So I am TERRIBLE at blogging, as apparent by my lack of entry since the middle of september but a lot has happened. The Saturday following El Morro was our trip to Rincon, a beach 2.5 hrs away that we were all excited about. It did not, unfortunately hold up to our expectations as the trip was not very planned and the place we went for lunch ended up taking up 3-4 hours of our time. Then, we eventually ended up at a beach that was pretty nice, but the weather was in and out of rain by that point. We still managed to have some fun but it was not as exciting as I had hoped. The next day was full of studying for the respiratory system- woot woot. (I am writing this blog while drinking a Medalla, so pardon me if this is not the best entry you've ever read haha). The next week in clinical was not very exciting, I was on the respiratory unit one day and then just our usual unit. That Friday we walked to an old movie theater about 15 minutes away and saw Contagion. At this theater- the movie was $4, popcorn if you wanted was $1.25, and a drink $1-1.50- all together less than only a ticket costs usually which we all loved. This weekend was longer since we also had Monday off and we needed it for what we had planned being that it was two girls's birthdays. We planned this catamaran trip on Sunday that included travel to the dock, rum drinks the entire time (loved our rum punches, rum and cokes, and pina coladas) and took us to three separate islands. The first was gorgeous and we just swam, tanned, ate lunch, and drank. The second we were able to feed the fish while snorkeling which I loved (I just wish I could have seen a sea turtle- Chris and I looked all over but failed). The last Island was one that was used in an ending scene of Pirates, a small beautiful island where we were able to hang out out and take pictures. After this whole event we were EXHAUSTED, and I was unable to fully nap but we all tried to rejuvenate as best we could since we needed to get ready to go out that night for Dani's 21st in Old San Juan. It was a very fun night and we ended up meeting a group of coast guards that were stationed here and living in that area. Needless to say, the birthday girl and the rest of us had a great time. Tuesday we had an exam- we all love those, and it was also Ilyssa's birthday. We went out to Old San Juan that evening for dinner at Latin Roots to celebrate. Some of our meals were excellent, but the meal I and four others ordered ended up dissapointing us majorly. However, it was still a great evening followed by some salsa lessons.
Saturday we went to Las Cavernas de Camuy. It was an amazing experience that included an audio tour guide via a personal recorder system that explained in detail different stops along the path through the caves. After a short train ride down from where we parked, we entered the caves and were able to see the largest stalagmite in PR, multiple stalagtites, and the third largest subterranean river that runs through it. There were enclosed areas that were in almost full darkness that were home to bats that led to openings where you could hear crickets and coquis (frogs), see trees and plants growing on the edges above, and see the river flowing below. One of the main types of trees was the Cupey that was growing on the edge of the cliff and the audio guide mentioned to live in a state of Cupey, therefore to live life on the edge, which was a saying we all enjoyed. After this we all experienced motion sickness on the travel up the mountain that was constant curves to an Indian Reservation. Although our tour guide was very interesting and knew his information (and sounded like Rafiki), overall it was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting to see more of where they slept, when this area was the stones and open areas that were used for ceremonies and sporting events. After we went down the mountain we took a small boat ride around a lake which helped with those of us feeling sick. Overall it was a fun day that we all enjoyed.
This next week at clinical I had awesome patients that I really enjoyed taking care of. Some dementia and lost in translation conversations, but the veterans I was with were very receptive and truly appreciated the care I gave them. The third day I went off the unit to Hemodialysis which was a great experience. I was with a nurse who worked on a dialysis unit for over 30 years. It was great to see everything first hand that we previously learned and were tested on. The unit consists of 8 beds in one large room with about 4 nurses or so and other aides, doctors, etc. The staff and patients were more of a family and everyone was joking together. I was able to talk with most of the patients and really enjoyed my time there. The last patient I had before I left was an adorable old man that they warned me to be "spoiled." His smile was infectious and setting him up and talking with him was a great ending to my day. This week was also when everything was piling up towards the end of the semester, careplans etc. STRESSFUL. We were able to go out briefly during the weekend which was a nice break.
