Jennifer Vitti

Wow… so much for having tons of time to blog! These summer classes are intense, combined with work, and trying to catch up with everyone I am exhausted! In fact I shouldn’t even be blogging right now I should be writing a paper for Human Development but I just felt the NEED to blog because I’ve been wanting to and I just got back from a class and I’m not quite in the homework mode yet. Let me start from the beginning though…

My graduation/birthday was awesome! It was a beautiful day, my family was there, Samm was there, it was great! The ceremony wasn’t too long, which was good because I was anxious haha and when I walked across the stage I did not fall. Yay! Then our little get together back at the apartment was fun. It was crowded with everyone’s families there, but it worked out well and I think everyone had a good time. I got a lot of money for graduation/birthday, which is excellent since I’m definitely feeling the feathery lightness of my wallet these days with graduate school expenses. My parents also said they would pay for one of my summer classes (HUGE!) and would buy me the PDA when it came down to buy that (DOUBLE HUGE!). They are awesome. My siblings got me some tools I needed for dog walking (my job when I’m not at school)…very helpful! And I forget if I mentioned already Samm got him and me tickets to see Roberto Benigni, one of my favorite Italian directors/actors, who is going to be in Boston June 6th! SOOO EXCITED!

So I came home on the 16th, basically unpacked and got semi-organized on the 17th, and then started work and school again on the 18th! And that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. It feels surreal. I feel like I have been out for a really long time just because I have been so busy, but really it has been less than 2 weeks! Samm is also home this week and then next weekend for the show/his 21st birthday! So when I do have a spare moment I am obviously spending it with him since we won’t get to see each other as much as we usually do during the summers since he’s staying up in Rochester. But I am going to visit him in July for my summer vacation and he’ll be home for a week or 2 in August before the fall semester starts. So it shouldn’t be too bad!

Classes are fine. Ethics is interesting. The teacher is really excited about teaching and amusing and the subject is not too difficult although sometimes I have trouble forming into words WHY something is right or wrong. I am getting better at it though. And Human Development is also interesting, although right now we’re doing child development, which I took a class on, so everything is basically review for me up until adulthood. I knew the topics themselves would not be difficult, but the amount of work is a little exhausting. Ethics is only a 5 week course and Human Development is a 6 week course, so basically every class is as if you had a week of class in a regular semester. As of tomorrow I will have done 4 classes of both subjects, which means I’ve basically done a MONTH of what I would have done in a normal semester. That kind of blows my mind. I’ve already had papers due and I have 2 exams next week (AFTER FOUR CLASSES!). I think I will appreciate the short amount of time (daywise) that I am in class after it is over and I have 2 months off before I start real nursing classes, but boy am I tired now.

Dog walking is also fine. I’ve been doing that for a few years now, so that’s nothing too new and exciting. Just hoping to get some savings this summer before I give my life up for 3 years. Dog walking actually can be a VERY lucrative business if you are willing to work, so I should make a good amount this summer.

Other than that I have not had time for much of anything! I bought my scrubs and stethoscope and stuff last week. That was kind of fun. It just made everything feel a lot more real. They should be shipped to my house in a week or so as well. I still need to buy shoes and a watch with a secondhand, but that shouldn’t be too difficult and I have plenty of time. 

I hope to post pictures from graduation soon. I promise as soon as I upload the pics from my camera to my computer I will also post them here. Hopefully that will be in the next week (UPDATE: GRADUATION PICS POSTED!)

Me Right Before Graduation

My Parents and I After I Graduated–Thanks Mom + Dad!

My Brother and I

Sisterly Love

My Fans (my boyfriend, my siblings, and one of my cousins)

My Love!

Yay! Didn’t they come out cute?! I was happy with them. There were more too, but you guys only want to see so many of me in my graduation cap and gown!

Oh one more thing I wanted to comment on that a lot of other nursing blogs have been commenting on lately. There are a couple new shows coming out about NURSES! Yay! The first one is coming out June 8th on Showtime called Nurse Jackie. I unfortunately don’t get Showtime, so unless they post full episodes online I will probably pass on this one. It seemed to lean more to an odd mixture of House/Scrubs-esque show than a ER-type anyway (and I am more of an ER type). The second one I’m really excited for is HawthoRNe. This is on TNT starting June 16. This is definitely more ER-like. It stars Jada Pinkett-Smith too, which is cool. There have been criticism from the community about both shows, but honestly I’m excited about them. I think it’s cool that they’re shifting their focus to nurses (GO NURSES!) and who cares how silly it is or how realistic…are any of the medical shows on tv THAT realistic? No. So just watch and enjoy! I will be

~love always~

Jen

Update: I have just discovered YET ANOTHER new show that is going to be about nurses!! This one is on NBC (so definitely very ER-like) and is called Mercy. The trailer looks great. It doesn’t start until March 2010 though so we have a while until we can talk more about this one, but just wanted to let everyone know!

It’s my birthday AND graduation day! Today I graduate with a BA from Skidmore College. My mom asked me last night if it had gone by fast or slow. I would have to say that although some semesters individually felt like they would never end overall the college experience has gone by ridiculously fast. And I can’t believe I’m 22 today!

This is going to be a short post because I have to continue packing/cleaning/getting ready, but I just wanted to share this day with everyone and I’m sure to post again soon and let everyone know how my day was Maybe I’ll even finally include some pics!

~love always~

Jen

p.s. although I don’t really wanna think about it…I also start classes on Monday for my 2 summer pre-reqs that I still have to complete before I can start with Regis in September. *sigh* no stopping!

