Orientation Re-cap

I realize this is a pretty late post, but I've been busy! It was orientation day today.

I won't go into too much detail as to the specifics of who was there and where people were from. This blog won't be doing that. I want to keep my identity (as well as that of my classmates') as incognito as the Internet will allow.

Essentially what happened today was similar to the first day you start a new job: you meet new people, you shake hands and introduce yourself, you make small talk about where you're from and/or why you're there. Eventually you meet the boss(es) who tell you they're excited to work with you and that you'll fit right in (maybe not exactly, but I'll get to that). Then you fill out all the proper paperwork that tells everyone you're you and you're here to fulfill your duties, and you go home. Seven and a half hours after it started.

Today was basically that. I met my new classmates -- who were roughly all around my age, mid/late 20s, mostly from my area; though some were from farther away. We had a little ice breaker activity where we had to learn about the person sitting next to us and present our deskmate to the class. Then the teachers who run the program followed suit, and we started filling out first-day paperwork (health assessment forms, immunizations we had to get, emergency contact info, etc).

A teacher from another department gave us a lecture (with PowerPoint slides) on proper study habits and how to look and act professionally. He was from a research background so the information was presented in a very straightforward albeit lackluster way: and it was only 11am by this point.

Luckily we had a lunch break where we, as a class, got to talk to some students who were in the throes of their final semester of the program. Basically they spent an hour telling us we need to study hard and keep on top of things, because when you slack off in this program, the consequences can be dire (though, to be honest, when is slacking off ever a positive thing?). It was a nice warning, and it felt much more heartfelt coming from another group of young people who have been through it all than it would have if our teachers had kept telling us (like they had been telling us, for weeks now). Very big help, too, was the emphasis on studying muscle diagrams and origins/insertions/actions/innervations. I need to get back on that before next week!

We took a tour of the facilities after lunch, and we got to see where we'd be having labs and lectures. This was less interesting for me because I'd been taking pre-requisite classes on our campus for roughly a year. The building we were in was part of a central campus that houses classrooms for different programs, including the anatomy & physiology classes; I was no stranger to the building layout. It still seemed strange to me that there were people now going to school with me who had never even stepped foot inside my campus before.

After that we returned to our lecture classroom and talked about the PTA student manual for the rest of the time there (a monotonous three and a half hours that was). We got our schedules (which were basically made for us by our teachers; we had no real choice in what to take or when) and after a short Q&A with the director about how to read our schedules (since they were incomprehensible to most) we were dismissed. A lot of students still had to pay for their classes and get equipment and books from the bookstore; I paid for my classes online so I simply left.

So that was orientation. I'd say it was exactly what you'd expect: lot of ice-breaking and paperwork, and then your superiors spend several hours telling you to act and dress appropriately.

Tomorrow I have to get my student ID and parking tag made so security won't think I'm some weirdo hanging out with PTA students. Then I need to work on getting updated textbooks. I'm already a member of my chapter of APTA, who I believe follows this blog (how cool would it be if they read it?).

Just a few more days! Gotta keep it up!