End of School Year Rewind

Since Traci recently reminded me that I haven't posted in quite some time I decided that I would do a couple recap posts of what I've been up to lately. I really don't have an excuse of why I haven't blogged. I mainly just forgot about it.

The end of the school year was full of a lot of time spent with friends, which was really nice.

For relays weekend it was great to spend time with friends who came back to Drake and just seeing people that I haven't seen around Drake in awhile. Intervarsity sponsored a free taxi service and so Courtney and I helped out by passing out cards on Thursday night at one of the bars. We had some nice conversations with people and all the students were really excited and appreciative of the free taxi service and the ability to get home safely. The actual relay events were also a lot of fun and the weather was really nice so that is always a plus.  I also went along with some friends to all 4 campus bars, which was something that Courtney, Erin, and I have been talking about for the past year. We finally did it and had fun. I also ran my first (and probably only) half marathon on the Sunday of relays.

I also spent quite a bit of time with the ladies from yellow house. We did a lot of random hanging out those last few weeks of school, which was a good time. I'm really glad that these girls came into my laugh during pharmacy school because otherwise these last couple of years would have been quite a bit worse.

Some other highlights of the end of the school year included:

• VEISHEA: introduced Courtney to the celebration and also hung out with Isaac, Carina, and some of their friends
• Had my cousins bridal shower in the great town of Castana
• Courtney's parents were in town and we went to the Flying Mango (a restaurant where we have wanted to eat at since freshman year)
• Mother's Day picnic with my family and grandparents
• Pinning ceremony: all the of the pharmacy students got a pin and nametag before we went to go on rotations
• P3 party bus: after our last final most of our class went together on a party bus
• Finished my classes and took my finals now I'm done with classes forever

I think those are the only big things that happened in the last few weeks of school or at least what I can really remember. It's crazy to me that the school year ended 4 weeks ago and that I won't be in school anymore. It still hasn't fully sunk in to me yet. Here are some pictures from the end of the school year events:

Courtney and I at the parade

Siblings at the parade

Erin, Laura, and Nikki downtown

Some of the members of the old FYS reunited downtown

Chris and I at the relays

Pharmacy girls during relays

Erin, Courtney, Nikki and I at the library

Friends after the half

Family after the half

Grandma and me

Chris and me

At Flying Mango

With the mothers

With the grandparents

Family

Party bus

Pinning Ceremony

The start of many lasts...

I've been doing quite a bit of reflecting lately with friends as it begins to hit us that this really is the end of our college career in the classroom. As pharmacy students we've had a rather long period of saying goodbye to Drake and our friends.

I feel like I had a lot of "lasts" last year with the end of being a DG collegian such as: last formal, last night living in DG, last time being a student with many of my friends, last chapter, etc. As I said goodbye to a lot of my friends when they graduated it seemed like I would be at Drake forever. I mean I still don't graduate until May 2014 (which still seems like a long time from now), but now I'm realizing the year went rather quickly. It's still very strange to walk on campus and see people wearing letters that I don't know, or to walk across campus and feel really old since I don't recognize the majority of the student body anymore.

Now it's just starting to sink in that this really is my last week of classes. I will never again be a student going to class everyday, sitting in lectures, or going to labs (unless I decide to go back to school which is very unlikely). I won't be seeing the same group of students that I've been in class with pretty much everyday for the past 5 years.

Courtney and I were talking about all of this tonight at her house and just reflecting on our friendship and also just our Drake experience. I told her that I really don't think it'll feel real that I'm not a student until everyone is on rotations doing their thing and we don't see each other in class everyday. I was also joking/serious that it won't feel like it is really different until October when she's not in Des Moines with me anymore and we can't just call each other to hang out on the spot anymore.

It's also just strange to reflect back on these past 5 years at Drake. When people tell you it goes by fast so enjoy every minute you really don't believe them. Especially when you're having a bad week or are super busy with tests/projects/papers/etc it seems like this college experience will never end. But now I see how fast it really goes by. It seems like just yesterday sometimes when I was moving in freshman year and didn't know anyone. Now I really feel like Drake is my home and I can usually walk anywhere and see at least 1 person that I know (or at least recognize).

I also don't really think that I've changed that much since I was a freshman at Drake. I feel like the same person, but then when I reflect back on the past 5 years I see how much I've changed and grown. This has been a time for me to really figure out who I am and what I believe in. It really has been a time of me just being able to live life with people who have different beliefs, backgrounds, etc. and really learn from them and try and understand them better. College has really taught me so much about who I am and I think I'll be leaving Drake a much more confident person and someone who is much more sure of themselves. Not that I have things figured out by any means, but I at least am on my way and am much more comfortable with who I am.

