One week of work down...

So...I worked my first week on the IMC unit at Inova Mt. Vernon Hospital. Unfortunately, I don't like it very much. It isn't terrible, and some of the people are nicer than others, but I miss the babies :( The other travelers are really great though and there are quite a few of us on this unit right now. Another thing that kinda sucks right now is that I'm stuck working day shift. Anyone who knows me at all knows how much I hate that!!! Plus with the traffic around here and all the stop lights I have to leave my apartment by 630am to get to work on time which I HATE! That is too too early for me! Anyway, I work 3 days in a row this past week and I survived. I will hopefully be moving back to night shift at the end of February, so I'm looking forward to that!

Only 11 more weeks to go for this assignment!

I had this weekend off of work, so Shawn and I did a little sightseeing again. We visited a few more of the memorials in Washington D.C. on Saturday. We walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, walked by the White House then checked out the Jefferson Memorial and the FDR Memorial. Those two memorials were really neat. I really enjoyed the FDR Memorial. The weather isn't nice enough yet for the memorials to have the water or fountains running yet, but I'm hoping to check out all the memorials again before I leave at night and when the weather gets nicer. Shawn and I made a list of the all the stuff we want to do while we're here. We posted it up on the fridge and are crossing things off as we do it! Still plenty of stuff to do, that's for sure! 

 Today we went into D.C. again to meet a friend of mine from high school that I've not seen for a very long time! Sara has lived in D.C. for several years now and suggested we meet up at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden to go ice skating. I guess it is a large fountain that is converted into an ice skating rink in the winter. It was really fun! Not only was it great to catch up with her but ice skating is always fun! I still haven't seen my friend Mike yet, he goes to Law School out here at GWU, but seeing as he's in Law School he's pretty busy! We are watching the Superbowl now, but I'm not really all that into it this year and the commercials have been pretty lame, so I decided to update this blog and post some more pictures for all of you instead!

Hopefully this week at work will be better! I miss you all!!!

All Moved In!

I left home about 6am Friday morning and arrived in Alexandria around 4pm. Not too bad...especially considering we stopped for breakfast and lunch and we got lost trying to get into Alexandria! We weren't lost very long though...but I did have to stop and ask directions and buy a local map (and anyone who knows me at all knows how frustrating it is for me to be lost and have to ask for directions!)

My apartment is really nice. It's not huge, about the size of my last apartment in Bloomington, but plenty big for me. There is a nice sized bathroom and a walk in closet. The furniture they provided is pretty nice too. It is also a gated community, which is really nice. You have to have a key to open the gate to get onto the property even if you're walking. That is a nice perk. I think it'll do :) Alexandria is really nice too. The apartment complex is right across the street from a shopping center that has a Barnes and Noble, a Target, a BestBuy, a Starbucks, a Dunkin Donuts, an Old Navy, a grocery store, etc. I'm all set! We went yesterday for a few hours down to Old Town Alexandria. It is a really nice area in the center of town where most of the buildings from the original settlement are located. I forgot to take my camera though, so I'll be heading back to take some pictures. There was a really nice guy working at the visitors center who gave me a lot of good information. I have several area maps now and a long list of stuff to do in Alexandria and D.C.! I'm ready to get started! The Old Town area has a lot of cute shops and restaurants. There is a lot of different ethnic food restaurants too. I'll be able to try several kinds of foods I've never tried before. The end of the main strip of Old Town is a pier/dock on the Potomac. There is an old Torpedo factory there was that was converted into an Art Center and there is an Archeology museum there as well. There are boat rides along the Potomac offered there too, and several parks and walkways are right along the river. I think there is gonna be a lot to do here. I promise I will take some pictures soon...I think we're gonna go back tomorrow and take some pictures, so keep watching for those!

I start my job Tuesday, but the first week in just orientation stuff so I won't be actually working with any patients yet nor will I meet any of my coworkers. I have to learn to use the computer system and other stuff like that. Plus all hospitals have there own policies and procedures that are pretty important, so they'll need to go over all that kind of stuff. I did drive out to the hospital today so I could make sure how to get there and take a look at it. It doesn't look very big, but that is fine with me! I'll have more to update about work next week. Anyway, I made it out here safely and I'm all settled! My adventure has begun!