One month left.

Hey guys!

Update number 2 from the beautiful city of Pretoria, South-Africa. 

I've been here for a little over two months now and still every day manages to amaze me. During the weekends I get to go on the most amazing trips, during the week I get to work with the most incredible children and in the evenings I get to hang out with the best housemates ever. 

My time here is running out and every outing and every day is becoming more and more valuable. Slowly I start to realise that I'm here for a set time only and the last day is running towards me with a terrifying speed. The idea of going home is not appealing at all, so let's not go there yet. Only the past and near future matter now.

This weekend I'll set for Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe with three Spanish friends, which will be absolutely incredible. But let's take a look back first. A throwback to some amazing events and lovely memories. 

Since my last blogpost in September I've said goodbye to my previous Spanish friends and welcomed a lot of new friends from various countries. I've been having a lot of fun with this new group and we've made some incredible memories already. To start with the chill evenings in the kitchen that are spend together. Then there was the night-drive through Pretoria our landlord hosted. We all went in the back of a pickup-truck and a lot of laughter, snacks and alcohol were involved. Driving through my current home city in such good company and in such a crazy atmosphere made me feel very blissful. A nice sense of peacefulness overcame me and I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Then there are the weekends or days away. Shopping, going out for ice-cream, visiting the food-market. Some more small but fun activities I've done during the weekends (with my housemates). But let's not forget the bigger activities like a weekend in Kruger with two nursing friends from Cape Town. The road-trip to Nelspruit was already crazy funny and the weekend continued on that note. The safari's we had were amazing, we saw basically all of the big five! Let me add that we did have to use some imagination to spot the leopard. The night-safari was quite a unique experience as it leaves a lot of animal spotting to the imagination.We ended that weekend with a day-trip to the Blyde Canyon, which happens to have some really interesting history. Sadly the weather blocked most of our views but it made it more of a unique experience. 
Let's end on last weekend. Hiking in Magaliesberg, swimming in natural pools, having a make shift Braai/ BBQ during a thunderstorm, and playing some awkward drinking games. 

 All of these weekends made a massive impression on me, they all gave me this silent moment during which I felt so thankful for having the opportunity to be here on a university and a medical note. I am so thankful for the people who helped me get here, helped me arrange all that was necessary, no matter how many tears were shed I would not ever take them back if it meant not having this experience now. The kids on my internship only adding to this experience through the endless amount of happiness and energy they share with me. 

Yes you could say I love it here, because I absolutely do and I cannot wait to see what more South-Africa has in store for me!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

Ps. If you would like some video material from my trips here in South-Africa here is the link to my latest vlog on the Kruger weekend: VLOG (beware it's in Dutch)

Life can be overwhelming.

Hey everyone,

Life has been absolutely crazy this last month. I've been in the application process for an internship abroad, heard I wasn't in, than was in again, and now am arranging a load of stuff for the internship. I've also been really busy reaching the deadlines on the assignment for my current placement for my nursing course, my diabetes has been a mess, and so on and so on.

Slowly I have been busy crossing things off my to do list and finally I'm at a point where I feel like I'm in control of my life again. The blurry mess has disappeared and made place for an organised mess instead. There are still a lot of things I need to be doing but hey, I will make it through as it's all for a great cause. 

First things first, the rollercoaster that has been the process for my internship abroad. I had applied for an internship abroad in South-Africa, due to the massive amount of applications we would be selected through a group assessment. A few days after the assessment, which went really well, I was told I was not selected. Since high school I had been working toward an internship abroad so as you can imagine my world collapsed. The days that followed nearly lead to dehydration as I couldn't stop crying. The worst thing was that my fellow nursing students, whom I helped with their entire application process, were all selected.. All three were selected and I was the only one who wasn't. So now way I was going to leave it there, nope I called, send a really emotional e-mail and for some miracle (and the fact South-Africa was considered the only diabetes safe country by that organisation) I got in after all. That was the end of crying and my world had turned back to this happy sunny place again. 

By now I'm very busy with arranging my accommodation and getting all the documents for my volunteer visa ready. South-African visa's are not fun to apply for, at all. They ask for at least 20 different documents signed by a lot of different people and wow it's crazy, but hey I'm half way already so I can already see some light at the end of the tunnel. One more pro is that I am going with my one of my best buddies from my nursing course and I've already met so many amazing students from uni that are also going to South-Africa. It's going to be an incredible semester, of that I am sure.  

