Two Weeks In!

Whew!  What a whirlwind two weeks it has been so far!  I'm still feeling all kinds of mixed emotions.   On a daily basis I feel extremely fortunate to have this opportunity and to have been placed in this internship.  I grow to love public health and the preventative nature a little more every day and I'm so inspired to help people make simple changes before they develop health problems.  On the other hand, the tasks are so daunting and there is still a lot of unknowns.  We don't have a full rotation schedule yet which means I'm unsure of where I will be placed as early as next week.  To be clear the schedule is developed but because there are six of us we will all have a slightly different schedule so at this point I don't know if my line on the schedule is #1 or #6.  I should have a better idea of what comes next by the end of this week.

Additionally, I feel like I went into class on the first day of school and was handed a syllabus with 75 assignments. We have all of these assignments to complete, meetings to have and projects to accomplish.  The problem is that some of the items will be scheduled for me, many I will have to setup and complete myself and others will require that I work together with my co-interns.  It's been a process learning how to organize myself and how to best tackle the tasks at hand.  However, I have slowly started to figure it all out and I adore my co-interns.  We are such unique girls with a variety of backgrounds but we have such similar and complementary personalities and I would honestly chose to be friends with each one of them had we met in a different situation.  I'm really enjoying their company and I really look forward to sharing this experience with them.

Here's a quick rundown of the highlight of what I have accomplished so far, I have:

*taught a nutrition education class to welfare recipients
*attended several trainings, meetings and development workshops
*volunteered at a produce and health fair
*completed a site visit with a school garden/youth farmer's market program
*contacted several other individuals about setting up site visits with their nutrition or food program
*monitored a nutrition blog
*checked out a food related app
*researched the Paleo diet for my fad diet paper
*researched the food and cultural customs of Cuba
*researched the role of soy consumption in breast cancer risk

and those are just a few highlights!  Last Friday was my favorite day so far.  We started the day helping at a produce and health fair hosted by one of the WIC sites.  We provided resource information, produce and other groceries to 756 different adults in less than two hours!  It was amazing.  The people were so grateful and I had the chance to interact with all different ages and cultures.  I even got to put my Spanish skills to work.  After that I had the opportunity to do a field site visit with a local elementary school that has a student run community garden. The garden is huge and has been around for years.  It is no self-sustaining and the kids get the opportunity to sell the produce that they grow at biweekly youth farmer's markets.  It was so fun to see the kids using their math skills to make change and to see their excitement about trying new fruits and vegetables (this week we sampled lemon cucumbers). 

That's weeks 1 and 2 in a nutshell.  There's so much more ahead and I'm looking forward to beginning my first outside rotation soon. 

Day 1!

I have survived the first 8 of 1688 hours of my dietetic internship!  Yay!  I hardly slept at all last night I was so excited/nervous.  Luckily today was an easy basic intro day that basically involved introductions, some paperwork and computer training and a lot of building tours.   Most importantly, today was a good reminder of why I chose to do what I do and I feel so blessed to have this opportunity.  My program is amazing!  I love the public health aspect and all of the preventative health measures that the health department takes to educate and protect it's citizens.  I feel so empowered and that what I'm doing really can and will make a difference.  It's an incredible feeling.

And on top of all of that they really made me feel welcome and that I'm more than "just an intern".  I have an adorable little cubicle next to the all of the other interns that had a cute little welcome sign, a nameplate and a tote bag and water bottle.  The previous interns also left us a box of goodies/necessities that included fun things like vegetable shaped candles, water bottles, tea and a feather boa.  There are six interns...all girls and we get along great already!  I can't wait to get to know them better.  We all have a different nutrition "background" so it will be exciting to learn from each other and to get to work together.   I know that it's going to be a long ride with a lot of hard work but I'm ready for the adventure!

Less than 1 Week!

I just got back from a quick vacation before the internship gets started NEXT MONDAY.  I'm freaking out a bit.  I have so much to do before it all gets going.  My house is a mess, I have some first day assignments/organizing/paperwork to finish and I just feel like I need to get my life in order.  I'm so glad that I quit working at the restaurant a week ago or I would probably be much crazier right now.

I don't know why I'm so nervous about getting started.  I think it's just so much change at once. I quit my job, I'm done with school and now I'm paying someone to work for free.  Oh yeah, and it's finally doing the job that I've been dreaming of and sacrificing for.  I think it's like a wedding; there's so much buildup to the big day that you can't help but feel anxious beforehand.  On top of all of this, no one seems to understand my emotions.  Friend and family keep asking "Why are you nervous?" "Aren't you excited."  Yes I'm excited, yes I'm anxious.  Yes I'm scared.  Is that ok?  I'm being honest here.  I'm sure that I will be fine after Monday, I just need to get in there and know that I really can do this and finish this whole adventure.