The school year was hard, full of idiots, administration problems, and other stuff. First off, to get cleared for working all students in Windsor (not just my school though i.e. Western) had to get cleared through a company called Paramed. We had to gather easily over 20 pages of documents including TB testing, immunization forms, police clearances, and other formalities without any real help or direction. This left many of my first year classmates disoriented and pissed off as missing documents were common among many, leaving them to fail to be cleared. The real thing that gets people going is that to schedule another appointment to get cleared, it costs 25 buckaroos. Fortunately I passed the first time around so I was merely watching my classmates in agony.
Frosh week. A week of faculties banging each other both literally and figuratively. Showing off their unofficial motto's and their pride. As a "murse" (male nurse) I was a minority, though a bigger minority then previous years consisting of 20/150 students as male. Still, because of murses are a minority the nurses were still being paraded by the engineers with "WE LOVE NURSES! WHOO HAA WHOO-WHOO HA!" I responded with four words. Where are the "femgineers (female engineers)?"
Now onto the actual school year curriculum. Nursing in Windsor has a 100% course load which means it consists of 5 courses per semester and 20+ hours of lectures a week, although 6 hours is devoted to clinical placements in first year. It's not as hard as 1st year engineering, because their course work is hell on earth mode, but it's more difficult than Human Kinetics by far! Like their schedule is empty. Their exam period is relaxing. The students in the program openly admit it and show it off to us in the face.
Exam period was hell as both semesters consisted of 6 and 5 final exams in 1st and 2nd semester respectively. The midterms were just as brutal which flat out doubles those numbers. The most brutal of which are probably the OSCEs. I don't know what they stand for but it's basically testing students in simulated environments in a non-scripted manner. Anything can go wrong i.e. your die. Yes, I am joking.
Volunteer work in the Emergency Response Team (ERT) was a highly rewarding experience. It taught me you can always sleep more and that life can be lost in an instant. Nuff said. Though my best memory was working from 10 PM to 6 AM with no sleep and then writing a final exam at 7:30 AM and getting 93% on it.
My clinical placement at a Long Term Care facility was equally rewarding in its own sense. Taking care of our elders in an interpersonal way has taught me that you gotta YOLO (you only live once), but do it responsibly. This video speaks for itself.
Not only should you be healthy, you also have to live life to its fullest and don't throw your aspirations and dreams away. Life is as beautiful and fragile as a stained glass window.
Participating in the Nursing Games was also fun, got to have a little pride in my own school and a little appreciation to my future fellow coworkers. My last post has more details. http://ramblingsofanursingstudent.blogspot.ca/2013/03/a-good-year-at-nursing-games.html
Besides my boring summer course that's pretty much it.
Now looking forward...
Second year is going to be full of new stresses and surprises. I'm going to be placed on the 4th floor of Western Regional Hospital in Windsor. Which means I get to deal with medical patients! I would've opted for trauma, but ERT lets me see enough of that! Also shifts are now extended from 6 to 10 hours long.
Also 2nd year runs from September 2013 to mid-June 2014. That's 1 1/2 months longer! NOOOOOO!
In addition to that I am joining the Canadian Naval Reserves, hopefully as an Naval Combat Information's Operator (NCIOP). It seems like a radical step away from nursing, but I've considered serving Canada ever since I was a young boy. Taking a lesson from my elders I am going to YOLO. My parents are not to happy about it, but if there's one good thing about my decision it's that I've been getting physically fit. If everything works out then I'll ship out to basic training in July 2014 for 2 months. Summer 2014 will be practically non-existent for me as school ends in June 2014 :(.
Originally I wanted to be a medical technician for the 23rd field ambulance but there are no positions available. The only positions available was supply technician (I think). The Army unit in Windsor had only Infantry (soldier) and Armoured Reconnaissance (tank guy I think). There was no Air Force unit in Windsor either. Being highly discouraged, one of my class mates introduced the Navy back to my life. I honestly almost forgot about its existence. Anyways they had a career I wanted and now I'll be living the dream in Summers/Weekends. To be honest my dream is to be Infantry, but I want to know what military life is like and to be a little older (so that I'm less naive) before I go into the Combat Arms.
I'm also thinking about starting a Vlog for my military experiences to document before and after basic training; and before and after deployments (either on ship during the summer) or volunteering to go in Land Based missions such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, and etc. Anyways, logging off for now.
Next blog, stay tuned for more about my emotions, training, hopes, and reasons for joining Canada's Navy.
Thank you for reading. Good night and good luck.
Kevin La.
Participating in the Nursing Games was also fun, got to have a little pride in my own school and a little appreciation to my future fellow coworkers. My last post has more details. http://ramblingsofanursingstudent.blogspot.ca/2013/03/a-good-year-at-nursing-games.html
Besides my boring summer course that's pretty much it.
Now looking forward...
Second year is going to be full of new stresses and surprises. I'm going to be placed on the 4th floor of Western Regional Hospital in Windsor. Which means I get to deal with medical patients! I would've opted for trauma, but ERT lets me see enough of that! Also shifts are now extended from 6 to 10 hours long.
Also 2nd year runs from September 2013 to mid-June 2014. That's 1 1/2 months longer! NOOOOOO!
In addition to that I am joining the Canadian Naval Reserves, hopefully as an Naval Combat Information's Operator (NCIOP). It seems like a radical step away from nursing, but I've considered serving Canada ever since I was a young boy. Taking a lesson from my elders I am going to YOLO. My parents are not to happy about it, but if there's one good thing about my decision it's that I've been getting physically fit. If everything works out then I'll ship out to basic training in July 2014 for 2 months. Summer 2014 will be practically non-existent for me as school ends in June 2014 :(.
Originally I wanted to be a medical technician for the 23rd field ambulance but there are no positions available. The only positions available was supply technician (I think). The Army unit in Windsor had only Infantry (soldier) and Armoured Reconnaissance (tank guy I think). There was no Air Force unit in Windsor either. Being highly discouraged, one of my class mates introduced the Navy back to my life. I honestly almost forgot about its existence. Anyways they had a career I wanted and now I'll be living the dream in Summers/Weekends. To be honest my dream is to be Infantry, but I want to know what military life is like and to be a little older (so that I'm less naive) before I go into the Combat Arms.
I'm also thinking about starting a Vlog for my military experiences to document before and after basic training; and before and after deployments (either on ship during the summer) or volunteering to go in Land Based missions such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, and etc. Anyways, logging off for now.
Next blog, stay tuned for more about my emotions, training, hopes, and reasons for joining Canada's Navy.
Thank you for reading. Good night and good luck.
Kevin La.
