#springbreak13

So it's my spring break... it officially started Thursday night after work at 1pm and so far it's involved a lot of sleeping in, netflix and retail therapy, but that's about to change. Starting today, this is my opportunity to get a crapload of stuff done! I am continuing my crazy busy February into a crazy busy March, but things will slow down again after the 13th. The week after spring break is ridiculous: 2 exams, 1 group presentation, possible retake of the clinical readiness test, 2nd half of my group diagnostic with report write-ups and assessment scorings that go along with it. After the 13th I can breath again.

First up this week, I have two exams to study for that will happen the Monday and Tuesday after we get back from break (thank you professors!) and I have twelve chapters to read for one of those exams... yikes! Quizlets and study guides will be my friends this week.

This week I am also going to Royal Oak for an aphasia observation. It's an aphasia group that has 2 clients with fluent aphasia and 2 with nonfluent aphasia. I only need to observe a fluent aphasia but I am very happy that I will also have the opportunity to observe a nonfluent one as well. I'm really cutting it close with this

Ready... Set...

I'm excited to get back into the grad school groove, but I have to admit I wouldn't have minded another week off before starting.  I had a great winter break!  I went on road trips to see family in WI and upper MI, I overindulged in lots of delicious food (my mom and J's mom are superb cooks!), and indulged in lots of sleepsleepsleep.  There were also many netflix marathons and of course a lot of time wasted spent on facebook, twitter, and pinterest. A lot of laziness all around!  

And speaking of laziness, after the new year I decided to get more active and participate in the #ASHAFit13 challenge and incorporate other exercises into my daily routine.  I have been so focused on school and studying these past couple of years that I have been completely neglecting my body... and it's starting to show.  I've never been a super active person to begin with, but while living overseas I walked EVERYWHERE... now, it's get into my car and go.  And when I have any down time from school and studying, I have DOWN TIME.

When I saw the #ASHAFit13 challenge on twitter, I became motivated and today was my 6th day of getting my arse into shape.   I've been pretty sore since starting, but once I get moving and I've done a workout I feel AWESOME! I'm glad I started this before I went back to school... I will stay focused.  Exercise is supposed to be good for the mind too!

Now it's back to school time so there will be no more exercise talk on this blog beyond this post.

No more excuses.  

I'm off to my first class of Winter '13 so... ready... set... goooooooo!

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Zoom Zoom Revisited...

I am currently in the midst of an unexpected loooooong weekend because a prof called off both of her Weds. classes due to illness and my Thurs. class was canceled since we wrapped up the final lecture last week.  This week consisted of a 1 hour class on Monday and 8 1/2 hours of work.  I was expecting this past week to be much busier and things to be a bit more spread out, but now that everything is pushed to next week it's going to be HECTIC until the end of the semester!  I better get ready for a marathon race sprint mad dash to the finish line.  

I do have to say I'm enjoying my (very) extended weekend.

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No more laziness though... time to get neuro notes organized, practice my part of the presentation, work on a SOAP note, and of course STUDY.

The end is in sight!

The end of my first semester in grad school is in sight!  There's lots to do between now and my last final, but it's good to be almost finished.  A lot of this semester has felt like review, which means that Utah State got me off to a good solid start. 

   

There have been a few unexpected surprises this semester, the biggest being a much longer time in grad school than expected (7 semesters vs the typical 5 semesters of most programs).  The other unexpected surprise is a very unorganized professor (who teaches two of my classes this semester) and her very specifically-vague directions with a dash of inconsistent grading.  Yes, specifically-vague... and sometimes the inconsistent grading was in my favor and other times it was not.  I definitely have higher expectations for grad school professors... but, yeah... moving on.

Next semester should have a bit more new information and I will also one step closer to getting clinic hours.  I can't wait to get into clinic!

I survived!

It was a pretty hectic week this week, definitely the busiest this semester!  I had a mid-term in clinical methods, a project due in artic/phono impairments, a quiz in research methods, and an exam in neuro.  Not sure how I did on the clinical midterm, but I think I rocked the neuro exam which was all short answer and one essay.  I made it through the week and now I’m over halfway through my first semester in grad school… :)