Sunday, August 28, 2016

Fourth / 4th year of grad school COMPLETE

Started off my fourth year of graduate school feeling like this sloth in my tea cup: 

...tired and lazy. I had not gotten a summer off the entire course of graduate school, and last summer was no exception. I took psychopharmacology and a disaster mental health class...and I b!tched about it the entire time, haha. 

I also started work at the Sioux Falls Veteran's Affairs Health Care System conducting neuropsychological assessments. Without a doubt, one of the coolest (and best) jobs I've ever held, aside from my work at the counseling center last year. I barely had any neuropsychological background, aside from a nifty 5 week seminar, so I learned SO much during my time at the VA. Definitely made me a very well-rounded clinical psychology trainee and I can't believe how lucky I was to have the supervision I had.

I went there 2x a week and really loved my supervisors and, of course, the population I worked for.


Luckily I was able to get a couple of weeks off of work and go to Colorado! I was presenting a poster at the American Psychological Association (APA). The rest of the time was spent with an awesome friend from college, Victoria, and time with my family.

Of course I brought Luna.

Luna even went across the Rio Grande! She's featured in the carrier. She wasn't the most excited, but she was a trooper.




We went hiking.




And tubing.


Enjoyed the gorgeous scenery.







We went to Celestial Seasonings Tea Factory -- I LOVE TEA


After that, I buckled down and got to work. It was my senior year and I was determined to complete my dissertation, match for a residency, and complete and all my required classes. 


Like I said above, for two days out of the week I was lucky enough to work at the Sioux Falls VA conducting neuropsychological assessments for our Veteran population. The other days I worked on my dissertation, saw clients at the Psychological Services Center, supervised a couple of my peers in providing psychological services, and took a peer supervision course. 


On top of all that, I applied for residency all across the state AND ADOPTED A KITTEN.


Oliver was found in a dumpster (and he also acts like it sometimes). He was barely 4 weeks old and he fell in love with Luna instantly. Luna didn't return the feeling. Unfortunately...he also brought fleas and ringworm into our little apartment. He was also too little to have ANY of the regular medication to treat these issues, so I bathed him daily, put ointment on him, did about 10 loads of laundry, and disinfected my entire apartment on top of all my other activities. *screams*


His favorite toy was a plastic spoon, and he loved my bed more than me. 


That was a terrible terrible TERRIBLE time in my life. I drank a LOT of coffee, had even less sleep, and I received offers to interview at 13 residency sites. I went home for Christmas to relax a bitfirst, haha. 

Oliver loved the Christmas tree. 

Luna and Oliver protected the house from bird attacks. 

In January, I interviewed all over the states for a residency site (e.g., Florida, South Dakota, North Dakota, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Ohio, etc. ). I was super lucky that I was able to make Atlanta my home station AND my parents were able to come with me so we could make "mini-vacations" out of the interviews. 


That helped me keep my sanity. 

Following that, I went back to South Dakota and found out that I was accepted into the Air Force and would be completing my residency (and beginning my career) as a Captain at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base!


The only thing left (aside from classes and work) was to finish up my dissertation. 

After a whole mountain of additional stress I was able to defend my dissertation, and Luna met what I had been working on while she sat in my lap. 



 Luna was unimpressed, per usual. 

And then... I moved out of my apartment in South Dakota and eventually got orders to move to Ohio. 


Goodbye, South Dakota, you were wonderful. 


I spent a total of 4 years in South Dakota. I cannot have imagined a better place to have lived while earning my degree. I think about South Dakota frequently and look forward to going back (for fun!) one day.

Hello, Dayton, Ohio!

3rd year recap.

I didn't realize it had been quite so long since my last update, but a lot has happened during that time.
Fall Semester:
After I came back from Costa Rica, Mom and I drove to South Dakota so I could take my preliminary exams. That's 2.5 days of testing. 4 hours of testing that is closed-book, and 16 hours of testing that is open-book. You answer 24 questions in 20 hours.


Mom and Luna got some time to cuddle while I worked. My mom was amazing with making sure I was hydrated, fed, and wasn't bothered. I know it's ridiculous, but I wouldn't have found time to eat till after I turned in the exam. I was exhausted after it was finished.
After that, my mom and I relaxed for a bit and then she left to go back to Atlanta :(

I started my third year in my graduate program.
Based on the picture below you can see....I'm not really quite sure how I feel about that. I've taken classes every summer now and prelims wiped me out...maybe it wasn't the best idea to add up how many years I have been in school, haha.

Regardless, it was go time! And wow, did things get busy really quickly.
This became my motto, haha.
I took 12 credit hours fall semester in addition to starting my first year of practicum. 
I worked 19 hours a week at a clinical placement site and it was amazing. I saw between 13-16 clients every week, and loved it.  Every day was a great day, even when it was really tough. Amazing experience.

