Bryanna Berish

Dress up night!

2009-05-14T12:32:00.006-04:00

Saturday was what is know as "Spring Formal." I was not going to be in town this weekend, but I had a big nursing test Monday so I decided to stay here and study. My two friends Ginny and Sarah convinced me to have a date night with them on Saturday!

We went to the Caf for dinner on Saturday night.. It was pretty empty! Almost everyone was out to dinner before Formal. I went back to my apartment to get ready. I ended up wearing a semi-dressy dress I had from last summer! Around 9 I went to Sarah's dorm to help her with her hair and makeup.

The three of us went to formal and it was pretty fun! Sarah and I found some people we went to India with and danced with them most of the night!.. All in all, a good night!

I also got a lot of studying done this past weekend. The test on Monday was super hard but I think my class did pretty well overall. The only test left is the final! Thats so crazy! I can't believe it.

My mom and stepdad are coming this Saturday to move everything home for me. I will just live "out of a suitcase" next week so that I don't have to move too much home by myself when finals are over.

Peace, Love, and Jesus,
Bryanna

Ouch

2009-04-17T09:41:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we had another test in our nursing lecture class. It was SO DIFFICULT. Anyways.. this test was on the subject of Psychiatric nursing which brings me to today.

I had ANOTHER clinical today- at the Psych ward of the Kings Mountain hospital. Needless to say, I was not excited about today for a few reasons. 1, I was scared. 2, I did not do too well on my test, 3. I know I want to work with babies and psych patients are far from that. As much as I have complained so far, the day was not bad at all! I actually enjoyed what I learned today. I had a very interesting patient.. BUT I know that I still do not want to work on that floor.

I am very excited that this semester is coming to an end. Students are always excited for the end and this semester is right on course for that. I know that my brain as well as the other nursing students' brains all feel fried. We have one more psych test soon and then the final. .. Not to mention I'm still balancing Young Life, statistics, and government.

I can't wait for summer.

Peace, Love, & Jesus,
Bryanna

Home Stretch

2009-04-17T09:39:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we had Easter Break! It was so great to go home last Friday-Saturday! I got to spend time with my family and a few friends. It was the first time I had been home since my trip to India so I enjoyed sharing my experiences with them. On Saturday morning I packed up all of my stuff and headed to Greensboro, NC. (5+ hr drive from Atlanta) I really enjoyed spending Easter with Tyler's family. It was hard for me to not be at home, but Tyler's family is very welcoming! It was great to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord with them!

On Monday I drove about 30 minutes to Burlington to meet my roommate Casey at her house. She drove us to Raleigh where we had lunch with TERA! (Tera is our good friend from GWU who has been studying abroad in Spain all semester.) It was the first time I had seen Tera since I left for home before Christmas break. Honestly it was a little weird.. she has grown differently than we have these past few months... Nonetheless it was great to see her. After that we had to head back to school so I could prepare for school this week, unpack from a long weekend, and get ready for clincals.

I had clinicals bright and early Tuesday morning. I got to follow around a nurse rather than have one patient all day. This was more exciting for me. Last week we did this too, but I did not really have a good experience then. Anyways- following around a nurse was a much more realistic idea of what a nursing job will be like since I helped her take care of about 5 or 6 patients the whole day.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Lazy COLD day in April

2009-04-08T15:20:00.001-04:00

Today is such a lazy day for me. I accidentally slept through one of my classes this morning. I went to my two other ones- got tests back in both! Government test was good last week but I should have studied more for statistics. Oh well.

I came back to my apartment after classes and my roommate, Casey, and me went on a walk/jog. We've been doing that recently and I'm starting to enjoy it, especially since she comes with me.

It is getting colder and colder as the day goes on.. This is so weird since its APRIL! It is supposed to get into the low 30s tonight, which I am not excited about.

I'm getting a haircut in Shelby soon- I need to leave now actually.

Young Life tomorrow! I'm going home after classes on Wed for Easter break!! Finally, a break! :)

Peace, Love, & Jesus,
Bryanna

Great Weekend!