Monday was our final, which was cumulative and miserable, but we all did better than we had thought. The next night we had a project in our apartment complex where we taught our residents about Heart Disease and Diabetes. If you think I get red in presentations back at school, you should have seen me in front of all our adorable Spanish-speaking residents that caused my nerves to spike further since my Spanish ability is well, lacking- A LOT. haha. It was a great experience though and they really enjoyed it. They asked a lot of questions and seemed to get a lot out of our presentations, and almost all of them came to us to check their blood pressure. We were given Tortilla Espanola by our favorite neighbors, a couple that walks up and down our hallway several times before they eat dinner each night. It was extremely tasty and a perfect thing to come home to after clinical. My last day of clinical I was in the CCU, or Coronary Care Unit which was a great experience that allowed me to see critical heart patients. Thursday was our standardized ATI exam that was extremely hard but afterwards meant- WE FINISHED MED-SURG!!! After the exam we all handed out our baked goods that we had been working on the night before to every unit we went to. Once we got home we had to cook again since we were having Beka, our professor that was leaving, and Anna, our professor that just arrived, over for a potluck dinner. My roomate and I made green bean casserole and other dishes included various pizzas, mexican dip, baked ziti, salad, vegetables, garlic bread, and many deserts. Overall- we were STUFFED. It was a great night and afterwards we all went out to Rio Piedras, an area of bars right by the University. I won't go into details on here but we all had a fun evening, that few of us fully remember. The next day we were snuggling to Toy Story 3 and other movies as we recovered from our stressful end of med-surg and our night out. That night we went out to dinner with both professors in Old San Juan at a Mexian Restaurant that was in a Hotel that used to be a convent- it was beautiful scenery and delicious food.
Saturday was our trip to Vieques Island!! (I only wish it could have lasted longer than one day on the beach). After the car ride and ferry we were finally there hours later (though the ferry trip was also fun since I love boats). We went to Red Beach that was outlined by palm trees, cliffs on the edges and had white sand and crystal clear water. Bottom line- it was gorgeous and I never wanted to leave. Around 345-4 we left to go to our hotel and get ready to meet our professor for dinner. The hotel was family owned, they were still fixing it up, and it wasn't a Hilton on a beach or anything but we enjoyed the couple that ran it. The restaurant we went to was AMAZING. It was a little place that made fresh seafood. I had a side salad and shrimp. Everyone at my table had gotten the side salad and we all agreed it was one of the best we ever had, one described the house dressing as similar to one you would get a hibatchi since it had a ginger-like taste. The seafood was delicious and very fresh. I tasted a friend's calamari which was the best I have ever had. We all left very satisfied with our meals. Towards the end of dinner we heard a lot of noise and realized it was a walk for breast cancer which we all loved seeing and stood up and clapped along with. We were picked up from the restaurant to go to the bioluminescent bay which was AWESOME. We were dropped off in a dark parking lot where we were oriented, loaded up on bugspray, picked our kayak partners, and put on our life jackets. Then we went in vans through the woods which was the rockiest ride ever (some said it reminded them of Jarassic Park). Then we were at the opening to the bay where we got our paddles and kayaks. Besides being excited for the bay to light up, we looked up at the sky and it was the clearest sky filled with immense amounts of stars- it was absolutely beautiful. I was with Teresa and we started to kayak, and within seconds we were able to see the bay sparkling. As we paddled the bay lit up! It is due to the microscopic organisms that live there (protozoans) that light up as a defense mechanism when they feel threatened. We were all amazed and could not stop playing with the water. We kayaked all around the bay where he told us more about the other organisms that live in it and the history of the bay and Island (yes there are sharks in there and yes someone died several weeks prior to that when swimming in the bay- she apparently sway right towards the giant glow which the guide explained that if she had not the shark's tend to keep to themselves). After we left the biobay and showered we went up to the lobby area where the owners opened up their small bar just for us- they said they were trying to build it and make it a fun place for locals to come. Later we walked to another bar that was right on the water by the ferry, that was a place with character haha. We all sang some karaoke (my choice being love shack) and it was a fun way to end the night. We had to then, sadly, get up early and leave after breakfast. We were all exhausted after this weekend.
