I've been waiting all day to blog, and now I get here, and I'm not sure what to write.
I think I can honestly say that this has been the most relaxed weekend I remember in ages. Nothing to do but organize, unpack, and orient myself with my surroundings...oh, and skim the first 2 anatomy lectures for Monday...but that's another story.
I'm so thankful for the calm before the storm.
Friday night and Saturday morning were spent almost exclusively unpacking and decorating my new digs. I'm pleased with how everything came together...tons of pictures, lots of lamps, random reminders of old memories. I have a reading corner, a coffee station, an elevated bed, a mini-fridge, and even a "portable kitchen" (stacking bins with all my kitchen essentials that can be carried down to the kitchenette whenever I cook). It's a nice little room. Lots of light, nice and quite, spacious yet cozy. I got my grocery shopping done, braved my first trip off campus, and found a few coffee shops but mostly got lost in the "suburbian maze" and felt glad to come back to the calm of campus.
Saturday afternoon, after Matt finished teaching in Batavia, he came over and whisked me off to the city. I had figured out enough about the metra system to get us into Chicago by rail (an adventure to be sure, but not that hard after you've done it once). What fun to ride the 45 mintes, observing the many types of people who move in to the city for Saturday night life. One of my favorite things about such adventures is that you never know what types of people you'll see, what little conversations you'll overhear, and what you can learn about a person's life from the clothes they wear or what they carry. Since public transport in the city makes so much sense and is so inexpensive, you see people who are homeless sitting quite near those who obviously live comfortably in a rich suburb. I heard 4-5 different languages in one trip, and saw ages across a lifetime. Its a fascinating blend.
Chicago was our destination primarily for the Chicago Blues Fest, recommended to us by my PA program director along with the command, "DON'T spend your last free weekend on campus worrying about anatomy!!!".
We were happy to comply.
We took the metra to union station, asked for directions from a conductor and followed them...they were totally wrong. After boarding the wrong bus, the driver kindly dropped us at the spot on his route that was closest to our destination and we walked the rest of the way in. The festival spans 4-5 blocks between Michigan Avenue and Lake Shore Drive, overlapping with Grant Park primarily. 5 major stages are interspersed with fair food, music and guitar stores set up under tents, and street musicians with a single amp and a guitar singing away. The mood was reminicent of the Decatur Celebration in places, but with a wider breadth of people overall, and, for the most part, an incredibly high level of talent. Brass jazz bands, bluegrass rhythm bands, and slow, sweet new orleans style blues competed for sound space all afternoon. After an hour or so of listening, we headed down michigan avenue and had a nice dinner at an outdoor cafe. Good conversation and wonderful food under the serenade of a street singer whose can got just a little more full as we walked away. Back at the fest, we walked in and out of several shows, but stood for over an hour to hear the night show of Bettye Levette. I'd never heard of her before last night, but she's the older black woman who sang with Jon Bon Jovi at O'bama's Inauguration. She's 63 and put out her first album in 1969...and apparently both then and now she's a pretty big deal. Not only did she sing a good amount of "self history" but she touched on lots of classics from every imaginable blues genre. People were dancing, clapping, laughing...it didn't matter...no one could stand still. I love the ambiguity that comes with a large crowd under a darkening sky. No one cares what's going on so long as they can still hear the music. We all reveled in a shared experience that promoted unusual individuality with no shame. :) What an incredible show.
After a late night, this morning's adventure was to do the first church visit in the area...something Matt and I have been pretty excited about for a while. We did all the research, found directions and times, etc, and got there just in time for the service this morning. Unfortunately, the service wasn't there... apparently Wheaton Bible Church has moved...and to no where in the near vicinity, I assure you. We drove around for quite some time looking for it, and after doing so realized we had missed all the other services for the 8,000 or so other churches in Wheaton. Oops. But, we enjoyed lunch and a little church service of our own, which turned out fine. To be continued next week.
This afternoon, in an effort to start being more active, we headed to Midwestern's Wellness Center. It was completely empty, save a nice security guard and one lonely basketball player. Matt and I had decided that learning to play racket ball would be fun and new...and after calling Mom for her 20 year old recollections on how to play, we started right in. I will say that we definitely need some work...but even when you can't hit the ball anywhere NEAR where it's supposed to be going, playing a life sized version of "anything goes" ping pong is a LOT of fun...and a lot of work. We got good and sweaty, then came back to my room to google the real game instructions. Certainly we were not doing things correctly, but with our lack of accuracy it probably didn't matter. Better luck next week we hope. :) In the meantime, I've decided that very few actions are more satisfying that whacking a racket ball like crazy and watching it bounce off 6 different surfaces. I'm thinking I'll keep this in my stress relief arsenal for future days of "storm".