Then there's my diabetes who decided to join my mood and get very, very low. The dextro energy tablets have taken over my body and I literally can't stop eating. You know as my body acquires sugar to get over those low blood sugars. The even better part (read this very sarcastically) is that most of the low sugars happen during the night, or early in the morning so goodbye sleep. But hey, a few e-mails to the hospital and my sugar levels have been fixed again. So that's all good, yay!

Also the deadlines of my current placement have been met, and they graded me a 9 which is like really really good. I absolutely loved this placement and it was such an amazing ward to work on. Loved the patients, the colleagues, and the work there. So different from the other wards I have been on placement on so far. Might even go back there after graduation. 

So yeah, slowly but surely life is getting back on track which also means more blogposts!! Expect blogposts on all of the above, together with some nice days out I have planned and a few new survival guide and Renée reviews blogposts. There is a lot on it's way!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

My dearest crush.

Dear crush,

You've been stuck in my mind for two months now. Occasionally we catch each others eye, maintain the eye contact just long enough for it to become awkward, before saying 'Hi' to each other. And now, two months later, saying 'Hi' is still as far as our communication goes.

It all started early September, when all interns came together for a couple of instructional meetings. This internship was the one I had been looking forward to ever since I started my course, so I was already buzzing with excitement. The buzzing with excitement however, never went away. Because everyday I know I might run into you. Back to the first meeting now. It all started with everyone introducing themselves within one minute. Everything you shared that day has stuck with me. It's basically all I know about you. At the end it was my turn and within thirty seconds I was finished so if you even cared you know even less about me. Then there were the parts where the group had to be divided in smaller groups. Lucky as I was, we never were in the same group. On one hand I was relieved as this meant there was no way I could embarrass myself in front of you, on the other hand, how were I going to catch your attention when I wasn't around. Thankfully there were times that we had to do stuff together. You helped me print my documents, told me the wrong answers to one of the tests we had to do (thanks for that) before helping me pass it. Not to forget how you laughed at me when we had to try out the electronic files for the first time because my ways of explaining were a bit extravagant. 

Now here we are, two months later, no further than the occasional 'Hi' and the eye contact. Every time before my shift, when I'm heading to my locker, I check yours. Just to see if you're there, to check if there's a change of running into each other before heading upstairs of after my shift. A storm of butterflies in my stomach every time I see you actually standing by your locker, or even when I see you walking in the hallway. Knowing we're on the same shift, cheers me up enough to get through the day. Knowing that there's only eight weeks left of my internship makes me less cheerful. The fact that after that I might never see you again makes me sadder than it should. My friends actually shipping us as I got a bit overexcited over this (stupid) crush of mine makes t even worse.

However it also gives me some hope. I know myself and that also makes me aware of the fact that I happen to preform better there's some pressure on me. Then again, my vocabulary seems to involve only the word 'Hi' when you're around, so I'm not too sure about the preforming under pressure. But where ever we end up after my internship ends, I'm glad I got to, sort of, know you. You made my internship a lot better and on days where I felt like giving up on it, the thought of you made me get up and work that shift because I might run into you and that day might have been the day for things to happen. They never were, but hey it was a way of coping for me and I'm thankful for that. 

This leaves me apologising to you for writing this extremely embarrassing and kind of sad blogpost about my pathetic crush. So if you ever happen to read this, I'm sorry for writing about you in this way. Just know that I wish you all the best with the rest of your course and career! And who knows, maybe we'll say 'Hi' to each other again tomorrow!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96 

Internship #3.

Hey Guys!

For two weeks now I've started my third internship, and it's in the place I've been waiting to have an internship in for two years now! My current internship is, you might have guessed it already, in the HOSPITAL! Yes, I am enthusiastic about hospitals, well at least about having my internship there. Ever since I was a little girl the hospital has been one of the most intriguing and fascinating places I've ever been to. Yes, this does sound a bit weird, I know. Anyway, I won't bore you with the story why I'm so fascinated by the hospital, if you want to know more about that click here for a jump back in time to the blogpost I explain it all.

