Spring Post!

Hello family & friends!

Long time no post ☺ I haven’t posted since before I came home for Thanksgiving and Christmas! lol. So I figured now is a good time now that I have new things to talk about (stuff since I’ve been back here)!

I had a wonderful time at home, it was so nice seeing most of you (for those who I missed, hopefully when I come home during the summer we can see each other!). But, I have to admit, I was really anxious to get back down here by the time I did. I have a system down here and I was ready to get back into the groove of things, school and work wise.

So when I got back I went straight to work! Worked full-time for 2 weeks straight. HUGE CHANGE getting up at 6:30 every morning after sleeping in until 12pm or later over break lol. I finally got a feel for how the “real world” will be when I’m finally done with school. ☺

School is going, going and going! I can’t believe we are about to start our 5th week (out of 16!) this next week. Its starting to pick up on school work.

This semester I am doing a lot of different things (of course, right?!). I’m taking 9 units of classes; 3 units of Health Promotion & Disease Prevention; 3 units of Epidemiology (the study of distribution & detriments of health related events…layman’s terms- statistics of health issues in the US); and 3 units of Independent Study.

My independent study is the thing I talked about before. I get to teach a class here in the fall (Personal Health) so this semester I am shadowing a second-year MPH student who is teaching it for my independent study. So I attend her class twice a week and just sit there and take notes on how she teaches/interacts/etc. This last week I put together my first lecture!!! In a week and a half I get to teach her class! I’m teaching about psychoactive drugs. She will then give me feedback and towards the end of the semester, probably week 12 or so, I will teach yet another chapter in hopes of improving on what she suggested I do. Then at the end of the semester I have to put together a portfolio of the course that I plan to teach in the fall. ☺

Epidemiology is just epidemiology. Lol. I took EPI at Western so I have an idea of what it is. It’s just a lot of work (math problems…that surprisingly, are super simple for me…its just memorizing formulas is all), a lot of studying and reading.

Health Promotion & Disease Prevention is a class where we are learning all about THEORIES!! In Public Health a lot of (if not, most) people use a theory to plan, implement and evaluate health programs in the community that they are working with. There are hundreds of health theories but we’re going over 15 or 16. I enjoy this class a lot, but again, it’s A LOT OF READING!

I have more reading this semester than I did in an entire year at Western, just to give you guys an idea of the difference in workloads between Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. lol.

Pretty crazy to think that I’m in my second semester of five already, not quite half way there but it has been flying by. Its kind of scary because I do not know exactly what I want to do with this degree when I am done but I hope that by the time I am done with it I will have an idea/job lined up lol. It is just flying by already! My friends and I were just talking about it this last week that we are already working on our final projects (which I will talk about in an entirely different post…coming TBA. lol) and soon enough we wont be taking any classes and will only be working on this project! So crazy!

Anyways, I think this is plenty long enough. Time to watch the Blazers lose to the Lakers. ☹

Love and Miss you all. Hugs and kisses. ☺

P.s. I promise, I will try to find sometime soon (!!!) to post about my final project…until then, I’ll leave you to ponder this:

“Do you think that high rates of partner violence leads to an increase in risky sexual behaviors in homeless youth?!”

Thinking about life after Masters, ALREADY!

So lately in class we have been discussing FUTURE PLANS. I think its crazy that our professors are already talking to us about whether we want to get Ph.Ds. or not… when we just started our Masters. lol

So because we have been talking about it so much I’ve been thinking that I eventually (probably not right after Masters) will want to get mine. I have been thinking so much about possibly teaching Public Health at the college level… I would love to be a professor… and I love to do research. And in order to be qualified enough most have Ph.Ds.

This last week I met with my Issues in Public Health professor, Dr. Jones, at her office hours to discuss what I would need to do in order to possibly be successful in getting into a Ph.D. program.

She referred me and suggested that I join this research team here on campus. I’m really excited about joining this team. Its chaired by a professor of nursing and its called, Community Advisory Board: Homeless Issues, its a collaborative effort to assist Orange County homeless populations on the macro level.  This includes homeless providers (Mercy House in Santa Ana), homeless population policy specialists, Southern Calif. College of Optometry, CSUF Nursing Dept. members, CSUF Social Services Dept. members, The County of Orange Healthcare Agency, and the Health Science Dept.  All of our efforts will align with the Orange County Report, “Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.”

By joining this research team I am going to get HANDS-ON experience with health and the homeless. Exactly what I wanted to do. I’m really excited.