The title of this post is the name of our “team”. Those are my friends and my roommates (from left to right: Wid, Kristen, Court, Me, Jackie). We had the scavenger hunt today around campus. We found all the locations, but unfortunately were not the first to make it back. However, our shirts came out awesome The BBQ on Friday was lame. We went like 45 minutes late and ALL the food was gone, the music wasn’t very good, and I wasn’t interested in drinking. So that was kind of a bust. Tomorrow is “Fun Day” where they have carnival like games and food. Then Tuesday we get our cap and gowns, Wednesday we have rehearsal, then Thursday Samm comes!!!, Friday the rest of my family comes , and Saturday is graduation. I also think on Thursday during the day we’re going to the big mall (I probably won’t buy anything but it’ll still be fun) and maybe tomorrow go to Borders. I still need to do some major packing. And I have a couple movies on my computer that I’ve been meaning to watch. So I’m actually staying fairly busy.

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms!! Love you Mom!

~love always~

Jen

p.s. 6 days!!

Yesterday at 4:30 PM I officially took my last final of my undergraduate career! It started to hit me more today that I’m not doing any work right now, but I feel like I still haven’t grasped the reality that I’m done with college. I’m still on campus though, which could be part of it. Tomorrow starts the beginning of “Senior Week” with a kick-off BBQ at 3:30. Should be fun! Music, food, drinks, and we get a more detailed itinerary of the events in the following weeks. Then…I GRADUATE next Saturday May 16th, which also happens to my birthday I feel special!

And then it’s on to bigger and better things! Start my last two pre-reqs for Regis at Regis two days after I graduate and those go through June. Then I have orientation in August and give my life away for another few years. I keep telling myself it’s going to be amazing and it will be worth it. And right now I believe it. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy…in fact I have NEVER heard from ANYONE that nursing school is easy, but I’m excited for the journey nonetheless.

Received my CPR stuff in the mail today. The class isn’t till July, but it will be good to spruce up on the manual, so I don’t seem completely ridiculous

Also later this week I plan on taking the Borders Gift Card my boss at Skidmore gave me for graduation and going out and buying some NCLEX study guides. I’ve been highly recommended to get them ahead of time and I think that’s a productive use of the gift!

Later tonight my housemates and I are decorating our team shirts for the Team Scavenger Hunt on campus we’re having later this weekend. Should be fun! I’ll let you know how that goes and how the BBQ is.

~love always~

Jen

p.s. 9 days until Graduation!!

So I finished my classes. The beginning of this week was INSANE I had soooo many exams and papers and presentations I don’t know how I got through it all…but I did. Now I just have 1 paper and 3 finals left before I am done with school. Everything will be done by next Wednesday since senior grades are due on Thursday. It’s going by so fast…crazy, but thank goodness because I’m ready!

After my last class/exam on Wednesday I drove straight home, unpacked my car in like 5 minutes, and then drove to Regis where I attended their Ice Cream social they were holding for us. I had the best time. First we listened to a student who is finishing up her first year talk–she was really interesting and honest and gave me a great impression of first year. I can’t wait. Then we heard a couple of people talk about different things and what should we be expecting. So we should be getting Financial Aid stuff in a month or so, but it sounds like we all get the same amount, which I’ve heard from other schools too. It’s expensive though, but I already knew that. I got to talk to the woman about my summer class stuff (because turns out that I can’t go to “summer” orientation [note this is not for students starting in the fall it's just about people who need to finish up pre-reqs in the summer]) but it turned out to be no big deal, which was a relief. So that was for the first hour. Then for the second hour I ate icrecream and got to talk to the other students. They all seem really interesting and nice! I know it’s the beginning, but I really hope to make some great friends from this program. There were a lot of people who were easily 40-50+ in the group, which I was actually surprised, but that’s probably me being naive and coming from the younger end of the class (I actually might be THE youngest in the class because there are only 5 students who are graduating from college this year–everyone else graduated a while ago–and I’m at the younger end of my year anyway so it’s a definite possibility). There are also 6 guys…and I guess 54 girls since we have a class of 60. But yeah it was soooo great to talk to them and now be able to see some familiar faces at orientation (August 18) and the start of classes

Now I’m home working and studying. It’s been good to get away from school for a few days and give myself a break. I go back on Sunday.

I hope everyone is enjoying the updates to my blog. I added the “mini about me” section (that’s my senior portrait) and the Ask a question feature (Thanks Samm!). I still need to add the disclaimer. I have read a lot of blogs and was really questioning the lack of anonymity of mine. I mean come on the blog is my full name, you know what school I go to, etc. But I’ve read plenty of blogs that aren’t anonymous also. And mine is not going to be just a nursing student blog (although that is the trend and probably going to be a lot of my posts–as it will be a lot of my life!) it’s going to be about whatever I feel like discussing. But as mentioned in previous posts HIPAA and medical disclaimers are still important. So that should be coming soon (I haven’t started actually doing anything with patients obviously since I haven’t started school, so I have a while to get it up there, but that’s my next project). I want to make it clear that no clinical facilities will be named nor will the city/town where they are located and obviously no patient information will be given out per terms of HIPAA. Again I’ve also mentioned this, but I will also be changing little itty bitty creative things so that the individuals/facilities are unidentifiable–so if you think it’s you…trust me…it’s not!

So yay look forward to the disclaimer so I can stop talking about it and just have it there and feel comfortable about it. Also look forward to more frequent posts from me as I finish finals and graduate. This summer I will be working and taking classes for a few weeks, but it should be much more low key and should be able to blog more. Maybe I can actually start to get some loyal followers and !GASP! a comment or two?

Sorry for the rambling… I also think that after I start blogging more I won’t be trying to fit in SO MUCH randomness into each post.

~love always~

Jen