So here's the a week of many more lasts: the last day of Monday classes, Tuesday classes, etc., the last time having a test in college, the last time sitting next to the people who have been there for me these past 5 years, the last....

I'm so thankful for my "Drake Experience" and all of the people who have been a part of it. For all of the times I hated pharmacy school (and I'm sure they'll be many more in these next couple weeks) I'm very thankful for the chance to be a pharmacy student at Drake. I'm also very excited/nervous to start my first rotation in a couple weeks and to learn so much more about what being a pharmacist really is about.

Thanks for reading through my mess of reflections and hopefully some of it made sense. Right now I feel like my brain is just a jumble of emotions/thoughts/etc. with studying and preparing for rotations that I'm not sure if it really makes any sense.

Rotations

So today our rotation sites were released to us. We knew it was coming, but we weren't sure exactly when. Part way through therapeutics someone in a group behind me said they were up so of course everyone in my group starting logging into the site and seeing where we were assigned. This excitement of course threw off everyones focus and no one was really listening to what the prof was saying. She realized this and then allowed us each to look at the sites for 3 minutes and told us to focus for the rest of the class period. This helped a little, but really for the rest of the day I wasn't that focused on what either of my professors were saying.

Finding out where I will be spending my next year and where I will be able to put the last 5 years of schooling into practice before going off into the "real" world where I don't have a pharmacist watching what I'm doing was both exciting and scary. It's so crazy to think that in 3 months I'll be done with classes and starting rotations. It honestly seemed like this day would never come so now that it's here it's crazy! I am pretty happy with my sites, I would have liked to have been out of Des Moines for a few more, but overall I think they will all be great and I will get a lot of different experiences.

Do you like how I've written so much about them without actually saying where they are? Well I'll tell you now so you'll know where to find me next year and since I can't post it on facebook since I'm off that right now.

1st block: Des Moines Central Correctional Pharmacy
2nd and 3rd block: India
4th block: Primary Health Care in Des Moines
5th block: Mercy in Des Moines for counseling/discharge
6th block: Broadlawns for a psych rotation in Des Moines
7th block: vacation
8th block: Alaska
9th block: Mercy in Sioux City for my general hospital
10th block: Broadlawns for my acute care

First Week of Classes

On Monday my last semester of college classes started. It's crazy to think that this is the last semester of classes and then I start rotations in May for 1 year and will graduate in 2014. When I started college it seemed like the end would never come, but it has really flown by. I know everyone says that about college, but when you decide to go to pharmacy school for 6 years and watch the majority of your friends graduate and start their "real' jobs it seems like you'll be in school forever. 

I still obviously need to pass all of my classes this semester (which I hope I can do) and then do the year of rotations, but the end is near which is both exciting and scary. I really can't wait to find out where my rotations will be and what I will be doing for the next year. I hope that rotations will help me narrow down exactly what I want to do and if a residency if for me. I also hope I will be in a variety of locations so I can decide where I would like to live after school. All of these unknowns are quite scary, but I know that God has a plan for me and I need to let Him work and all I have to do is say yes to him.

Now back to classes.... 

The first week went pretty well. I was really hoping for a snow day on Wednesday since all the other Des Moines metro school had the day off, but had no luck. I had class in the afternoon and the roads weren't too bad by that time so I made it to classes safely. I'll give you all a little run down of my classes this semester so in case I talk about them in later blog posts you'll know what I'm talking about. (this probably won't happen since I don't really talk about my classes on here, but you never know)

Advanced Pharmacy Skills and Applications (APSA) lecture and lab: this is a class where we learn skills that are important for pharmacists such as: counseling, dispensing, vitals, history of present illness, etc. On Monday we talked about cultural competencies and resources you can use to learn more about another culture.

Therapeutics III: this is the third and final class in the series, which teaches us how the medications that treat different conditions and what side effects to expect, dosages, etc. Right now we are learning about oncology, which is an interesting topic, but also very confusing and difficult.

Quality Improvement in Pharmacy Practice: we have been talking about health care and how in the US there really isn't a system and there should be more done to have consistency throughout the health care system. We also discussed about what quality means and if it is different for the consumer than it is for the company.

Clinical Laboratory Medicine: in this class we talk about common lab values that we will see in practice and how to interpret them and what to do to treat abnormalities. I think this class will be really helpful when I go on rotations.

