So I didn't do much for independence day, went to check out the music but then I came back here and now I'm watching the fireworks on tv. I remember last year too, my parents were here and we watched a lot of the concert in my apt and then walked over to see the fireworks. And New Years for this year was cool, the fireworks by Penn's Landing and then the Mummer's Parade the next day, really fun but really cold. And now it's so hot out. I still remember when I was in DC for the summer and we all went to the fireworks there, that was really cool, good show. Right on the national mall and everything...

Been kind of busy, had a couple of job interviews, the one at Di Bruno Bros went well and they are going to call me to go in for another one sometime. Haven't been doing much else, I want to find a place to swim around here this summer, or go to the beach this summer, it's been so hot recently. Still have more but I might do that later...

Edit: And they have something really loud going on upstairs, and they're being loud...still better than the apt below me, not sure if there's anyone in that one anymore, haven't seen anyone in there or going in and out for a while. Trying to drown out the sound from upstairs now...not sure how much longer I'll be up though.

Just finished the third day of my week of fieldwork, it's still pretty interesting. I've actually liked when I've gotten to interact with the patients, they're interesting and like Hanna was saying it hasn't been boring. I could see at a rehab setting, it could get a little boring just seeing someone practice certain things, or at a hand rehab place; I found it boring when I was at the Children's Hospital especially with the babies. I guess I might be interested in this, after I'm done with the coursework, I might be able to see myself doing this. I'd work with the adults though or older adults, I have seen the adolescents which was interesting, the older adults and the adults in different units. I also think it's nice getting to see the same people during the week, instead of having this once a week when you might not see the same people from week to week.

I'm also kind of getting my information on my own, since we have fieldwork 2 students as our supervisors, and we're mostly observing them. So I guess it's good since in some situations and jobs I'd have to get my own information and take on my job without much supervision or direction. And I guess there are some people I would find it easier to work with than others, depending on the people or the diagnosis. It's also been good to practice the notes and documentation stuff we learned about, it's cool to apply some of the stuff we covered in class.

Today I didn't see the other students who are there with me much, we came in later and stayed later. Wonder if they'll change our schedules tomorrow and Fri also like they did today. I was thinking one of them might have gone home, she lives close to where we're doing our fieldwork now. Should get to see them tomorrow and Fri, it's fun having other students with me there, since we get to be together when we're on breaks and stuff. It's busy but I like it, keeps me occupied and I don't know what I'll be doing during the summer, I guess keep looking for work and stuff like that.

( more )

So this fieldwork has been interesting so far, we're rotating around and with fieldwork 2 students, so it's different than having one supervisor and being with a specific set of patients. I guess that's how they set it up where I am now, I guess I'm getting used to it and I think I'm happy doing this as a fieldwork level 1 instead of level 2, not sure I would like it as much just because it's stuff in groups and is more unstructured than other settings.

( Belmont )

I just checked my school email, got one from our teacher who works at Belmont where I'm doing my next fieldwork 1 with some others in the class. It sounds good, it sounded like we're with fieldwork II students, but I'm not sure, that would be interesting though. He mentioned we would rotate around to different people, and he's going to send us a few emails since we're not doing the portfolios this year and he usually talks to the students then. It should be interesting, especially if we see different types of people and seeing how they do everything there. It will also be cool to see the stuff we talked about in his classes, like the ITPs and stuff, and how the professionals work together and everything.

Still want to look over my psych notes and also maybe in the book so I have an understanding of the different disorders before I get there. Not sure if I'm going to go out there before I start either though I feel like I want to see how long it takes before the first day. Although in June I don't have a pass so I'd have to pay for tokens. I already got tokens for next week and the week after but not any extra.

We only have two more days of classes and then our test, and then fieldwork the week after. It should be interesting, the psych part of the class (at least this teacher's part) was interesting. Then on Wed and Thurs I think I'll go back to the glasses store to check out the prices and also drop off my applications at the coffee shops, not sure what else. Also have to study for Fri, should do that soon. And go over my notes for fieldwork, and I'm thinking of going to the gym 4 times a week, every other day, more when I'm free or I can put it into my schedule.

