Arrested Development – College Admission at Loyola

Senior Citizen

By | February 4, 2014

Oh, the pun. Such an under appreciated form of word play. But why am I talking about puns, you ask?

Well…

1. It should go without saying that I am a senior in college. The off-off campus housing, not-always-so-consistent blogs (*coughsenioritiscough*), constant nostalgia, and very regular crisis-ing about my future career and ability to maintain my college friendships should almost go without saying at this point.

So yes, I am graduating in 91 days! That’s less than 100! That’s absolutely terrifying!

For my final semester as a nursing major, I have my pediatric and nursing leadership classes until spring break, after which I continue taking my leadership class, in addition to CRT. CRT, or Clinical Role Transition, is when I will be shadowing an RN 1:1 for 120 hours to see what it is REALLY like to be a nurse.

Sounds like all fun and games, right? WRONG.

While I’m not in class that much this semester, I still have clinical twice a week until spring break (think 4 am wake up calls), and, in addition to my regular classwork, I need to study for the NCLEX.

The nerves that come with the “one test to decide your whole future” thing has really caused me to buckle down and get to work studying. Luckily, Loyola is here to support me, by offering NCLEX question e-mails every week and a week long NCLEX review within a few weeks of graduation.

That being said, I have also been using this semester to take advantage of student discounts, keep up with friends, and ~~attempt to~~ embrace Chicago winters.

2. In addition to my academic senior status, I am feeling a bit like a senior citizen.

For years, I’ve been carrying around a backpack that’s a littleeeee too heavy for me. (By a littleeeee, I mean that it’s generally wider than my torso and 1/5th of my body weight.) For years, I’ve been told that it was going to hurt me.

And finally, it has.

Two weeks ago, while lifting the aforementioned backpack, I fractured my left foot.

It’s been a bit of a struggle to get around in this weather on crutches and in a boot. However, the Loyola community at large has been amazing at helping me survive outside. Both the student body and the faculty have been so helpful and accommodating, and I could not be more grateful.

I’m hoping to be off the boot within the next three weeks, but in the meantime I know that I will have no problem getting any kind of support I need while at school!

On that note, and in the vein of my brilliant senior/senior pun, I’d like to end with this comment (kindly stolen from my nursing calendar):

What kind of blood does a pessimist have? B Negative! (Hahaha.)

Crutches Photo – Attributed to the lovely and daisy-like Anique Aburaad

Filling the Void

By | October 24, 2012

For all of the hockey fans who are really looking to fill the gigantic gap another NHL lockout has left, I can relate. An avid fan myself, I have had a difficult time finding a remedy to my hockey lockout blues. In fact, it are days like today when I miss coming home after a long day of school and watching the slick shots, heavy hits and stunning saves on NHL.com. However, I have found at least a few things to divide my time between, and the nice part is, these double as tools to relaxation during test/exam season here at Loyola.

1) Parks and Recreation– A fan from episode one, I have not found a funnier show on television today. Parks and Rec, as the aficionados call it, mixes an eclectic cast of quotable characters together in a small town, Indiana government department (the parks and recreation department, of course). Throughout the show, the characters find themselves in odd situations, often times at odds with each other. The reason I am such a huge fan is because of the balance of content and humor, and also, the type of humor. There is a clear story line in each episode, and there is always a protagonist, a small, seemingly insignificant problem, and a whole bunch of true characters who try (or try to avoid) solving the problem. The humor is often witty, quick, and usually at the expense of someone else’s dignity. If you can’t tell, I highly recommend this show.

2) Arrested Development– I must admit, I was let down by the first few episodes of the Fox TV show. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the show, but rather, I didn’t understand it. However, a few episodes in, I realized that Arrested Development hinges on the strange and silly occurrences that lead the Bluth family from where they are in the beginning of the show to where they end up in the end. The humor is not as obvious as it is in other shows on TV today, but it can easily be found in the sheer wackiness of the situations the characters find themselves in. Plus, each episode is only 20 minutes on Netflix, so it fits neatly into all of the crazy schedules college students have.

3) Top Shot– This show is considerably different than the two previous. For one, this show can be found on the History Channel’s website, which says a little bit of something about the show. The neat part about this show is that it is reality TV without the reality. The show consists of 2 teams made up of some of the best gun shooters around the world. While on the show, the teams compete at a number of very difficult looking competitions, sometimes with weapons no one has ever used (tomahawks anyone?). As contestants are eliminated (based on a voting system), the teams get smaller, until there are just two shooters left. The winner gets $50,000, and the loser walks away looking without money, but definitely looking like one bad apple. This show is great when looking for that sense of competition lacking from no hockey.

Here are a few shows I find enjoyable, and I hope you can too. Hopefully by the time I get to the season finales hockey will be back in action. Hopefully.