This past week was the beginning of our Psychiatric rotation- which is definitely an adjustment for both class and clinical. We had two days of clinical and we were able to meet a variety of patients with different conditions. Luckily for me, most of the patients speak English and I was able to talk with a lot of them. Although I cannot go into details, each patient is interesting and has their own story that with our understanding of psych nursing and therapeutic communication. Thursday some of us went out by the University again which was fun. Friday we went back to the small movie theater and saw Three Musketeers which was pretty good.
And now, if you are still reading, you are currently caught up on my life for the most part haha. I hope everyone is well at home and I miss you all!!
So the last time I wrote was after our first exam on Tuesday (didn't go as well as I had hoped but oh well). The next day was much better as Teresa, Michelle and I all had the day of clinical off and decided to go to the beach! It was a beautiful day once we got there, we had to wait for the buses for 45 minutes, but it was definitely worth it. The rest of the day was relaxing and spent trying to get work done.
On Thursday I was in the MICU and had an AMAZING nurse practitioner to shadow and work with. She spoke good English and taught me a lot throughout the day. She let me help with everything so it was great experience and she was so nice.
On Friday we had medsurg class at the hospital, came home, showered, and met Beka in Old San Juan at 5pm for leadership class (which was a scavenger hunt throughout the city leading me to get the biggest blister ever on the ball of my foot). After that we all had dinner together and then went out for the night. At dinner I had mofongo again (love this PR dish) and a Strawberry frozen cocktail. We went out to quite a few locations, one of which was a kareoke bar which was very entertaining. Overall it was a fun, tiring evening.
Saturday and Sunday was just spent studying with minor breaks to work out, do laundry, etc. (nothing exciting). And Monday I was able to do not so hot on exam number 2 haha and then we had to have more class lectures.
Monday afternoon was better since we went to El Morro (a fortress in Old San Juan) and it was really interesting to see all 6 floors and hear the history from the very enthusiastic tour guide in the beginning. It was beautiful to see the ocean and the rest of the city from here. This fortress was one of many in the city to prevent attacks since this piece of land was often the first soldiers and sailors would hit when coming from Europe. It was very interesting to hear the details of it, since everything was for a purpose, including the height of each stair. Later that night it was Chris and Riley's turn for family dinner and they made delicious pizzas, including hawaiin, plain, and chicken and broccoli. Our Ra, Javier, and his girlfriend also came over for dinner. It was a great afternoon/evening to wind down after all of that studying.
The rest of the week was very busy with three days straight of clinical and class on Friday. On Tuesday I was in the OR, but unfortunately, unlike some of my classmates, was not in open heart. The nurse put me in orthopedic and I saw some simple surgeries and then a total hip replacement on a very elderly male patient which was interesting to see, especially the fact that the hammer mental pieces straight into the bone. Wednesday and Thursday I was back on our med-surg floor and had two great patients and an awesome nurse, Luis. He is so helpful and thorough and speaks English well which helps. However he is leaving the unit in two weeks so I am sad I won't be able to work with him anymore. I had two elderly patients and one was so funny since he liked to say "that's very nice" after almost everything. He loved his pan (bread) and called me his sister and that he loved me very much and if I were to get a boyfriend he needed to approve haha. After Thursday's clinical we got a tour of the University of PR which is a beautiful campus. However in the heat and after being up on our feet since 6, we were all dragging our feet and sweating just trying to make it through. Which led us straight up to our rooftop pool when we got home. Today after class we met up with Javier and meet nursing students from University of PR which was nice. We plan to go out with them next week and do future events with them in the future. The one student I got to meet was raised in the US since her father was in the military and she moved back to PR in 2000.
