(no subject)
I have always regretted the fact I wasn't journaling more around the time I met Adam, so I want to try to get back into it. Especially during special times in my life, but I guess you never know when those are going to happen. I think right now is a pretty important time though. I really should've started this when I was in Scotland, but I guess now is better than never. Maybe I'll try and do a brain dump of everything I remember about Scotland at some point.
I have been living in Ann Arbor for over and month and I have already completed 2 of my internship rotations. I like Ann Arbor so far, but I don't love it. I would happily stay here after my internship for a while if I got a job, but if given the choice, I'd go back to Minneapolis. I mean, that could change (it changed with Minneapolis after all), but at this point my heart is still there. I do appreciate that it is 2 hours closer to Chicago. That 2 hours really makes a difference.
The internship has been a lot different than I imagined so far, which is both good and bad. I had to take a seminar course last fall to apply, and it was all about the application process and the internship itself. That class was definitely helpful with making me feel more comfortable with the application process, especially as someone coming at it from a different place. The impression I got from that class was that the internship would consume your entire life. You wouldn't have time to work or really do anything else. So far, that hasn't been true at all. It might depend on the internship. Mine is 8 months, on the shorter side. There are a few that are 6 months, but I think most are closer to 10-12. My director and the internship itself seems to be pretty laid back and flexible. I was nervous about asking for a day off to go to Emily's wedding, but it wasn't an issue at all.
My first rotation was at a long-term care/rehab facility in Dearborn. It couldn't have been more laid back. I was paired with another intern and our preceptor was gone 2 of the 10 days we were there, so we didn't have to go in. We got there at 9am and left by 3:30 every day (often even earlier). Not to mention the fact we took pretty leisurely lunches. We calculated that we did closer to 40 hours than the 80 we were supposed to spend there. One one hand, that was nice, but on the other, I'm paying to be trained for my career, not to be doing nearly nothing. I was also a little disappointed to see how little there was for a dietitan to do while we shadowed my preceptor. Even though her job description was "clinical dietitian", her job seemed to be mostly based around food service. Food service is definitely a huge area for dietitans, but that wasn't supposed to be what her job or that rotation was all about. To be fair, I think she was getting more involved in that area because there was a new chef and they were having some growing pains when it came to food service issues. In the end, I felt like could've spent one week there instead of two and gotten the same amount out of it.
My second rotation was at a Farm on the campus of a hospital. The preceptor was one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. This rotation had so much to do, I definitely spent more than 80 hours there, but I was happy to do it. The Farmer, Amanda, just started 2 months ago and just has so many cool ideas and plans for the farm. There were so many projects I was interested in getting involved in, but not enough time. I would have happily spent an entire month there. We usually did farm work in the mornings, then stayed in and worked on projects in the afternoons. There was a huge volunteer event on our last day there which took a lot of work and ate away at some of the time we could've used for other stuff, but it was really fun and I'm glad I got to be there for it.
I'm trying not to be too pessimisstic about my next rotation, but from what I've heard, there is not a lot to do there for a dietitan. It is through an organiztion that works on low-income housing and we might be spending time with their youth camp, which sounds cool in general, but the intern I was with at the Farm had been there first and I kind of got the impression that I wouldn't get much out of it. She said they gave a lot of feedback on how to improve it for the rest of the interns though, so we will see how it goes. Either way, it will be over in 2 weeks and I have more that I am really excited about after that.
I like that we get to go to so many places, but the downside is that it has been hard to settle into a new routine when everything changes every 2 weeks. Not to mention the fact I am finally starting to feel more settled in my house and I'm moving in 12 days. Right now I am subletting a room in Nora's house, which has been reallly nice and I'm bummed I have to go. I think my next place will be good though. It was hard to find, the housing market here is pretty bonkers. I looked at a bunch of places that were just...gross. And expensive on top of it. I wanted to stick closer to downtown, but when I found something decent that was affordable, I jumped at it. I'm renting a house just a few miles away from where I am now. The owner is a single woman with 2 daughters in college and is renting out their old rooms to grad students. She seems really nice and the house is cute and furnished, which is perfect since I didn't bring a ton with me.