Advanced Psychiatric Pharmacy: this class goes more in depth in psychiatric disorders as well as how to treat them than our therapeutics class. On Friday we talked about stigmas associated with mental disorders and also played a review bingo of common medications prescribed for mental disorders.

I think I'm going to like a lot of my classes and they will all be helpful next year on rotations. It's also really nice to only have 16 credits this semester and I have already noticed how much time I have to get stuff done. This will probably change once things actually get started, but for now I don't feel like I'm drowning in homework, which is good.

Since I don't really have any pictures to add about school. For some reason I don't take pictures in the middle of class, maybe I should start? I'll add a picture of when I went to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago and went ice skating.

Catch-Up of End Of School Year

As you can tell I have been neglecting my blogging so I apologize for that. I don't think I ton of people read this though so it's probably fine. I'll catch you all up on the things that I did at the end of the school year that I can remember:

• Drake Relays: helped Allie deliver Pizza to workers at the mall, watched the pole vaulting at the mall, went to some races, watched Traci throw both the shot and discus, ate with Marc's family and Erin, played the game of things, went to the pancake breakfast, etc.

Friends at Peggys

Traci throwing

• Senior wine and cheese: at Drake seniors and P2s are invited to President Maxwell's house for a wine and cheese party. It's a time to mingle and talk to people in our grade. Maddy and President Maxwell each said a little something too. It was fun, but a little strange since most of the people there are actually graduating.

Friends since freshman year

Roomies

P2 girls

• Last Intervarsity: it's tradition for the last intervarsity of the school year to be dedicated to the seniors/P2. They play a little video thing and then the seniors all get up to speak. It was strange looking at the other seniors and realizing that Courtney and I will the only ones that are even around next year. 

IV seniors and Amy

• Last weeks living in DG: the last couple of weeks living in DG will filled with lots of senior activities, wills, scrapbooks, installation as alumnae, class brunch at Jethros, etc. We also tried to hang out with each other and my roommates and I had a little paul revere's party. I've loved living in the house the past 2 years and will really miss living with 34 other women and always having someone else around to talk with, watch tv with, or just do random things with.

• Erin's bday dinner: for Erin's 23rd birthday we went to Zombie burger. I believe we each got a different burger and most of us each got a shake. Their burgers and shakes are both really good and I would highly recommend going if you are in the Des Moines area. I'm so glad that I've gotten the chance to live with Erin and get to know her better. She's an amazing person and friend!

Nikki, Ashley, and Nikki

Courtney, Emily, and Erin

• Finals: during all of these excitement I also went to school and classes and took all my finals I ended up passing all of my classes so that's a plus
• Graduation: I went and watched a lot of my friends graduate. It was very strange to see them graduate and know that they won't be there in the fall with me. I also went with Erin's family to her graduation dinner at Django. It was really good and great to meet her uncles.

Roomies

Adrea and I (P2s that lived in the house)

Roomies plus Courtney

Dogtown After Hours

Last Friday night Drake hosted Dogtown After Hours. This is the 4th one that they've had I believe. Last year we had a pie fight and broke a world record. This year the theme was about doing things on your bucket list. I went with Erin, Marc, Nikki, and Jenn. It was a lot of fun. I thought it was one of the better ones, but probably because we watched a mentalist. It was one of the coolest shows that I've ever seen. He did all sorts of mind tricks that I had no clue how he could do. I think it would be awesome if they got both a hypnotist and mentalist and just did a show of that. We also played some games like family feud and watched the end of minute to win it. Erin and I also did round 2 of top buns and I think we almost perfected it! Enjoy the pics from the night :)

Honduras

Spring break this year I went to Honduras. I went there with 3 other pharmacy students from Drake and a variety of other medical student from DMU. There were about 50 of us total. We went with an organization called Global Brigades. We went to 2 different communities in Honduras and set up medical clinics. There were different stations that the patients went to that included: triage, consultation, dental, charla, and pharmacy. I spent time in each of the stations.

It was great to meet other medical students and work with them. It was a lot of fun to see how we can all work together and each bring a little different experience and knowledge to the health care team and how vital each person is. I think it's great that I'm started to realize this at the very beginning of my schooling. As a pharmacist I can be vital to the successful treatment of patients with my drug knowledge.

I really enjoyed getting to know the students both from Drake and DMU. I felt like I got a lot closer to them and they were all great people. They were great at including all of the Drake students in things. It was a great trip and I'm so glad that I decided to spend my spring break in Honduras.

Here are some pictures:

Pharmacy students

Where we packed meds and ate

View from the compound

Pharmacy set up in the first community

Patients waiting

Outside the pharmacy/charla area

Our room- 16 bunk beds