Second Year of Nursing is DONE!

Okay, so I can't officially say it until exam results are released.. (so I guess I should say second year exams are done) but we are all pretty confident we have done well... my group of nursing buddies at least.

So second year is complete with only one more year left- which majority is clinical placements, so thats super exciting, and this time next year I will be sitting my state exam to become a registered nurse! Yay!

Just some celebratory drinks!

End of Semester One

With only one more exam to go, I am nearing the middle of my Nursing Degree.  I am taking a break from study because it seems to be all I have done for some time now.  My next exam is Monday so I do have five days left before it.

This semester apart from writing assignments and being out on placement I have done some extra uni and non-uni related things:

- Bungy jumping in Taupo with Bianca and Sarah (flatmates)

- I have done an 11km hike

- Been in a flight simulator 

- Been on flat outings with my flatmates (beach, dinner, pub quiz (we won!), JUMP)

- Had nursing class dinners

- Learn't all about Auckland traffic in the mornings and evenings (before/after placements)

Basically I have been a lot more social things than previously...

Throughout this semester I have also in a way conquered my fear of public speaking... well, gotten over it, as I have had to do two presentations! One marked and one not marked (just course work).

Just another uni post...

In the week coming up I have three assignments due, I am just extremely thankful that none of them are on the same day! I have one due Monday 9am, one Friday midnight (I think), and the other on Sunday at midnight.  Weird times as all the assignments that I have done previously have all been due on the Monday at 9am.

I have also found out where I am spending my two weeks on placement.  I have been given my ward, times, charge nurse, and also the other student in my class who is sorta like my partner in a way.  I have my first 40 hour week doing 3pm-11pm Monday-Friday and the second week is 7am-3pm Monday-Friday.  I will be car-pooling with a friend as we have to pay for parking and petrol costs.. so that will at least be halved between us!

Right now.. it is half past mid-night, my flat is extremely loud as there is a bunch of drunk teenagers downstairs.  I feel sorry for the neighbours! I text a friend who is next-door and she had been wondering what was going on... that was two hours ago.  Its getting louder as it gets later.

Its also my 100th post!!!

Semester one is complete!

So, my first semester at University is now finished, its over, its complete.

I sat my last exam this morning and so I am now awaiting my results which I think take about three weeks from the end of the exam period to be marked and put online for us to see.

This afternoon I was a bit baffled as to what to do.. I am thinking I am going to need to find some projects to work on over the semester break as I am not going to have episodes of Greys Anatomy to catch up on.. but I am thinking about starting the Games of Thrones series.. not to sure if I want to enter the obsession that everyone has over it though.

I have a busy couple of days ahead of me and then it will die down and I hope to be off exploring and adventuring, one plan is to go to Rangitoto Island, to do walks around there and to spend the day there.  I believe that Rangitoto Island is New Zealand's newest formed volcanic island, approximately 600 years old.

Tomorrow I am involved in the National Men's Health Day in Northcote with a team of student nurses taking blood pressures and blood sugar levels (yes, sticking people) among other things.

I am then going to be going straight from the event to hitting my bed and having a nap before I go to work and do a night shift. They joy of having a holiday and being able to ring work to actually ask for some shifts instead of other things!

Exams are here

My Semester One exams are finally here... The past four months of classes, placement, dissections and labs have come to an end and exams are taking their place for the next week.  A weekend full of study and of course a touch of procrastination, and yesterday filled with study groups and collaboration with my nursing mates over past exam questions and lots of laughter... We are a rather loud bunch... especially when there are multiple groups of us over the bottom floor of the library making a bit of noise with people trying to study around us.

We had that exam today, my nursing praxis paper.  That exam was worth 50% of the final grade and we must get 60% in the exam to pass the paper...

My exam on Friday is human bioscience... the dissection paper! That one is worth 50% too, and I must get 40% in the exam to pass the paper.

Next Monday I have my academic writing and research in nursing paper.  This one I have already passed as I got my second assignment results yesterday and needed a scraping pass to pass the paper without the need of relying on the exam.  The exam is only worth 20% and not set passing percentage in it.

Next Tuesday I have psychology as a social science exam, there is no set mark in it though, just have to get about 40% to pass the paper with my grades from my assignments combined as the exam is worth 60% of the final grade.

Endocrine System Revision..

I thought that I should go and do something another classmate did for learning and studying for exams for the endocrine system: blow up the guy in our lab book from A4 to A2...

I went into the local warehouse stationary to do this.. and as expected.. a couple of weird looks, I guess that is what will happen when you ask them to do that to diagrams of the body, guessing this will be my life from now on... life of a nursing student!

He's rather big... and on my wardrobe door now

Not expecting you to be able to read it... just my notes for each gland/part etc.

First Semester is coming to an end...

My first semester at University is coming to an end soon, this is my last week of lectures before going on exam leave! I have my normal classes and labs this week and next week I think I have two revision sessions for two different papers, but put on the same day to save those that travel from coming in twice as majority in my bioscience class are nursing students.  I have my first exam of four, on June 10th and the last on June 17th, where I will then be done for the semester and awaiting my final marks I get for each paper.

