Final Semester

The final semester has finally begun. And I definitely have a case of senioritis. I have been at my computer for the last hour with my notebook open, ready to study GI/Nutrition for ICARE...but I keep finding other things I could do (like write a BLOG). Oh well.

This semester is definitely as difficult as the others with ICARE, but the motivation level is way down. My time is spent on other school related things like preparing a dance for the talent show, or working on class websites, or KE pledging. This semester we have 9 pledges and they are amazing! I'm glad we have such a wonderful pledge class. I know they will keep KE going strong next year.

Ok sorry to keep this short but I really SHOULD be studying! I'll try to write again soon.

Trying Times

It's been quite a while for me, things have been quite busy/crazy. Last time I wrote, I just just survived P2 "hell week" and was happy to be done. My puppy, Lily, is now starting to let me study a little bit more so I have been able to keep up with material a little bit better. DO NOT GET A PUPPY IN PHARMACY SCHOOL UNLESS YOU HAVE SOMEONE TO HELP YOU!! I would definitely fail everything if it were not for my husband helping me with Lily. She just graduated puppy class today and starts the next level up next week..we are very proud :)

As for school, I have been trying to keep up with ICARE as we go along, but that plan was totally ruined when unpredictable life hit. On April 31st, my grandfather passed away suddenly in his home. I have never experienced the death of someone close to me before, let alone someone in my family (other than my dog growing up - and that's not easy either). It was really hard on me. My mother informed me with the news that night (Wednesday) and told us to stay tuned for funeral plans. That upcoming weekend was Easter so the probability of the funeral falling before that weekend was not likely due to Holy Week. Gannon and I were already planning on traveling home for the holiday, but our plans as to where we were going and for how long changed. Turns out the funeral was on Saturday and the burial on Monday. We left Friday evening and returned Monday night. The weekend was pretty terrible, it is never a good time. But, it set me up for a rough upcoming week. That week after Easter, we had two ICARE exams back to back - Wednesday and Thursday. These exams are not easy and are not ones that should be studied for the night before or even 2 days before...but due to the circumstances, I was pretty much forced to do so. I was not allowed to take either of the exams later according to school policy - if you are not absent on the day of the exam, you will not be able to take it later (NOTE THIS!). I did not know this going into the weekend and returned on Monday to find out I had to cram for 2 ICARE exams. The next couple days were not pleasant but I managed to make it through with better than average grades that I did not expect to achieve. For this I am proud of myself.

Then, to end the week, I was inducted into Rho Chi, which is the honors fraternity in pharmacy school. We had a guest speaker, Dr. Newton (we all love him), and a very nice luncheon that was catered for us and our guests. To get accepted into Rho Chi, you must be in the top 20% of your class. It is a great honor to be in it and I am happy my hard work paid off!

This coming week is flamingo flocking week for my fraternity, Kappa Epsilon. During this week, teachers and students pay KE members to "flock", or set up plastic flamingos, in other teachers or students yards. It's really pretty funny and teachers love it. I'm looking forward to finally having a week of fun and no exams! BUT before that, I have to study for a top200 quiz tomorrow. Time to start...

Last Semester of Classes

So last week was the first week of my last semester of classes ever! If you got a little confused by that last statement, I am basically saying I am almost done with pharmacy school classes! The classes that I have this semester consist of: pharmacy law, sterile compounding, patient assessment II, ICARE: GI/nutrition, ICARE: neuro/psychiatry, ICARE: musculoskeletal, institutional practice elective, and pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics III. So although this will be my last semester of classes it will not be my easiest.

In addition to classes some of the organizations I am involved in are also busier in the spring. A major example is Kappa Epsilon. This past week has been Greek Week at pharmacy school. At SU, pharmacy fraternities are not allowed to recruit new members until the spring semester. On the first day of Greek Week we have an event called Round Robin where interested 1st and 2nd year pharmacy students get a brief introduction to all three different fraternities that we have. Then each fraternity hosts an event on its own on a separate date so that prospective members get a better idea of what each one is about. Kappa Epsilon had a luau theme on Tuesday night with plenty of good food to enjoy and various activities that allowed the interested students to mingle with existing members. Although I think we should have done the limbo before we ate all that food.


Another organization I am involved with is Rho Chi. Rho Chi is an honors fraternity that recruits the top 20% of the P2 class during the spring semester of pharmacy school. In the not too distant future we will be sending invitations to these smart pharmacy students to join. This weekend we are holding a health fair in conjunction with the APhA-ASP (American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists). This health fair will be held at a local soup kitchen here in Winchester, where our target population probably does not receive proper health care. So it will be interesting to see how we can help them. I hope this will be a mutually beneficial experience, in that this under served population gets some health advice and that we pharmacy students can improve on our patient interaction skills.


Besides all this we will be finalizing our rotations for the upcoming P4 year. So as you can imagine although this will be my last semester of classes, it will be a very busy one.

Looking towards next semester

It's hard to believe that this semester is coming to an end. I only have 2 more large exams before finals week and the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be growing. That said, it is already time to start looking towards next semester. This past week, our class schedules were posted for next semester. Then today, online registration for classes opened and we scheduled our regular classes which are pre-chosen for us, plus our elective choices. I decided to choose an elective called Drug and Relationship abuse because that kind of material seemed interesting to me.

Tomorrow, we have one of the last 2 big exams in nonprescription products (OTC). Writing this is actually my study break because there's definitely a lot of material that I need to cram in my head for this exam! It is not that the material is difficult, but the sheer volume of it and the number of drug names we have to remember is quite overwhelming.

Another thing that has been going on is that my husband and I decided we were ready for a dog and have decided to get a pup in January of 2010. The whole process has been very exciting and we can't wait to get her.

Speaking of looking forward to next semester...it is definitely going to be a busy one. With getting a puppy, co-organizing rush week and pledge events for new members of KE, and starting I-CARE, I am hoping I will have time to breathe! As a new member coordinator for KE, a lot of work is required between January and March to help teach the pledges about the organization and have them complete the required work for membership. It consists of creating a pledge book, being available for weekly meetings, organizing the rush night, getting together bids, matching bigs with littles, ordering their shirts and pins, having various social events, and coordinating the rest of the fraternity with their iniation and induction. YEAH. Lots of work! But I know it will be lots of fun because I have a great co-new member coordinator to help me. We are really looking forward to working more with the other fraternities as well to promote comradery among us all.

Ok - now time to focus on the more immediate future - OTC study time.