Nursing School: Week One

Where do I begin? Upon arriving in the school basement on Tuesday, my stomach began to calm itself down; the butterflies were a-raging as my husband drove me to class that morning. I didn’t know what to expect, I didn’t know how many people would be in the program, I wasn’t sure which books to buy – you know, the usual student jitters. I was pleasantly surprised to note that the professors treated us as adults. Finally I wasn’t spoken to in a tone of voice as comparable to my Mom’s when she wanted me to wear sunscreen as a child in sunny Florida. So I soon exhibited relaxation and calm in this new environment, anxiety replaced by excitement.
I was thrilled to see the comparison chart on medicine and nursing in Thursday’s lecture – I was literally choosing between the two about a year ago and I am sure I’ve made the right decision now. I will forever hold that comparison chart in my head to remind me why I have decided that nursing is the right profession for me. (Cure vs. care, education on how to treat the illness vs. education on how to maintain overall health, etc.) And I’m sure I’ll have a couple other reasons by the end of this program.
The amount of preparation and work going into this course will be extensive, no doubt, but I sat my support system (my husband and two cats) down and explained what I needed in order to succeed in the program for the next 15 months, and he is very supportive and wonderful (and so are the kitties). I am relieved to have such a great support system, and I hope I can be supportive of my fellow classmates as well. As I sat in the orientation on Tuesday, the current students’ advice helped me tremendously, though I was distracted by one woman’s amazingly rich Russian accent. How cool! I kind of went off into my own little world thinking about Russia and some friends who are teaching English over there, but I was slowly brought back to reality when her husband got up and spoke about being the spouse of an AE student. I’m glad to have heard his thoughts on the matter.
All in all, I had a pretty good first week. I now know, thanks to the Blackboard system, exactly what to expect, I found out how many people were in the program, and I bought my books online and saved a couple bucks. I’m not nervous anymore, just ready to get started.