2009-04-08T15:19:00.000-04:00

This weekend was really fun. I drove to Raleigh on Friday and stayed until Sunday after church. The drive took me 4 1/2 hours on Friday which is longer than it should have.. I hit traffic in Charlotte and in Raleigh. Tyler and I went out to dinner on Friday and then he showed me around campus and Raleigh on Saturday. Tyler video tapes for the ACC and he had to work on Saturday night, but it was really fun for me because he was video taping an ACC Regional gymnastics meet. We were there for a really long time, but I loved every second because watching women's gymnastics is my favorite sport to watch.

We went to his church, Vintage 21, on Sunday. It was really great to worship there and hear their pastor speak about Palm Sunday, the events of this week and the events of Thursday-Sunday of next week. I love Easter time and I am excited for this weekend coming up.

Peace, Love, & Jesus,
Bryanna

No Jokes Today

2009-04-08T15:16:00.000-04:00

We had a test in nursing today.. it didn't seem too hard which was good. The material we covered in this unit was on the Musculoskeletal System as well as Cancer.. so it was definitely a hard unit. I studied a lot for the test. Its crazy to think we only have about a month left of school! We are getting down to the last few tests in all of my classes and then there are finals. Ever since India and spring break, it seems like all of my tests fall on the same day or same two days. In addition to the nursing test today, I have a Statistics test and then a government test on Friday.
This weekend I'm going to visit my boyfriend at NC State and stay with some girls he knows. I always love visiting other schools to see how other universities work!

Peace, Love,& Jesus,
Bryanna

Adjusting to Home

2009-03-30T11:13:00.001-04:00

It has been super hard adjusting to home, even though we were only gone for 12 days! The only thing I was ready for was American food, but thats it. I miss everything else about India and would go back right now if someone handed me a plane ticket!! Ever since we have been home I have had either allergies or a sinus cold. Last week I would wake up in the middle of the night just because my body didn't understand the time change. It was really hard for me to focus in class as well, which made taking 3 makeup tests really hard. This weekend was pretty restful though, which was amazing.

Classes this week aren't too bad. I think next week will be hard though, I know of two tests already. Summer is just around the corner which is hard to imagine, but I am excited!

Peace, Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Spring Break!

2009-03-30T10:51:00.000-04:00

Spring Break was so great! I can hardly put my trip to India into words. I fell in love with the country of India, the people there, and of course my teammates that went on the trip with me. The Lord did beautiful things while we were there. I really enjoyed getting to know our host family and friends. We were blessed to work with many people including youth groups. I know that I will return to India one day and I hope it is very soon. I can not thank my supporters enough for what they helped me to do!

Peace, Love,& Jesus
Bryanna

Exhaustion

2009-02-24T14:17:00.002-05:00

Conference was great! I drove separately from the team because I am the manager... therefore I got lost in Athens, GA. But I eventually found the hotel where we stayed and met up with the team. Most people on the team had a great meet! It would be nearly impossible for 45 swimmers to ALL have personnal best swims every race.. so there were a few swimmers that did not perform like they wanted to. I was really proud of several sophomore girls to be exact! Three of my good friends (who always train hard) performed excellent!! There were times when all of us, including the coaches, were jumping up and down next to the pool because we were so excited about their races. The girls ended up getting 4th overall and the boys got 3rd. The meet
was a success and now the swimmers can relax!!! They deserve this much needed break.

INDIA IS IN LESS THAN TWO WEEKS. I am super excited, I can barely explain. I am going home this weekend to spend some time with my family before I leave, so I am excited about that too! This week should be pretty good- I do have to make up a nursing test that I missed while I was gone, but it won't be too bad.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Clinical Craziness

2009-02-24T14:15:00.002-05:00

Today I had a clinical, and man I am tired! Normally we get breaks as student nurses, but my patient was especially needy today. Don't get me wrong- I loved it!! But I'm just not used to it yet. I did not get to perform any new skills that I have learned on my patient today, but I did spend a lot of time with him. He was a few days post-op (after surgery) so our main goal was to get him out of bed and walking around in the hallways.

So far clinicals have been good, but my day observing in the Operating Room has been the most fun.

