Back to the Grind

It's crazy to think that I am in my last didactic quarter of nursing school!  Come April all I'll have left is immersion and my capstone project.  People in my cohort have changed their tone and we've all talking about NCLEX reviews, portfolios, immersion placements, graduation, where we want to work and weekly countdowns.  It definitely doesn't get any easier.  We still only have one day of class, but we have two days of clinical and assignments for two additional online classes.  It's a heavy load and I'm trying to manage working 20-24 hours a week on top of it.  We also will be required to start collecting 132 "indirect hours"  which is volunteer work in a non-clinical setting that is nursing/health care related.  Monday through Friday is a drain and all I want to do when I get home from work on friday is lay on the couch and watch some mindless tv.  Days where I get to sleep in past 5:45 are far and few between, but I guess that is the life of a nurse.

• Mondays:  Public Health Clinical at Misericordia 3-9
• Tuesdays:  Work at Lurie's 7-3:30 or 7:30
• Wednesdays: Comprehensive Care Clinical at Rush Oak Park Hospital 6:45-3:30
• Thursday:  Class 9-4
• Friday: Work at Lurie's 7-3:30 or 7:30
• (every 3rd weekend I work so I get either Tuesday or Friday off) 

I'm half way through my second week of the quarter and still haven't gotten into "school mode" per say.   I've put all assignments, tests and other important dates/meetings in my planner and color coded them, but that's pretty much it as far as prep work for the quarter is concerned.  I know I can't get the ball rolling until I'm completely organized otherwise I'm a scatter brain and constantly wondering what I need to do when.  So I guess that's a start and now I just have to look at my assignments and what they actually are.  For my first assignment of the quarter I had to post this leadership discussion by Monday at 9 am.  I posted it at 12:30 am.  I promised myself that I'll get more on top of things come Saturday morning...