Even better, its free!

Today was a long day, but offered many things to blog about. Yay!

I was trained and "worked" my first shift as a Volunteer in the Cancer Care Center at Regions. It was pretty interesting. I learned a bit about medicine and patient care. I also got to talk to some great people. Some of the benefits of being a volunteer is they comp the parking. Yay! I don't have to spend money to volunteer. The other is they give everyone a $4.50 voucher to use in the cafeteria. Today was a little odd because I started at 11 and was "scheduled" to stay until 4. I ate brunch before I left home. It was a filling pasta dish. I didn't actually get hungry until about 3:15. I decided at 3:30 it would be appropriate to leave. There were only 2 patients left in the "infusion area" and they were both well cared for and given drinks and snacks and blankets and pillows, there was no more for me to do. So I headed out. I went back to the volunteer office and collected my belongings and then headed, voucher in hand, to the cafeteria. Of course, they stop serving lunch at 2pm and don't start serving supper until 4:30. I decided the salad bar would be fine (it stays open). I got a decent salad and it rang up as $4.48... yes, I don't have to pay, and then headed to school.

I got to school and ate my salad. I saw a friend and chatted for a bit, then did some review for a test revision that we had today. This week is mid-term for Globe University/MSB. This being the case, they had "special stuff" happening a few days. Today was Baked Potato day. They provided (for free) a baked potato with many options for fixin's including chili and broccoli & cheese. I chose the broccoli and cheese because I realized recently I am pretty picky about my chili. Anyway, I had more of a meal for free, including the drink and cookie. We also got our registration packets for next quarter. Registration starts next week. Wow, that is quick. 6 weeks of school down already! This also means we got mid-quarter grades in. I have and A in composition and an A in Patient Care. Yay me! I am pretty proud of myself for doing as well as I am in both classes.

Once in class we had the chance to revise a test from a couple weeks ago before correcting it. I knew I missed several things so I had been studying them for the past few weeks. The test was 158 points. I got 150. Overall the class did not do so well, so I am very proud of how I did. With out the opportunity to revise, I would have missed 5-10 additional points. My instructor is pretty cool.

Speaking of my pretty cool instructor, when the instructor from the massage therapy class asked if the 5 of us could be used for practice for a massage tonight, she said "yes, we will end class early so they can be practiced on." Yes, I got out of class early and took advantage of the free massage. The fact that they were students wasn't a big deal to me. They were far enough along that it wasn't just the basic how to class. They were in a sports massage class. This meant the massage incorporated stretching too. It was really nice. It was free. What a great perk for being a student at a Globe campus that offers Massage Therapy. :)