Fall is my favorite season. To me, it symbolizes new beginnings – a relic from years of going to back to school I guess. But it’s also the time when you get to think about drinking pumpkin spice lattes (yes, I will drink caffeine if it is in a pumpkin spice latte), scarves, cuddling up on the couch with warm blankets and watching movies. While spring a summer are very active in my mind, fall is a time to relax, to exhale, and to reassess. Plus, it’s the harvest! Ruby red tomatoes drooping from the vines, tiny green pumpkins peeking out behind giant, green flag leaves. Beets and onions, covered in dirt. Herbs straight from the garden into the tomato sauce. Yes, fall time – when the priorities are canning and cooking and not letting it all go to waste – is my favorite.
By the way, I caved recently and bought a pair of colored jeans. I’m a little embarrassed, but when I found a pair of emerald green jeans for $22, I couldn’t help myself. I’ve never been much for fashion, so integrating these into my pretty bare bones wardrobe may be a bit of a challenge. Fall, you and I have some fashion decisions to make. It’ll be interesting and possibly a huge disaster.
Speaking of fall and new beginnings and reassessing, this fall (Oct 1 eek!) I’m applying to a post baccalaureate pre medical certificate program at Montana State University in my hometown of Bozeman, MT. In my previous post, I mention that I’m planning to go to PA school. What I didn’t mention is that I will have to put in at least three years BEFORE I can even apply. In college I had no idea “what I wanted to be when I grow up” and as a result, I took classes that sounded interesting to me. I loved them. They’ve served me well in the thinking department. In college, I definitely learned how to think, I learned how to learn. But it was certainly not vocational and while I watched my friends (and boyfriend at the time) killing themselves to get through Organic Chemistry (Orgo or OChem depending on which college you went to), Genetics, MicroBio, etc, I wrote my 5 page papers and went outside to play volleyball. Now, four years later, I’m paying for that. Literally.
If I get in, I’ll start the program at MSU in May. It will be 15 months of INTENSE science classes – IntroBio, IntroChem, Orgo, Physics, MicroBio, Genetics, Anatomy&Physiology, the list goes on. I’m a little nervous considering I never had to study that much to get through my undergrad curriculum, but I’ve never felt so motivated before. Hopefully the feeling lasts until I can actually start the work.
In the meantime, I’m volunteering 3 hrs/week at our local hospital. I’m a nurses aid on the Med/Surg floor and my duties consist of wiping every surface down with a bleach-like substance to keep germs from being passed, checking the ceiling tiles in the patient rooms to make sure they’re not stained or dirty, and restocking rubber gloves throughout the floor. There’s more to it than that, but needless to say, it’s not glamorous work. It is fun when I get to go into patient rooms and chat with them as I work through my duties. It’s amazing and very sad how many people are alone in the hospital. I have some insight into this which I’ll be sharing in a later post.
Once I finish my post bacc work, then I have to accumulate as many “patient contact” hours as I can. I can gain these as an EMT, a CNA, an ER Tech or a few other positions that are highly competitive and will require additional training. It’s a lot of work, but it’s exciting to feel so motivated and ready. I’ve begun taking an online math class this fall to help prepare me for some of the more challenging classes ahead.
Wish me luck!
From My Open Window 