Oh orientation. The day we’ve been anticipating as we anticipate June 1st!
Long, and information packed you were! Our brains are full, our wallets- empty. Oops! I promise to keep the scary parts out. (Don’t worry, there were not many!) Instead, I’ll tell you all about my shiny new name tag which I love, and also the student ID’s that we not only get to flash like VIP’s, (just kidding) but they are also on an elastic clip/pull my friend! We are all very excited about the clip/pull…ahem. But I digress… those are but silly details. Yes, you’ll get shiny new cards on that amazing pull, name tags, a fancy little tote, lots and lots of paper with more information than you can only hope to remember, and a #2 pencil, but even better than that, (yes, even the lovely pencil) is the getting to know the student’s in your cohort, and the professors who will be teaching and supporting you along the way.
Orientation gets you real excited and then scared, but it’s okay, because five minutes later, you’re real excited again! We likened orientation to a roller coaster; an emotional roller coaster, that is. But I’m not here to terrify you! Roller coasters are good things! They are fun. Usually in hindsight, but fun nonetheless!
Let me tell you, in case you ever found yourself thinking, “…but if I uproot my life and move to Baltimore to go to nursing school, how will I know how to do ANYTHING?! How can I do it? I’m SCARED!!””
Let me ease your fears: Thanks to current students and staff: I now know the best places to study on the JHMI campus, how and where to catch the free shuttle to go to and from school and my apartment, great places to eat (including the local vegan anarchist cafe with free internet!) the location of every Starbucks within a 10 mile radius on a map, dates of the Hon Festival, good museums (that we can visit in our “20-22 minutes” of free time *), but perhaps more importantly, we were even taught the local jargon.
We were lucky enough to learn the definitions of ‘jeet’, oreo, yutz… and there are many more. Let’s see if this little West Coaster picks up any of it!
I won’t give away all the fun activities involving food and exploring that we took part in, but you’ll be happy to know that they helped to add to our sense of comfort with our surroundings and fostered a sense of community among the student body and staff.
All in all, orientation was great! I think everyone appreciated the onslaught vast amount of information we received. I think we are all feeling that we were kindly being eased into our first week of classes, and we now have a pretty good grip on our surroundings and the resources available to us. I’m excited for school to start! Clinicals, labs, and the people, both patients, fellow students, and the faculty will definitely bring challenges, but after hard work and dedication, great rewards!
And I can’t forget to give a shout out to current students, especially current, former party planning SON bloggers! Thank you for answering billions (exaggeration) of questions from anxious and often stressed students. We appreciate you!
Well, time to get to my readings for Monday! My first 6.5 hour class! Who knew a class of this duration existed? Apparently, it does, here at the JHU School of Nursing! Yay for coffee and humor!