Let's get this party started. In my opinion internships are a fantastic way to learn more about your profession and learn new skills, especially in a practical profession like nursing. However, there are some cons as well, like not giving yourself any time to get used to your internship, or being tired all the time, and of course the crazy (amount of) assignments school thinks you can manage beside your 32 hour internship. But besides the con I think there are a lot more pros to having an internship so, go internships! 

As I mentioned before my internship is in a hospital, an internship I've been waiting for ever since I started my nursing course. Now I secretly wished for an internship on the child-department, however the lung-department, the department I'm on now, is pretty interesting as well. And who knows, maybe in the future I will end up on the child-department after all. But back to the lung-department. It's a rather interesting department to work on with a dismissal / death rate of about 70 / 30% which I personally think is pretty high.  This also kind of crushes my original idea of the hospital and what I liked about it so much, the idea of people entering being ill and leaving when they're better. The death part, is something I never really gave much thought to, especially as a child. But that so many people would die, I never would have thought. 

Now it's kind of logical once you start looking into it. A lot of people that are in the hospital are very,  very ill and most of them are pretty old as well. On the lung-department, I see a lot of cases of pneumonia, which some call: "the stairway to heaven for old people", and I guess this is kind of true. But on the lung-department I work on we also have our own cancer centre, so a lot of the patients we have on our ward are cancer patients as well. But still, the pretty high death rate hit me pretty hard, and I'm going to work very hard on my skills to deal with deaths as well this internship.

However, we also have a lot of patients that do meet my original hospital standard of coming in ill and leaving when they're better. And this makes me really happy and proud of my job. When people leave and are ready to go back home again, then I know why I wanted to become a nurse in the first place. Healing people, making people better and maybe even leave a lasting impression on the people with your positive spirit and good nursing skills. Yes the profession of a nurse is very diverse but it's, in my opinion, one of the most interesting, honourable and appreciated jobs in the world. From both a nurse and a patients perspective.

So yeah, this internship will give me a lot of opportunities to develop a lot of new skills in different areas of the nursing profession. Tomorrow is another day of my internship and even though I don't really like the waking up early (like 5.45 am) I do really like my internship, the department I'm on and the people I get to work with. The lung-department has a great team and I have a great deal of respect for my fellow nurses. So to every nurse in the world: Keep up the good work, you are doing great!

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

(source: pinterest) 

My first internship pt. 2.

Hey there!

As I am about to reach my halfway point of my internship in the upcoming week I thought why not give you guys an update. It have been four moving weeks already with a lot of challenges, stories and showering people. Not to forget the mount Everest of essays and assignments I try to get done however the persons that are have been chosen as my mentors for this internship aren't around when I need them. Right now I am about one week behind on my assignments... yay me. 

I am trying though, it's just that my internship mentors need to check, approve and sign every bit of my essays and assignments before I can turn them in at school. This really slows things down. 

So far I have discovered a lot already. First of all, my former judgement about elders seems to be mostly untrue. Yes there are also elders that are all grumpy and down but on my ward live the sweetest, loveliest, alive and mostly happy elders I have ever met. My grandparents aside of course. My ward counts 19 rooms of which 18 are currently inhabited. Luckily all residents get along really well and most participate in the activities that are held in the afternoon. I have come across a lot of different medical conditions and a lot of different personalities. Most elders on my ward have physical diseases only but a few suffer from mental illnesses like borderland or schizophrenia mixed with paranoia. The diversity in personalities and diseases make my internship very interesting and diverse.

Second of all, as a new, first year intern the elders love to ask me about me. Luckily we have a lot of time for the clients during the day and we don't have to rush from one to another. This enables us to sit down and have a nice chat with them. The elders love to learn a lot about me (and forget it again five minutes later) but they also love for me to learn a lot about them. You should try once to go in and out a room within five minutes. Believe me it's not possible when the person's awake. As most elders are from around the 1920's they have lived through a lot. Knowing their age makes me aware of the amount of stories they have to tell and I am a sucker for stories. All the things I've heard so far and all the stories they have yet to tell me. My mind is filled with knowledge, personal stories, the stories of their lives. I could write multiple books about what I've heard there in the mere four weeks I've been around. It's absolutely amazing what some of the residents have endured, what they've lived through and how life has made them experience joy but also great suffering. 

