Hiking

I was so excited Sunday to finally get out in the woods and hike!! I went with one of my roommates and we chose some trails nearby that had 3 different waterfalls :-)

The air was warm and the sky bright as we started on the trail. After a fairly steep hike we came to the first Juney Wank Falls which was absolutely amazing. There was a bridge built to go across the river at the base of the waterfall, which added to the greatness! :-)
Then we continued on the trail, semi lost, ending up on the Deep Creek Horse Trail. As we hiked we met up with a couple from Charlotte, NC vacationing at the campground for Memorial Day. It was great to chat with them as we walked and they had great suggestions for future adventures! As we came to the end of the hike we found the next waterfall called Indian Creek Falls.

Next we got to watch people get into the river to go tubing...lets just say it looks a little more crazy than the river tubing I have done before with a lot of rocks and quite fast. However, it does look A LOT of fun!! I hope we get a chance to do it soon! The final falls was the Tom Branch Falls, which started really high up and was fascinating to watch!This area is so lovely!! I hope we get more hiking in this weekend, pray for more sun and less rain!! Oh and just as we were finishing this hike it started to rain, it was the perfect cool down! :-)

One week down...

And 5 more to go here in Cherokee!! The first week went well, a lot of learning, and a little adventure. Its taking us a while to figure out where the local trails are...things are not well marked here!

It has been great getting more experience counseling and learning through the anti coagulation clinic! The staff at Cherokee Indian Hospital is great and many of the pharmacist are very helpful!

For our mid week adventure we happened upon the Blue Ridge Parkway (a must experience if coming to Western NC), and drove through parts of it.



For our weekend trip we went to Atlanta...a sweet 2.5hrs away! We drove down Saturday and went to the Georgia Aquarium, apparently the largest in the world. My favorite part was by far walking through the walkway that was surrounded by glass, so you could watch all the creatures swimming around you!!I can't wait for more adventures!! I am so thankful that I am here during this time of year, there is a lot to do and the weather is absolutely lovely! I am excited to learn more about the culture and the area as well! :-) Missing home and everyone!! :-)

First Day of Rotations!!

Well the day has come and gone, my first day as a P4, and the first day of rotations! Crazyyyy!! :-) Today was probably very unconventional compared to other students first day.

We started out with orientation to the hospital, and the pharmacy but then we got to take a tour of Cherokee! A woman from Infection Control has lived in the area for over 10 years and drove us around explaining the tribe and the area to us.

I learned that the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians actually never lived in Tepees, but instead had farms. Also, they are broken up into 7 clans and each clan has their own community center on the land. At the community center they have tribal meetings and other political and communal events. Apparently, only a few full blooded Cherokees still remain.

There have been 2 cases of TB in the last 10-15years and since the community does not understand how infections spread the people with the infection were ostracized by the community.

The Cherokee's are also great entrepreneurs and can find any way possible to make money. Finally, they differ from other tribes in that they are pretty much middle class America. The woman giving the tour has worked on other reservations where this is not true and it is harder to get them access to the health care they need.

Well, tomorrow is the first day we will get an opportunity to work with patient's time to rest up!

**Excuse the randomness, I was just spouting off information I remember from today!**

Here are some additional pictures of the adventures today!! We went to the Farmstand and a Fish Hatchery

Me attempting to sit on the front porch without breaking it haha, its kind of an old building!Look at this amazing view!! I still can't believe I am in the mountains!! :-)

Final Destination

Well after 3 days of travel and over 1,000miles later I am finally here!! :-) This last leg from VA Beach to Cherokee was an easy drive with some rain but mostly sun!! YIPEEE!! :-) The countryside was absolutely amazing!!!

I tried to limit my stopping, but I really had to pee just east of Hickory, NC so I stopped at a Walmart. Now in one of the most unlikey of places was this ginormous Walmart, larger than ANY I had ever seen before! Now after using the restroom facilities I decided I deserved a McFlurry...whats a Walmart without some kind of place to eat inside. I walk over to the McDonalds and find this express lane where you can request your order....it was a cart drive-thru of some sort. I didn't fully understand this odd thing, and was too discombobulated from driving to really care, but seriously people is McDonald's now too slow that you need a cart drive-thru!! wow!! I want one of these back home!! :-)

As I got close to my new home for the next 6 weeks I was in absolute awe of God's creation all around me! A different kind of awe than when I am gazing out upon the ocean, but still an awe of wonder! I was almost too distracted to drive and I can't wait to drive out that way again to stop and take pictures!! I was too exhausted and determined to just reach my final destination that I sadly did not stop to take pictures, but trust me absolutely breath taking!

