On the road to becoming an RD

I am very happy to say that the internship is officially under way! We started about a week and a half ago and it has been very chaotic ever since so I haven't had a chance to update my blog lately.

My roommates and I spent the last week before our internship exploring Little Rock and seeing everything that it has to offer. We have found a few cute little restaurants and wine bars that are pretty good, and we have heard of many others that we are still dying to try. It was so hot that week so we weren't able to do much outside stuff unfortunately. We do have a pretty awesome landlord though so him and his wife brought my two roommates and I out on the lake to their houseboat for the weekend. We had so much fun! The lake is called Lake Ouchita and its about an hour and half away from our house. We spent the night out there on the house boat and enjoyed some nice, peaceful time catching some rays before we jumped right into the internship that following Monday. The lake is beautiful and we were shocked to find out that is actually a man made lake! There was a meteor shower the night that we were out there so as soon as it got dark enough, we headed to the top deck and laid out and counted shooting stars. I think by the end of the night we had seen around 15! Coming from a big city and never really being able to see stars, it was so nice to be out in the middle of nowhere and see them light up the sky. 

Meg, Leigh and I on one of the boats

Learning how to use the jet ski

Before we knew it the weekend was over and the internship was starting. The first week was a whirlwind of a week spent signing last minute paper work, learning policies and becoming totally overwhelmed with what the next 39 weeks would be like. But after making it half way through my second week of orientation (and already have completed 3 quizzes, 2 pre-tests, and a presentation- hence why I haven't had a free second to update my blog), I'm realizing that although it is going to be overwhelming and very chaotic at times, that's how real life really is. There is always going to be so much that we need to do. There are always going to be nights spent staying up late in order to get stuff done. There are always going to be unexpected obstacles that ruined your initial plans for the day. I am beginning to learn the importance of flexibility and it has only been 9 days. I begin my Administrative rotations on Monday and will be doing rotations dealing with food service and management. I will be busy with the loads of homework assignments and study questions, but I will be finding out about the basics of how hospitals are managed and all of the work that goes into making sure that things run smoothly on a day to day basis, and of course, the role of the dietitian in this setting. Due to confidentiality reasons, I won't be sharing any details of that kind of stuff, but I will be updating about my personal experiences while on the road to becoming a Registered Dietitian and if i get any spare time, continuing my explorations around this new land I am currently calling home :)

My roommates and I on the first morning of the internship

Only 38 weeks left! :)

All Settled In

I'm officially in Little Rock! Seems like this past month has absolutely flown by! After spending my last few weeks trying to spend as much time with my friends as I possibly could, it was time to pack up everything I owned, say my good-byes, and begin my journey half way across the country.

It took us 20 hours to get here but we split up the drive into a couple of days and made a few fun stops along the way. The first day we drove about 9 hours, stopping just outside of Atlanta. We decided to wake up early the next morning and go explore Callaway Gardens. We were not disappointed, that place is absolutely gorgeous! We wished we had more than just a few hours there with everything there was to do. It was hard to get back into the car when there was a beautiful lake calling our names. After spending the morning and early afternoon there, we hopped in the car and drove about 5 hours to Memphis. We stayed outside of the city since we weren't going to have enough time to really explore, but we did manage to find a good BBQ place right next to our hotel. We woke up early the next morning and drove only a few more hours to reach our final destination!

After spending a couple of days unpacking the cars, building furniture, and finding the perfect place to put everything, we were pretty much settled in. I'm living in a house with two other girls in my program, one of them moved in the day after I did and our other roommate will be here tomorrow. We're very happy that we found this house. It's very home-y and after a long day at the hospital, it will be nice to have a place like this to come home to. We seem to be in a great location; we're somewhat on a main road, but everything is just down the road from us. The farthest we've had to drive is probably only about 5 miles, and that's to get to downtown, so coming from Miami that is definitely something I could get used to. Gabe was here with me for about a week and a half to help me get settled in. It was nice to have his strong muscles around when it came time to build and move furniture, but it was really nice having him here with me while I was adjusting. He will definitely be missed that's for sure.

