Classes are OVER!!!!

I had my last lecture of my first semester of nursing school today! The semester FLEW by! I am looking forward to taking 2 finals next week and then being done for the summer!

I had a nice conversation with my 220 professor on Wednesday (British Professor Foote) - she told me it was a pleasure to have me in class. AW! And gave me two pieces of advice - 1 - don't focus on getting 99% on everything, the best nurses do not get 99s and the students with the 99s don't generally make the best nurses. She added that she thinks I have a lot to offer the nursing world and that she thinks I will be an excellent nurse. AW again! 2 - Always put family first. She said she still hears flack from her kids (4 boys, all grown) about family vacations that she missed while she was in nursing school. She said the memories with your families last a lifetime and nursing school memories don't mean as much (of course you remember what you learned but not necessarily the details of each lecture). As I have said before I REALLY like this lady - she is SO funny, a wonderful teacher and a genuinely nice lady. I have decided to take her advice to heart and keep it close to me for the rest of my journey. If I am lucky our paths will cross again next spring when I take Maternal and Newborn Nursing.

222 is over too! THANK GOD! I loathe that class. I wound up with straight 82s on all my exams - hey, at least I am consistent! I got a 98 on one paper (lost 2 points for using the word "and" in my references instead of an "&" -- are you kidding me????) and a 100 on the next. So going into the final I have an 85.6 or a solid B. I have heard rumors that the 222 final (worth 25% of our grade) is a gift - very easy and everyone does well. I am not banking on that but if it is true I will be thrilled. I will still put in the work to study but if I can actually get a 90 or above on that exam I will do a cartwheel (injured SI joint and all!!!). I will most likely end up with a B in the class, if I am really lucky maybe a B+ but I feel like that is really dreaming! By the end of next week I will know for sure. Right now I am concentrating on the 220 final because it is actually possible for me to walk away with an A in that class. Right now I have a 90.5 and the final is worth 40% of our grade so if I can pull of a nice solid (high) A on the final I will end the course with an A overall. Pray for me!!!!

For now I am so thankful to have completed (successfully) my first semester of nursing school and I am walking away unscathed! I am looking forward to taking the summer off with my kiddos and enjoying the beach, pools and the lake. I will be back to the grindstone in the fall.

You'll hear from me at least once more with an update on my final exam grades as well as my course grades but for now I am back into study mode prepping for next week's finals. :)