Countdown Continues

Things are really pressing in this week and next. Everything seems to all hit at once...next week...Holy Week...one of the craziest times of the year (besides Advent). So work at the church, for the past 4 weeks, has had my brain cycling through details all the time (while still trying to manage to keep details for each Sunday!)

I have Passion Week services to run details for on Thursday and Friday...then I have an all day Microbiology lab on Saturday. Then comes Easter morning when I've got to leave the house at 6:15 in the morning (gah!) and be there through at least 12:30. Gratefully all the services are exactly the same.

Then on Monday--it's the deadline for Micro Lecture 2 exam. I've seen it coming and I've tried to prepare. I studied through Spring Break so that I could potentially be ready to take that same exam tomorrow. But this week has not cooperated so I think I'll study today, tomorrow and then on Monday and perhaps I will take the exam on Monday or on Tuesday. It would really be unrealistic for me to take the test the day after Easter...when I've not had any concentrated time to study. Also next week I'll be busy working on 3 assignments for my Micro Lab (one of which is worth 20% of my Lab grade--which is a written lab report.

Honestly, I am not looking forward to another semester of working and going to school. This is really tough. I don't know how most people do it. Even harder if I had a family to care for. geesh. This summer, if I'm admitted into the program for fall, I anticipate that I'll be taking three classes. One ten week and two five week...thankfully no more than two classes at a time. I really need to work as long as I can --for the paycheck and health insurance--since I will be losing both of those when I start nursing school. I may have to drop back a few hours (and a few dollars) a week since I will have actual classes ON CAMPUS that I have to attend weekly or twice a week. But that will be worked out once I know IF I'm accepted. Anyone want to sponsor a student? ha-ha!

I am now 20-25 days from knowing if I've been accepted into the fall nursing program. Just one more thing weighing in. Can't really control that, so I just have to be on top of what I can control: Microbiology studies. Fun thing I learned this week...I got the 3rd highest grade in my class on our first microbiology lecture exam! So very proud. Earned a 97%; it was curved and so I ended up earning over 100%! I was so shocked--kinda still am. I really had no idea afterwards if I could even hope for an A. It was hard. So I am pleasantly surprised!

I'm not at all prepared for this next exam--but hopefully things will come together in the next few days of studying. Which is what I should be doing now (after some Cheerios for breakfast).

So...until next time.

When I was at the college this past week taking my first Microbiology exam I asked a gal in the Welcome Center how many applications had been received for PVCC's nursing program. She said about 400! mercy. I think they are back up to 100 available spots this year (they reduced to 90 last year b/c of staffing/funding issues). The gal said that many applicants don't have the prerequisites, so the actual number of competitive applications is a good bit lower.

I'm in the midst of my last two prerequisites. I've heard that I'll at least get credit for having them "in progress" even though I don't have a grade to weight my application for them.

I was told that decisions would be sent out around April 15. That's 6.5 weeks.

My microbiology lab has quite a number of folks applying for PVCC's nursing program. At least we'll be finished with our labs before we find out. That could be pretty awkward. Well, actually I suppose anyone who is applying for the program may still have classroom contact with folks...but since all my classes are online this semester, the lab is the only interaction that I have with other applicants (kinda strange).

This week, microbiology is covering genetics in the cell. DNA, RNA...blah. blah. To gain further clarity of what's going on during DNA replication I went online...and of course YouTube is FULL of educational videos. Here are a few of my favorites.

Sometimes you need a little music to relax the brain. ha. Hope you enjoyed them and learned a little.