We've been exploring the city as much as we can in the past week. It is unbearably hot out with the huge heat wave that has been stuck frying the middle of the country. The other day it was about 110 degrees, so we can't really be doing that much stuff outside in that kind of heat. Last Sunday we went out the Lake Ouachita for the day. It's a HUGE lake about an hour and a half away from our house. It was absolutely gorgeous, but its going to take some getting used to to be able to transition from the sandy beaches in Miami to the rocky lakes here. Gabe and I rented bikes one afternoon and ended up doing the 17 mile river trail that goes around Downtown and then over the Big Dam Bridge and into North Little Rock. It was a nice ride, but going into it we thought it was only going to be able a 4 mile ride, but boy were we wrong. We were very happy to have packed 3 bottles of water, and lucky for us it was a little overcast that day so it was only in the 90's. We also went to three different farmer's markets around the city last Saturday morning. I've always wanted to be able to have farmers markets to be able to buy fresh, local produce at but have never been able to so I was excited for this! We bought a ton of fruits and vegetables and a couple sunflowers all for under $25! I tried figs for the first time, and we bought a yellow watermelon! I didn't even know those existed, and for those of you that have never had one, its about the same as the pink ones, just not as sweet. I think i'll go back to buying the normal ones I'm used to, but it was nice to try something new.

Everyone is so friendly here. Last week my roommate and I had to go to the VA hospital campus in North Little Rock to have our fingerprinting done for our program. When we arrived we realized that there was no order to the way the buildings were numbered and no maps. We decided to park the car and go in and ask someone at the front desk of a main building we found if they could guide us in the right direction to finding the building we were looking for. Well, there was no one at the front desk so as we were walking back to the car, we found a guy driving around on one of those golf-cart style things and asked if he possibly knew where this building was. He had no idea, so we continued on our way. We drove to another part of the campus hoping that we were going in the right direction, parked the car, and began wandering around once again. The same guy actually came around looking for us, told us to hop on the golf cart, and proceeded to basically take us off-roading around the campus until we found the right building. We were very grateful for the ride since it was about 105 degrees that day, but we were holding on for dear life.

Only 10 days until we start our program!

Gabe and I at Callaway Gardens

Another photo from Callaway Gardens

This is part of the 17 mile River Trail that Gabe and I biked

Gabe and I went to an outdoor movie at the Downtown
Amphitheater along the river and saw Caddy Shack 

How I Got Here..

After graduating in December with my degree in Dietetics, the next step was an internship. This application process is a brutal process, filling out one major application for all of the programs, as well as then tweaking them individually and selling yourself to the programs as best as possible. The "matching process" as it is called, is a very selective process; the programs pick only the best candidates to fill their few positions. I selected a few throughout the country, completed the separate application  for each program, and pressed submit in mid-february. I now had to wait to be contacted for an interview, and ultimately wait until decision day which was April 1.

After convincing myself that I was no longer in the running for any of the programs that I had applied for, I began applying to Graduate schools to be able to complete my Master's, and therefore improving my chances of getting an internship the next time around. After what felt like forever, the day was finally here. Decision Day. I went on to the website expecting there to be a little bar saying, "We're sorry but you were not matched." At this point I had convinced myself that this was the only option, and had already began planning what my next moves would be. But when I finally got into the system, I found something completely different.

"I am pleased to inform you that you have been matched to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences"

I kinda laughed to myself for a little while, after a few minutes it finally sunk in. Arkansas? I've never even been there. It must be a good program. It has to be a good program.

After a few days of letting the initial shock sink in, I begin to become optimistic about this experience. My mom and I decided to plan a trip to go and visit Little Rock to see what it was all about since I had never even visited my soon-to-be home. I had spoken to a few people in my program by this time, even found two roommates, which made the thought of leaving a little easier knowing I wouldn't have to live on my own.

I coordinated with one of my future roommates and planned our trips out there for the same weekend so we could both see Little Rock, as well as find a place to live.

The weekend finally came for our trip and I was actually nervous, praying that I wouldn't hate this place that I would have to call home for 10 months. The flight landed and we exited our terminal to what seemed like the smallest airport I had ever been in. My only thought was that this couldn't be good. Luckily it was bigger than I expected, bigger than the Tallahassee airport that's for sure. The weekend was spent exploring and learning about the program I would soon be attending, and I began to like it. I had such low hopes going into it, and I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised with everything that I saw and heard.

Without a doubt this is going to be a huge change for me. Yes, I went away from home for Undergrad but I went to a school that so many of my close friends were attending as well. This time around i'll be moving to a state where i'll have no previous foundation, and will have to face the world on my own. Although i'm scared, and that's an understatement, I am also excited. I'm excited to have finally accomplished my the first step of my dreams by attaining an internship, and soon will be on the road to becoming an RD. I'm appreciating the fact that I am moving to a place unknown to me, a place that I can explore new surroundings and discover new interests. And i'm extremely happy that my two roommates are also new to Little Rock so we'll all be in this together.


Time is flying by quicker than I could have imagined. In just 27 days i'll be on the road to Little Rock, and i'm crossing my fingers that time slows down just a little for my days left in Miami.

Me on the walking bridge in downtown Little Rock

This is another photo from a different angle of the bridge