Nursing school

Nursing school started yesterday. We had orientation last Thursday and already had a ton to read and homework due yesterday on the first day of class, wowee wow. What have we gotten ourselves into? It's gonna be crazy and worth it. I was going to post about our second week in Michigan and about our camping trip last week before school started but I don't think I'll have a chance to do that. We camped near Aspen all last week on both sides of Independence Pass - the prettiest pass ever. It was beautiful and amazing and challenging. Then we stayed in a hotel at the end of it in Snowmass Village for 1 night and got drinky. There was a heated pool and a private balcony and a view. It was grrreat.
We have an exam in 1 week already and we will see our very first real human patients on Sept 4th. We can't get lower than 77% in our classes in order to stay in the program. I hope I'm way higher than 77%. So far, the quiz yesterday was VERY hard. I didn't know half of the words in the questions. I need to work on medical vocab. There are only 3 of us in the class that are starting in the medical field for the very first time EVER. Everyone else has years of experience in the medical field. It's all so foreign to me - a whole new language so I've got LOTS to study to even understand the textbooks.
Nutrition class is a fresh breath of air. There are more than just nursing students in there - so lots of young kids that are funny and quirky and immature - I love it. We had to draw pics of what we eat and most of the kids in the class had stuff like the McDonalds logo alone as their drawing and beer and bacon. Me and Dan are old and nerdy and had stuff like beets, hummus, fish, etc on ours.
All of the teachers seem great and the entire nursing staff seems very supportive because they know it's gonna be hard for us all. There is even a specially designated woman who focuses on JUST supporting us. Whether it's for a hug, counseling, finding a babysitter, helping find scholarships, etc. She is sweet and nice to have around, especially since my mom doesn't live at hugging distance from me. 

Michigan: Detroit week

Once we moved to La Junta, we packed up and headed to Michigan for two weeks. After a long 30 hour train ride, we were there! The train ride is fun, if you are with a loved one...which I was!

It was so nice to catch up with the family and do some sight seeing around Detroit. We hung out with Dan's nieces and nephews which is always comforting, coming from a Mexican family where kids pop out faster than weeds in the yard.

We went to DIA and saw some amazing original art, as you can see below

 Yep. That's one of Van Gogh's original self portraits. No big deal.

 No, that isn't a printed copy of Andy Warhol's work. It's the real deal, yo.

And did you know that Diego Rivera spent like 8 months in Detroit back in 1932-33 to complete this GIANT mural in the main hall? Well, he did. You gotta Google it or something to see the whole thing, it's amazing. We spent the most time admiring this room. I'll never forget it! Dan's dad even bought me a shirt that has a pic of one of these walls. Thanks Tom!

I must say, Detroit is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever been to. I know it's desolate and run down but the architecture is ridiculously beautiful and detailed. Pictures don't do justice. I really reeeally hope that Detroit comes back to life in the near future. It's all too pretty and too full of history to be torn down and forgotten for good. It would be sad to see it go to waste. Some parts of Detroit are starting to get revived and it's really great to see. Dan says there has been a lot of improvement since he left a few years ago. I'm hoping that every time we visit, it becomes more and more booming with humans living there.

I'm glad Dan took me to see THIS. You wouldn't notice this if you didn't know it was located there:

Then went to a bar downtown with the best sign ever. It was right next to all of their liquor bottles:

Then we toured a little bit of the ghetto, right in the middle of Detroit. There is a lot of this:

So...there's some of the Detroit we saw this year. I love it, all of it. It's my 3rd time there and I can't wait to go back.

There's SO much to write about still...and I know I won't be able to document ALL of it. But next time, I'll tell you about our week in Northern Michigan: one of the most lush places I've visited. Once I catch this blog up on what we've been doing all summer, I plan to write all about the nursing program experience here in this tiny town. That's the whole point of this blog: to record our experience in nursing school and here in this town for the next 2 years. Bye!

What's been goin' on?

What's been going on, you ask? LOTS! For now I'll tell you about us moving and next time I'll tell you about everything else. We moved to a town of about 8,000. Not because it's pretty, because it's really not. Not because we hate Denver, because we really LOVE Denver. Not because we hate humans, because we really do like 'em enough to be around them. But because Dan got accepted to the nursing program - WOO HOOOOO!
So we said goodbye to our Denver home. It's been my home for 4 years. My favorite home, ever. I've lived in this home longer than I have ever lived anywhere in my entire life. We moved a lot when I was a kid. It was usually because we got evicted. I've been with this home longer than I've been in any relationship (how sad, heh). It was hard to say goodbye but also exciting to move to the next step. With the help from wonderful friends, we packed it up, and said good-bye.

And off we went...

and we miss these faces so much, it hurts my heart...

 

and I miss these extremely professional people I worked with...OH so much... 

The Segunda with mom

Every time my mom visits us from the small town she lives in, she ALWAYS asks if we can go to the segundas (which means second, and is what we call thrift stores). So yesterday, we went. I got to use her senior discount because yes, she is in that age range now, even though she doesn't look it and even though she still has like 80 yrs of life ahead of her. For $17-something, I got a big-o bag of stuff. Stay tuned and I'll post some pics of the treasures I found! First, I gotta go do laundry with Dan and then I'll be able to wear it all.

Blizzard!

I never knew snowflakes were real until I moved to CO back in 2003. They are so pretty and at night, they make the snow glitter. I can't wait to live somewhere where it isn't as cold and doesn't snow as much...but I must say that snow really is pretty. It muffles the sound of the city and brightens the night. 

Me & Dan walked home last night and played in the snow the whole way home. The neighborhood was like a GIANT fluffy mattress! We were able to throw ourselves into the snow and just fluff right into it. It was SO fun! 

First post, woo!