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.