Well that was a lot to catch up on, but unfortunately it is time to hit the books. Tomorrow we are going to the caves and to an Indian reservation and we are getting picked up at 7a.m. Hope home is going well, I miss you all!
On Friday after class we studied a bit before getting ready later on to go out. We all were going to go the the university, but then the group decided to go to another area that has more of the hotels and tourist areas. However, the night was an overall fail and the bar we ended up at was no bueno- at least on the dancing front, and we are a dancing group. I had more fun pregaming at the apartment then I did out that night, but I still had fun because you need to make the best of every moment haha. The best part of the night was seeing the reactions of this group of Puerto Rican males that were openly making fun of some of our group that were dancing (those that had a few more drinks than I haha).
Saturday I studied some more and then got ready for an earlier night- dinner in old San Juan at Latin Roots (where they teach you salsa dancing after dinner) with Chris, Teresa, and Riley. It was very good food and a cool atmosphere with a live band and salsa teachers- though our American status was greatly seen on the dance floor. Afterwards we were on our way to the Food Court, a bar with $1 beers, when we saw live drummers on the street singing and getting people around to dance which was fun. After meeting up with everyone at Food Court, we went back to the bar we normally go to to dance at and had a great time again, though we left earlier this time, more tired from the day.
Sunday we all decided to go to the beach in Condado and we went to a different area that had awesome waves and the weather was perfect. We stayed there until the mid-afternoon and then unfortunately had to come home to clean and study. That night our apartment had tacos for our family dinner of the week.
Monday was zero fun and included all day studying- minus the break Teresa and I took to work out and jump in the pool. At the pool we were able to talk further with a girl we met that lives a couple floors above us who is studying at a university here. She is from Germany, knows Spanish, and some English (though she said she lost a lot of it after learning Spanish). She is very nice and wants to come out with us on the weekends if we go to the beach. We also met the cutest puppy ever when we were getting ready to leave and I fell in love.
The exam today (Tuesday) went alright, but with only 35 questions I wish I was more confident. After the exam it was really difficult to focus on the class material that followed- especially since it was cardiac and very difficult. After we got home we were able to relax a little bit and tomorrow is luckily my day off of clinical (Teresa and Michelle too) so we are going to la playa! I am very excited for some relaxing beach time before I have to study more tomorrow night.
Hasta Luego!!
After a fun weekend of exploring PR, it was back to reality with a 5:30 a.m. alarm clock. We had to be at the VA hospital at 7 a.m. for orientation and then classes afterwards with made for a longgg day. Luckily our apartment complex has a rooftop pool to cool off in since our uniforms are extremely hot to walk to and from the train station in. Classes are long and packed with a lot of material, but it is easier to learn in the smaller class settings then the big lecture halls. On Tuesday we had to be at the VA at 7 a.m. again for our first day of clinical on our med unit. We started the day shadowing RNs and LPNs and language barriers provided for an interesting start. In the beginning my LPN kept walking away all over that made it difficult to find him and he did not understand much English, but once we sat down and both laughed about my lack of Spanish and his so-so English he became more interactive and was joking around with us. He was even excited to show us his facebook page before we charted. The patients their all speak English for the most part since they were veterans and seasoned travelers and it was very interesting to hear all of their stories. The next day we were each assigned to a patient and did all the care for them, gave meds and changed IV bags. Thursday we were with the same patient so I got to know mine more and do more with the nurse there. The staff there are all extremely nice- as is everyone in the hospital. It is a big change from the states in my opinion since all you have to do is do a double take with a confused look when you are lost and someone comes right up to you and asks where you are looking for and takes you there ..even when they were walking in the other direction! As opposed to the U.S. where many would just look at you as being stupid for not knowing where to go. I need to practice my Spanish a lot more, but I am still having a great experience regardless of the language barrier. I hope everyone has been having a great semester so far!
