Almost done with P2 Fall Semester

It was entertaining last night with a two and half hour Internet outage for most of Virginia. Comcast apparently had some issues with their server that handled DNS (Domain Name System) or the Internet address directory. It would have been nice if I knew about this and did not have to spend an hour resetting the modem and router a couple times.

The five-day Thanksgiving break was a well-needed opportunity for sleep and relaxation. This year, it was livelier than last year in Ashburn, since there were more students who were still in town to hold a potluck dinner. As usual, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, and I decided to venture off to Walmart for a portable hard drive in order to backup my precious schoolwork. All I can say is that with two Walmarts within a few miles from each other, the odds of getting any of those limited and non-major items were better.

Finally, finals week will start next week, so it will be that time of the semester to start cramming for them. Like most of my classmates, we did not do much studying during the Thanksgiving break. I’m glad that we have Monday off during final’s week for extra studying this semester. As of now, I have 2 finals on both Tuesday and Thursday, and 1 final on both Wednesday and Friday. That’ll be it for now as I get back to studying and put the finishing touches on the Biostats project and presentation that is due on Friday.

Few events occuring

Things have been getting more busy lately with exams on a weekly basis, so I have been behind on updating the blog. Aside from schoolwork, I was involved with several events and extracurricular activities. Last week, we had several schools and companies participate in our yearly job fair. What a great way to end the week with free stuff and an opportunity to learn more about residencies, internships, and jobs. I met a familiar face among the crowd of recruiters. It was the pharmacist at Target I had worked with during the summer for the 70 hours of IPPE requirement.

The day after, Kappa Psi held its annual event called “Combest Bonfire.” It was intended for people to socialize and taste Dr. Combest’s famous apple cider. If by any chance you happen to miss out on this delicious cider, you have one more opportunity the week after during the Combest’s apple cider fundraiser hosted by AMCP. The bonfire was entertaining this year with a hike up a mountain, chili contest, some tasty food, and a scary movie.

Finally, I am grateful to my fellow classmates for showing up for the Habitat for Humanity event for NCPA. We had a great time helping the volunteers with the finishing touches on a home for a well deserving family. The organization created an environmentally friendly home by insulating and covering any holes in the structure. Despite it being cold outside, it was nice and cozy inside without a heater. Guess that’ll be it for now and I will resume working on the research project for my Biostats course.

Second year of pharmacy school

It feels like it was only yesterday that I was a P1 studying in Ashburn. Time has flown by so quickly and I am now in my second year at Winchester already. The events at Ashburn will be a lasting memory that I will have, since this is my first experience living on the east coast. I’ll miss those days when it took about an hour to drive to Washington D.C. to enjoy the city’s nightlife or to get Korean food in Annandale. However, those places are still accessible with an extra hour on top of the usual commute time.

It has been several weeks into the school year and I finally feel like I have settled into Winchester. I’m currently living with a fellow classmate from Ashburn. It’s funny how several of my Ashburn classmates ended up living in close proximity with each other. A few of the guys, with the intention of residing in a large home, ended up living next to us in Stuart Hill Apartments. Some of the girls ended up living in a group at a condo complex. It’s wonderful that all my classmates live fairly close to the area so we can spend more time together. It isn’t like last year in Ashburn where half the class was commuting an hour away from areas such as Maryland or Winchester.

So far P2 year feels a bit laid back in terms of classes. We get out of class fairly early for most days and the latest class for some is until 3. Unfortunately, Wednesdays is a long day for me with an elective that does not end until 8:30 at night. So far the semester has been manageable for the transition back into the schooling mentality. The courses I’m taking this semester include pharmacokinetics, pharmacology, nonprescription medications, biostatistics, and pharmacotherapy outcomes. The courses are getting more rigorous but interesting as we hit the more in depth subjects. Besides schoolwork, I’ll be busy juggling involvement with activities for Kappa Psi and running the student NCPA chapter.

Stay tuned for further updates about being a P2 at BJD.

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...

Conclusion of the Toughest Week in Pharmacy School

This past week is known as "hell week" and we find out about it as soon as we become P1s. Especially in the spring semester of P1 year, the P2s talk about their upcoming "hell week" that consists of midterms/finals in every course for the semester. I knew my time would come, but I was skeptical that the week was really going to be worse than any usual finals week. Yeah, it was way worse.

Monday we had a midterm in Kinetics and a final in ICARE (respiratory). Tuesday, I had an IPPE site visit in the morning with an assignment due by 4pm, and in ICARE (cardio) we had a 2 hour lecture that would be on our exam on Thursday...oh crap. Wednesday we had a midterm in Drug Literature Evaluation. Thursday we had an ICARE (cardio) exam. And finally, today (Friday) we had a large group project due for Drug Lit which was a monograph for an assigned drug. I put the assignment together for my group and just submitted it about an hour ago. YES. Finally home-free for spring break! I survived p2 hell week.

That's not to say that I did well on all of those exams...I just said I survived the week. I did well enough to ensure that I can still get either B's or A's in all of the classes, but not much more than that. There was just soooo much difficult material and the exams were really tough. I think what set this week apart from final exam week is that it is in the midst of all of these other things going and and assignments that are due. Also, during finals week, we don't get material for an exam 2 days before that exam. Having a new puppy might also have something to do with how hard the week was...she definitely takes up a lot of my time and when my husband works late, I often don't get to start studying until 7 at night.

What have I learned? Watch out future p2s! It is as bad as they say. I have also learned that it would be very beneficial to me to be better at keeping up with material in ICARE as we go along. I told myself I would from the beginning, but the puppy kind of prevented that. Now that she is crate trained I will definitely do this more.