And here is the BEST NEWS I HAVE GOT IN SUCH A LONG TIME. Some of you may know it already just by reading my Facebook, but here is the news for all of you. While I was meeting with the my professor I asked about how I can teach a class here and we planned to let me sit in on the 100-level Personal Health course next semester (for credit!) and starting next August I GET TO ACTUALLY TEACH PERSONAL HEALTH here!! 🙂 Like full on, I’m actually creating my own PowerPoint’s, Assignments, Exams, etc. I’ll have to follow the general curriculum and use the same textbook as all of the sections of Personal Health, which I expected, but can create everything else from scratch or use what is already done. 🙂 I am REALLYY excited for this opportunity and I feel blessed that she has only known me for a little over a month now and she already feels like I’d be a good candidate. I learned from a couple people in the 2011 cohort (the year before me) that really only two or three people from each cohort is asked to teach that class. Dr. Jones wants me to gain as much experience teaching an actual course to see if it is something that I really would like to do.

So this summer I’ll be preparing for teaching that course… I can’t help but want to jump the gun and start planning now! Lol

I better go… its 1am and I have A GROUP PROJECT to work on at 11:30 tomorrow morning… and I’m exhausted… Goodnight!

Love you all. ❤

Hey everyone! …

Hey everyone!

 

So sorry it has been a few weeks since I’ve blogged last!

I am not kidding when I said that my workload is going to be immense here in this program.

 

I’ve finally found time to write in this blog tonight… for the last 5 hours I’ve been reading 6 peer-reviewed journal articles on Assisted Suicide. I finished reading the articles, which were very very hard to read and comprehend… I’m not so sure why I chose this topic to do my controversial paper on, as it is such a hard topic, morally and emotionally… but that is part of being in graduate school, learning things that are challenging to better myself in this career.

 

Finally done reading so after feeling unsettled and confused as ever (as to how to write this paper!), I’ve stopped for the night. So currently I am watching The Proposal and eating ice cream.

 

I’M SO SORRY FOR BEING DISTANT. I figured I’d give one big apology to all my family and friends, and everyone back home and who reads my blog. I promise that I think of you daily… please don’t be offended or upset if I don’t call or write often. My to-do list is a mile long.

 

Its crazy, I was always super busy when I went to WOU and my to-do list was always just as long as it is now but the main difference between undergrad and grad is not the workload persei as much as it is TIME CONSUMING WORK LOAD! Its not hard either really, besides statistics- which is starting to get confusing, its just a lot of group projects, individual projects, exams to study for, and chapters of reading to do for each class that it is multiplied lol and everything seems to be due around the same time… the week of October 15^th is going to be the worst…

 

Ahh! The joys of graduate school… and supposedly NEXT SEMESTER IS THE HARDEST OF OUR ENTIRE PROGRAM! 

Back to Oregon!

This one deserves its own post! 🙂 I spent over $400 about 2 hours ago on airfare! lol

My dad and little sis Sarah are driving down here on November 16! They’ll be going to a concert in Anaheim on the 17 and then leaving for Oregon on the 18.. So I will be riding home with them. I imagine we’ll leave first thing in the morning on the 18th and be back on the 19th sometime.

So I’ll be home from Nov. 19 through Friday Nov. 23.

I’m leaving on Friday because already looking ahead in my classes I am going to be knee deep in projects and assignments, I’ll want the entire weekend to catch up.. because lets be honest, I doubt there will be ANY time for me to do homework during the week. lol 🙂

Then I’ll be back here until December 21st. My last final is December 20th at 5pm. I’ll be home around 9pm on December 21st.

So I’ll be home from December 21st- January 12th.

I was able to get 7 extra days off from work and back to work here on January 14th. I’m really glad that they were flexible with me… it meant a lot to me to have that extra 7 days off.. my dear friend Coeli turns 21 on January 9th and I would have been heartbroken if I missed her birthday. It was something that really meant a lot to me so I told them that and they said thats perfectly fine.. I’ll be back to work for 2 weeks straight before classes.. 🙂

Its going to be so dang hot here this weekend… Currently it is 100 out right now and tomorrow it’ll get back up to 100 again… already went swimming once today.. now i’m sitting in my air conditioned apartment enjoying the coolness.. lol

See you all in 65 DAYS!

Love and miss you… feel free to write me letters… text me for my address.

xoxoxo

BIG differences

Now that I have been here for a few weeks I’ve started noticing big differences between here and WOU.

