Sarah's blog
Class of 2011, Nursing Major, from Wrightstown, WI

Hi Everyone!

How was everyone’s January? Well all I can say is mine was FREEZING!
Honestly, it was like Ice Age: De Pere Edition! But we made it through the
cold, and once again it’s hit the books and kick off another semester!

I moved back into my dorm here at Burke Hall last weekend on the 19th. And if
any of you were paying any attention to what the weather was like, it was a
whopping 30 degrees outside, but that was BELOW zero. And well then of course
just because I am a female, I own enough clothes to clothe an entire army (I
know, laugh laugh) so I think we made at least 12 trips in total up and down
the stairs to get everything up here! Plus, I live on the fourth floor and
there is no elevator in my dorm, so it was ever so interesting.

But I managed to get settled in and unpacked. Then we had some fun for the
rest of the weekend. Most of my friends came back up on Saturday also, so
later that night we all went cosmic bowling to catch up on the stories from
over winter break. It was so nice to get to see everyone again. I love my
family dearly, but after a while they can begin to drive you up the wall, and
it is so nice to be back here at St. Norbert now ( well that is, it’s nice
for the social aspect, however the homework aspect, well that’s another
story).

So the homework story, well let’s just say that it sucks for lack of better
words. I have a tuition overload this semester, which means that I am taking
over the allowed credits. This semester, I have 19 credits, whereas the
allowed amount is usually 16. My classes include: Philosophy of Human Nature,
Macroeconomics, Lifespan Human Development, Anatomy and Physiology, and
finally Nursing 104. Well so far after the first week I can tell that
Philosophy shouldn’t be all that bad; I have Dr. Abel and he is pretty much
amazing, definitely would recommend him for anyone. Macroeconomics doesn’t
appear to be too difficult, but I am not really a business person, so it could
pose to be a challenge for me! Lifespan I really am not found of. The
professor is pretty old, and is actually retiring after this year, and his
lecture pretty much consists of putting up a power point and then reading
directly off the slides! Anatomy and Physiology is going to be a ton of work!
I actually have a lab practical this coming Thursday on all 206 bones in the
human body; YIKES! But I think that by far it is going to be my most
interesting and favorite class of the semester! And of course there is my
nursing class. Our professor, Sherri, is super awesome, and I am really
excited for the class! Today we actually got to order our uniforms (scrubs)
for our clinical which start in April, so that was pretty cool!

Another exciting thing for me is I am applying for an RA position for next
year! I actually just finished my application this past weekend, and I have
to go and turn it into Res. Life today! I am a little bit nervous about
everything still, but I’m sure everything will work out.

Well, I really must run off! I have to be to class in about an hour, and I
still have some other things to get done! So I will talk to you soon!

Have a good week!

I hope that you guys all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the New
Year! I know that I am enjoying my break immensely, especially after finals
week!

Finals actually went alright, it was just a very long one with
little sleep acquired. On Monday I didn’t have a final, and therefore I had
the entire day off; that was very nice because it gave me some time to prepare
and to study for the rest of my finals! However, on Tuesday the real fun
began. My first final was my Anthropology final, which was held on Tuesday
December 11 from 2:15-4:15. This final, however, was not a cumulative final,
which means the information on the exam did not cover things from the entire
semester. Instead, it was just the length of a normal exam. So I walked out
of that exam feeling actually very confident that I had done well. My next
exam was on Wednesday from 2:15-4:15 again, however this time it was for
my English Lit class. I was a little bit nervous about this exam because
there is no way that you really can prepare for an English exam. The exam was
open book, and consisted of two essay questions and then three short answer
questions. I know you’re probably wondering if it really takes two hours to complete a
test like that! But yes, believe it or not you do need to have two hours, and
even with two hours when it came down to the last minutes it was crunch time! However, once again this exam was
not a cumulative final, but rather it was just a normal exam that covered
about a month worth of material. Then on Thursday was my HUGE exam that had
me so stressed out! I had my chemistry final from 9:00-11:00 on Thursday
morning, and let me tell you that difficult does not even begin to describe
that exam! Friday then ended with my Biology exam which was held from
11:00-1:00. For Biology our professor gave us six possible essay questions
which could be presented to us on the exam two weeks prior to the date of the
exam. We were then expected to prepare answers to each of these essay
questions, and then on the exam we were presented with three of the six essay
questions. I personally did not think that this exam was difficult, however I
guess if one would not have taken the time to prepare answers, it definitely
could have posed to be challenging! So the essay questions constituted 150
points of the exam, and then the remaining 50 points came from multiple choice
questions, and those multiple choice questions were not difficult whatsoever.
My last exam that I had to take did not occur during finals week, but rather
occurred the week before finals took place at St. Norbert. The Wednesday
before finals, I had a nursing exam. This nursing exam was once again not a
cumulative final, but rather was just a normal exam that covered about a month
and a half of material.