Haven't been doing much on the weekends, today I dropped off some more job applications, still have to go back to the coffee places next week when they're open to hand in the applications for them. So I don't do much on these weekends, but I've been looking for a job for a while, and we're almost done with school so it'd be good if I could get something soon. And I checked out a new place that has glasses today, saw some that I liked, usually these places just have ones that don't have much on the frame if they are rimless but I liked these. I'll have to go back to see how much they would cost with my insurance and everything.

Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow, thinking I will go to the gym tomorrow but don't know what else. We have our class on Mon and Tues this week and then our test on Fri, and next weekend I think we're planning to go out for another friend's birthday, I won't stay out the whole time, but it should be fun. Not sure when we would do the game night for my other friends birthday but we'll see. Both would be fun, usually fun when I've gone out with them. Also maybe I will see if any of them want to see the new Disney/Pixar movie...

Just a quick thought, our teacher emailed us about the participation grades, and wrote that a lot of the consideration is the participation in class. And I thought about next semester to how we're taking a management class with him, I wonder what that's going to be like? Going to be harder I thought to participate in that, although I may have questions...

The older adult class might not be as hard, since it will be like this one, with the three different teachers, so with two of them it should be pretty good. All of the people I've talked to can't stand our third teacher for that class, I wonder if anyone will go and talk to the person in charge of the dept/program...

The one class is over, so now we just have this adult course to focus on, though I do kind of just want to get everything done. The fieldwork stuff will be cool though, especially since I'll be at the same place as the teacher I like. Looking forward to that, but we still have a portfolio due, and we still need the instructions for it, and a final test, the access survey is pretty much done. I guess we're almost done with the coursework. We have two more weeks of the class and then our fieldwork, should be fun. I still haven't heard back about the fieldwork either but it took him a while to respond to people about their participation grades...

I just saw that our teacher posted our grades for that test we took a couple weeks ago, and I didn't think I did that well. I guess also after having another test in clinical conditions and doing pretty bad on that, and thinking this test was hard...but I got an 82.something, they added 4% to everyone's grade, but even before that it was like a 78. I was expecting something a lot lower, so I'm really happy about this one. Also our teacher said in his email that the grades were disappointing on average...

It would still be interesting to go over especially his part to see what the answers were, and also the first part since I did better than I thought I would. I guess I did do well and I felt like I knew the material going into it. Would be interesting to see though. I did email this teacher to see if we could go over them, and also about my next fieldwork placement since I'm where he works. Not sure about the participation grades from the other class though, it could be that the other teacher did them, the one who we had at the end of the course.

And we were (or people were) talking about her last night, talking about this test, and I did think it was hard and that I did worse. I guess this is what happened with the others in the other classes when they thought they did worse than they did. But I'm just happy about this, now I don't have to worry as much, these tests are worth 30% of our grade. I guess now we just have this test in the fall that apparently everyone fails, but if it's like this one, maybe it won't be that bad, or maybe it's harder...

Yesterday after class I went with some friends out to a couple places, first we went to a bar on Temple's main campus, and then into Center City since the guy we were with has a partner who works at one of the bars, so we hung out there for a while. That was cool though, ended up staying out until like 11 or something, it was pretty late. And we went to his house in South Philly which was cool, and we left and I got dropped off which was nice. Today I did the access survey we had to do for one of our classes, so it worked out that I could come back here first.

Maybe I'll write more up later, it was fun though. Ran into another friend from our class while we were out, hung out with him for a little...

Our fieldwork I is coming up the second week in June, and our fieldwork coordinator posted the placements and contact people. I actually emailed my teacher who is the contact for my location but I thought if I didn't hear back I would call at the end of the week. I went to check my mail earlier today on our break and none of the teachers were there, or at least their doors weren't open, and we just have this class left so I figure they're probably not going to be around. I guess our one teacher will have to come in at some point for our case studies...

Looking forward to it though I don't know the specifics yet. I was thinking about my two placements so far, CHOP for my first one and now Belmont as my second, and both are good. Wonder where I'll be for the third one and where others will be. And for fieldwork II but I was talking to someone else in my class who thought we would just get put wherever. That could be the case, I think the coordinator looks at our location and stuff like that for the fieldworks, but some people travel to get to their places and stuff. I'm thinking it might be nice to be close to here for fieldwork II, wouldn't have to be up as early, and wouldn't have to travel far, stuff like that. I guess in any location I'll be unsure of stuff, so I'll learn too. I still want to go over the psych stuff before the next fieldwork too. Thought about going out there one day too before I start to see how long it takes, maybe I'll do that next week when we have a day off if I can. It was fun in those classes, and doing this case study, it will be interesting to see people with these conditions and see what is done in treatment.