Swim team conference is later this week! I can't believe we leave tomorrow for Athens, GA!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Another Lazy Day

2009-02-11T13:52:00.002-05:00

Today is Wednesday and it is a little bit gloomy outside, especially compared to the weather we have had the past few days. The past 4 or so days have been soooooo beautiful! Sunny, 60s and 70s- so perfect!! Yesterday I had my OR day at clinicals. (Where you spend the whole day in the Operating Room) It was great! I was super nervous beforehand because I didn't know what to expect, so I slept terribly.

When I got there I was put with a super nice OR nurse and I pretty much followed her around all day. I got to see 5 surgeries, YES 5! Thats so crazy. I thought I would see like 2 or maybe 3.
The first one I saw was a hysterectomy. For non-medical people- That is the removal of a woman's uterus! I also saw a mastectomy- removal of a breast. I saw an abdominal repair on a woman who had an internal infection from a previous surgery. The other two surgeries were kind of confusing to me because they were dealing with fistulas. Fistulas are
ports for dialysis for people who have kidney failure.

Anyways- it was a great day! I wore the typical sea foam green scrubs, shoe covers, a hair guard, mask, everything! On one procedure I had to wear "lead".. the protective draping from the X-Ray machine because one of the fistulas was done under the live X-Ray machine.

Peace, Love,& Jesus,
Bryanna

Senior Meet

2009-02-11T13:48:00.003-05:00

Today is the last home swim meet of the year! This means that it is senior day. It is weird to think about, but there are only 3 seniors on the team. There was a small ceremony at the beginning of the meet and then the meet got underway. This meet was also special because it was the "Half-Double" Invitational. This means that all the events were either half of their normal distance or DOUBLE their normal distance. I really think this is a favorite meet among the swimmers because they never get to swim these events.

I can officially give IVs now in clinical!! I passed my IV checkoff! We had the hardest test ever in nursing lecture though on Friday. Ugh.

Peace,Love,& Jesus,
Bryanna

Charleston

2009-02-04T11:34:00.002-05:00

Today we are in Charleston, SC for a swim meet against College of
Charleston. The meet has been stretched out between Friday night and Saturday morning. So far the team has done great! I'm not sure of the score, but the important thing is practicing races for conference in a few weeks. This morning we went to a little diner for breakfast and we literally filled the ENTIRE restaurant. (see pic) It was great. We got to drive through Charleston a little bit and man, it sure is pretty! I would really like to go back and visit there sometime. There are tons of houses with little gardens and stone gates, and all that fun stuff. This week is going to be a hard one! Government project/paper due Wednesday, Stat test Friday, Nursing Test Friday... my brain is going
to be fried..

Peace,Love&Jesus,
Bryanna

Needle Sticks!

2009-02-04T11:26:00.003-05:00

Hey Y'all!

Today I learned how to start an IV in my nursing lab. It was really exciting to learn this skill, although it does make me nervous. We did not practice on each other (Yet) but instead we practiced on some mannequin arms. They seem pretty realistic. They have "skin" and "veins" and when you stick the needle in you even get a blood flashback. There is obviously not real blood inside of them, but there is some red water!! We did practice putting tourniquets on each other to watch the veins rise and fill up with blood. I'm glad I did not have to practice starting an IV on my partner though because her veins appeared to be very hard to stick.

After class I helped out with the University Fellows procedures, gave a few quick tours and helped answer some questions. I had a student who is coming here next year spend the night with me and then I took her to my nursing class on Friday morning. I think she was really excited because before class we stopped at the nursing lab and I showed her all of the IV stuff I had learned!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bry

Back in the Swing

2009-01-27T15:02:00.001-05:00

Today we had a swim meet in Charlotte at Davidson College! It was a lot of fun watching the team, but as always it is hard for me just to watch. I wish I was still swimming, but at least I'm still a part of the team! The meet was really close, but we ended up loosing by just a few points.
Tomorrow is going to be busy! I'm going to Church in the morning and then I have to work on some homework. I also have a meeting with my India teammates and then something with Young Life in the evening!! I need to make sure I get my homework done.. next week is another busy week of nursing and other tests.