Finals week came and went, and then the dreaded waiting game began for grades
to be posted for viewing on the internet. Finally on Friday December 22 we
were able to log onto our Knightline accounts and check our grades for first
semester. I actually did very well: I had A’s in chemistry, biology, and
anthropology, and then I had an AB in English Lit. So I was very pleased with
that turnout. Then just this past weekend my grades came in the mail from
Bellin College of Nursing and I found out that I received an A in my nursing
class. So as much as I got frustrated over the course of the semester with
all of the time that I had to put into my studying, I guess it was worth it in
the end!

As I look back over the semester, I would have to say that my favorite classes
were my nursing 103 course, and my biology course. The material presented to
us in nursing 103 was a lot of background information on how nursing began,
and then we also got into the meaning of value, ethics, beliefs, and how a
nurse must be able to put aside their personal beliefs and values and take on
the clients when they are caring for them. Another extremely important aspect
of this class is the nursing philosophy paper that you must write. This paper
has to be a minimum of six pages, double spaced, APA format with at least
three references, and it must cover the following topics: the definition of
Bellin College of Nursing Values (caring, integrity, excellence, and
community) and then your definition of each of these values with an emphasis
on what it means to be a caring individual, futuristic planning, nursing in a
global perspective, leadership, and partnerships. All of these topics need to
be included and elaborated on within the context of your paper. You then turn
in two copies of the paper: the first one is graded by your professor, and the
second one is put away in your file. The paper, which is put away, will be
taken out again during your senior year where you will then re-evaluate what
you stated your freshman year and see how much you have changed, or maybe how
you haven’t changed whatsoever over the course of your four years of schooling
at Bellin. Another reason why I thoroughly enjoyed this class was because of
the professor. Our professor for nursing 103 was Connie Boerst, whom you will
probably meet when you go for your orientation at Bellin for the first time.
She is the academic vice president at Bellin, and therefore works in the
Academic Affairs office. Just take my word for it, she is an amazing
professor and you will love her if you get the chance to have her as a
professor!

As I also stated, I really enjoyed my biology class. Biology has always been
my thing. I loved it in high school and took every possible biology class my
high school had to offer me (yeah, I know, bio nerd is what you’re thinking).
Biology 115 with Dr. Bailey was an amazing class just simply because Dr.
Bailey was an amazing professor! He had a great sense of humor and made class
lecture a ton of fun! He was one of the few professors I have encountered
that really, really wants you to learn the material he is presenting you with
and will go out of his way to make sure you do learn it!

Another interesting thing that has happened to me over break is I broke my
arm! Actually, I just did it this past Saturday evening, so today I have to
go and see an orthopedic surgeon to see what they are going to do about it. I
broke it up in my shoulder joint, so there really is no way that they can cast
it, which kind of stinks because the sling doesn’t provide it with very much
support and it hurts quite a bit due to the lack of support. So I really
should be going because I have to be to my appointment in a half an hour! I
hope you enjoyed your Christmas break! Good luck when you go back to school
and I’ll talk to you soon!

Sarah