Tonight capped off the weekend perfectly. Before Matt headed home, I made dinner (Taco salads and Blue Corn Chips) and then we headed to downtown Downers Grove. Unlike the busy, sprawling, concrete mess that I had understood were "the suburbs", we found a small-town feeling city center with lots of trees, older buildings, and a coffee shop where the barista knew the name of everyone who walked in (except us, of course). We got coffee, and began to stroll up and down the many streets...walking past endless adorable boutiques, fun local restaurants, pizza parlors, old style barber shops, art supply stores, galleries, dance studios, and etc. There was an 1800's cemetary, where many of the first townsfolk are buried, a beautiful square complete with an old theater and a old-style diner, and the train station, with a beautiful old clock. Couples kept riding their bikes into the square and parking them in front of the sundae shop. Families with young kids were playing by the fountain and in the park. Teenagers were walking in from nearby residences to hang out at the coffee shops. I take back everything I've ever said about the suburbs being cookie cutter, collossal, materialistic, and boring. I guess I just had never seen anything but the "mall and metropolis" side of them. The Caribou on the corner will be a perfect study spot (just the right amount of noise...good music....$1 coffee on mondays), the small amphitheater in the city park has live music every saturday night (as does the Irish style pub), and the "Cellar Door" has both expensive and inexpensive wines and a beautiful outdoor patio to enjoy them on. This Matt and I did as we counted our many blessings and enjoyed the beatiful evening.
I feel aclimated, relaxed, and increasingly comfortable in this atmosphere. And though I'm intensely aware that tomorrow's start to classes will quickly blow this feeling out of the water, the breath I got to take before jumping off the cliff was lovely and deep enough to last me for a while. What a blessing!!
Tonight my friend Erin called to ask if I wanted to walk to class with her in the morning. Its clear I'm not the only one who's a bit apprehensive. But then again, we've got each other...and we're all about to be in the same storm-chased boat.
Please be in prayer for me tomorrow especially in the afternoon...I'm headed for Anatomy lab, and quite frankly I'm intimidated beyond belief.
Signing off as the relaxed me...and anticipating all that lies ahead...
Morgs
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
You know "you've arrived" when...
After an inexcusable absence I return today because I hope that someone I know will stumble across this and enjoy the read. I'm a journaler at heart, and if I had the time I think I'd probably do this or a paper version every day. But I don't, and so I get behind.
Nevertheless, when I come to points in my life when significance or just the sheer weight of processable occurances surface, I feel compelled here out of some sort of obligation. Today is one of those days.
I'm officially here. I've been waiting for this week for about 6 years, and today I'm on the cusp of my PA education. Orientation is behind me, I have a dorm room for the first time in my life, I live in the suburbs, and I'm starting classes on Monday. So much has happened in the last 72 hours that I can't imagine getting all the details, but I'll bullet point the events that make me sure that I have, indeed, arrived, along with a few things that have occurred that I never expected.
~ I'm scared
The first 2 days I was on campus were filled with orientation...an event that I thought would be low key and boring. In fact, it was boring and completely overwhelming. We received no less than 50 sheets of paper each detailing rules, regulations, policies, "to do's", and etc, and with each new lecturer came another set of details to check, another warning about how much study strategies from undergrad simply wouldn't work. Each lecture should be read 3-4 times. Flashcards won't work. Note copying is a waste of time. Plan on at least 4 extra hours in the lab (on top of 6 that are scheduled weeky) if you want to pass the first practical. Our list of exams is extremely long, with many weeks in July and August hosting 3 tests a week.
~ I'm inspired
Probably the best part of orientation was getting to hear our faculty for the PA program talk about themselves, the program, and the next year. Each one, from the program director to the secretary, got to stand up and give us some words of advise after telling us something about themselves. My impression of the faculty is that they are amazing. Each told some great personal stories that had us laughing, and all seem to have a lively yet professional relationship with fellow teachers. They expressed to us how much they LOVED to practice medicines, some of the reasons that they are still excited about it, and some of the reasons they were driven to teach. In addition, they shared what their own clinical practices look like. While most only work part time now, they all have some incredibly inspirational practices. Our medical director has two kids, is a deacon in the catholic church, works 3/4 time at Midwestern, and still manages to work at least 1/2 time at the Cook County jail (the largest single-site jail in the country) alongside his wife. The program director volunteers at a cardiac pediatric clinic in the city on her "off" weekends. My adviser is an MD from India, who volunteers in an underserved medical clinic on the south side of Chicago. Another of our facutly is a PhD and MD who has worked at a city clinic for 25 years. It is almost 60% latino, and while he knows plenty of vocabulary to get through the day, this 55+ year old grandfather has decided that this summer he will become fluent in Spanish (he asked all of us to "hold his feet to the fire"). This man also leads the underserved populations club on the campus. One of our other full time professors has worked at an exclusively latino speaking clinic in downtown Chicago and is very involved in the medical spanish club and classes here. I'm telling you, sitting there in those seats that afternoon I felt like you needed a rope to keep me from floating away. I'm so thrilled not only to be so affirmed and encouraged by these people, but to be under their influence over the next three years. I'm so hoping that I can be like these people when i get older: involved in service, always doing and pursuing new things, investing in the next generation. At this point, I'm far more excited about this influence than i am about the classes.
