Preparing

I feel as though I have been mentally preparing for this trip for months and months. The anticipation has been building and now I am feeling somewhat frantic. There is a lot to be done around my house before I should leave, such as cleaning up after the tornado that is known as “Christmas.” I will feel better once things are in order.

 I am looking around my bedroom, mainly my closet, that is absolutely jam packed full of clothing I am sure I will need or want to wear on this trip, and trying to determine what can actually fit into my suitcase.(This thing has been sitting here, with my other bags, just waiting to be packed, for weeks!)

I am not an outfit planner, but I really just throw in a bunch of stuff I like and figure out what I am wearing once I get to where I am going. I am wondering how many pairs of shoes I can actually fit in my suitcase! I have begun my list, which is beginning to look like a list of preparations for a month long trip rather than a week long trip. I always over pack, but I am almost positive I will forget something I cannot possibly live without during this trip. I have this whole table worth of makeup and hair products, lotions and body sprays, face masks and moisturizers, maybe 5 items of which I use every day. I will try to bring it all! I have been known to go over my luggage weight limit without regret, each and every time I stepped on a plane. I always imagine barely unzipping it and everything but the kitchen sink spewing out. I will attempt to downsize and make things more manageable this time around!

I plan to bring some snacks to keep for the train and hotel, a book or two I actually want to read, my Mac of course, and some headphones. I purchased a new pair of rain boots since I saw several rainy days on the forecast, but I am almost positive they won’t arrive on time.

Probably the biggest thing I worried about dealing with is being away from my sweet son. This will be the longest period of time I will be away from him so I can imagine a few rough moments, along with a few moments of guilt for enjoying my break and the different opportunities we will experience! I am bringing my new bracelet he got me for Christmas, with a charm in the shape of the state of Illinois, so I remember where my home and heart are!

            I have set aside the softest, plushest blanket I own, my favorite, flat pillow, and my slippers, because I am all about comfort! I hope no one judges me for wearing the baggiest sweats in the world for the train ride.

            And finally, the whole reason for this trip, the school work and studying. My group and I are doing our travel guide project on Hurricane Katrina. Fortunately, there are an abundance of articles and other forms of information we can attain to complete this project. This was such a devastating time in New Orleans and although it is an interesting subject to research, it is incredibly sad to see the damage that was caused and the lives that were taken. To think that there are still some people suffering from this catastrophe is absolutely tragic and disturbing.

     I am sure that I know this class will be a lot of work, and I am expecting to feel exhausted most days. The itinerary shows several hours of “class time,” which will include some early mornings and lots of activity. However, I will take this kind of class and workload over sitting in a desk a few hours a week for 16 weeks straight any day. I think it is very cool that our assignments are based on what we are experiencing and less on research like we are used to in nursing school. I feel lucky that I will get to experience the amazing city of New Orleans again, on a much different level than before, all while earning course credits towards my degree. It is somewhat rare that I take time to do anything away from my family and I can honestly say I am looking forward to that just a tiny bit. I love my family of course, don’t get me wrong, but it will be nice to do something different and for myself. My son has gone on several vacations with his grandparents, to places I’ve never even been, so I don’t feel too guilty about leaving him.

            When I originally planned to take this course, I thought, who wouldn’t want to take a vacation that counted for course credit towards a nursing degree? Who wouldn’t want to go to another, warmer state during this brutal Illinois winter weather, and get to learn about a different culture? It still amazes me at times that there are so many cultures in just a few states away. I was a little worried about financing the trip but decided to go for it and figure out the money issue later! I may skip a lunch or two, but really, the sacrifice will be worth it ;). As previously mentioned in my blog, I have been to New Orleans before, but there was a lot to the city that we did not get to see. There were several people on our trip and we mostly stuck together, but we didn’t take any tours, expect the swamp tour, which I honestly have no desire to ever do again. I feel like a lot of the trip was a blur and I didn’t absorb as much as I would have liked. I am sure that places might be familiar to me but I am looking forward to seeing them in a new light and hearing what the tour guides have to say. I would say that the thing I am most looking forward to the pharmacy tour. I think that the history of medicine is so interesting and I cannot wait to learn more about it and see some of the tools that were used years ago. I am especially interested in how surgeries used to be performed and how blood transfusions during them were pumped into the body manually. I love seeing that kind of thing and letting myself imagine how much things have changed for the better, thankfully for us!