This first year of dental school wasn't easy, but we both learned A LOT about each other and Joseph learned so much about becoming a dentist. His classes this year were mostly gross anatomy, physiology, microbiology, virology, histology, and dental lab (learning to carve teeth out of wax, drilling, filling cavities in fake teeth, etc). I probably missed a lot of stuff, but it's still a lot!
While Joseph was up to his neck in dental school studying, I was working hard. My first job after moving to Ft. Lauderdale was a travel nursing job in CVOR at a hospital close to West Palm Beach. My commute was an hour each way every day (tiring!). Thankfully, our good friend from college, Berit has parents who live close to the hospital I was working at, so I was able to stay with them when I was on call. I worked at this hospital from July to the end of November, and boy was I ready to be done with that commute!
On Black Friday, Joseph drove me to the airport early in the morning and I traveled all the way to Sofia, Bulgaria for a medical mission trip/visit with my friend Katherine, who is a missionary there. I spent a week with a small team from the states providing a medical clinic in two different Bulgarian towns. The second week, I stayed with Katherine for a few days, then traveled to Vienna, Austria with her and explored the city before returning to Florida.
During those two weeks, Joseph was studying for and taking his final exams. After I got back from Europe, we drove up to Alabama for the holidays. Since my travel job had ended, I was able to take a few more weeks off so we could see the family that we so dearly missed.
After we got back to Ft. Lauderdale, Joseph started back at school while I waited for my new job to start. As soon as we left for Alabama, I got a job offer at a hospital in Ft. Lauderdale in their CVOR! By the end of January I had completed my first week of work there. The rest of the semester involved lots of time with our new friends from church (community group, socializing, and dog park dates) and Joseph spent lots of time studying and learning how to fill cavities and do root canals on dummies!
The biggest thing we learned during this first year was how hard it is to go somewhere to live without knowing a SOUL! It really made me grateful for my awesome friends back home who still keep in touch with me, because without them, I wouldn't have made it through the first semester. We also learned how important finding a church home is. During the first semester of school when I was working away from home we found a church and started getting involved, but it was hard to connect with people since I was out of town a lot and Joseph was at the library most of the time. Once my new job started, I was able to spend so much more time getting to know people at church, and have actually started volunteering for the nursery a few Sundays a month (it keeps the baby fever at bay)!
So many things have happened this first year, and we can't wait for the second to start!
While Joseph was up to his neck in dental school studying, I was working hard. My first job after moving to Ft. Lauderdale was a travel nursing job in CVOR at a hospital close to West Palm Beach. My commute was an hour each way every day (tiring!). Thankfully, our good friend from college, Berit has parents who live close to the hospital I was working at, so I was able to stay with them when I was on call. I worked at this hospital from July to the end of November, and boy was I ready to be done with that commute!
On Black Friday, Joseph drove me to the airport early in the morning and I traveled all the way to Sofia, Bulgaria for a medical mission trip/visit with my friend Katherine, who is a missionary there. I spent a week with a small team from the states providing a medical clinic in two different Bulgarian towns. The second week, I stayed with Katherine for a few days, then traveled to Vienna, Austria with her and explored the city before returning to Florida.
During those two weeks, Joseph was studying for and taking his final exams. After I got back from Europe, we drove up to Alabama for the holidays. Since my travel job had ended, I was able to take a few more weeks off so we could see the family that we so dearly missed.
After we got back to Ft. Lauderdale, Joseph started back at school while I waited for my new job to start. As soon as we left for Alabama, I got a job offer at a hospital in Ft. Lauderdale in their CVOR! By the end of January I had completed my first week of work there. The rest of the semester involved lots of time with our new friends from church (community group, socializing, and dog park dates) and Joseph spent lots of time studying and learning how to fill cavities and do root canals on dummies!
The biggest thing we learned during this first year was how hard it is to go somewhere to live without knowing a SOUL! It really made me grateful for my awesome friends back home who still keep in touch with me, because without them, I wouldn't have made it through the first semester. We also learned how important finding a church home is. During the first semester of school when I was working away from home we found a church and started getting involved, but it was hard to connect with people since I was out of town a lot and Joseph was at the library most of the time. Once my new job started, I was able to spend so much more time getting to know people at church, and have actually started volunteering for the nursery a few Sundays a month (it keeps the baby fever at bay)!
So many things have happened this first year, and we can't wait for the second to start!
No comments:
Post a Comment