A quick update about the service trip to Montana. WHAT A GREAT TRIP!! It was fantastic and I am so beyond grateful I had the experience. It was so much more than I expected. It was great to see the kids I had heard about and to get a chance to teach and talk with all of them. Overall, these kids, despite their background, were average kids. They were very open with us, once we got to know them. By the end of the week, they were asking if we would be coming back and if we could stay. that made a big impact on me, it made me realize we made a difference. We were able to do health screenings on all the kids in the school. If anyone needed follow-up, we sent a letter home with details about the child. If the child was on track, we sent a letter home letting parents/caregivers know what their child's stats were. We also were able to do some health promotion teaching including all about puberty, hygiene, bullying, and how to be a better student/study skills. Overall, the kids were very receptive, had great questions and hopefully learned a lot! We also, as an entire group, talked with the older kids of the school about careers, college and why we are in nursing school getting our second degree. That might have been the most enjoyable teaching lesson for me. It was great to share my personal experiences and to hear about my classmates and to field questions from the students.
It was also a great experience to get to know my six other classmates better and my professor. We "lived in community" for the better part of a week. The four girls and our professor stayed in one house and the tree boys stayed in a trailer. The boys came over in the morning to have breakfast and back after school to hang out, have dinner and to talk about the day. Every morning, I mean EVERY morning, bacon was cooked before school so we all smelled like it for the day. It got old really fast. Occasionally, on our lunch breaks, the boys would cook chicken or burgers and we would get a blast of food smell/smoke again. I am sure the stray dogs (which were always out and about) were loving the smell of us. I am sure, the kids and teachers at the school cold smell up coming. This was all about "living in community" and aside from the smells, it really was a great experience. We would hang out in the living room, eat our meals together, and discuss what we did and saw during the day. We also had to keep a daily journal, which our professor read on the flight home and left us some comments. I am glad we had to do this as now I have a daily log of what I did, what I was feeling so I will remember the trip. We also had time to play Quiddler and had lots of laughs. We all discussed how the laughter was a great way to unwind and to decompress from the days. I was exhausted by the end of the day, mentally and physically. It was still such a great experience.
On our last full day in Montana, we had the opportunity to snow shoe through Glacier National Park. Wow. What an experience. In the first few minutes I remember telling my professor, if someone would have told me a year ago that I would be snow shoeing through Glacier, I never in a million years would have believed them. I took many moments to look around me and try to take it all in. The sights were breathtaking and almost seemed too beautiful to be real. I have so many pictures, which show some of the beauty, but really, you have to see it in person. I hope one day I can take Erin! She needs to see it!
The day we were coming home, our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:05am. We got up and left the hotel by 4:45am to get to the airport to drop off the rental cars, check in and make it on time for our flight. Everything started off great. At about 6:00am, now on the airplane, the flight attendant comes over the PA system announcing the landing gear had a flat tire and we had to get off the plane. We were bummed. Off the plane we went. Our professor immediately got in line to talk to the gate agent about keeping our group together for any flights we would have to be re booked on. About an hour or so goes by, they announce they will be flying in a tire, tools and a mechanic from Salt Lake City and hoped he would be in Montana around 12:30pm. That was about five hours later. Originally, we had the flight from Montana to Minneapolis to Philly. With this delay, we would for sure miss our connection. We were scheduled to land in Philly at 2pm. Our professor got us a possible itinerary. Sadly, our group was split in half. Four of us would go as originally planned, just on later flights and land in Philly around 11pm. The other four, myself included, would take a detour to Atlanta and then to Philly, landing at midnight. So, the only thing to do was to sit and wait. We did get a food voucher, so we grabbed breakfast, and just hung out in the tiny airport. We played Taboo with one of the student's phones. I read my book, drank about a gallon of water, and tried not to watch the clock. Oh yeah, I also had zero cell phone service for the entire trip! I was able to use my