Peace,Love,Jesus,
Bryanna

Close but no sledding

2009-01-22T13:45:00.001-05:00

Hey everyone!
We almost had a snow day today but I guess the conditions were not that bad this morning. Lucky for the nursing students, our clinicals were cancelled so I did get the day off! But, pretty much all of the snow has melted. I can still see some that is in the shade behind my apartment, but its not enough for sledding or snowballs.

That makes for a lazy Tuesday for me! I have a test tomorrow in statistics and a test on Friday in government.

Speaking of government... the Inauguration was today!! Casey (roommate) and I watched it together. I am excited to see what Barack and the other leaders do for the country! :)

Casey just came in my room with her guitar, so I'll write again later..

Peace,love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Too cool for School

2009-01-19T16:16:00.005-05:00

So.. Its January. And that means back to school. Don't get me wrong, I'm pumped for school! But that means classes, homework, and tests!

Lets extend Christmas break a little longer next year.

Christmas break was awesome!! I loved being at home with my family. My sister came home from law school at the University of Idaho, and it was great to see her. I spent lots of time with my dad, mom, stepdad, and friends. There were definitely days when I got to sleep in pretty late, but there were also days when I woke up early to go babysit or go to an appointment.
There were probably two highlights of my break. (Besides being at home with my family) The first was Christmas Eve. I went to two Christmas Eve services, one was at my church and the other was at a friend's church. Now this friend is a very special friend, I babysit for her two children. And this year her son, Reilly, was Baby Jesus in their Christmas Pageant. It was just absolutely wonderful and I really enjoyed the whole service.

My second favorite part was working at Windy Gap the 28-1. I got to work in the "Sippin' Parlor" which is the snack bar at Windy Gap. On New Year's Eve all the college aged workers went to a CONTRA DANCE! It was honestly one of the MOST fun things I have ever done! Yay for Contra Dancing!

Once we got back to school I moved into a new apartment with my same roommate and everything is going great! Classes are finally underway and I have finally unpacked everything.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Turkey Chaos!!

2008-12-03T14:09:00.004-05:00

My trip home to Atlanta for Thanksgiving was great! I was blessed to spend the time with my dad, sister, aunt and uncle (from Michigan), mom, stepdad, grandparents, best friend, and several family friends. We had Thanksgiving lunch at my mom's house, and then a few hours later we had another at my dad's house. I really enjoyed spending time with all of my family and I missed the family members I did not get to see. My dad took my aunt and uncle and me to see Bodies, the Exhibition, and the Terra-cotta warriors from China at Atlanta's High Museum of Art. I really enjoyed seeing both exhibits. Of course there was time for shopping as well!
I have concluded that there was a tie between two things for my favorite food item this year! It was a tie between turkey of course, and a homemade Chocolate Pecan pie... Oh man it was amazing!!!

I can't wait to go home next Wednesday for Christmas break! I will get to relax at home with my dad and dog! I am hoping to read a few books, PAINT!!!, and go to my home church!

Also, I am working on sending out my India mission trip support letters and applying for internships next summer!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Finals? Already.

2008-11-20T14:47:00.002-05:00

I just took one of my finals. How crazy is that? It was a lab final, so that is a little bit different, but nonetheless, it was a final!! I'm really glad I got it out of the way before Thanksgiving because that is one less thing I have to study for/think about over the break.

I am pretty much home-free until after Thanksgiving Break. I have one other skills test this afternoon, but I'm not too worried about it. I have the Davidson Invite swim meet this weekend with the swim team, so I will be in Charlotte all weekend and then I have 2 classes on Monday and then Ginny and I are driving home to Atlanta!!!!! Yay!! :) Ginny was my roommate last year and it works out nicely for us to carpool to and from school because we only live a few exits apart on the highway.

My sister is coming home for Thanksgiving, and my Aunt and Uncle are coming in from Michigan!!! On my Mom's side, my grandparents are coming in town, too! I am very excited to see my family members. Yesterday over lunch, the cooking channel was on and everything was about Thanksgiving. I can't wait to eat a lot of food!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Out With a Bang!

