A smile a day keeps the doctor away!

Dear muffins,

It was such a release for me to take J-term off, which allowed me to get fully charged for another BUSY semester. By busy, I mean I get up at 6:30am everyday and don't get home until midnight. It's been like this for the first three weeks. I have no idea what's going to happen as we go towards the mid-term. But I can still laugh. That's all it matters :)))

Fall semester was busy for me as well. But I didn't get as much satisfaction as I am getting now because all I did was eating, studying, and playing. I actually felt horrible about myself when I think about it. In order to change my bad daily routine, I decided to start exercising a little more this semester. So my favorite class is PE! In our PE course, we are mainly learning about how to live healthy. We are also required to set up our own schedule to work out at least 3 times a week. I have been following the schedule pretty well so far. I am very glad that our professor made this mandatory; otherwise, I don't think I would be able to stick with my goals. Since I took this course, I've realized that it's extremely important that we don't forget to exercise. I know we hear this phrase being said over and over, but how many of us would put it into practice? At least I didn't when I heard it. But now after I tried, I feel different. It feels like my body is waking up, and it's going to bloom... Haha, joking!

I also feel more confident about myself because whenever I think about giving up, my heart tells me to keep going. And then I will! See!!! If I can do it, anyone can do it!

I will share one of my favorite quotes with you at the end. Hope everyone enjoys the weekend. (Oh, Parkland, please stop raining o_O)

"Smiles are great investments: the more you collect, the better you feel."

---Unknown

Photographed by Madeleine Brekke

Love always,

Shunying

Nursing Cookies :)

Hello all and welcome back

I know you guys are probably sitting in front of your computer and thinking that oh no, not again, not this nursing guy again :)

I promise I won't rant about my life as a stressful nursing student in this post.

Rather, I want to show you guys something I did with some of my nursing buddies.

That's right. Nursing cookies.

We made these to give to the nurses a hospital where we had our Medical/Surgical clinical rotation. I was assigned to be on the Cardiac Care Unit, so what's better than making heart shaped cookies? Am I right?

Anyways, welcome back to Spring 2014. I am currently doing my OB Clinical and I have so much to tell you guys about mothers and babies. But I guess you guys will have to wait for my next post.

Sincerely,
Henry

Completing First-Year Requirements

Making new friends!!

     Hi there, this is Loana! J-term was a success; though I didn't really get to complete a required class for my major or general education, I got to learn some Norwegian. It was really fun to learn a new language! We had our finals for J-term on January 31st, and then we were free for a week. During J-term break, we welcomed 18 new international students to PLU campus!
     Spring classes started on February 6th. This semester I am taking Geology of Energy, British Literature, Writing 101, and PE 100. I'm especially excited about British Literature and Writing 101,  because I have the same professor for both classes, and I really enjoy her lectures and teaching style a lot. I guess I could say that I'm taking a short break from psychology classes this semester (not voluntarily of course). But I am glad that I get to take excellent classes to complete my general education requirements as a first-year student. I'm really excited for what this Spring term will bring!

China said hi. I said bye-bye :(

Dear friends,

Did anyone wonder where Shunying went during J-term? Yes? Thanks for asking :)

Since my days at school were so miserable, I decided to take a little break from studying. I went back to China. I went back to my hometown where I hadn't been in two years. I became excited the minute I stepped out of the airplane. When I heard people speaking the language I was born speaking, I was thrilled. Though it was a bit loud. Nothing seemed to change, but many things looked different. I want to say that the population has been increasing for the past few years because all places I stopped by were full of people. The airport in Hainan was packed, the streets were packed, the passenger bridges were  packed! People, People, People!!! People were everywhere I went.

I swear that I could barely breath when I first arrived. But I adapted soon. I felt great being home. China is where I belong after all :) I spent 20 days at home with my parents and including visiting my grandparents and some of my friends. The time we spent together made me realize how important family means to me. I never thought that I would be so attached to them. Of course I was sad when I left. I came back to the U.S at the end of January because school starts on Feb. 6th. I couldn't celebrate Chinese New Years with my family as I had to come back for school... Darn! I missed them terribly now. Please stay safe and healthy for me, everyone in China. I will be back soon :)

Love always,

Shunying