Just another day in the life of an AuD student

I just had the most fantastic Friday I could have asked for.  I was so incredibly nervous to go to my first external placement; it was really my first time to see how Audiologists work in the real world.  I drove to my placement the night before (it is an hour from where I go to school) and crashed on my cousin’s couch that night to avoid waking up and leaving by 6am. 

I got there nice and early, reviewed my notes from all my classes the past 2 semesters, quizzed myself on the normative values for any test they may ask me to run and generally prepared for a very long and possibly overwhelming day. 

Needless to say, this was one of those days where I LOVED everything that I was doing.  I felt comfortable doing all the testing and giving results to patients.  My supervisors were both very understanding, and also pushed me outside of my comfort zone and letting me try all sorts of new things.   One of my supervisors was in the first AuD class to graduate from my program, so we had fun swapping stories about the professors :)

All in all, it was just an affirming experience.  The entire day, I had so much fun trouble shooting hearing aids and figuring out what was wrong with them and how to fix/repair them for the patient.  I used to not be wild about hearing aids, but they are just such AMAZING little bits of technology.  I love being able to counsel patients about their lives, expectations and seeing how I can best help them to have the life they want.

I know deep in my heart that I have truly found “my calling”, I had my doubts when I started school and was unsure I made the right choice in my program- but as of Friday I truly felt affirmed in my decision and everything just felt right. 

When I have my days that I am stressed out beyond belief I’ll have to look back on Friday and remember this feeling and that on May 18th, 2014, it’ll all have been worth it. 

Back in Bloggy-land

First of all I’ll share some good news:  1) I passed anatomy! That is that class that is mostly commonly repeated/remediated in the program and 2) I am officially a 2nd year in the AuD program- bring it on grad school!

These past two weeks of R&R seemed to fly by. Before I knew it, we were embracing, saying our “see you soons” and wishing time would stand still so we could spend more time together.  The time we had together was stressful, tiring, wonderful, relaxing, priceless, and entirely too brief.  There were laughs, tears and lots of memories made.

Now, I find myself back at school struggling to find the motivation to study electrophysiology, pharmacology, and medical terminology while getting back into the swing of clinicals.   I’m also “pee-my-pants-nervous” for my first external clinical placement on Friday.  All I want to do is lounge around, eat copious amounts of junk food, and throw a gigantic pity party.

I keep trying to downplay my feelings with knowing he’ll be home in the next few months, and that deployment is about 3/4 of the way over, but it still hurts nonetheless.  The timing for leave was as good as it could be, once I finished my finals we had 3 wonderful days with just the two of us down at my apartment at school.  If I had known that was all the extended alone time we’d get, I would have cherished it that much more.  Everywhere I look in my apartment I remember the things we did together in CU and the fun we had. 

The night before he left, we spent the night talking, cuddling and as I just found out, waiting out a minor tornado in his parent’s basement with a foosball tournament.  As the night drew to a close, he held me tight, told me he loved me and walked me out to my car where we kissed goodbye in the rain.  We discussed it, and decided I shouldn’t go with him to the airport; waiting together for a plane to leave would just draw out an already agonizing goodbye.  Thankfully his family was able to take him and spend a bit of time with him.  Poor guy, he had to go back on his birthday.  Thanks for that lovely present Army! I did get word today he made it safely to Kuwait, now he's just transitioning to his new job and getting settled back into deployment life.

I want to thank all you bloggy-buddies for your support and comments on my recent posts.  Without that, I do not know if I would have been able to handle the constant ups and downs from this deployment as well as I have.  So, I thank you again- it means a lot.

Ok, off to go on a cleaning and organizing binge and then doing some Ben and Jerry’s therapy.  Tomorrow is my one day off during the week to take some me time so I will be taking full advantage and hopefully getting all caught up on reading blogs.  My google reader count is ridiculously high (200+) and is at the point I never want to see that number that high again, yikes!  Looking forward to see what has been going on with everyone :)

Now for the relaxation phase of R&R

Oh vey- what a whirlwind it has already been! I feel like BF and I have spent a majority of our time on R&R thus far in a car... *sigh*. Between the 2.5 hour trip to the airport to see him when he arrived, then promptly returning to campus on the same day, meeting 1/2 way to spend a few days in the CU, then back to our hometown, then trekking to Iowa for a weekend to see family and to move his brother out of his apartment.... eesh!!! No wonder dearest LT wants a few days to finally relax at home.