2008-11-20T14:35:00.002-05:00

Today was my last clinical and it was so great! I got to do an assessment on my patient and then mid-morning I found out I was going to get to watch a surgery. Not just any surgery, but a C-SECTION!! Y'all... I literally jumped out of my chair when I heard it was a C-Section because I love babies and I love pregnant women. (I want to work in L&D/be a midwife)

So we get down to the OR and me and two other students put on hair covers and masks and shoe covers and we watched the surgery from inside the OR. It was amazing, I was literally two feet away from the woman.

The whole procedure was very quick, the baby was out within 15-20 mins of starting the surgery. The surgeons were great, too! They pointed out different anatomical things to us. :) That was just the best way to end clinicals this semester.

Abby, our instructor was great. I wish we could have her for the rest of our rotations. The baby came out fine, it was a beautiful baby girl with a full head of hair! One other student and I followed the baby to get her first measurements and whatnot. It was great.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

It was a good week...

2008-11-14T12:23:00.001-05:00

Shawn McDonald was here last night!!!! It was so much fun!

The performer that opened for him was great, too! Shawn played one of my favorites, Gravity, so I was very happy! Thanks Gardner-Webb for bringing them here! I know that pretty much everyone that went to the concert really enjoyed it.

I had another check-off for nursing class yesterday. I can officially give Medicine (oral, shots, patches, inhalers) to patients that I see at the hospital.

We only have one full week of school left before Thanksgiving Holidays! I am so excited. And, I found out yesterday that I can leave on Monday night now (instead of Tuesday) because we do not have nursing class that day.... which means: I will get to spend more time at home with my family!

Swim meet tonight against Georgia Southern at home!! Come support the bulldogs!

Peace,love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Recruits!

2008-11-10T16:49:00.002-05:00

The swim team had 11 recruits come in today. It worked out nicely for me to take them to lunch in the Caf and then give them a tour. We saw the academic buildings off the quad, the library, the LYCC, Suttle Wellness center, as well as the Football Center weight room for athletes and the Athletic Training room. I had a lot of fun with them and I enjoyed taking them around. After the tour we went to the coffee shop, where I tasted my first ever CHAI latte. It was beautiful.

I need to get used to Chai because we are apparently going to be drinking a lot of it when we are in Inda. By the way, India is 100% official! I think there are 12 of us and I am so excited. Now I just need to start raising money for it. Prayers are welcomed :)

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Made it to the top!

2008-11-03T16:35:00.001-05:00

My test today went well! I do not know my grade yet, but I feel pretty confident. My climbing class today was fun, we did the giant swing again and I made it to the top of the climbing wall for the first time. Today I was determined to get to the top and I did! It was hard though and now my arms hurt. (Which means I wasn't climbing in the smartest way, but oh well.)

Young Life club tonight!! Yay. Rachel and I are doing the skit and it is hopefully going to be funny. Crest High School did not have school today, so hopefully they will remember to come.

Off to the Caf for dinner and then to club. Clinicals tomorrow! I may get to put in a catheter..

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Washington, DC

2008-11-03T16:31:00.002-05:00

Today is day two of our trip to Washington, DC! The swim team did great, we won in both of our meets. One was against American University and the other was against Howard. After finishing the meets, we had nearly 2 hours to tour DC. Kelly, Sarah, and I went and took pictures in front of the Capital, the White House, Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Monument. The bus ride home seemed to take forever, but we finally got home around 1:30 Saturday night.

Church at Broad River Community Church was great on Sunday morning. Right now the pastor is speaking on one of the Ten-Commandments every Sunday. It is really great to hear how they pertain to us in the current time period.

I've got a hard week ahead of me.. Nursing test Monday and Wednesday, YL Club Monday evening, Clinicals on Tuesday.. the list goes on.

Peace,Love&Jesus,
Bryanna

Reassurance

2008-10-29T10:07:00.002-04:00

We had our second clinical today! Once again it was very reassuring. Every time I go to the hospital, I can tell that I need to work there; that God is calling me to work and serve there. Today I watched and helped remove and insert a Foley Catheter (Urinary Catheter), as well as I removed an IV from a patients hand. I also transported a patient to the lab for a Renal Ultrasound. (Ultrasound of Kidneys) It was so great to be there today. It was a brisk morning, and I did not want to sit and drive in my cold car, but it was definitely worth it. Next week we will be performing even more skills by ourselves!