When I got to the house I was very please to find another girl already here from FL, and she has been here 2 weeks already!! Her name is Shihein and she is absolutely amazing, such a sweetheart and excited to adventure out just like I am. We are getting along very well, and I praise God for that!! :-) Tomorrow we are going to Asheville, first to church and then to do some shopping!! It will be exciting...well back to unpacking! :-)

Traveling South Day 2

Almost There!! We got up after a very restful night of sleep and continued south to VA Beach!! The drive was wonderfully uneventful and I was very thankful for that.

When we arrived the sun was creeping through the clouds and it was in the high 80s. We were greated by Maura, who drove with her mom through the night to get here, they were so exhausted! Sarah and I decided to adventure off to find the beach and some food. We basically wandered around until we found an access to the beach, it wasn't a public one, but who was really watching...haha.

The beach is on the Chesapeake Bay and it was sooo beautiful!! I always love the feel of sand between my toes and the water was way more warm than it ever gets in Maine, haha! Then the sky opened up and rain poured down :-) It had been a while since I had twirled around with rain falling on my face, and ran around on the beach, it was so carefree and such a blast!! We follow some people getting off the beach but ended up at a hotel, whooooops, haha, looks like back tracking will be our best option!
After this adventure, well much later, after we moved Sarah in and relaxed for a bit her, other roommates got back from work. The other students in this house (Christa and Corey) are from NC and go to Wingate University, they have already been here for 2 weeks!! I feel like they are veterans here, haha!! They are both so sweet and Sarah and I joined them for Wings and Beer at Surf Club (Maura and her mom had some shopping to do and after they ate I think they went right back to sleep!). Then we adventured to the actual VA Beach where all the tourists go, I requested to go here since I am only in VA Beach for less than 24 hours!

WOW, upon gazing out at the beach I wondered if I could ever live too far from the ocean. I often question this; I love the beauty, power and majesty that the ocean represents. I feel as though God gave us the ocean to help understand him more, it illustrates Him in so many ways, I could write a separate blog for that! I enjoyed my last few moments gazing upon the ocean as we walked the boardwalk and went down onto the beach! Below are some pictures of the beach and Neptune Park, which is the area near the shops and such. Tomorrow is a big day, 8 more hours and I will be at my final destination!
"Not all those who wander are lost" ~J.R.R. Tolkien~

Traveling South Day 1

Its around noon, and time to depart on our adventure. It seems odd to be leaving RI, after 5 years of developing a life there its hard to leave. I am excited for what lies ahead with rotations, but sad to be saying goodbye to college life.

On the open road, well semi open haha. Sarah and I have many adventures getting to our first destination point of Fredicksburg, VA where my cousin Aaron lives. First we had to conquer getting Garmin to agree to go the Tappan Zee instead of the Washington Bridge, then it was avoiding the crazy NJ Turnpike tolls with the help of Chris Bryan. We learned that there is a chain of stores called Wa Wa, that is apparently all the rave down in these parts, they are a combination of a convenience store and a deli so we grabbed dinner there! The best part of dinner was eating it in the parking lot of a dinner which was the only place we could find to use the bathroom.





Then we get back on the highway and unfortunately the 2.5-3hr drive was drawn out to almost 4 hours due to a horrible thunderstorm that came through the area and resulted in us driving extremely slow...ick, we just wanted to get to VA!!

Finally we arrived in the cute little suburb my cousin lives in an hour south of DC, it was so great to relax after our long and semi-intense drive. It was also great to see my cousin Aaron, with him living so far south we don't get to see each other a lot. Sarah and I both thought he was a wonderful host and were very greatful for all that he did!

P.S. here is a pic of me posing with the walky talkies that we used to communicate with!