Meet Me Halfway

I am now more than halfway through semester THREE of nursing school. And, can I just say that whoever said year two is "easier" than year one needs a swift kick in the arse. I have never studied so hard in my life (not even in A&P) to barely scrape Bs on most of my exams this semester. It's impossible to tell at this point what my final grades will be, but it's looking like another all Bs semester (except for the lame Sociology class they are requiring I take--even though I have 25 units of upper division Sociology courses. But, I digress. This post is about nursing school).

It's been a struggle. Last semester was rough because of how busy we were. Five-day weeks, every week. I was lucky to get Bs (all above 88%) for as little as I studied. This semester, we have less lab hours and less clinical hours, so we're not quite as busy, but praise God, because we need that extra time to study. The material this semester is HEAVY, complicated and there is a lot of it. And, as I've stated, regardless of all the effort I'm putting in, I am barely scraping by. I currently have an 84% in one class, an 89% in another class and an A- (pretty much exactly 90%) in another class.

While I may not be doing top notch on exams this semester, I am flourishing in clinical. Taking three and even four patients at a time and handling all their care. I just passed my final skills test of nursing school (IV push medications). This week, we're learning how to start IVs and that will be my LAST skill of nursing school. I'm starting to feel like a nurse and it's a great feeling. I love my internship on the mother-baby unit. That is coming to an end soon, and I will miss it. I'm feeling more confident in my role and I feel as if that is a better accomplishment than As (or, at least that's what I'm telling myself). To see growth in that area has been great for me. It's helped to keep my head in the game and not to get too hard on myself when I don't do as well as I'd hoped on an exam.

And, now, I have just 55 days left in the semester. I've been worn out since week 3, but, I'm keepin' on keepin' on. And reminding myself that a year from now, when I'm a nurse (God willing!), I won't care about my grades.