Just got back from school, we had a long day, even though the classes are two days a week now. It isn't too bad, I got there early this morning since my group put together our case study to hand in. And when we left people were talking about our grades like participation (actually when we met this morning some were) for clinical conditions, since our primary teacher in that class would give us 100 in the other classes, I should check. But some people got 90s and Eugene did say some people got 80s, which I did. It seems like we all have something different, so it would be good to find out how they did it. And Hanna thought Linda might have done those grades, which is possible.

Still looking forward to fieldwork I, although I was thinking about it this morning, and I'll have to get up really early that week. And I thought maybe it's good to do this fieldwork at this time, since it's just a week, and we won't have classes and I can just focus on that, and also I'll just have to observe and stuff. Not sure how it would be for three months doing it, so I can see how I like it and what it's like. Still should be interesting.

And this past weekend or few days we've had off I've been going around handing applications in or looking for jobs, and I went to the T bar and the Marriott gift shop on Mon to hand in applications, and the woman from the T bar called me back. I'm going over to interview there tomorrow, so that will be good. I was hoping I would get something there, it has good hours and I like tea drinks and seems like a good fit. I guess I'll be working a lot over the summer, not sure what else. Making money and hanging out I guess.

I'm not sure what to do, we have a few days off from school but I don't have anything going on. I handed in some job applications though earlier today and checked at some other places like these tea bars. I'm not sure why I didn't think of that earlier, it would be a good place for me since I like tea. Although I might have to go back to one place to see if they have applications, the guy there told me it was online so I emailed for one, I'll see.

Hopefully I can find something soon, and something I like, at least for the summer which would keep me busy and also I'd get some extra money. I feel like I'm pretty much done with my part of our case study and the other people in my group are still working on their things, so I guess we'll get it put together and everything later this weekend and see what we have for Tues.

Grades from that test still weren't posted, I'm thinking they might be on Mon. Also I haven't emailed my teacher about our fieldwork I which I want to do soon. Maybe on Mon also. We're going to our fieldwork places in like a month so I guess they'll let me know when to be there and stuff. Still thinking I'll go over my psych notes and look in the book before I start. Hoping to see a lot during that week, should be interesting...

I was thinking more about this test we took on Mon, have no idea how I did and everyone was talking about it and how they think they didn't do well. But then I was thinking, it might be ok if everyone doesn't do well, and if there's a test in the fall everyone doesn't do well on, and maybe I got more right than I thought? I could think of some questions I knew and questions I should have gotten right, although others I wasn't sure on. I just will focus on the other grades in this class (and next semester).

The splinting grades are up, so we have those and clinical conditions and professional concepts. I did really well in splinting, and also professional concepts although everyone probably got about the same grade in that class. It's just these teachers, or one teacher, the test questions are hard and I guess next time I'll really study all the different things we go over. Can't really do anything about it now...

This whole first year went by pretty quickly. We're still not done yet but we got grades for one class, I did alright. Probably since I didn't do well on the last test and the participation grade...only an 80 but I did mostly sit through the classes. It was interesting, at least the first part though.

I was thinking about this other test we just had, it should be ok because we still have a lot of assignments due so if I do well on those it should average out. And everyone was saying they felt the same way, and apparently last year in the fall course (our second year) there's a test everyone failed...I guess even with the two teachers materials on it, that makes sense. I'll just focus on the stuff we have coming up. After the test on Mon though everyone was talking and we still have those course evaluations to do, and one person was saying he's going to be adding sheets of paper to the evaluation...we'll all probably end up writing similar things about one teacher too.

Not looking forward to part of the fall class, but I like 2 of the teachers that are going to be teaching it, I wonder how long we spend on each topic and what the different topics are that we learn. Although the research and management courses don't sound very interesting, although management is with the teacher I liked when he did the psych stuff...

