E-ball at Iowa State....SO fun, and there was even fireworks afterwards! And on the side note, don't you think that Alex is looking like quite a stud? I do!

Ok so here we are at the E- ball ...sorry no time for explaination except for it was SO fun. Alex is the best guy in the world to dance with.....I wouldn't want it any other way! :)

This is actually in backwards order. We went to the race then to cheesecake factory. Did I mention this is my favorite place to eat, yep it is! :) (I have to say that Alex is way too good to me, going to see horses and then on top of that a great dinner!) 

Love this photo....thanks Al you take some good photos! :) 

The finish line 

This is just a beautiful horse, he actually won the race, although this was taken before 

What a start....looks like fun to me! 

At the race track with the boyfriend..... 

Enjoying the nature in Ames IA 

A day at the park .... 

A little perspective on the whole little room.... 

What a cute little bathroom we have, actually it's a good size and I really dont mind it at all. It's nice to have a seperate room to get read in as opposed to last year. Yep this is quite nice! (the bathroom is connected the little "study" room) 

This is our Kitchen. I don't cook much because the food in our cafe at school is great! Not quite as good as Mrs. B's food, but still something to look forward to each day. :) 

This is my study room. Ok so it's really not my room, but my desk is the only one in the whole room, so it's sweet. I get a quiet place to study, since that seems to be a major trend in life right now, and my roomates can be as loud as the wish in the other room! I added a little more decoration since this photo, but you get the idea.  

This is a picture of all my roomates on a Sunday evening.  

So, this is my room, not quite the full view of where I spend most my time, but pretty close. Where the wood chair is starts the kitchen. I like it, and with 3 other people that's pretty amazing.  

Healing & Caring....

So I really don't have time to write all that I've been learing this past week, but let me tell you that school is looking up. :)
I've been reading a little about caring and healing, and what that means to pratice both those techniques and apply those to our lives in not just the profession of nursing but every day.

I came upon the conclusion that I absolutely can't wait to be a nurse, I think it's a wonderful profession! :) (I don't want to make anyone who is another major feel strange, I just know that this is exactly where I want to be, this is the field for my life work.) I have a couple quotes that I really have taken in as my own doctrine on nursing, and when I get enough time to copy those in I'll post them. Sorry for the delay!

But what I've come to realize is that healing can come in so many forms. As nursing students and anyone in the health profession it is easy to see healing as only the physiologic events that occur in the body, more of the medical model of care, and neglect the holistic health pratices. But here's something to chew on:
Humor & Music are shown to have many benificial effects of the body. Just a few of those are it increases the rate of natural "feel good" hormones, it increases cardiac output, natural pain relievers, etc. They are saying that the arts are a fabulous way to help a patient to heal. That the medical techniques and advances we have made are great, but they should go in line with a holistic view of the patient. Interesting, and I'm sure if you googled a couple key words you'd find out a little more on this interesting fact.

And as for caring..that'll have to be a later post. Because right now I'm chosing to care about my pathophysiology exam that is only getting closer as the time passes!

PS any musically inclined person should check out music therapy as a potential option, we watched a video on that today and it's truly interesting!

This is the most beautiful bouquet I've ever seen, and the sweet thing is that it was given to me by Alex for our 2 year anniversary. (of dating of course! and yes, I know it's a little late to post on here but I just got the picture today!)  

I've come to the conclusion that I am very late on the whole posting thing while I'm at school. Sorry! I will try to become better, but there is no promises on this one.

Classes have been going pretty well. The first week was very overwhelming, but since then I've figured out a little better of what I need to read and what I can do if I really have a ton of extra time. All my classes this year are in the nursing program, which is really nice and a short walk from my dorm. And while I know this year is going to be a lot of work, part of me is excited for all these classes that are directly dealing with my major.

Also, it's fun to have a smaller group in my classes. Last year I had around 300 people in my classes (those of course were the lectures) but this year most my classes are all with the same 75 people, and then we have labs which are very small groups. Iowa seems a little smaller with seeing the same people each day. I appriciate that.

So far I've had a great opportunity to meet new people, and I have met some really great people. After talking with on friend I realized how blessed I am to grow up in the United States, and not in a land where there is war all the time. Really, we don't even think about the great things our country provides until we hear about the injust things that happen in other parts of the world. I've been thinking alot about what this one friend said, and I hope that I can gain wisdom through her words, that they would change the way I view the world, but more than just changing my thoughts, I hope they would change my actions. I'm not really sure on what that means, but given the opportunity I hope to help those in need. Maybe seek those who are in need out.

What can you say to a person who has been in such a situation of growing up in a war? Seeing thousands of deaths, and as my friend said "cheating death 10 times a day for over 5 years".

I had a new appriciation for the strength of my friend. I couldn't do much but listen, and be there for her. I do not know the purpose of finding this information out, I don't know the reason why she had to go though such a horrible thing...I won't ever know. Thats hard.

Sorry if I left with more questions than answers, but one thing is for certain, don't take all the freedoms that we enjoy every day for granted.... I don't mean to sound all crazy patriotic, but it's just very true.