A brief summary of the Spring semester: It went pretty well. The workload was a bit different than the fall, mostly just because of the classes I was assigned to TA for. Between classes, TA office hours, lab testing, and shopping for and helping with labs, I felt like I was on campus all.the.time. Definitely a lesson in time management. I was fortunate enough to be excused from one of our required classes -- Food Service Management -- because I had taken the classes at CSB and had quite a bit of work experience (camp, the hospital) in that area already. I was the TA for that class, and I became more and more thankful that I didn't have to take it as the semester went on. Lots of busy work involved, to say the least. I also took the chance to take an elective -- Pediatric Nutrition -- which I enjoyed thoroughly. It was nice to have a class focused on one specific population.
I was also a TA for NUTR 4440, a senior level undergraduate class on Advanced Human Nutrition. The students in this class were the most entertaining (and also frustrating) part of my semester. I was constantly amazed at the excuses they came up with week to week. So many of them seemed to think we owed them something; like they were entitled to a good grade without doing the work necessary. Some were so irresponsible and pulled crap that I would have never, ever gotten away with in undergrad. It's like, you're in a freaking senior level class in college and you're expecting me to give you allow you to re-do an assignment for full credit after you turned in a sloppy, incorrectly done assignment five minutes before the deadline without ever emailing me with questions regarding the (very clearly written) directions and seemingly ignoring the five explanation/reminder emails sent out the week of the due date? That's the kind of crap I was dealing with all semester long. Really makes you wonder just how easy it is to get a bachelors degree these days.
I was also lucky enough to be given a TA position for this summer as well. Definitely nice having the extra few dollars, although its obviously made my summer a bit busier. I was assigned to a sophomore/junior-ish level class, a clinical nutrition class designed for pre-nursing majors. It's almost been worse than the spring semester! I was definitely a bit frustrated when their first assignment was due -- seriously half of the class didn't turn in one part of the assignment and I have no idea how they didn't know it was required. The professor and I each emailed them all and sent out multiple announcements in the two weeks leading up to the due date, not to mention it was very clearly stated in the assignment directions.
These classes certainly fulfill my need for drama in my life.
I do have to say, though, that the majority of the students were not this way; it's just that those students do what they're supposed to do, when they're supposed to do it and therefore don't stick out the way the others do, ha.
Dusty came out to visit during my week off at the beginning of May. To have almost eleven full days to spend together with (almost) no commitments in Utah?! Amazing. He got to come out early enough to come to our end-of-the-year banquet and met all of my wonderful classmates and most of my professors. We went out to eat with Kellie (my roommate) and Sina (her boyfriend) and had a pizza/game night with my friend Brittney and her boyfriend. The highlight, though, was the trip we took down to Zion National Park in southern Utah, about a five-hour drive away. We spent a couple nights camping in the park and hiked during the day. I may have a new favorite park.
 |
| dinner! |
I am "stuck" in SLC for the summer to do our "Supervised Practice" rotations -- 7 weeks of clinical, 4 weeks of management/food service, and 4 weeks of community. It's so strange not being at camp. First time in three years. Or within a two minute walk or drive of a lake to jump in when it's unbearably hot. I actually just finished up my seven weeks of clinical last Friday at the children's hospital here -- Primary Children's Medical Center -- which is just up the hill from campus, a 10 minute train ride away from my apartment. Before starting the program, I was absolutely convinced that I was not going to enjoy clinical dietetics. My interests definitely lie more in the area of community, especially working with actual food (and gardening!) and doing food-based nutrition education with various populations.
However, I thoroughly enjoyed my internship at the hospital. I liked working with the health care team as well as the critical thinking and calculations involved. I learned a ton, too. My favorite floor was the ICS (immunocompromised service) unit, which was mostly kids with cancer. I also enjoyed the two weeks I spent on the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit) and saw lots of interesting cases there. PCMC is the children's hospital for Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, and Montana so they get some of the most critically ill kids and lots of rare, unusual diseases and disorders. I think I could definitely handle working at a children's hospital when I'm done with school.
Tomorrow I start my management/food service rotation with the food service administrative dietitians at PCMC. I'll be there for four weeks and then I will spend four weeks at a WIC clinic for my community rotation.
I've only been able to get home twice since Christmas -- for my spring break back at the very beginning of March and just last weekend for Bud & Lacey Lou's WEDDING. I went over three months without being home or seeing my parents or sister or brother, which is by far the longest I've ever gone. Dusty also didn't get to come out as often as the fall because of busy season at work. It's been tough to say the least, especially the week following a trip home.
The wedding last weekend was so nice. Everything went off without a hitch, as far as I know. So many people! It was disappointing not getting to spend as much time with people as I would have liked, but amazing to see everyone in one trip. And not have to go anywhere. Usually I go home and stress myself to no end trying to see everyone I possible can, running back and forth to the cities, St. Cloud, etc. Essentially I just wear myself out to the point of not being able to enjoy what is supposed to be a relaxing vacation at home.
Pictures here, on the Mums Photography Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Mums.Photography
I have some pretty exciting news (at least for me) regarding the rest of my internship hours and my masters project. But, honestly, I'm getting sick of writing and will just skip talking about that for now. The biggest news is that I will almost surely be done in May of next spring rather than August as originally planned!! (Although, it does make me a bit sad at the same time -- I really like SLC and would love to stay here if the most important people in my life weren't back home...blah)
