Today is a special day. First, it marks my second week of
being a resident of Iowa City. More on that in a minute. Second (and definitely
more importantly), today would have been the 100th birthday of
culinary great Julia Child. I credit my Julia obsession to my life-long (as in,
she knew my parents before I was born and babysat me) friend Pat. I’m a
definitely a Julia fan: I’ve looked through her cookbooks, read her
autobiography, and even characterized her during a historical wax museum I
participated in during high school. So, cheers, Julia! You’re still the best.
Now
back to Iowa City. In short, I absolutely love it here! The combination of
active lifestyles, numerous trails/parks and sidewalks, academia, and one of
the nation’s top 3 teaching hospitals create an environment in which I am
blessed to find myself. Most areas are within walking distance, including the
artsy ped (pedestrian) mall downtown (definitely lots of places I want to visit
there!) I do have to drive to work, to the nearby Coralville Hy-Vee, but it is
worth it. J
It is times like these that I am ever reminded of God’s providence and
faithfulness. He knew this would be a good place for me. Oh, did I mention that there is a great PCA church here? Truly, God is good. In regards to the internship itself, it is slowly sinking in that is kind of a big deal (excuse my casual language) to be a dietetic intern. Last week, we were assigned our computers, pagers, keys to our intern office, etc., and also given our rotation schedules. The first two weeks of the internship are orientation, which means that we’ve received lots of training on the hospital’s charting system, policies, safety, taken pre-test exams, attended lectures on nutrition topics, homework, etc. I’m thankful that I know most of the content that we have covered and am grateful to have had such a wonderful undergrad dietetic program at Olivet. Still, however, I’ve been reminded of how serious –especially in the acute setting at UIHC-the dietetics profession can be. As much as I hope to rotate in the different ICUs (including a NICU), I’m also reminded of just how ill these individuals are. And how much I need to know in order to help them. But, I guess that’s why I’m here. I have ten months mentoring before I’m on my own, so I’ll definitely be taking advantage of it and learning all that I can from this experience.
On Monday, we begin our graduate courses (and also take our first competency exam), with rotations starting on Tuesday. I’m excited, but also a little intimidated, to start out in GI surgery, but know that it will be okay. I have some assignments to complete prior to beginning the rotation, and I’m definitely going to be brushing up on GI in Krause. I must admit, though, that I am glad to be studying again. Guess I’m a hopeless academic.
On a related note, I am beyond excited to be a part of such a group of wonderful fellow interns. I’ve already had opportunity to get to know many of them outside of class, which is great. It’s been interesting to compare our undergrad programs, and it’s also been nice to be back in a group that understands what on earth I’m talking about. However, I’m afraid I’m probably still the science nerd of the bunch. Some things never change. J
I do promise to try and keep this updated at least weekly. My roommate and I are still trying to decide whether or not it is worth it to pay for internet, so my computing is a little limited, which I’m finding is a good thing in many ways. Communication may suffer a bit, however. On the flip side, though, I get to spend time at my new favorite coffeeshop-the Iowa City local business Java House-which is always a good thing. Anyway, I will do my best to keep all of you updated. Also, feel free to email/text or in any other manner contact me. I truly love hearing from all of you.
Now for that enteral nutrition
homework due tomorrow…
