The Trials and Tribulations of a Pharmacy Student

I am currently sitting in lab 114 at school... yes at 7:30 AM. Why you may ask?? An experiment. An experiment which takes 8 hours to incubate. So I will be stuck in all day, waiting for cells to grow. How fun....

So anyway, other than being stuck in school all day for the purpose of furthering science, things are going great. I have to tell you the cutest thing that happened this weekend, because no one has ever done something like this for me before. So Friday night, Jeff stayed over, and we slept in on Saturday morning. Well, when we finally got up and decided to eat breakfast (even though it was lunch time), he offered to make my Eggos. So right off the bat, the fact that he was making my breakfast, as easy as it was, and bringing it back to bed was great. So he comes back with our breakfast, and on the plate are 2 stacks of 2 waffles with a red heart on the top one! I had no idea what he made it with, so he decided to be smart and tell me it was ketchup, but it was red frosting left over from Sarah and I making cupcakes. It was so adorable. So ya, I wanted to write it down so I'll be able to remember the first time I was given breakfast in bed. :-D

Ok, so I should probably go set up my cells so I don't have to be here any longer than necessary.

More updates when there are stories to tell!

Ok, so I know it's been a long while since I wrote anything here, but life has been quite hectic in many areas. Not in all areas, becuase of I'm still single as per usual, but between school, and Kappa Epsilon, and theatre, work-study, and CVS over break, I've kept busy.

So the reason why I've decided to ramble on here tonight is becuase I had my first rehearsal for "Jekyll and Hyde:The Musical." I have not performed in a musical since senior year of high school, and it already feels amazing. I'm playing the part of Lady Beaconsfield, who in a nutshell is the rich bitch, and totally isn't the part I auditioned for, but she is one of 4 original female characters, so it's still good. The musical is being put together by MCPHS's Theatre and Improv Group and being directed by Alex, a pre-med major in my year. The only major downside to being in the musical is that I'm going to have to give up doing COF Theatre, becuase doing both would just kill me. Which is sad, but not many of the people who were in it with me in the first 3 semesters are doing it anymore, so it's not the same. I sitll have to send Tom our director an e-mail to let him know what's going on, which is not going to be fun, but it has to be done....

Anyway, rehearsal went great, and I was very excited to discover that I still have my soprano singing voice. I was always a soprano in high school, that's how I was trained in voice lessons, but when I came to college, and sang in the COF Chorus I mostly sang Alto I and Soprano II sometimes, so I haven't used my high notes in a long time, so I was excited to find that I could still hit the high notes! I sound like such a theatre geek, and I totally am, but to those of you who sing and do theatre know what I'm talking about, lol.

Looking foward to having tomorrow off from class, I totally need the day off, and have lots going on in the next 2 weeks with exams and the end of Kappa Epsilon Pledge Month, and reharsal. You know, I was kinda down the past couple of days about being single for a year as of the 12th, but I have too much other stuff going on, and I know people tell me that all the time, but it's true. I never take it correctly when they tell me, becuase I'm usually feeling sorry about myself, but there isn't much I can do about it. Ugh, I guess we'll see what happens....

So my homepage is MSN.com, and I always look to see what kind of news is going on, becuase that's really the only way I ever find out anything these days, lol. So anyway, I happend to come across and article about "Are left-handed people smarter?" Since I am a fellow lefty, I thought this was interesting, and you'll be please to know that we are indeed smarter, so to all the Latins who said we were "sinister" and the Catholic School Nuns, who thought we were evil... HAHA!! Here's what the little article said....

So apparently stress hives don't mean that you're going to do well on the exams you take that week. I got a 60 on patho/physio, but then with the scale he put in I got a 75, and then I got a 58 on biochem, then to top it all off I found out today that I got a 71 on pharmaceutics. So my grades are not looking as good as the usually do. I was really worried about it last week. I found out my biochem grade the day before my birthday and it made me so upset because I left both (well all 3) of those exams feeling confident about how I did. But there isn't anything I can do about it, so I'm going to go talk to my professors and see how I can improve on the next ones...