I was talking to a friend today and we agreed that it is hard to believe that I am already doing these skills! I feel like a baby in the medical world, BUT it is ok because we are students and our teachers are there to answer our questions. Readers- Please feel free to ask me questions on here about Nursing, or anything for that matter and I would love to help!

Drifting away from the hospital... This weekend the swim team had our first home meet vs VMI and NC A&T. It was also homecoming weekend so there was a big crowd! We won the meet and it was a good meet. Meets at this point in the year are very hard because everyone is worn out, but the coaches were really looking for good races, and that happened! Good job swimmers! Next weekend we are off to Washington D.C.!! for two meets.

There was a fun homecoming dance this weekend! Church on Sunday was great at Broad River Community Church. Sunday afternoon I carved my pumpkin and then did some Young Life stuff.

I love Gardner-Webb in the fall, it is so beautiful.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Fun in Boiling Springs

2008-10-23T12:05:00.003-04:00

So I'm sure a lot of people wonder what there is to do for fun in Boiling Springs. Most of the time you have to make your own, and that is exactly what I did all day yesteday. Wednesdays are one of my busiest days of the week because I have two, two hour lectures during the day and then a three hour night class starting at six. Somehow I managed to squeeze in a lot though! My classes were good, I could write a book with how many notes I took yesterday in my Fundamentals of Nursing class, but it was really interesting the whole time. Then, in my second class we had a test, but I think it went well. After those classes, my roommate, Casey and I went for a walk. We headed towards the Broyhill Adventure course to go the long way to get to the lake. We stopped at this bridge... You have to see it, but it is the perfect bridge to hoist yourself up and swing your legs. Come on, you know what I'm talking about... Sometimes you can do it inbetween two tables.

Well, it was super fun. After "swinging" on the bridge we went to the lake to mess with the geese. Those poor things... We made our way to the "Boiling Spring" of town and jumped from rock to rock (yes, we did.) We found a real swing and swang for a while. The whole afternoon was great and the weather was absolutely beautiful. After class I watched part of an intramural flag football game and met some new people. Later I met some people who played at Open-Mic night at the coffee shop and I might go pretend to be June Carter next week when they play.

Sorry for this incredibly long entry, but it all needed to be said.

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

PS- I'm going to INDIA FOR SPRING BREAK!

Today was a Dawg Day!

2008-10-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

I have never worked one before, but it was really fun. It started out
with the Dawg Day students checking in and then we took them on tours.
There were two girls interested in Nursing on my tour so that was fun!
Annie (another Student who works in the Admissions Office) and I lead
the tour and then I sat in on "Student Panel." Student Panel is great
because the prospective GWU students get to ask us pretty much anything
they want. Somehow it turned into questions like, "Whats the craziest
thing you have done at GWU?" But all in all I think everyone had fun
and everyone definitely had a laugh or two.

Last night was amazing!! Me and some Young Life leaders went to
Maggiano's in Charlotte for dinner and we ate waaaaaay too much food.
It was so worth it though. The only downside was that me and the girls
in my car got lost for an hour in the dark and pouring rain on the way
home!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

GWU vs. Georgia Tech

2008-10-20T09:27:00.002-04:00

Today was awesome! I was at home in Atlanta and I got to see Gardner-Webb play at Georgia Tech!! The football team played really well. The final score was 10-7.. I'm pretty sure that GT was supposed to win by a lot more since they are an ACC school, but the good ole Runnin' Bulldogs held their game! Good job guys!

The swim team also went down to watch the game AND we got to swim in the Georgia Tech pool for practice. (This is the pool that the 1996 Olympic Games used!) Fall break was awesome besides that! It was great to see my family and have a little break from classes! :)

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

This Weekend is Fall Break!

2008-10-10T15:13:00.002-04:00

We got our nursing uniforms today! I'm just going to be completely honest, they are not the "cutest" things, but its ok. I feel official now! Tomorrow I'm going to Cleveland Regional Hospital at 8 AM for my clinical orientation, and then real clinicals will start after fall break.

I climbed the tower again today! I did not go all the way to the top, but my partners Sarah and Wendy did! It was a lot of fun as usual!

