there were some great tomatoes and cucumbers so I am making TONS of taboule when I get home.

Bikes, Bikes Everywhere

In the local architecture

Bike racks 

Bike trails around town, between the local colleges and out of the city

On the local drinkware (let me know if you want one - I picked up a red pint glass) 

There are even a bunch of green bike lanes downtown

While I am not quite back in the swing of urban cycling, living near campus and on a major North/South road has helped.