professor's phone to call Erin once a day, just to check in and say hi. Erin was great and kept my family informed of my travels, so everyone knew I was safe. I missed texting Erin whenever I wanted, but it also kept my focus and my mind in the moment and in the trip. It was a nice break from social media...well, at least that's what I told myself ;) So, finally, the tires were fixed and we boarded the plane, again. By now, it was about 2pm. I was confused with the time changes, but I was assuming we would possibly miss our connection to Atlanta. Once we landed, the four of us heading to Atlanta, grabbed our boarding passes they had printed for us and literally ran from one gate (B2) to the next gate (G19). I was in boots and carrying my backpack and running full speed through the airport. I am so out of shape! I kept going because I didn't want to be stuck in the airport overnight or delayed anymore! We got to the gate at 5:39 and the flight was scheduled to leave at 5:45...we just missed it!!! As we all stood there, gasping for breath and coughing, the gate agent was able to book two of us (me included) on the other flight with the rest of our group. The other two students were put on standby. My professor was so relieved. She was looking up seats on that flight and saw that there were four first class seats and said she would have paid for all of us to be on that flight if she needed too. Luckily, after we walked back to the gate we flew into, the other two students were given seats on that flight. Whew! What a whirlwind. We only had to wait about 45 minutes and we were boarding the plane heading home. We landed at 11pm, and headed to baggage claim. At this point I think we were delirious. We woke up at 4am and it was now 11pm. I had a cold and by this point both ears were plugged and I couldn't breathe. It sounded like I was underwater. I just wanted to be in my bed!! Off to baggage claim we went. Four of the students (including all three boys) got their luggage. The other four of us, not so much. The baggage belt stopped rotating and we realized our bags were not in Philly. WE went to the office to report lost luggage. Sure enough, our bags were on their way to Atlanta. Of course, the luggage also missed the connection, so the bags were on a later flight to Atlanta. Our professor left her address and had it arranged that all the luggage would be shipped/sent to her home, hopefully the next day. We finally were walking out of the airport around midnight. We piled into her van and headed back to campus, where we met and left our cars a week previously. I finally made it home at 1am and was beyond exhausted. I stayed in bed until about noon the next day. My phone was still not getting great service. I emailed my professor and heard our bags were finally dropped off around 7pm. Erin and I drove the half hour out to her house to grab my bag. What a debacle. Thankfully, this happened on our way home. It would have been so much worse if our luggage was lost on the way to Montana. It just added a great story to our journey. We were safe, we had our luggage and we had a wonderful experience. Now, to get back into school mode. We all had to be up and back on campus by 8:30am on Monday for a full day in the lab and a three hour lecture on domestic violence. What a welcome back! I am pretty sure a part of me is still recovering from that trip. Thankfully my cold wasn't too bad and I got over that last week.
I have yet to get back into school mode. I need to get my butt in gear. I have an exam in my Leadership course on Tuesday. I have been in a funk for about a week and a half and just trying my best to get through each day. I am sure in time I will get back on track, but for the moment it has been a challenge. May 8 will be my next, and last break in this program. I think I can make it.
In other news, I am in my OB rotation and I do believe I have found what type of nursing I want to do. Maternity!! My first day on the unit, I was placed in Labor and Delivery and saw a baby born. I had a front row seat to see this little baby come into the world and I believe I am forever changed. It was amazing, a true miracle. I am pretty sure I want to be the nurse that helps moms bring their babies into the world. I want to be the nurse that gets the first look at a new baby, and to help the parents in those first few hours with their new baby. It was so incredible and I felt so honored to be apart of that baby's entrance to the world. I had the most wonderful nurse and the parents were so open and excited to have me there. It was perfect. By far, my best moment in nursing school, hands down!!
Speaking of OB and getting my butt back into school mode, I have a lot of work to get caught up on. Enough of this blogging! I will be back more regularly, I hope!
Here are a few pictures from my trip!
Ok, so I am not posting any pictures from the school, or really of anyone else on the trip, so these are just from snow shoeing!
Really Delta, are you really sorry??
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