I am supposed to meet my friend Tera in the Caf tonight for dinner, but I might see if she wants to go to Yamatos Express in Shelby.. Yamatos is a favorite restaurant in Shelby for GWU students.. for around 5 or 6 bucks you can get some pretty yummy japanese food!

This coming weekend is fall break! I can not wait to go home!! (Home is Atlanta!) AND while I am at home, GWU is playing Georgia Tech University in football so I am going to go to that football game!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Maize

2008-10-10T15:02:00.003-04:00

Today was a very "chill" day for me. I finally was able to sleep in!!

I went to the coffee shop this morning and had a coffee date with my swim coach Ashley! I enjoyed one of my new favorite drinks, a caramel latte topped off with whipped cream and chocolate drizzled on top! Its pretty decadent, I try not to get it too much. The rest of the day was just lazy. I was not in the mood to do any school work, so I didn't. I try not to do this usually but it was a long week. Tonight I went to the Shelby Corn Maze with Blair and Tera. It was really fun because we dressed up in Western Wear. That definitely made it worth while.

Thankfully there were not any scary things in the corn maze or else I would not have wanted to go. I think this next weekend is when the maze becomes "haunted". If anyone decides to go, take a flash light if it is going to get dark!!

Tomorrow me and my roommate are going to Spindale for an afternoon excursion.. and then Sunday I am going to Greenville for church to meet Ashley again! I am super excited!

Peace, Love, & Jesus,
Bryanna

2008-10-10T15:00:00.001-04:00

Such Great Heights

2008-10-03T10:19:00.001-04:00

Unlike many people, I enjoy Mondays. Today was hard because I had a test in my nursing class, but my studying paid off. I think I did ok! I really enjoy Mondays because I have my climbing class and there is Young Life in the evening. Today was basically a free day in the climbing class so most everyone in the class climbed the whole time. I was scared on my first climb, but after watching several people in my class and in my group make it all the way to the top, I was determined to get to the top. Marge (my climbing partner) and I decided to switch courses on the tower. I started climbing and before I knew it I was at the top! Honestly, the hardest part was scooting myslef off the edge to come down once I was up there!

The night of Young Life activities was fun! We had "Redneck Olympics".. we threw toilette seats, had turkey bowling, egg toss, and night crawler spitting! Some of the guys ended up EATING the worms! Gross! But it was fun.

I am getting so excited for swim season to start!

More to come soon!
Peace,love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Making Time

2008-09-29T10:22:00.002-04:00

It has really been a challenge for me to manage my time lately. I have been basically overwhelmed with school work, classes, labs, physical therapy, and Young Life. This coming week I have a test in Fundamentals of Nursing on Monday, and then on Wednesday I have a test in Health Assessment for nursing. It is a lot of work, I tell ya. It is not easy to make time for all of these things in addition to fun activities and what every college student loves, SLEEP!

BUT, all this to say, I love being busy. It is just hard sometimes.

More to come soon, I am going to the Cleveland County fair this week, so that should be an experience of a lifetime!

Peace,Love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Hey Y'all!

2008-09-23T15:33:00.002-04:00

Thursday is when I have my 2 nursing labs. The labs are great because we have most of our labs in a place called Crawley Hospital. Crawley Hospital is an extended-care facility for elderly people, but Gardner-Webb has access to a wing of this facility and we use it as our nursing lab. It is great because it is set up like an actual hospital with private patient rooms, beds, etc. Each bed also has a patient-dummy in the room so we practice real skills on the dummy.

Today we practiced putting restraints on patients, transporting patients, and assisting patients with crutches and walkers. Next week we will have a skills evaluation on the skills we practiced today.

One of my professors has been ill and has missed several classes. She is in our prayers and hopefully will return soon.