On a MUCH more positive note.... my 20th birthday was absolutely amazing. I couldn't ask for better friends up here at school. I went out to dinner with Sarah, Domenic (Sarah's boyfriend), Jerry, Allison, Allan-Michael, Jaymes, Dan, Amanda, Elisha, Chris (Elisha's boyfriend), Chris, Rob (Chris's boyfriend), Ashley, Angela, and Kayla to Vinny T's which had great food, and everyone said it was delicious, and then we headed back to the appartment for a party of our own where I got pretty drunk, lol. I was good though, I didn't pass out, throw up, wake up with a hangover, and I remember the entire night. But the night before my birthday Elisha, Sarah and I all painted our nails together and stuff, and they were too impatient to give me my presents so at 11 PM they decided to give them to me. Sarah got me one of my favorite bras with 3 pairs of matching underwear from Victoria's Secret (she works there), and Elisha gave me lotion, body butter, body spray and perfume all in the same Berry Kiss scent that's new from Vicky's (Sarah picked it up for her). But if that wasn't enough just from them, at dinner on my birthday I got a brown Coach purse from Allison, becuase she said I would never buy one for myself so she had to get me one, Jaymes gave me a set from Yankee Candle that had a Willow Tree angel in it with a reed diffuser, which is perfect becuase I love the Willow Tree angels, Kayla, Chris and Rob gave my a gift certificate to Boarder's, and then I got cards and stuff from everyone else. It was such an awesome night.

Then I headed home on Saturday to see the family for my birthday and Allie's confirmation on Sunday. So I get home and get my presents from the family, and Mom and Dad gave me a pair of cubic zerconia diamond earrings for my 2nd holes that I had wanted becuase the ones I got my ears pierced with were getting gross from wearing them for so long, and a sweater that I loved from American Eagle, and then Allie gave me a blue with silver thread fabric scarf from American Eagle that is so cute, I wore it to school today, lol. Then Cioci gave me the movie 21 on DVD, which is great becuase I love that movie, and then I got money from everyone else, which is great, because I can always use money, lol. Allie's confirmation was really nice, it was at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Providence which was so beautiful, and she loved the necklace and earrings set I gave her for confirmation. Her favorite gift of all was what Cioci gave her though. For my confirmation she had an opal ring made for me becuase she was my sponsor, so for Allie what she did was took my great-grandomther's (her mom's) wedding ring and had it shaped into a heart and put on a chain with a small diamond in it. It came out so nice, and Allie was so excited about it. My Mom has her Grammy's (my Babci's mom's) wedding ring that she wants the same thing done to it, so she told me that I would eventually get it since Allie already had our great-Babci's ring.

So if that wasn't enough excitement for one weekend, it doesn't stop there. Today marked my offical entry into the School of Pharmacy at MCPHS with our White Coat Ceremony. It was really nice, we all get to wear our pharmacy lab coats for the first time, walked across the stage to recieve our school emblem pins, and all recieted the "Oath of a Student Pharmacist" together. It was a nice time overall except for the fact that they symbollically coated 5 members of our class, instead of coating all of us, which made me aggrivated becuase I feel like the people they chose didn't accurately represent our class. One of them was the Dean of Pharmacy's daughter, and the other 4 really have made no impact in our class. I felt like if they wanted to pick the dean's daughter and 4 other people from our class, why not pick student leaders or something, to show what our class has done for the school already. Anyway, I could go on about that forever, but then that would be boring, lol. Mom, Dad and Allie came to see it and then we went to P.F. Chang's for dinner, so that made it nice too, and Mom bought me a rose, so that was cute too. I get to wear my coat for the first time on Thursday when I have pharmaceutics lab.

So I guess that's about it, not so excitng week the rest of the week, I just have a Health Care Delivery exam that doesn't seem bad at all, and then I get to look foward to my second physiology/pathophysiology exam next Wednesday. Oh my life.... :-D

I need to make it a weekly goal of mine to not break myself out in stress hives. They are not fun, and they make you less productive.