I am so glad I got my Bachelors Degree at a smallish university back home because CSUF is the BIGGEST university in the state of California. It has around 37,000 students total. I’m glad I got my bachelors degree at Western because I liked knowing faculty and staff on personal level and that I built relationships with some of them as well. Here the university is so big that as an undergrad (working on receiving your bachelors degree..) there are waitlists to get into classes; the buildings are far apart I couldn’t imagine having 10 minutes to get from Mihaylo business department to the Kinesiology & Health Science which are on opposite ends of campus!

Now that I am working in academic advising I am noticing big academic differences as well- for example, here if you do bad in a class and want to retake it they average the grade between the two for the final grade whereas at WOU whichever class you do better in is your final grade. Here you can only retake three classes whereas at WOU you could retake as many as you would like to pay for. That would have been really unfortunate for me if WOU would have done that… at one point I had three D’s on my transcript that was really bringing my GPA down and it would have been unfortunate to have to have it averaged as opposed to just changed.

This place is so big that they have three parking structures that update all day online where you can see how many spots are open in a specific structure. My coworker told me that the drivers are so crazy here that sometimes they’ll follow (in their car!) people walking towards the parking structure, roll down the window to ask if they are leaving and ask if they want a ride to their car! That way they get a spot! WHAT THE HECK! Thats scary! I’m so glad I do not have to worry about parking… lol

A big difference that is a plus from WOU is that there are actual restaurants on campus… the ONLY Starbucks on campus is in Mihaylo business hall… which is like a 2 minute walk to my work! 😉

So far, I’m really enjoying this place.. Its starting to grow on me.. I have a schedule now so I know when I should be leaving for work. Its so dang hot that on Mondays my dear friend Susan picks me up before our 6 hours of classes because where I live is on the total opposite end of campus from the parking structure that is near our classroom. So she picks me up so I am not sweating bullets by the time I get there and then she gives me a ride home since we get out at 10pm. So great. Its on her way to and from school so it works out great. 🙂

the longest post ever…

I am sorry ahead of time for the length of this post… just so much to say! lol

Last Monday was my first full day of classes. At 4pm I have a Statistics class that I was going into closed off and nervous.. I hate math. I am terrible at math. But I was positively surprised at the set-up for the class. I know for a fact that it is going to be a challenge for me this semester but I know that there are a ton of resources on campus for me to go to for help and the professor is really cool that she’s not looking for the exact answer to problems rather she is looking for the fact that we show we understand what is going on. That class will be a whole a new story I am sure! 🙂

Right after Stats class I go to Issues in Public Health at 7pm.. So I have class from 4-10pm on Mondays… (Side note if you need to contact me on Mondays… don’t expect a response in that time frame as I have absolutely no service in that crappy building, lol, plus its not appropriate to text in class anyways!). Rough rough!

On that first day we finally did introductions in my second class. I’m not kidding when I say that I think I am one of the THREE 22 year olds… Majority (there are 27 of us in this cohort) of my classmates are probably late-late 20’s early 30’s with a few 40’s and 50’s. Kinda different coming from WOU, that actually does have a high non-traditional population, but feeling way out of place in class. A lot of my classmates have direct health work experience and are currently working in health in someway… During introductions that was my first time feeling really out of place, ever in my entire life, which is really surprising, right?! But I think it is a good learning experience for me in that I am learning valuable skills from my classmates that actually have had direct work.. different cultures, different experiences, different everything. Its kind of nice actually.

That class is just a general class about Public Health. I’m REALLY REALLY looking forward to our two big assignments in that class. One assignment is in groups of 3 or 4 and we are assigned a controversial health topic and either the pro or con side of it and then we have to prepare a debate presentation to present on an assigned day.

The options are:

1. Should the United States Adopt a Single-Payer Plan to Fund National Health Insurance?
2. Should Health Care Be Rationed in the United States?
3. Should Marijuana Be Legalized for Medicinal Purposes?
4. Is There a Valid Reason for Routine Infant Male Circumcision?
5. Is There a Link Between Vaccination and Autism?
6. Do Cell Phones Cause Cancer?

I’m excited to hear all the debates on those topics! I don’t really have a preference on which topic I want to debate. Some of them I do not know a lot of information on so it will be neat to learn!

And then our other big assignment is an individual 10-15 page paper and a 5 minute PowerPoint presentation on a controversial health topic and I chose to research Assisted Suicide. Its something that is actually a pretty big deal in Oregon (Death with Dignity Act). And its something I know absolutely nothing about so I am anxious to get started and learn about it.

(I’m sorry if you are bored reading this! I know its long… I’m almost done talking about classes!)

Last but not least, I have Advanced Topics in Community Health for an elective on Thursdays from 4-7pm. This class is something that is way different then I was expecting. We are learning all about Community Building, I’m not quite sure what else to say at the moment but maybe I’ll have more thoughts.