I am sooo ready for spring break! My in-laws and parents are both visiting over the break and I will be picking up some hours at CVS. I can't wait to visit with family and be rid of the stress for a at least a couple of days. *Exhale*

Let The Exams Begin

Labor day weekend was an amazing break before the exams begin for the P2 year. I went home to visit my family and attend a PSU football game with my husband, Gannon. The game was great - definitely a weird feeling to be an alumni though, I'm still not used to it. Sunday was a day of family and food. Definitely ate A LOT! Then on Labor Day, Gannon and I drove home and attended a "crab fest" that a couple of P2's were hosting. Tons of freshly steamed crabs right from Maryland - YUM! But after party time was over...it was back to the grind. It is definitely time to start cracking down on the studying.

This Thursday we have an exam "teaser" - a quiz in Nonprescription drugs. It is on self care, fever/headache/pain, vaginal infections, and menstruation/PMS/contraception. The material is pretty dense and there are only 10 quiz questions. This of course means that all of the material must be learned just to make sure the 10 multiple choice and true/false questions can be answered correctly. Love it when that happens....

I find that the best way for me to study for these types of tests - the ones that require a lot of memorization of facts and numbers - is to re-write the lectures into a notebook. The simple act of writing them all out makes me focus on the words and sort of become familiar with the material. If there's a reading to go along with the lecture - I add that into the written notes too by writing out important points from the reading or things that emphasize what was said in lecture. Then, I commit everything to memory after I go over the notes I have written with a highlighter. Before the test I read the highlighted notes about twice more and I am good to go. If there's something that is particularly hard to remember, I write it again until it sticks. This is my method and I have seen others use it in my class too...but everyone has a different way that they study.

So my plan is to get everything re-written today and tonight and possbily go over half with the highligher. Then tomorrow I'll finish up in time for the quiz Thursday. I have tried studying further in advance but I have found that I actually can retain the information easier if I study closer to the test day...even though "cramming" is not usually the recommended way to study.

Just got an email today that the BJD SOP softball game is scheduled to take place September 26th. I won't be able to go because I will be going to another home PSU game - but I have heard it is really fun! All of the pharmacy classes (P1 - P4s) get together and play a softball game with the faculty and staff. It is fun to see the faculty outside of class and have some fun. I think it definitely has an influence on how tight students and faculty are at SU.

Another fun event I will have to miss because of work is the Greek Olympics this Thursday. This is where the three Greek fraternities in our school organize food and games for all students and they can come out and watch us battle it out. This year, my fraternity, Kappa Epsilon, was responsible for getting the food - our president took care of that and got food donated from Walgreens. The other two fraternities, Kappa Psi and Phi Delta Chi, are organizing the games. I wish I could go!

Well, I think it's about time I start studying.

First Week Down, 15 to Go

Hello all,

Well - a first week of class at Pharmacy school is much different than the first week at an undergraduate college. I went to Penn State for undergrad and we used to call the first week "syllabus week", meaning that every class during the first week only lasted about 20 minutes while the teacher read over the syllabus (pretty much a week to goof off)...well, that's not the case here. Our teachers know we are smart enough to read over the syllabus ourselves. So instead, on the first day, they dive right into the nitty gritty of their material.

This first week has been a little rough, 1) because I had to work 25 hours at CVS and, 2) I am still in summer mode! I would find myself sitting in class, paying attention and really grasping the material, but as soon as it was over...I wanted to go home and relax with my husband, watch a movie/TV or run outside...and not so much do the studying, reading, and reviewing that I knew I should be doing.

But, besides my crazy work schedule, my first week back was actually pretty good. It was great to see all of my friends again and also good to see the P3's that I had just begun to know at the end of my P1 year (they were then P2's). I feel like our group gets along really well and I like the atmosphere at the school. Our classmates are also really helpful to each other. People share their home-made study guides, charts, and cheat sheets with the rest of the class, hoping it can benefit them as well. I usually use the guides that are sent out and find them helpful supplements to my studying.

So - Fall semester classes for a P2 consist of Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics, Nonprescription Products (OTC), Pharmacy Outcomes, Biostats, Biostats lab, Pharmacy Practice Lab, and an elective, which for me is Intro to Health Care Management. Also, since P1 year, I have become much more involved in some of the organizations in the school. I am webmaster of the student government of the class of 2012, webmaster of APhA-ASP, and new member coordinator (pledgemaster) of Kappa Epsilon fraternity. I will go more into those things later.

Now the key is to get myself motivated enough to start studying for quizzes and exams that I know are coming up. I have mapped out all of the exams both on a google calendar and in my planner that I carry with me almost everywhere. It helps me manage my time more efficiently which I have learned is very important for pharmacy school.

This coming week I have lots of organization meetings, 10 hours at CVS, and of course classes to attend. I have a trip home planned for labor day weekend to go to the first Penn State home football game and visit with my family - and I have my first quiz in OTC the following week - so we will see how this goes!

P2 Student Introduction

Hi Everyone!

My name is Sarah Nordberg and I am a P2 (Pharmacy Year 2) student here at BJD. I came to BJD after getting my bacholer's degree in Nutritional Sciences from Penn State University. I was attracted to this school because of it's advancement in technology, it's location (small town feel), and the people I met while interviewing here. After a year of being a student, I am very happy and love the people in the school and faculty and staff. The atmosphere is great and I am excited to continue my educational experience here.

More about me...I am married and live with my husband in a townhouse in Stephens City (about 3 miles south of Winchester). I work at CVS as a pharmacy intern - both during the summer and during school. My hometown is State College, which is where Penn State is located, and try to visit there a couple times a semester.

My goal with this blog is to help those who are interested - may it be prospective students, parents, fellow students, etc. - gain insight as to what life is like as a P2 here at BJD. I hope you enjoy!