Time together has been excellent thus far.  It felt like we fell just back into step with where we were prior to his departure.  Except, this time we actually are getting much more time together than usual, so it has been quite the balancing act to not drive each other completely crazy :)  All that is on the books for the remaining week-ish is a nice date night or two and plenty of family time. His family is all coming over to my parent's house for some of my dad's infamous grilled ribs *drool* I just hope they all get along without too much wine flowing haha. I spent an extended weekend with them, and there were no major breakdowns just lots of chatting and getting caught up with LT.  His photos from deployment were entertaining and I'm just taken aback by the beauty of such a hostile environment.  His stories were also quite enlightening about what he's been up to these last 9 or so months.

LT and I have had a lot of serious conversations while he's been home.  He's told me a few scary stories, but it's ok to hear about them in person vs in an email or over the phone. Granted the one super serious future conversation there may have been quite a few glasses of wine involved to lower our inhibitions, but my cold feet are starting to reappear- eep! I don't know why, but I tend to just shut down when talking about the future, I blame the school blinders that I am currently in and my stubborn streak.  We counted this weekend (emphasis on weekend only) how many times people asked when we were getting married, only 13 *facepalm* meaning I lost the bet it'd be over 20, so I owe him a long backrub.  Glad his family likes me, but yeesh, we're still just young kids!

Anyways, just wanted to pop in and say hello- I'm still getting all caught up on other blogs that I've been missing between finals week and R&R taking over all my free time.  Here is to sleeping in tomorrow and getting some quality chill time in before I start classes all over again.

The longer the waiting, the sweeter the kiss.

Guess who is finally back? :) 

Best hug ever. This was after tackling him.

Back where I belong.

Now just some pesky finals/papers to knock out then the good times begin!

Girly Squeals!

Ok, 6 am I open my laptop and wake up to the BEST BEST BEST email in the world.  My neighbors probably hate me from the loud girlish squeal I let out, but they'll just have to deal.  If you haven't guessed by now, a certain guy is on his way back for some R&R!!! By this time next week, we'll be reunited! He'll be home before that, but finals will be getting in the way a bit, so brief reunion at the airport, then I'll be trucking back to school to take some finals.  Joy. At least I'll get him for a few days to myself and then I get to meet his Mom's extended family for the first time ever- whoa, cue the nerves.

I'll post a reunion photo, but until then time to get a take home, papers, and study guides knocked out.  Ok, coffee overdose here I come.  I'm starting to get first date nerves on steroids.  It is so hard to believe that almost 9 months after we last saw each other, we'll finally get to be together again.  I'll try to pop in and blog occasionally, but odds are I'll be soaking up all the time I can get :)

Ahhh, can it be this weekend already!?!

Off The Radar

Yeah, it's that lovely time of the year... the one where school and work will completely kill any semblance of a life that I thought I had.  I'm frantically trying to finish my HUGE research paper so I can edit the heck out of it the rest of the week.  Start studying for my Anatomy and Physiology final (hoping for a B so I can just be done with the class), typing up a take home, another huge paper, and two presentations.   Why didn't I stop with a bachelor's degree again? Oh right, that whole want to be an Audiologist thing :)

Anyways, just wanted to let you know that I am probably going to drop off the face of the earth for the next week and a half or so.  I may pop in with a photo or update should I have any news on the R&R situation, but I'm still just trying to stay focused on school work at the moment.  Thankfully I don't have any patients scheduled currently, but that could change in an instant. I think I schmoozed the office secretaries enough with cookies that they will take pity on me and not give me a patient until finals are over *fingers crossed*.  Yes, I play dirty, but it usually works.

I'll try to keep reading all the blogs I follow, but it may just be a skimming.  Ok, light at the end of the tunnel is hopefully some R&R time with that one guy I'm kind of crazy about.  Then the summer semester beings... and the madness continues.  See you all in about 2 weeks!