Semester Three, Week Three

Another week down.

Of course, I only had actual class one day, but still, there was plenty to be done outside the classroom.

We had exam two on Tuesday, and it was a real doozy. Even my instructor announced that this one was a higher-level application kind of test. Awesome.

After the test, we have the opportunity to re-take the exam within a learning group (a group of my peers) and open-book the exam, together. We have an opportunity to earn three extra points. So weird.

My group got along really well the first time we had test review but this time there was a lot of friendly arguing, so I checked out. You could call that derealizing, if you wanted ;)

Exam scores were released when I was on a long walk with a classmate; by the grace of God, I earned another A.

Lecture on bi-polar, depression, and other affective disorders, but for some reason, my mind wasn't really there, so I took a lot of notes without comprehension.

Wednesday brought about a visit to an AA meeting. First, it was in a scary ghetto-like part of the area, where my classmate and I thought we were going to be killed. Second, AA meetings are a bit like I expected them to be. "My name is _____ and I'm an alcoholic." These fine people shared their stories and years of sobriety. It was in fact, impressive.

Wednesday continued on with more of the blasted pharmacology project, and ended nicely with an unexpected dinner invite from friends.

Thursday, I stepped away from the student role and met with a dear childhood friend of mine. She has cancer, but she's more than "just" a cancer patient. Nursing school has taught me to recognize that patients, whatever they are hospitalized for are not "The guy in 234 with diabetes" or "The old lady with dementia" patients are, in fact, people.

So, as I was spending time with my friend, a brief reminder of the drama I was encountering last week re-surfaced, and I recognized that sometimes, life is going to be painful. People will hurt you. My responsibility is to live as a Christ-bearer and maintaining peace, so long as it depends on me. Other's actions are their responsibility; they own it.

Seeing that, I chose to dance my troubles away with three little girls who have stolen my heart.

Next week, we have ourselves the start of mental-health clinicals!