I have a physiology/pathophysiology exam tomorrow, and a biochemistry exam on Friday, and I already had a lab quiz in pharmaceutics lab. Thank God my pharmaceutics exam got moved from this Thursday to next Tuesday, becuase it made my life that little bit easier.

I did find out tonight though that the COF Theare Project performance may very well be the weekend before finals week, again!! It was really hard to get through last semester, I can't even start think to about what it's going to be like this semester if that happens again. I think I'll start taking the Benadryl for the hives now, lol.

i just keep telling myself that I just have to get through this week, and the pharmaceutics exam on Tuesday, and then my birthday is on Friday!

*sigh*

Just keep breathing, and I will get through this.

So I am sitting in the Atrium looking around at already all the students studying for classes. I have not stopped reading, learning, or writing since I got back to school. Third year is already a killer. But I have a few things keeping me here that I would never trade for less headaches and stressful moments. I know in the end that it will all be worth it.

I miss Allie not being here with me. It's weird not having her here. Moving in to the appartment was just not the same without her being there. Once the appartment gets a little more settled I will get her down here for a much deserved Girl's Weekend.

I'm starting to enjoy my room. The walls had to be painted, so that left my things in boxes from Monday until Thursday when they finally painted. But now it's getting closer and closer to being my own space. I still have to put my curtains up, but I need to iron them and Sarah left her iron at home, lol.

I just think I need to give myself some time to get back into the swing of things with school, and everything will be fine. :-D

So today, well I guess yesterday was the end of my family vacation week. It was overall a very good week, and it was nice to keep busy. Here's the brief week rundown:

Sunday: Nothing exciting. Slept in after being out late.

Monday: Went with the family to Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun. Yes I know it's a little weird, since both Allie and I can't gamble, but it was fun to walk around and look in the shops and have good food. Plus it was cool in there since it was so hot and humid on Monday. 

Tuesday: Went to the beach for the afternoon. I have not been to the beach in years I think, becuase of all the bacteria problems they had, but it was awesome. I missed the beach. Got sunburnt though since I was so pale, lol. 

Wednesday: Went bowling. I beat everyone the first game with a 126, then Dad won the second (I got a 140) and third game (I got a 107). It was a lot of fun since I hadn't been bowling since before college. Then we went out for pizza for dinner.

Thursday: Dad had a dentist appointment, so Mom, Allie and I went to paint pottery together. It was fun and relaxing. Allie and I saw Kate from "Jon and Kate Plus 8" take all her girls to go paint pottery, so we got inspired, lol. Then we went to the Ohl's house for dinner, as a thank you from them for helping to babysit Xavier at the beginning of the summer for free.

Friday: Went to Six Flags New England. We are not very big amusement park people, so we spent all of our time in the water park which was a lot of fun. I love waterparks. So that was a long and tiring day, but a lot of fun.

Saturday: Did absolutely nothing, it was wonderful after a busy week.

Sunday: Got up and went to church, and found out that Alisa Ohl's father passed away on Saturday. We knew that he was doing poorly on Thursday at dinner, and she was really upset about it, but he had battled cancer and such, so he's in a better place. Then after church was the Salamon Family Reunion with all of Mom's family. That was nice as always. 

Monday: Didn't do much of anything, except went and babysat the Ohl children, Zoe, Brigid, and Xavier while Dan and Alisa, and Mom and Dad were at the wake. Allie was with me, because we neither of us could do it alone with a 6 yr. old, 4 yr. old, and 14 month old. The girls were good, but Xavier was pretty fussy once he got tired, and neither Allie or I could get him to stop crying. He was like screaming crying, and we couldn't get him to calm down. I was very frustrated, because usually I can get him to go down for a nap no problem, but going to bed for the night was another story. 

I found it kind of ironic how in my last entry I had said how I hoped I didn't have to go to another funeral like we did last year when Auntie Anita died, and then it turns out that Alisa'a dad passes away. We're not going to the funeral tomorrow, I have work at 12, but we were going to go to the wake until Dan called to ask for our help with the kids. It's ironic how things like that turn out when you stop to think about it. 