Per usual, then things got even busier.
werk, werk, werk
....But I still made time to shove nachos into my mouth at the Ribs, Rods, & Rock-n-Roll Festival here in Vermillion. I love nachos. 

 For 2.5 days out of the week I would see clients, and then for the other 2.5 days out of the week I would attend classes, do homework, work on my dissertation, etc. Weekends were obviously reserved for homework, papers, assignments...and maybe grocery shopping?

I also went to the annual South Dakota Psychological Association conference with friends in my program and we stopped at the Badlands for some awesome sightseeing. South Dakota is REALLY beautiful.
Then a month later I went to Morris University for another conference.

After that, our program participated in the annual Bowl-o-Ween event and I went with two other people in my program as the Witches of MacBeth.  

Then on Halloween I was a Powerpuff Girl (but I kept saying Powderpuff, much to my sister's embarrassment). This was also the night I lost my jacket, ID, money, cell phone...only for it to show up days later at a friend's house. No idea how it got there. 
Brandon, Lisa, Matt, & Euo
Side Note: Luna was and is in love with my costume. She claimed it as her own immediately and still uses it to this day as a toy.

I drove home for Thanksgiving and had my first Thanksgiving meal in over 5 years. It.was.so.tasty.

I also left Luna with my parents because my end-of-semester schedule was so tough. I was at the library until 2 at night and she was really lonely. During this time I also attended a friend's wedding AND MY BEST FRIEND CAME TO VISIT. 

Abby Silva and I have been friends since my freshman year of college. She came right after a light snowfall and we had a blast going around and drawing things in the snow, going out to eat/drink, and catching up. I love this woman.
She's basically the best. 





At the end of the semester, I met up with my mom in St. Louis! To celebrate the end of another semester we saw Wicked. 

Luna and I were reunited, but I really think she was fine without me....mom and dad gave her cheesecake, for goodness sake.
I mean, really, look at her begging for crab dip. She even has her little toes streeetched out to get it, hahaha.

I celebrated Christmas with family and brought in the New Year relaxing with them. It was a lovely change of pace from the school year.

Spring Semester:
In addition to spending time with my mom, I got breakfast dates and smoothie making time with my dad. We tease each other about our smoothies and about whose will taste better.....just fyi...he is a way better smoothie maker than me. 

My mom and I drove up to Vermillion, SD for the start of spring semester and during that time figured out that Luna was really sick. So I took her to the vet. 

To put it mildly, it was a really traumatic experience for both of us. She had horrible kidney stones and a terrible terrible urinary tract infection.  Luna ended up needing an IV to force liquids in her and I ended up crying at the VET'S OFFICE. My sweet girl was a screaming mess and ended up getting a needle into her bladder while SNARLING AT EVERYONE. I had never heard her make such noises or act like this! She was so scared. My mom had to comfort me a lot, Luna was mad at me for 3 days, wouldn't even LOOK at me, and I thought that she was going to need surgery. 

She eventually forgave me and cuddled with me again. And thankfully she doesn't need surgery.
Throughout the semester Luna continued to hunt and drink out of various tall cups of water...knocking over several and then freaking out at water touching her paws.

I continued see clients, took more classes, worked on my dissertation, got a grant and worked on research, saw more clients, and did diagnostic testing for a few additional clients. 

I was also prepping for oral examinations during this time. I was pretty exhausted, anxious, and stressed. This wasn't really a good time in my life, honestly. There's no doubt that I love what I do, but I pushed myself far too much this year. 

I ended up getting kidney stones and friends took me to critical care to figure out what was wrong. Like I said...not a good time in my life.

But still, every Thursday night I got together with Matt and Euodia and relaxed for just a bit.

My parents came up during my Spring Break and we traveled around South Dakota together. They were amazing for helping me to relax, and I've dedicated an entirely different post to our travels. 

Toward the end of the semester I completed orals...a 2 hour examination of my clinical skills and knowledge. I started with comprehensive exams in the fall and ended with orals in the spring. Orals was oddly fun, much to my surprise.

At this point I was running on EMPTY and was trying to chug water to avoid any more kidney stones. 
And then school ended.

And....then summer classes started. haha. Can a girl get a break?! I took two classes this summer in addition to working on my dissertation.

At the end of summer I was able to go on another vacation with my parents in Colorado after I presented at a conference. That vacation was amazing as well and I made another post about it, too. 
And after summer classes ended, school started one week later.

Now 4th year has begun. 

Now I'm working at the VA conducting neuropsychological assessments while taking classes, peer supervising others, seeing clients, working on my dissertation, and applying for internship. Life is...still a bit hectic.

Hope you all are doing wonderfully well.