The swim team is underway with full length and full intensity practices. Even though I am not swimming this year because of my back injury, I still spend time in the office and hanging out with a few girls on the team. My duties as manager will really pick up once meets start in October. I am really excited for this to happen so I can hang out with everyone on the team. Our first team trip is October 11 and we are traveling to Atlanta (my hometown!!) to have a Saturday morning practice with GA Tech and then go to the GA Tech vs. Gardner-Webb football game! That should be a lot of fun!! :)

This weekend I am headed up to Windy Gap! Windy Gap is a Young Life camp near Asheville, NC! My roommate Casey, our friend Sarah, and I are all headed up there to do some volunteer work on Saturday. Sarah and I will be working in the horse barn and taking campers out on trail rides and Casey will be one the the crew who operates the ropes course.

Young Life is going great in Cleveland County and we are taking OUR high schoolers next weekend to camp at Windy Gap! I can't wait for them to get to have a great weekend and get to hear more about Jesus!

Much love y'all!
Bry

Hello Friends!

2008-09-23T15:28:00.003-04:00

Today has been very relaxing for me! Starting in October, I will have my nursing clinicals on Tuesdays, but until then it is a day of rest and catching up! I went to physical therapy this morning for my back injury and then met up with some friends in the Caf for lunch. The Caf always has ice cream available, but today I got really excited because they had Moose-Tracks! Yum!

Across the street from campus we have Broad River Coffee shop! It is a great place to hang out with friends or grab a cup of coffee and study... Thats what I did this afternoon. I had myself a nice Caramel Latte and did some reading for my Fundamentals of Nursing Class.

Tonight I went to what is called The Verge. I had never been before, but it was super fun. We sang a few worship songs and then listened to Clayton King. He is a native of the area and of Gardner-Webb and I really enjoyed what he had to say about living a Christian life! Also, there were 8 people that gave their life to Christ tonight at this service! How awesome!

Hope all is well!

Peace,love,&Jesus,
Bry

Man! What a busy day today has been.

2008-09-18T11:53:00.002-04:00

This morning I went to one of my nursing labs like I always do on Thursdays, but today we met in the library to do research for a project. Daniel, Victoria, and I are making a skit about a patient with a UTI... to be presented sometime in October. Nursing is so great because we have jumped right into everything and we have already had some hands on experience with each other and our practice dummies. Later in the day I had what is called a "Check Off", or a Simulation for nursing. This is where we are graded on our skills aspect of nursing. I had to give my dummy a proper bed bath and also put on nursing protective wear (gown, gloves, mask) the correct way. Although it made me really nervous, I did fine and it was actually fun.

I went to work from 5-7 in the admissions office. After work I grabbed a meal to go from "The Kennel." The Kennel is a place where we can get meals when the Caf is not open or we just want a different atmosphere.

Around 7:15 I met up with some friends at the Boiling Springs Town Hall for an event called College Life. College Life is a great way to get to know fellow college students and get to know a few leaders from the Boiling Springs/Shelby Community. My friend Daniel who I mentioned earlier met me there and we had a fun time with about 25 or so other students. At CL we sang a few songs, played a version of Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? and it was really fun.

As if the day wasn't already long enough, when CL ended, I jumped into my car to go to a Crest High School JV football game. I am a Young Life leader in Cleveland County and I minister to kids at Crest High School. (Young Life is a national Christian organization that specializes in outreach ministry to high school and middle school students.) Young Life is great and I absolutely love getting to know girls that go to Crest High School. More to come later, folks!

Peace,love,&Jesus,
Bryanna

Why GWU?

2008-09-13T16:28:00.003-04:00

Hey Everyone! I'm Bryanna and I am a sophomore from Atlanta, GA. I came to Gardner-Webb because I loved the swim team and GWU has a great nursing program. I visited GWU during the spring of my senior year of high school and like some GWU students I did not want to come here.
The swim coach continued to pursue me in hopes that I would join the team. After a few weeks, it was evident that God really wanted me here at Gardner-Webb, and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to come here.
Coming to GWU has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.
There are so many things that GWU has to offer that most colleges do not. The first thing that comes to mind as I write this is "The Caf."
The Caf is our cafeteria, and it is our only cafeteria. Most larger schools have several, but we just have the Caf. The Caf is a great place to eat and hang out with friends. I always see people I know in the Caf and it is a good environment to spend time with my favorite people.
More to come on GWU Swimming, Nursing Program, and Young Life in my next entries!!

Peace,love&Jesus,
Bryanna