~ I'm very certain
I've been praying about this decision for the last 2 years, and as it approached it seemed like the tangle of possibilities would never unravel into a clear path. But they did, and I recieved answers just at the right moment, with no more or less clarity than I needed. Walking in to orient that first morning, I felt a little bit like I was challenging God. "This is where I'm supposed to be?? Hope you can prove it." He did. I'm absolutely serious when I tell you that within 4 minutes of walking through the front door I got drawn into a conversation with 4 girls I'd never seen before. We walked in and sat down together durning the first lecture, and for the rest of the day we were a bit inseparable. By lunch time, one of the girls had affectionately dubbed us "The Posse" and we were acting like we'd known each other for weeks. Erin, Emily, Ally, and Danielle have been a blessing to me as I adjusted to the campus. In addition to this great blessing, I found that most of the people I met were obviously intellegent, but incredibly approachable, open, and friendly. True, it's orientation week, so everyone is going to be kind, but there is nothing like walking into a room and feeling accepted, even sought out immediately by people who are anything but competative and intellectually aloof. The final faucet to the "social affirmations" of the week was last night at the "Big/little picnic". Everyone was invited to come and eat and then find their mentor from the class above them. For some reason, my mentor didn't show up, so I ended up sitting with Erin, her new husband, and a random assortment of others. After small talk about studies and etc, one of the mentors asked if there was anything else we wanted to know. Erin's husband, Brian, piped up and mentioned that the two of them would be looking for a church. Suddenly, everyone at my table was offering advise on churches they went to, where they were, whether they were sound in teaching, and etc. I met two more Christian students, one of whom went to Taylor and knows several of my friends! This was such an incredibly affirming experience, and so exciting to consider those who can keep me on track and encouraged over the next year of "marathon". Praise the Lord!
I've been clinging to Isaiah 30:21 the past few weeks, and it has proved to me over and over again that God really does care about each little element of our lives.
"Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind them saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'"
As much fun and affirmation as I've had in the past 3 days, there are a few things that I didn't expect that have been interesting and/or comical to manage:
1) it IS possible too over pack for moving in to your dorm, even when it's a 180 sq foot single.
2) timing doesn't always work well. We get $$ for tuition from our loans on Monday, but the disembursment for food, books, supplies, and other essentials doesn't get dished out until 10 days from now. Also, our ID badges don't come in till Tuesday, but every building on campus is locked and you can't eat meals without them. hmmm....the weekend could be fun.
3) Rolls of toilet paper go a LOT slower when there is one girl in the "house" rather than 6.
4) An extra 6 inches underneath an adjustable bed can make a world of difference.
5) Dorms don't come with shower curtains.
6) I absolutely couldn't have survived the move in without my parents manual and financial assistance. Independant is definitely a false term.
7) I have a rediculous abundance of post it notes. Seriously. I don't know where they all came from. Like, I probably have 30 extra pads besides the ones on my desk. Hehhe.
8) The little 3m nail-free hooks are probably the most precious un-tapped resource in the world. Blessings on whoever invented them. :)
Well, I'm off to keep unpacking and hopefully finish decorating the room! Thanks for reading.
Nevertheless, when I come to points in my life when significance or just the sheer weight of processable occurances surface, I feel compelled here out of some sort of obligation. Today is one of those days.
I'm officially here. I've been waiting for this week for about 6 years, and today I'm on the cusp of my PA education. Orientation is behind me, I have a dorm room for the first time in my life, I live in the suburbs, and I'm starting classes on Monday. So much has happened in the last 72 hours that I can't imagine getting all the details, but I'll bullet point the events that make me sure that I have, indeed, arrived, along with a few things that have occurred that I never expected.
~ I'm scared
The first 2 days I was on campus were filled with orientation...an event that I thought would be low key and boring. In fact, it was boring and completely overwhelming. We received no less than 50 sheets of paper each detailing rules, regulations, policies, "to do's", and etc, and with each new lecturer came another set of details to check, another warning about how much study strategies from undergrad simply wouldn't work. Each lecture should be read 3-4 times. Flashcards won't work. Note copying is a waste of time. Plan on at least 4 extra hours in the lab (on top of 6 that are scheduled weeky) if you want to pass the first practical. Our list of exams is extremely long, with many weeks in July and August hosting 3 tests a week.
