the end of term

I had to remind someone today that I was done with school for the semester, and realized I'd never officially blogged about the end of my term. As expected, I've been Facebooking updates because it's simpler and reaches a larger group of people--we all knew it would happen, right?--but I forget sometimes that my family and some of my closest friends still don't FB. And no judging from me. :)

My semester was fabulous. It was my favorite one, for many reasons.

1. It was the Labor & Delivery and Pediatrics units, clinicals I'd been looking forward to since the day I decided to go back to school to become a nurse. Helping out with the delivery of those babies, and then tending to the moms ante/post partum, the babies themselves...it was all so much fun. I seriously loved every minute.
2. Being that this is our third block, I really feel that a lot of things that we've been learning have finally sunk in. I feel that we've developed a really good foundation, and I find myself taking tests better, answering questions with more confidence and just feeling that heck, maybe I do know what I'm doing.
3. I really enjoyed my teachers and clinical instructors. I'd been a bit nervous about the L&D teacher--she has quite the reputation--but in the end, she was awesome, so sweet, so approachable, and entertaining. She really knows her stuff, too. Our med-surg teacher was great too, and we'll have him again next semester, so that takes some of the pressure off starting back up again in the fall, knowing we already like our teacher.
4. My relationships with my cohorts is just getting better and better. I'm really a shy girl. And sometimes it takes so much for me to put myself out there, no, force myself out there. Of course, I'm not there to make friends, but having someone to lament with, talk to, study with, party with just makes things better. Easier. More fun. More effective. We celebrated after clinicals with ice cream, had a pool party and good eats at the end of semester, and last Friday night, met together at the Shout House for some serious piano-playing/singing fun. It was all I could do to keep myself from jumping up on the stage and taking over! I think I have a new favorite hang out.

My overall grade was actually better last semester...but I'm not going to get down about the couple of points holding me back from my A because a 90% is still a really good grade, and of course, in the end, all that matters is that I pass the NCLEX, not that I get straight A's.

I was asked today, by someone in my ward, to be the camp nurse for Girls Camp this summer. For the brief blip of a second that I allowed myself to consider it, I thought "wow, could I really do that? I know stuff...I'm trained...I could help people! That could be me, the camp nurse!" Then of course I had to remind myself and her that I haven't finished school or graduated yet, and that for liability purposes they probably have to have a real nurse there, one with experience of all things. Heh. But I'm close, I'm really close, and it's becoming very real.