My First Post!

Well, a number of my friends have always said that I needed to start blogging at some point in my life, which is probably directly related to the fact that I tend to talk too much but whatever. If you're reading this, I guess you know that I am a Physician Assistant student at Shenandoah University in Winchester, VA. I am in the final semester of my didactic year, and our program director set me up with this blogging job to make a few extra bucks. Hopefully if you're reading it, you will find it somewhat entertaining and maybe it will give you some sense of what it is like to be a PA student here at Shenandoah.

The past year has gone by faster than I can really explain. It is very hard to believe that 4 months from now will mark the 2 year anniversary of my interview date here at Shenandoah. But I am sure that many students feel that way. The didactic year is truly a test of character in many ways, and starting this blog after having been through an entire year of PA school kind of makes me wonder where I should start. Instead of going back and reliving the past year of school, I think I will just start with the current semester and go from there. Just keep in mind that there are several milestones and changes that we all go through as students in the first year.

This semester has been a relief after having gone through the very intense summer semester. Although, I had a tendency to like the summer semester because I tend to procrastinate and that isn't an option if you want to do well in the summer term. It just kept me going I suppose. Now, we have humanities class where there are no tests, which is nice, and we spend a lot of our time in class just discussing different ethical issues. Sometimes it gets a little heated, but I think for the most part, we've all remained friends. Our other courses have moved away from learning the facts to using the facts and information to evaluate and treat our patients. We work through cases in one class and talk about the therapeutics in another class. Kind of nerve racking to think that in 2 months, my patients will be sitting in front of me and no longer on a piece of paper. But I know that we will be prepared.

Our weekends this semester are a little less consumed with studying compared to spring and summer, so we have the chance to actually get out and enjoy the fall weather and do some relaxing things. For instance, Shenandoah University has a very good conservatory with lots of talented art and theatre students and we got to go see the musical Ragtime this weekend. The show was incredible. Other students like to go hiking or golfing around the Winchester area, and then there is the night life. Now, Winchester night life is interesting to say the least. If you're coming from an area where you are used to clubs and the very party atmosphere of a college town, Winchester is nothing. It is a much quieter area and the city isn't really highly associated with the college. Nonetheless, we always find something fun to get into whether it is karaoke one night after an exam or finding a DJ at one of the local bars. You have to balance the studying and test taking with fun to avoid getting burned out!

Well, we have some presentations to do today, so I am going to get to work. Hopefully this provides you a little background. Future posts will probably be a little more specific to current events.

Thanks for reading!