~ I'm inspired
Probably the best part of orientation was getting to hear our faculty for the PA program talk about themselves, the program, and the next year. Each one, from the program director to the secretary, got to stand up and give us some words of advise after telling us something about themselves. My impression of the faculty is that they are amazing. Each told some great personal stories that had us laughing, and all seem to have a lively yet professional relationship with fellow teachers. They expressed to us how much they LOVED to practice medicines, some of the reasons that they are still excited about it, and some of the reasons they were driven to teach. In addition, they shared what their own clinical practices look like. While most only work part time now, they all have some incredibly inspirational practices. Our medical director has two kids, is a deacon in the catholic church, works 3/4 time at Midwestern, and still manages to work at least 1/2 time at the Cook County jail (the largest single-site jail in the country) alongside his wife. The program director volunteers at a cardiac pediatric clinic in the city on her "off" weekends. My adviser is an MD from India, who volunteers in an underserved medical clinic on the south side of Chicago. Another of our facutly is a PhD and MD who has worked at a city clinic for 25 years. It is almost 60% latino, and while he knows plenty of vocabulary to get through the day, this 55+ year old grandfather has decided that this summer he will become fluent in Spanish (he asked all of us to "hold his feet to the fire"). This man also leads the underserved populations club on the campus. One of our other full time professors has worked at an exclusively latino speaking clinic in downtown Chicago and is very involved in the medical spanish club and classes here. I'm telling you, sitting there in those seats that afternoon I felt like you needed a rope to keep me from floating away. I'm so thrilled not only to be so affirmed and encouraged by these people, but to be under their influence over the next three years. I'm so hoping that I can be like these people when i get older: involved in service, always doing and pursuing new things, investing in the next generation. At this point, I'm far more excited about this influence than i am about the classes.
~ I'm very certain
I've been praying about this decision for the last 2 years, and as it approached it seemed like the tangle of possibilities would never unravel into a clear path. But they did, and I recieved answers just at the right moment, with no more or less clarity than I needed. Walking in to orient that first morning, I felt a little bit like I was challenging God. "This is where I'm supposed to be?? Hope you can prove it." He did. I'm absolutely serious when I tell you that within 4 minutes of walking through the front door I got drawn into a conversation with 4 girls I'd never seen before. We walked in and sat down together durning the first lecture, and for the rest of the day we were a bit inseparable. By lunch time, one of the girls had affectionately dubbed us "The Posse" and we were acting like we'd known each other for weeks. Erin, Emily, Ally, and Danielle have been a blessing to me as I adjusted to the campus. In addition to this great blessing, I found that most of the people I met were obviously intellegent, but incredibly approachable, open, and friendly. True, it's orientation week, so everyone is going to be kind, but there is nothing like walking into a room and feeling accepted, even sought out immediately by people who are anything but competative and intellectually aloof. The final faucet to the "social affirmations" of the week was last night at the "Big/little picnic". Everyone was invited to come and eat and then find their mentor from the class above them. For some reason, my mentor didn't show up, so I ended up sitting with Erin, her new husband, and a random assortment of others. After small talk about studies and etc, one of the mentors asked if there was anything else we wanted to know. Erin's husband, Brian, piped up and mentioned that the two of them would be looking for a church. Suddenly, everyone at my table was offering advise on churches they went to, where they were, whether they were sound in teaching, and etc. I met two more Christian students, one of whom went to Taylor and knows several of my friends! This was such an incredibly affirming experience, and so exciting to consider those who can keep me on track and encouraged over the next year of "marathon". Praise the Lord!
I've been clinging to Isaiah 30:21 the past few weeks, and it has proved to me over and over again that God really does care about each little element of our lives.
"Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind them saying, 'This is the way, walk in it'"
As much fun and affirmation as I've had in the past 3 days, there are a few things that I didn't expect that have been interesting and/or comical to manage:
1) it IS possible too over pack for moving in to your dorm, even when it's a 180 sq foot single.
2) timing doesn't always work well. We get $$ for tuition from our loans on Monday, but the disembursment for food, books, supplies, and other essentials doesn't get dished out until 10 days from now. Also, our ID badges don't come in till Tuesday, but every building on campus is locked and you can't eat meals without them. hmmm....the weekend could be fun.
3) Rolls of toilet paper go a LOT slower when there is one girl in the "house" rather than 6.
4) An extra 6 inches underneath an adjustable bed can make a world of difference.
5) Dorms don't come with shower curtains.
6) I absolutely couldn't have survived the move in without my parents manual and financial assistance. Independant is definitely a false term.
7) I have a rediculous abundance of post it notes. Seriously. I don't know where they all came from. Like, I probably have 30 extra pads besides the ones on my desk. Hehhe.
8) The little 3m nail-free hooks are probably the most precious un-tapped resource in the world. Blessings on whoever invented them. :)
Well, I'm off to keep unpacking and hopefully finish decorating the room! Thanks for reading.
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