I am no longer following the nursing track. I have now shifted towards finishing my actual major. Now, to graduate, I need an internship. Funny enough, I found out this information 2 weeks before I started a new semester. So, as true style, I panicked. 

I applied everywhere. Mostly places involving kids, like painting, hospitals, anytime that dealt with health issues as part of the curriculum. I also applied to nursing homes. 

Within a week, I still hadn’t heard from the children’s programs. Most of them, when I checked again, showed they were full. But one nursing home did contact me. And in need of an internship quickly, I said yes. The weeks leading up to the semester were exhausting. Blood work, paperwork, certificates, vaccinations, forms, and signatures were needed to prove I was healthy and couldn’t get anyone sick. 

Then the semester started, and somehow I still hadn’t started my internship. Everything was getting delayed between my school and the nursing school. Forms had to be signed, hours had to be approved, and it took forever to respond to emails. It was constant back and forth. 

Meanwhile, in my internship class, everyone else was already ahead. People had already written their essays on their experiences, and some even completed their 250 hours. Me? I hadn’t even started.  

I was so behind, and I wasn’t even middle into the semester. Eventually, when everything was approved, my mom told me I should go every day to finish on time. So this became a new thing in my routine. 

Classes ended at 1. Two-hour commute. Get home around 10. And repeat this process for the seven days of the week. 

I was so exhausted, both physically and emotionally. The things I was seeing at the nursing home while trying to keep up with my work, so my GPA doesn’t fall further behind. 

When I began, it was awkward. I didn’t know how to approach the residents, what to say, or how to act. The overall environment of the nursing home was depressing. Even through all that I harbored on. I continued to try my best for my patients. 

At the time, I thought this internship was just another requirement, another thing to survive, and I even said it. I wasn’t going to get attached to them because I knew it would be a hard decision. Just something to graduate. 

But looking back now. The nursing home experience has changed me more than I could have realized at the time. And the residents I met there would become some of the most important people in my life. 

But this is just part one.