Elders really are under appreciated and nowadays youth should visit homes for the elderly more often, if only to listen to their stories. We would all become much more educated and learn about the worlds history through a much more personal and interesting way than a stupid history book. Elders carry along so much knowledge and so many interesting stories about life in the old days. When you think about it it's a miracle that some of them are still keeping up with all the changes that have been thrown at their heads the past decades. The uprising technology, from simple black and white TV to touch-screen TV. 

I could talk about my internship for days. It's such an interesting place and so different from what I've learnt in school so far. Despite the severe lack of sleep I get from my internship, the fact that I'm only allowed to practise the basic aspects of nursing, the lack of communication between my two internship mentors and I and the essays and assignments I just don't seem to get finished I am really enjoying my internship and can't wait what the next six weeks will bring.

All I know now is that becoming a nurse has always been a dream of mine and that dream is now coming true. The dream hasn't changed into a nightmare and I don't think it ever will. A nurse is the perfect job for me, it brings along a lot of challenges but it also combines the things I find most important in life. Helping people and bringing happiness. To nurses all over the world, all 5 million of you, you are incredible, the work you do is amazing and appreciated by so many! Never give up the good work and don't let anyone bring you down! Also, I hope you had an amazing day on May 12th, the official international nurses day!! A little belated congratulations!!!

And as an anonymous person once said: "Save one life you're a hero, save 100 lives you're a nurse."

Lots of love,
ThatDutchGirl96

source:dekhnews.com

My first internship.

Hello! (Still working on the intro)

The first year of my nursing course is coming to an end. I have passed almost all of my tests and I'm quite confident about the resits I have to take. This year has just flown by and I can't believe that all there is left for this year is a 10 week internship. Leaving aside the 7 big assignments we have to complete mostly within the first five weeks of the internship. *sarcastic yay* 

Last year I had to drop out of uni for personal reasons (will be explained in next weeks blog) and I would have called you mad if you told me I would actually finish and most likely even pass my first year of university. A little while ago I was travelling back home from a long day of school and I felt so genuinely proud of myself for getting where I am now. And maybe this doesn't sound like that big a deal for most of you but for some people, including me, it is. One of my other goals for this year is about to get crossed off and all there is left before I can cross it off my list is the internship.

The internship starts next week and will last 10 weeks. My internship is in a home for the elderly of whom I will be taking care of. It's for three days a week and the other two are assigned for the assignments and other school stuff. On the one hand I am really excited for what's awaiting me but on the other hand I am absolutely terrified. I don't want to be terrified because I'm certain everything will be okay and I'll have a great time there but I can't shake it off. 

I've always wanted to become a nurse ever since I was little and now it's actually happening I am terrified. Along with the taking care of people and helping them get better or deal with changing circumstances regarding their health care as a nurse you have a great deal of responsibility. Peoples lives are in your hands, almost literally. One mistake and it could be over and that is what scares me the most. You are given such a great deal of responsibility. What are they thinking?! I'm only 18, maturity is still laughing at me and running away from my responsibilities has become a big hobby of mine. How are they expecting me to take responsibility for the lives of about 20 elders that are really fragile and have a lot of health care issues. 

Now I know that the majority of the elderly are really nice and sweet so they won't be too hard on me, I hope. I also know I passed all the practical tests so far and I know most of the medical procedures. What could go wrong right?! Yeah, that's what I keep telling myself. Everything will be fine but still I feel terrified for what might go wrong. 

This internship is my first step to becoming a real actual nurse and it will be my first experience in the real world of health care and nursing. I am both excited and scared for what the next 10 weeks might bring. In those 10 weeks I will learn a lot and get a lot of advice on how to improve my nursing skills with both the practical but also the emotional part of the job. Maybe I come out of my internship as a new person, a better nurse probably and someone that is more confident and sure of her decisions. 

For now I'll go and mentally prepare myself for the upcoming 10 weeks. I don't know if you would care or like it if I post some updates during my internship so please let me know!

Lot's of love,
ThatDutchGirl96 or should I change it to ThatDutchNurse96 ;)