Now it's work tomorrow 12-8, then Wed off, and I'm going to the beach with Elisha, yay, then work Thurs 4-9, Friday off, and going to Boston most likely to sign the lease and visit people for the day, then work on Sat 10-6. So now it's back to normal summer vacation, woo hoo, lol.

;-)

So things in RI are boring as usual. I'm working more shifts at CVS every week, either 4-5 days versus the 3-4 I was working the beginning of the summer. It's not too bad considering I'm making kinda good money even though it will be so much better when I get my intern license in the mail. The RI Board of Pharmacy is so slow, I sent my application in the end of May, and I have yet to get my card in the mail and without my card I can't get my intern raise. So anyway besides that CVS is the same as it's always been. 

Sarah, Jerry and I finally have an apartment. I'm so excited. Mom and I have been busy buying the stuff I need, which is fun because I love decorating my room and stuff. It's within walking distance of school, which makes Sarah happy, and in a good area, which makes me happy, lol. We move in September 1st, like the rest of the Boston college students, but unfortunately we start classes the next day, so I don't have much time to settle in to the apartment, but it's ok, I had to do that last year in the dorm.

I had an interesting experience last night. I had work from 9-5 during the day, then I went out clubbing with Lisa, Lisa's friend Katie, and Katie's sister Jenna. I have been to plenty of school sponsored dances and this past year, fraternity parties/dances, but never have I been to an actual club with a whole group of strangers before. I had fun for the most part, except for falling on my ass, but it was pretty good overall. I danced with a few guys, and had fun dancing with Lisa, Katie and Jenna, so I think I could actually see myself doing it again. I'm glad I pushed myself to go with them because it gave me something to do on a Saturday night, which I haven't done all summer.

So this week is the traditional Martinville family vacation week, so Mom, Dad, and I all have the week off from work, and we're spending it together. I usually like this week. Hopefully this week will be funeral free unlike last year when Auntie Anita died. We'll see what happens.

Ok I just have to go off about this for a little while, so bear with me.....

I am so fu**ing bored down here in RI!!! All I do is work or be at home, or do stuff with the family. I don't have many friends down here in RI, all of my friends are either wherever their home is, or up in Boston. So next week I have from Tues-Thurs off from work, so I think perfect opportunity to go up to Boston to visit, to actually be able to do something other than work. Well one of the other interns Alex asked me to work his Tuesday shift, and I told him I had to figure out what I was doing, and I just get a text message from my cousin asking me to cover his shift. So I responded to it saying that I can't becuase I'm going to Boston. Well that's fine and dandy but Mom gets mad at me telling me that I better not be going to Boston for nothing, that I should be looking at appartments while I'm up there. Well I haven't talked to Sarah yet, and I really want to go up there. And Mom gets on my case about how I shouldn't miss out on a shift, like she thinks I'm some kind of CVS slave or something. I've picked up extra shifts when they're offered to me if I can, I can't do everything. And I'm sick of being down here and doing nothing, and listen to Mom and Dad get on my case about stupid shit. Give me a break. I need to get out of here for a few days. Grrrrrrr....

Ok now I feel better....

So I am offically done with my second year of Pharmacy school.

I had to say goodbye to Allie this morning. She's not coming back to MCP. It feels like one of my arms has left me. I know I'll see her, she plans on coming to visit, but it's not going to be the same. We lived in the same room for a year and a half. We pledged Kappa Epsilon together. She's my best friend.

I get to start interning at CVS, which is kinda exciting. Boring, but exciting at the same time. I get to do more stuff than I did last summer, which is cool. Like I get to put compunds together and reconstitute perscriptions. All nerdy pharmacy stuff, lol.

So now I wait for this semester's grades. I think I did well, which I'm excited about. I'm hoping to be able to make Dean's list. That would be really awesome since I didn't make it last semester because of physics.

Oh so in happy news, things are better with Dan. Which I'm happy about. We talked during the COF Theatre Project's Spring Performance about how everything ended before, and we worked a lot of stuff out. I'm looking foward to starting again.

So lots of things starting and ending all at the same time, but it's just another phase in my life that I look foward to.