Also, we are required to create a Study Plan, we have to map out what classes we are going to take in our program and what semester.. I learned that I will be taking summer classes this summer.. its the only way I can if I want to graduate in 2 years! I’m hoping my finances will be good for me but thats a stress I’ll have at a later date. 🙂

THANK YOU FOR READING! Please leave me comments if you would like! I’d love to hear what you all think! Love and miss you all.

I got a job! I GOT A JOB! yay!

I feel like I have so much more to update everyone with so I thought I’d add another post within a couple of days.. From now on I’ll try to do two or three posts a week even if I do not have a lot to say… but anybody that is reading this knows that I’LL ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY! lol 🙂 Y’all love me, you know it. 

Anyways! 

The last most of you heard from me regarding a job was that I was actively applying over the summer. Well a couple of days after my mom and I got to Fullerton I got an email to set-up an interview for an Academic Advisor position in Academic Advising (no surprise! lol). I was really surprised because I kind of thought there was no shot.. There was a requirement that you had to have been able to interview by the 23rd… and I got the email on the 24th. So really cool! She emailed me back on that Monday (the 27th!) and asked me to come in that afternoon before class. So I did. It was a really good interview.

One thing I was worried about was that I can (and they highly recommend me too) work full time (40 hours) during intersession (for Oregon peeps thats 3 weeks in January that students can take an accelerated class for credit) and they knew I was from Oregon so I asked them about that and when they’d want me to be back, they said that classes start the day after New Years Day 😦 They said they’d be more than happy to let me have an extra week of vacation back home and they’d probably want me to be back the week of January 9-10ish… Kind of a bummer because that means I’ll hardly be home for the Holidays as my last final is on Thursday December 20th! But thats okay, I needed a job and I actually kind of expected to get a job and then be expected to be back early in January. But anyways… thats something I’ll worry about later because its still MONTHS AWAY! lol.

Needless to say, I was told that they would make a decision about the job by the end of the day. I leave and they call me 30 minutes later offering me the position and asking me to start on Tuesday the 28th!

I’m so blessed and thankful that the first day of classes I get hired.. that was something that stressed me out to the max when I was back home. So I am glad that I got it squared away right away! 🙂

My next post is going to be on my classes!

First Week of Living in California!

On August 22nd, I flew down to Los Angeles with my mom. I officially started my brand new adventure as a graduate student, living in a brand new, big city. We got the rental car and trekked our way to my apartment in Fullerton. I have to admit, it was nice to be back here… we went to the grocery store and went swimming then watched The Hunger Games on my computer.

The reason we watched it on my computer was that my tv went out that night… we put in the DVD and the screen was blurry and could hardly watch it… Of course, I was frustrated at first. Annoyed that it happened but VERY THANKFUL that it happened when my mom was here while we had a rental car… I could not imagine not having a tv after she left… HELLO FOOTBALL SEASON! NO way would I miss the Oregon or Seahawks games! 😉

On Saturday the 25th I had orientation at Cal State Fullerton (CSUF).. we walked to the Titan Student Union and saw the registration table… but we were in the wrong place. There was a couple of people that were also lost, the letter that we got and registered on, did not say on it where to meet. So the other new graduate students and I finally learned that it was in the QUAD (the grassy benches area right in the middle of campus). By the time we got there my feet hurt and I was already sweating (it was 9am and I was already hot!, Ugh California living lol!) so I registered and sat down until 10am when the welcome started and my mom went to go get some coffee.

Right around 10 my mom called me over and introduced me to this woman named Susan, Susan just happened to introduce herself to my mom and she said that she was just starting the Masters of Public Health program! The same one as me! Yay! So we exchanged phone numbers and hung out all day at orientation and then again on Monday in class. It is so nice to have met someone prior to class. At the end of the orientation it was lunch time where you sit at the table of your program.. there Susan and I met our Stats professor (and our program advisor!) as well as 3 more classmates. It was nice to meet people right off the bat.

Here is a picture of my second home the Kinesiology and Health Science building.. 

It has a beautiful exterior but old looking interior, its a very confusing, hot building. But this will be the building that I spend most of my time, academically it is.

My next entry will be about my first week of school!

Hope you enjoy reading my blog! ❤

London Photo!

First Post

So I decided to start a blog for my family and friends back in Oregon. I have always wanted to blog before so I thought now will be a good time when I’ll be away from everyone for quite awhile. I’ll post in this blog twice a week and use this blog to talk about my week and what I’ve been up to!

I hope people will follow and leave comments! ❤