I get asked constantly how we decided what to pack for our 4-month assignment. So, I thought I would make a post. We wanted our apartment to feel homey when we came home after a long day. At the same time, we knew it would be small, less than 300 SQ, so we had to be very mindful when we were packing. I started with the clothes and shoes I couldn’t live without, once that was packed, I had extra room so I added some various clothing items. I used a big suitcase and my small rolling suitcase. For the 3-day trip to NYC, I put those clothes in my…

  Some days you just breath in Just try to break even Sometimes your heart’s poundin‘ out of your chest Sometimes it’s just beatin‘ Some days you just forget What all you’ve been given Some days you just get back And some days you’re just alive Some days you’re livin‘  These lyrics by Dierks Bentley blasted into my perfectly pink headphones as I was walking to get a coffee on my way to work. I replayed the chorus three times and it kept sitting with me heavier and heavier. These few short lines could easily describe my life the last two months. Side note, we have been here two months already!  Most days I really am…

Every day when I walk to work, I go up the grueling hill that’s sits beside Morningside Park. Every time, I swear I won’t make it to the top but I always do. When I finally get up to the top The Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine comes into view. I must have walked past it a dozen times by now always admiring its beauty and largess. It wasn’t until my patient told me last week that the Cathedral is actually the biggest in North America, and the fifth largest in the World.    Construction started in December of 1892 and has never actually been finished.  The front of…

I worked the last three days and surprisingly it was a lot better.  My first shift was very busy, I ended up getting a very sick patient who was being admitted right when I walked in the door. Working in the ICU not only requires skill but a sense of quickness to everything.  I thinks that’s something I have struggled with the most. At a new facility everything is unfamiliar and there is a learning curve with the equipment. Since I am new to using the different types of equipment, I am a little slower at doing some things than I would like to be.  This will get easier each…

I had the worst experience trying to get to the airport in Newark, NJ. I took the letter train by my house to Penn Station no problem. After finding the ticket counter, I realized it was closed so I had to use the ticket kiosk. I looked at the schedule board and my ticket and it didn’t have an airplane next to it, so I went to find help. One lady couldn’t help me and directed me to her coworker. The coworker then couldn’t help me so instructed me to walk to some vague destination to another ticket counter. i then wound up not the ticket counter, but at customer service, who…

I started working at my facility two weeks ago. The first week was just general hospital orientation. It was two days of learning some things about the equipment they use and a few policies and procedures. Then another two days of training of the charting system called Epic. Don had to start from scratch when learning Epic, luckily, I was already familiar with it. The thing I gained most from the first week was meeting all the other travelers that are on my unit. There are 6 of us! So obviously we all became friends fast. I have enjoyed getting to know them better, and knowing I’m not alone learning on the unit.   After the first…

I’m standing outside of a cute little brunch place called Jacobs Pickles that specializes in “Southern- accented comfort food”, I am only slightly turning up my nose at that statement. I grabbed some coffee and headed towards the restaurant to get our name on the list. After telling the hostess we had a party of 3 she informed me nonchalantly that the wait would be TWO HOURS! So, we did what New Yorkers do best, waited in line. On a side note you have pay strangers to wait in line for you in NYC. Next time I go to brunch, I might just have to hire someone to do that!…

This weekend our friends from Memphis got to visit us! They were only here for a few days so it was a busy weekend. We started their visit off with a subway trip to Brooklyn. Our visit wasn’t very long in Brooklyn, but it looked just like all the other areas in NYC. I do know from all my research that the area known as Brooklyn Heights has the most beautiful Brownstones in the metropolitan area, but we didn’t get to venture that far.  While walking to the Brooklyn Bridge we came across a random bag of marijuana laying on the sidewalk and for the rest of the trip we joked “I…

“Excuse me folks, I don’t mean no harm, I’m just trying to not be broke. Can anyone spare some change? I don’t wanna be broke” The Subway drifter asked  “I’m trying not to be broke my dang self” An assortment of New Yorkers responded   “I’m broke too, I’m technically unemployed” I said to Don  Exchanges like these are very common on the subway. Someone will get on for one stop, ask for some change in a variety of ways , and then get off when the subway stops. I assume they do this every time a train comes. While these encounters make me feel uncomfortable, I don’t feel unsafe. None of the vagrants I…