( more on school and program )

Now we have off for 5 days, until Tues, I'm not sure what I'm going to be doing. Usually don't do much over the weekends anyway, I guess I'll look around for jobs, stuff like that. I have to do laundry this week too, probably tomorrow. I also have this case study stuff to work on, almost done with it and we'll put it together and I'll see what the other people in my group have. It's been fun working on it at least with the people in my group, I like them and we've worked well together.

The class today was good, our teacher did get our fieldwork placements for our next fieldwork I for June. I and two others are at Belmont which is where one of our teachers works, so that will be cool. I'm looking forward to that. The teacher would talk about it and some of the patients and stuff, so it will be interesting to see it in person. Also I've never seen a psych hospital so that will be interesting to see, and also what the OTs actually do there. It will also be nice having some other students there, so I can see what they think of it and stuff. Wonder who's going there next semester if anyone does and if people go there for fieldwork II.

Although now I'm thinking about what I'd do for my fieldwork II, I guess I'll see, I've liked my two fieldwork placements so far. Others are going to different hospitals or rehab settings or psych settings, should be interesting now that we're going to see adults. I'll have to go back through the psych stuff we learned, maybe even the different conditions too, and now I can check out their website as I've wanted to do. I guess now I'll see if I like psych and if I could see myself doing it, it's sounded interesting when this teacher would talk about it.

We have grades for two of our classes already, the ones we finished, and I did pretty well. For professional concepts I have an A and clinical conditions II have a B, I would have had a high B without the last test too. Apparently everyone did pretty bad on that, and on the test we just had on Mon...but I'm happy I'm at least above an 80 in the one class. Our final grade is posted but not the last test grade. I kept doing better on the tests for the first part of the class too. So now we just have our adult class on Tues and Thurs, not sure what else I'll be doing like what I'll be doing this week and weekend when we have 5 days off.

I'm thinking of asking if we can see the tests we just took on Mon, at least the second part with the teacher I do like, we can probably do that if we go to their office which I'm thinking about doing. Then we do have the case study and other stuff coming up in this class.

And the test and checkout today were pretty easy I thought, I'll do well in this adult class although I'm not sure how I did on this last test. But a lot of us were waiting for a while to get in, it was actually kind of funny what some people said...I guess they were talking about things they could do-"buy groceries, sew a quilt," stuff like that. Trying to think of the other stuff too. Now I'm not sure what I'll do with these splints...

I did most of my part of the case study we have due next week, we just have to put everything together and make sure we have the different parts. I've liked the groups I've been in so far too, for this class. We had one case study previously, and have one now, and I've heard about one group where people are fighting about stuff to put in, stuff like that. I like everyone in this group and it's pretty interesting learning about this stuff too.

So for this one, the groups have different people but some of us have the same one. So we did the ITP (individual team treatment plan) and we also have our assignment to write up, and these progress notes which I'm having a hard time with. I think it's because we just make stuff up, so I'm not sure what to write for it. It'd be easier if we had an actual person and could see something going on. And there's not much information in the description of the person, so it's a little hard to figure out what to write on them.

I definitely think it would be interesting to see what it's like at a psych hospital or in a psych part of a hospital; I haven't really seen people with mental disorders before. I kind of have through people I know but that's different. Though I think there are people with some disorders it would be hard to work with. The fieldwork coordinator tries to put everyone in some psych setting though at some point, which is probably good so then we get to see what it's like. I'm still not really sure exactly what I'd be doing with those clients though. Still looking forward to some parts of next semester, and some others not but then we're almost done. This program goes by fast.

We had our test today on the psych part of our adult class, which everyone felt the same way about...all thought it was pretty hard, and weren't sure how we did on it, and people were talking about our one teacher who we all seem to feel the same way about. The people I talked to at least, all don't like her, and think the tests are really hard and stuff like that, and I agree. We do still have her next semester though, apparently this test next semester no one passed last year...

And our test on Fri was with her, and a lot of people didn't do well, so maybe they would do something if everyone doesn't do well? I also was thinking about seeing if I could see the answers to the test we took today, at least on the second part with the teacher I like. Stuff about what is going on if the person is doing or not doing a certain thing, etc. I am kind of disappointed we don't have this teacher anymore until the fall, but we will have him for part of the older adult course and for management which I'm not sure about. Wonder what that's like, the course itself doesn't sound interesting...

