Whoa!!!!

So it looks like my nursing peeps wanna keep an eye on my doings throughout this semester and I'll be starting a nursing blog. Not only will it be fun, but I'll get some credit out of it (or zeros if I don't keep it up :( Well it's only the first week, so not much blood and guts and poop and all that, but I think it's good to ease into all of this. I mean, they gotta show us how to put gloves on before we can be touching all of that stuff! The teachers aren't really scaring us much so it seems like there will be a lot of fun to come!
As a new nursing student, I'm excited about school but also ready to start working. I'm glad the program has lots of hands on material so that we can get in there and really see what this will be like! I can't wait for that first patient that I have, it'll be a lil scary but exciting too, I hope that I can put a good face forward and help some folks. Helping people is certainly a big draw for me about this profession. I have been to Mali, West Africa twice and was very moved by their situation over there. They have absolutely nothing but are the happiest people I've ever met. One thing that is very difficult to access over there is health care. Even very simple things like bandaging cuts or taking vitamins could have an amazing affect on the health of the country. Both times I was there I worked for a NGO, Sini Saunuman, doing work with women's rights, in perticular working to stop the practice of excision (female circumsion) and promote monogomy (most men in the country have multiple wives). It was great to see Malians working to better their situation on their own (many of these non-profits are run by westerners, this is one of the few completey run by locals). This aspect gave them an upper hand on being oble to communicate their cause, as we all know, education is the key. I would love to continue to do work with Sini Saunuman and be able to help provide the knowledge of simple, healthy practices that could make a huge difference.
Although helping people is a very important reason for me to want to become a nurse, there are some other perks as well. Not only is the pay decent (at least for any kind of lifestyle I would choose) but the hours are awesome if you can make it through three 12 hour shifts. And for a four day weekend every week, I think I can manage it. So what will I do with all of this time, it should give me time to work and practice with the bands, lots of traveling and being on the water, but most importantly it will be to catch fish!!!!