Going to Nursing School!!

Acceptance Letter

Well, it took a long time to get to this post... I have been rather busy with work, and such, but also getting ready for UNIVERSITY.  I got told that I was second on the Bachelor Of Nursing waitlist about the 24th of January... and then found out on the Monday 27th that I had gotten a place at Massey University for Nursing!!!!

I had also been accepted into AUT starting semester two, but I wasn't particually wanting to go there and wanted to be at Massey if I got the chance.

I ended up having to wait all summer to find out if I was even going to be going on to tertiary study and had then since finding out everything has been having to happen so fast as the start of lectures and starting dates were looming close!

My ONE elective paper that get to choose from out of three, is a psychology paper (Psychology as a social science) I will get to be in my friend Danielle's (cake baking partner in crime) main lecture class and possibly even the tutorial classes, which is good, as I will know at least someone, and we will be able to help each other like we have done the past couple years at school as we were in multiple classes together and in the same form class.

Tomorrow I will be moving into halls of residence in Albany, and on the 24th I will be starting semester one.  I also will have orientation week (or two) starting from saturday, with a couple of introductions and meeting etc, that I have to attend that are compulsory for me.

Summer at beach cottage 2014- Day Two

We went swimming at the bach! With the beach cottage going right out onto the beach we have been fortunate enough to be able to look at what the tide and water is doing and be able to judge swimming times, it has been very good to be able to go:

"oh the tide is in",

Lets go for a swim- instead of having to guess because we didn't have the internet unless we created a hotspot from one of the cellphone (but that didn't mean for much useage- I used it to check my emails briefly to hear from uni if they told me if I was in or not and also to check my exam results on the Wednesday morning). 

Note: Yes, my results are coming, and I will be finding out if I will be going to uni tomorrow morning hopefully when I ring the Bachelor of Nursing co-ordinator.

High school is over forever!

Yesterday I officially like, properly, signed out and finished high school forever! I never have to go back!

Exams are over, boring classes are over, learning stuff I'm never going to need is over, everything is over... associated with high school that is!

I got given my year book, and all of the Year 13 mug shots are in it... They were photos taken over the course of the year when the prefects in charge of taking them were able to get those that needed their shots taken- majority were taken during form time and are different to our main school photos that were taken at the beginning of the year for our portrait photos and class photos.

Last Friday I also officially gained the Level 3 certificate in Early Childhood Education and Care through the gateway/ STAR program through school, done through PORSE, I just have to complete the application to get the certificate sent to me.  With this, I am the only one in the school to have ever gone on to complete this certificate during school time and so since I hadn't done it by graduation (they wanted to acknowledge it then) the careers department took a photo of my yesterday to put in the school newsletters.

I am now waiting on hearing from Massey University to find out if I have been accepted into Nursing or not, if I have then thats all well and good, if I haven't I have to figure out what next year is going to entail.

Over summer I have been given all my work shifts up until January 12th for over the christmas period where a lot of the staff are off.  I have pretty much full time work from the 20th Dec through till the 12th Jan.

Exams and Updates

About time I posted something...

I am in the middle of a 12 day break between my third exam and my last! I have been full on studying, shopping, working, sitting exams, and touring.

I have sat three of my four exams now and I think I have done pretty well in biology, not sure about english or classics.  I have social studies on Tuesday 3rd Dec, so as of 12.30pm at the latest I will have officially finished my high school exams and as of Friday 6th Dec I will have officially signed out of school and completed a whole 13 years and 6 weeks at school!!! Its pretty exciting when I type it out and think about it!

I also have the last two PORSE booklets to complete to get my New Zealand's Level 3 Nanny Certificate- I am aiming to have these completed and signed off by Friday!

Next year I will hopefully be moving forward and onto tertiary education, studying a three year degree to get a Bachelor of Nursing- I will be finding this out in just under two weeks if I have officially gotten a place a Massey!!

I have been doing a few shifts caregiving as I am trying to work around my exams, studying and also other things I have to do and want to do.  Also, getting the only shifts that are really available as there is quite a lot of staff at the moment.

Last Thursday I went and toured one of the accommodation villages for Massey University, and then went late night shopping with a friend and came back to my house and wrote and card and wrapped a gift for one of our teachers- last year Taylor (friend) and I were in her class, it was her first year at Orewa and we were known as the ones that were constantly talking, laughing, giggling and so on- I also managed to continue that particular trend on this year with Danielle as I was this particular teachers class again this year! .... we decided on getting her a mug that had "little miss giggles" written on it from the "little miss" series by Roger Hargreaves.  Our teacher laughed and said, yeah, I will think of you two every time I drink from it- our aim! :)

Accommodation at Uni

As many of you may know, I have been completing a bazillion of application forms and having to send in and sort things out for university.  Today I went and handed in my application for Nursing at Massey University, and when I got back home I found an email from Massey saying that I have been offered a place at the Massey University Albany Campus accommodation which is very very exciting!

I don't think I will find out whether I have a place in the nursing program or not until mid January when school exam results come out.  I potentially could be offered a place which would be dependant on my results though in December.