But after the test this morning I went with a few people to Kevyn's restaurant, they wanted to get a drink, so that was fun. We ended up getting back to the class late but it was ok, and I guess they were kind of drunk or so since they had margaritas and took a shot before we left. And the ride back was fun. The people in my class are fun, I do like being in this year with these people. I forget if I wrote a post a while ago about the teachers in this program, that might be fun...

I was thinking when I was walking back today about college and how I really liked philosophy with one teacher (who everyone really liked), and taking a course the next semester with a different teacher who no one liked, and how the experience was completely different. The class I'm in now reminds me of that, we all seem to like the teacher we have for this section, but the one before no one likes, and I'm actually thinking that psych sounds interesting after being in class with this teacher for a while. It is interesting too since he teaches our anatomy and clinical conditions classes, but I think he's always worked in psych.

I do like the teacher we're going to have again soon, and we'll have all these teachers again next semester, but I will miss these classes. Like now I can see how the ideas relate to life, and to myself and stuff like that which is cool. I like the interaction and the style of teaching a lot more. And I'm still interested in seeing these things in practice, so now I'm happy I told our fieldwork coordinator I might be interested in mental health, I've heard a couple other people are too, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. I know there are a lot who talked about stuff like hand therapy, or some people are going back to where they're from, and I've thought about that. It will be interesting getting experience in different areas to see what I like and don't like. And it would be interesting if I did end up going into psych eventually, which could happen. I guess I'll see, and I can work in one area for a while and move around to other areas in the field which is nice.

It was also my friend's birthday today, so we went to dinner after our class today, went to one friend's apartment and from there to this place in Manayunk. It was fun, I didn't stay too late and got a ride back with one friend, but it was fun to go to dinner and stuff. And I liked our class today, it's interesting since a lot of my class didn't like this teacher during anatomy and neuroanatomy, but now we all really like him I guess since he has worked in psych for his career and is into it, so I like that. And it is more interactive and he makes it interesting.

We do have him again in the fall although I'm not sure how much, but that will be good. And I wonder where we will get put for our fieldwork, the rest of our fieldwork I and our fieldwork II. And I'm not sure exactly how it works, but we have a research class next semester and we work in groups with a professor, I'm not sure what else we do but I'll find out. I think the teachers come in and talk about the areas they are working on and we pick, although it does seem like a lot of us will pick the same teachers for it.

And I'm now thinking psych seems like an interesting area, or I'd like to see it at some point since it does seem different than physical medicine and I don't have experience with it. Oh and I'm thinking about who is going to be in next years class, and how my class will be the second year class, and I want to get to know the people in the new class, and maybe do something like what the current second year class did with us...and I was trying to remember what classes we had in the fall...our first year is almost over and then we only have another semester before our fieldwork...

We finished two of our classes today, we just have a test for one on Fri. We have a few tests coming up, in splinting, in our adult intervention/theory class, and in clinical conditions. I'm not really sure which to study for first, and I don't want to study for any of them, I kind of looked at the splinting stuff like what kinds of splints there are, but I'm still not really sure on that. I guess for the adult intervention/assessment/theory course I'll read over the notes we do have, and we are being tested on what two instructors are teaching, so I'll go over what we have, and keep doing that and eventually go over the new stuff. And the clinical conditions stuff I can look in the book and notes, and some of it is kind of common sense stuff.

I'm happy these courses are over, especially since we don't have this one teacher until next semester, and she's teaching part of the older adult course and I think that's it. Apparently for research we are in groups and pick a professor to work with, so I started thinking about who I would pick, and I wonder who people would pick. There could be a lot of us picking the same people and not picking the same people, so we'll see. It's good though we still have some of the professors next semester since I like them...

And tomorrow I think my friends from school and I are still going out after class, hopefully from class because then I'll go for cinco de mayo, to this place in Manayunk. I guess I'll get work done tonight, and Wed I have time, and Thurs. Not sure what I want to do this weekend, I'm going home for Sun for Mother's Day but Fri and Sat I'm not sure. Maybe I can watch the Phillies games? Go out Fri night and watch?