I guess that is it for now. Hopefully I'm able to keep this up!
I have been living in Ann Arbor for over and month and I have already completed 2 of my internship rotations. I like Ann Arbor so far, but I don't love it. I would happily stay here after my internship for a while if I got a job, but if given the choice, I'd go back to Minneapolis. I mean, that could change (it changed with Minneapolis after all), but at this point my heart is still there. I do appreciate that it is 2 hours closer to Chicago. That 2 hours really makes a difference.
The internship has been a lot different than I imagined so far, which is both good and bad. I had to take a seminar course last fall to apply, and it was all about the application process and the internship itself. That class was definitely helpful with making me feel more comfortable with the application process, especially as someone coming at it from a different place. The impression I got from that class was that the internship would consume your entire life. You wouldn't have time to work or really do anything else. So far, that hasn't been true at all. It might depend on the internship. Mine is 8 months, on the shorter side. There are a few that are 6 months, but I think most are closer to 10-12. My director and the internship itself seems to be pretty laid back and flexible. I was nervous about asking for a day off to go to Emily's wedding, but it wasn't an issue at all.
My first rotation was at a long-term care/rehab facility in Dearborn. It couldn't have been more laid back. I was paired with another intern and our preceptor was gone 2 of the 10 days we were there, so we didn't have to go in. We got there at 9am and left by 3:30 every day (often even earlier). Not to mention the fact we took pretty leisurely lunches. We calculated that we did closer to 40 hours than the 80 we were supposed to spend there. One one hand, that was nice, but on the other, I'm paying to be trained for my career, not to be doing nearly nothing. I was also a little disappointed to see how little there was for a dietitan to do while we shadowed my preceptor. Even though her job description was "clinical dietitian", her job seemed to be mostly based around food service. Food service is definitely a huge area for dietitans, but that wasn't supposed to be what her job or that rotation was all about. To be fair, I think she was getting more involved in that area because there was a new chef and they were having some growing pains when it came to food service issues. In the end, I felt like could've spent one week there instead of two and gotten the same amount out of it.
My second rotation was at a Farm on the campus of a hospital. The preceptor was one of the most inspiring women I have ever met. This rotation had so much to do, I definitely spent more than 80 hours there, but I was happy to do it. The Farmer, Amanda, just started 2 months ago and just has so many cool ideas and plans for the farm. There were so many projects I was interested in getting involved in, but not enough time. I would have happily spent an entire month there. We usually did farm work in the mornings, then stayed in and worked on projects in the afternoons. There was a huge volunteer event on our last day there which took a lot of work and ate away at some of the time we could've used for other stuff, but it was really fun and I'm glad I got to be there for it.
I'm trying not to be too pessimisstic about my next rotation, but from what I've heard, there is not a lot to do there for a dietitan. It is through an organiztion that works on low-income housing and we might be spending time with their youth camp, which sounds cool in general, but the intern I was with at the Farm had been there first and I kind of got the impression that I wouldn't get much out of it. She said they gave a lot of feedback on how to improve it for the rest of the interns though, so we will see how it goes. Either way, it will be over in 2 weeks and I have more that I am really excited about after that.
I like that we get to go to so many places, but the downside is that it has been hard to settle into a new routine when everything changes every 2 weeks. Not to mention the fact I am finally starting to feel more settled in my house and I'm moving in 12 days. Right now I am subletting a room in Nora's house, which has been reallly nice and I'm bummed I have to go. I think my next place will be good though. It was hard to find, the housing market here is pretty bonkers. I looked at a bunch of places that were just...gross. And expensive on top of it. I wanted to stick closer to downtown, but when I found something decent that was affordable, I jumped at it. I'm renting a house just a few miles away from where I am now. The owner is a single woman with 2 daughters in college and is renting out their old rooms to grad students. She seems really nice and the house is cute and furnished, which is perfect since I didn't bring a ton with me.
I guess that is it for now. Hopefully I'm able to keep this up!