We arrived to PR on Thursday afternoon to a cloudy day after a smooth 4 hour flight. We realized we had no power in our apartment when we got there, but luckily it came back soon after. We started our cuisine with a true traditional meal- dominos pizza. Then we had the rest of the time to settle in and unpack. We were so exhausted and ended up staying in and playing drinking games since we had to meet our RA, Javier, at 8a.m. Javier is great- when you can understand what he is saying.
Friday morning he took us to the train station where we got our unlimited 3 month passes- which are good for the trains and buses. We then road the train to the hospital we will be having class and clinicals in and then stopped at the University of Puerto Rico. He gave us a tour of the streets around and we saw several bars and places to go eat there as we dripped in sweat from the heat and humidity. Next we came back and changed since we thought a beach trip would be a great idea given it was still earlier then noon, if only we realized how quickly the weather was about to change. Getting to the beach area where our professor was going to meet us for lunch was when we truly got to see what "puerto rican time" entailed. We had to take several different buses (or so Javier had thought) to get to the location and we waited for the bus driver for at least a half hour (their break times are not scheduled). We were then so excited to get on the bus and feel the air conditioning. We had to get off that bus and cross the street to another bus stop where we waited ...and waited ...and waited as it started to pour ..then called two taxis. We finally made it to lunch, stomachs growling, and had amazing Puerto Rican cuisine (mine was mufongo with chicken). After we were all satisfied with our great meals we were going to go to the ocean to swim, which is what we wanted to do all day, though the area we first walked along was not good to swim in as Riley soon found out by having many sea urchin needles stuck in both feet. While Chris and Riley took a taxi home, the girls went on an adventure to find an area that would be safe to swim. After walking a long while, crossing highways, getting honked at by every single car that passed and crossing through a swamp-like grass we made it and all ran in the refreshing ocean. It was extremely salty where we ended up which made it very easy to float. Getting home was another adventure starting with waiting for a bus, calling a taxi, cancelling a taxi, getting on free transportation to a better bus station with a direct line home, meeting an old veteran in a wheelchair at that station with beer and his social security check that made him karate chop the air while screaming and giggling, and getting on the bus where a man kept smiling and screaming, "Chicago yeah! Windy city yeah!" Once we got home from a long exhausting day it was time for dinner, showers, and pregaming before heading to old San Juan. We encountered our first scam at the train station that night where the two male workers claimed we could only use our unlimited passes twice each day- and that we could give the money to him. Good thing I got through before he tried to have me pay. After the train ride and a bus ride to the last stop in old San Juan we went to a place with $1 beers, although it was a little sketch. We met Javier there with his girlfriend and we walked to a nice place with salsa dancing all night long- the heels i wore were much regretted during that time. The bartender there was also very funny, and especially made fun of me when I tried to order a drink called an orgasm that someone else had and he couldn't hear me so i went to project my voice but only ended up putting my thumb and pointer finger together in a circle around my mouth as I said it again and he goes "O" and then laughs at me. After a long night we took a taxi home but for some reason instead of us having two taxis we had eleven of us in one van which was absolutely rediculous for the ride we had at 3:30.
The next day we were able to relax since we had nothing to be ready for until 4pm. We slept in and then after lunch we swam in our rooftop pool which is really nice. Then we met our professor for our culinary tour in old San Juan. It was amazing food and our tour guide was really good and told us a lot about the area and it's history. We went to four different restaurants and was served small portions of their cuisine- which we could not finish since we were absolutely stuffed even though everything was so tasty. After we got back to our apartment we got ready to take the train back to old San Juan and went to Senor Frogs which was a more touristy bar. It played american music and we were the ones that started the dancing first, which was strange compared to the previous night.
Today (Sunday) was more relaxing consisting of grocery shopping, swimming, and organizing for school tomorrow at 7:30 =(.
Adios for now! Miss and love you all!
