10 Reasons I am loving Nashville

Adjusting to life here in Music City has certainly contained a few (ahem) challenges. Imagine at least 400 people gathering in the world's nicest nursing building for a whole week. Yep-that was last week. It was rather obvious who the "experienced" grad students were versus the little things (my class) running around in lab coats with dark navy scrubs on.

No matter the interesting days-I acknowledge that life is a blessing. Last week was a constant reminder that life goes on, change is necessary, and I still love biochem and the simple act of caring for people. Yep. Life is good.

Why I love Nashville:

(1) I have rocking, awesome roommates who point me to Jesus. Last week (we carpool-so fun in elementary school that we brought it back-ha.) we had the most deep conversations on truth and our need for Jesus in the world.

(2)  The eclectic mix of traditional South meets Indie Rock/Country/super smart. Seriously. I have met more "musicians" and Southern Belles alongside BioChem PhD's that one would ever dream. Love it.

(3) Downtown is just cool. Not always my scene but a pedestrian bridge always wins in my book. I don't really hang-out there often but I love the international food availability at the Farmers Market. The Indian restaurant is awesome there.

(4) Jesus is here. I have seen some many crazy things and had so many faith based conversations. He is here. (I best be attentive)

(5) Trader Joes. Enough said. They have Pinon coffee...again-PINON COFFEE. Amazing. Also add Belle Chevre (goat cheese-ahem) with honey, $.69 red bell peppers, awesome almond butter...and AMAZING prices. Sold. (Grad school budget's dream)

(6) It is not far from the fam. Pretty great (in my opinion) that I am 5 hours from most all of them.

(7) Old friends. So many friends from life are here in Nashville with me. I have enjoyed breaking bread with many of them. Looking forward to meeting up with a few more soon!

(8) Diversity. At a church I am visiting-they emphasize ministry among the international refugees. Daily I am in class with people from all walks of life. One of my classmates last week shared her story of life from the north African continent. She is here to help her country. Wow.

(9) Vanderbilt has been ranked the #1 hospital in the state. Enough said.

(10) Traffic does not exactly get crazy around here. It isn't always a walk in the park but thank goodness I don't commute an hour each way!

Dreams (Real and those we think up....)

Nursing school has been...ahem...great! Keep in mind-this is only orientation. Ha.

So far I have signed like 2 million pages that state I will never, ever murder, cheat, lie, or paraphrase improperly. Additionally, I have sworn to complete some kind of planner before registering for classes and never take more than 30 pages of printed material from the biomed library...whew!

Lots of paperwork for sure. What am I not telling...oh yes, the good stuff! First, I feel incredibly privileged and blessed (and maybe poor) as I have launched into this grad school journey. Between my roommates, home, and getting ready to take great care of patients...I also have the privilege of getting to know ~150 fellow grad students and ~50 faculty/staff at Vandy. What a cool opportunity!

During this week I have experienced the most alarming dreams ever. Last night was a regurgitation of many thoughts involving so much adjustment and frank weirdness. In one dream, my roommate and I were ready for school and the other roommate was still sleeping. The roommate who was awake ran around apologizing to me-ha. (We are all very timely however). During the previous night I dreamed I had to deliver terrible news (someone had died) but I couldn't find the person I had to tell. Maybe I am over thinking like 12 million things.

Note fun photo below-our photo op with lab jackets in the "Charlies Angels" pose.

New Home + New School --> New Adventure

                                          Photo is courtesy of my roommate-Lucy


Considering I blog like yearly at this point, I shall need to explain my new home, new school, new adventure I suppose. Rewind to previous blog post, where I decide that going back to school would be helpful. Ahem...add full time job, life, and part-time night school + grad school apps. Whew. A special time but a crazy time. Certainly there were many mornings I was up at 4 AM from needing to get stuff done before work-but now it is ALL worth it!

Around March 15th I was notified of my acceptance into Vanderbilt University's accelerated Family Nurse Practitioner program. God alone. Seriously- GRE stunk, application was put together with new GRE in less than one month, and whew. Anyway-I am so, so grateful for this opportunity. People keep asking me what the goal is...and I have about 2 million different ideas. Most of all, I am sent here to love people, treat them, and ultimately show them Jesus (in the little things and many other aspects). Currently, I see myself in developmental pediatrics, HIV/AIDS, and most likely in another country, loving people, taking care of them, working on sustainable development.

So, during the acceptance/pre-start phase two roommates were provided (again-a God moment) and we all now live in a great little place near school. I am living the true student life (thanks Mom and Dad for the groceries) and get excited after 30 minutes of reading my new textbooks. Again, thanks to Lucy my roommate for the pics!