Getting behind already....

......and school hasn't even started (officially).

Okay, so I'm really just behind on blogging and not on actual school work or anything. I didn't realize that I haven't posted since SATURDAY (gasp). I have got to stay on top of this!

So...quick recap of the last few days....

SUNDAY: Went to a 9am church service about 30 minutes away. It was quite a trek. I drove that same distance to go to church while I as at Clemson, but this seemed much farther. The church service was great and the people were really welcoming. It was a good mix of traditional and contemporary which I really like! They had a little mingle room for visitors after the service and I met the sweetest little old couple there! They were so wonderful and made me want to go back! I am looking for a church to attend regularly and get involved with while I am in Charleston and this one is going on the list of possible churches! There are one or two more I want to visit and then I will decide. I don't want to spend too long looking! I seriously did nothing else on Sunday. It was rainy and stormy and I laid on my bed most of the day. Don't judge...once school starts, that will never happen. I watched The Princess Diaries 2 and a lot of HGTV.

MONDAY: Woke up around 8am and went to the grocery store with my roommate. We had invited a few people over for dinner that night and had to get pork and other ingredients for mac and cheese and cobbler. Our other guests were asked to bring a dish - salad, baked beans, drinks, plastic silverware, dessert - so that everyone would have their fair share and contribute equally. We came back and my roommate who happens to be a great cook began preparing the pork in the crock pot. It had to sit for ten hours! We hung around the apartment for a while and then decided to run our errands together. Roomie had a meeting at school, so I went with her. BACK UP - I forgot to mention that we noticed early Monday morning that the air didn't seem to be working. It was cloudy and cool outside and the apartment was so much hotter than it should have been. So we called our landlord and he said he would send someone to look at it. Okay, back to real time now. She had to go to school for a meeting, so since there was air there, I went too and just hung out and played on the computer while she was busy. Afterwards, we walked to the bookstore so that I could get a clicker for class and then we went to the other part of Charleston to her home. We needed the mac and cheese recipe, and while we were there, we shared a frozen pizza and watched What I Like About You. Then we went to Mt. Pleasant because I wanted to go to Old Navy, and while we were there, we stopped at the grocery store to get a few other items that we needed. By the time we got back, we had just enough time to clean up, finish our food, and freshen up before the guests began to arrive. We had 15 or so people, mostly roomie's friends who are second-year pharmacy students, and then I invited a friend from my hometown who is also starting pharmacy school. We got to know a lot of Katie's friends and had such a wonderful time talking to them and getting to know them and hearing all of their best advice for P1s (first-year pharmacy students). Overall, it was a success and a great night! We both took showers and headed to bed.

TUESDAY: Alarm goes off at 5:30 am. Out of bed at 5:50 am. BOO. Roomie had to be at school by 7 to help set up (since a lot of the P2s were helping to pass things out for our first day of orientation today), so we decided to bike to school together. It was a pleasant ride, but again, the humidity got the best of me and I was pouring sweat before we ever entered the building. Other P1s started arriving around 7:30 am, so we all had breakfast and then sat awkwardly in a "cafeteria." Think about starting college ALL over again. That is kind of what this whole day felt like. The people who were at my table in the lounge were pretty talkative and fun, but there was a lot of staring and general awkwardness in the room since many people don't know anyone else coming in to their first year. We listened to a lot of lectures - you know, the info. you really need to hear but really don't want to hear anyone talk about? We had about three hours of that with a break or two. Our College of Pharmacy uses Distance Education courses between the USC and MUSC campus (Columbia and Charleston, respectively). THAT was an experience. Other than watching online lectures for online classes at Clemson, I have never seen anything like it! There are microphones hooked into the ceiling and flat screen TVs and a big screen up front that show the PowerPoint being presented and the professor who is talking, be he at USC or MUSC. Half of our courses will be "live" (MUSC professor teaches), and the other half will be watched. Basically both campuses learn together from the same professor. Kind of neat that they can do things like that with technology, but it will take some getting used to!

We had Sticky Fingers cater lunch and it was great (second time eating BBQ in 24 hours). I met some more new people and then some of us decided to walk to Public Safety to get our student IDs made. Apparently, several other students had that idea as well, so we all waited patiently while the not-so-patient-nor-kind ID-maker-people made our IDs. They wouldn't even give the IDs to us, even though they printed them right there, because they said they would "distribute everyone's ID at the same time later today." Yeah....that didn't happen. I am sure we will get them tomorrow. Then we went to the "open house" on the second floor of the pharmacy building where a few organizations had tables set up with some fun things for sale, like t-shirts, nice MUSC drinking glasses, koozies, totes, etc. Then roomie and I biked home. I relaxed for a few moments before freshening up for the White Coat Ceremony. What is the White Coat Ceremony? I'm glad that you asked. This ceremony is performed by most schools of pharmacy and serves as a rite of passage into the profession. The Code of Ethics of our profession is explained as well as the importance and role of pharmacists in today's world. As part of this, we receive a white coat (complete with SCCP embroidery) which we are required to wear for labs and rotations. The white coat is placed on each student individually. It is a special ceremony. Mom and Dad came down to witness the ceremony, and I was so glad to see them! I have missed them very much and was glad they were able to be a part of the ceremony. We have a good picture of us on mom's camera, but she will have to send it to me so I can post it, which I will! We had supper at one of our favorite BBQ spots (3rd time in 24 hours), but I got some chicken tenders instead so that I didn't overload my little belly on southern BBQ! I enjoyed the time with them and it passed all too quickly. They just drove down for the ceremony and then had to go back since they both work during the day. I have been cleaning my room and getting things ready for tomorrow since they left. Another early day ahead!

After my first official day as a pharmacy school student, I am so excited for things to get started. We have a really diverse class of 80 on our campus and I look forward to getting to know 79 new people!!!! The classes we will be taking seem interested and since they are more applied now, I think they will be enjoyable! I can't wait for things to get underway. I am so blessed and am so thankful that God has been gracious enough to me to make my dream of being here come true. Cheesy as it was, I wanted to cry when I received my white coat, because I realized that this really is happening. All that I have worked for since high school has come to this and I am so thankful that God has made all of this possible! "We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us---one gracious blessing after another." -John 1:16