White Coat Ceremony

Several weeks ago, Nova held their annual white coat ceremony. This was a time for students to become a part of the family at NSU. It was somewhat neat (however, I believe the ceremony should be held after we have accomplished something). After the ceremony, most of the class went for beers and to celebrate.


It has become somewhat of a ritual for our class to celebrate everything. Ha. This isn't a bad thing because it keeps the mood light and helps all of us to continually get to know each other. We usually do this after big exams etc. One example was a couple of weeks ago. NSU administration gave the class of 2015 the worst opening schedule for a fresh graduate student. We had 5 exams in the matter of 10 days or so. I don't think it would have been so bad, however, it was the first time that any of us had taken an exam here, so it was a big deal to us. Anyway, back to my point, after the 5th exam, we felt as if we'd reached a milestone, so we went out to celebrate. We have a great class with many different backgrounds, which makes it fun. It seems as if you're always getting to know new things about people, even though we've been in class with one another for about 2 months now.

As for classes, the schedule has been a bit brutal, but nothing to hard. I've felt pretty confident going into each exam and faired pretty well. The concepts aren't to hard, it's just a lot of material. Currently, we are taking Biochem, Anatomy, Anatomy Lab, Psychophysics, Optometric Theory and Methods--OTM (with a lab), Microbiology, Theoretical Optics (with lab), and Histology. The favorite among most people is OTM, mainly because we are learning skills that we'll use later down the road. So far, we've only learned keratometry and retinoscopy. Ret is pretty tricky to fully grasp, but I feel as if I'm getting the hang of it.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to shoot me a msg and I'll get back with you.
--Off to study for my Psychophysics exam

Where Are You?

It's been a while. Like I mentioned last time, I've been busy with the move, etc, but nonetheless, it's over. School starts on Monday (Aug 1st) and orientation is on Sunday. I'm starting to get pretty excited and can't wait to get into a routine. A couple of weeks ago, I met some of my future OD-1 classmates as we had a meet-n-greet at the beach. It was nice to put faces to the names that we've been seeing on our NOVA c/o 2015 Facebook Page. Brit and I have been trying to make it to the beach just about every weekend (as I know I won't be able to do it as much in the future). I usually tan pretty dark and maybe peel once, however, my skin is still peeling from 2 weeks ago. This Florida sun isn't like the NC sun, that's for sure.

It's starting to sink in that I'm "growing up". I've been thinking a lot about the type of practice I want to open when I graduate school. One thing is for sure, I'm not wanting to do corporate/commercial.

As for questions, let me know if any of you have questions on the process of admittance into OD school. This was my second year applying, so I've become pretty knowledgeable about it.

P.S. I'll be posting nice new pics next week from my first week at school! Enjoy!

Almost Time

Wow, it's been a long time since my last blog entry, so I'll provide the cliff notes of my life since the end of the spring semester.

-Went on a three week camping trip that began in Delaware and ended in Key West. (I will try and get pictures of this up soon).
-Trashed stuff, yard sale, packed, and moved to Davie, Florida.
-Got settled in, bought furniture (still have a little more to buy) and began to enjoy my time off.
-Starting to get a bit of cabin fever (I have never had a full semester off).
-Well, I shouldn't say I have had the semester off, I'm enrolled in a course through UNC (A&P--my final pre-req).

Outside of my crazy and hectic life, I haven't had much time for anything else. I don't have a lot of time right now since I stay exhausted from chasing a 2 year old around the house for 12-14 hours a day (he's napping now), but I am trying to enjoy the time away and have some family time. Hope everyone's having a great summer! Pictures will follow shortly!

My FINAL, final exam

Tomorrow is the last final exam that I will take at UNCA. It's been a blast at UNCA and I will be forever grateful for some of the professors that I have met along the way. With that said, I do have one more course to complete my bachelors degree and it's going to be the best course ever.

Next Sunday I will leave for a Marine Biology course. We will travel 10 hours (by vans) to Delaware, where we will stay for a couple of nights before heading down the eastern coastline visiting random places, snorkeling, boat rides, etc. After reaching SC, we will cut across to the Gulf of Mexico and then head to Key West (where we will stay for 5-7 days). The entire trip consists of camping and being outdoors for 20 days. This is really going to be an experience for me because if anyone knows me, I am a little "high maintenance" Ha! Nevertheless, it'll be a blast and I can't wait.

Other than that, I got to watch the NFL Draft this weekend and relax with the family. Blake, Brit, Kam, and I went to my moms and hung out at her house for a while (love sitting on the porch under the fan, looking across the lake). Then last night, we watched UFC 129. All in all, we've had a busy and productive weekend.

I can't go without mentioning my mammaw. Today would have been her birthday, however, she passed away many years ago. She is one of the only close people to me that has passed away and it makes me reminisce to think about "May 1st". I know she's looking down on me and keeping an eye out for me!

With all of that said, I'm looking forward to walking into class tomorrow for the last time at UNCA. I've learned a lot about life, biology, and myself while being there.

I'll be on later this week to write about some other things, so check back!

Finals Week

I can sum this entire week up with one word, so I will do so. "Ugh".

NAVY HPSP Scholarship

I have been asked several times about the NAVY HPSP scholarship, so I thought that I would tell a little about it. I haven't been accepted into it quite yet, but here's the process.

I applied about 6 weeks ago after having to fill out ALL KINDS of paperwork (mostly online). There was a security clearance that I had to fill out that asked me every question under the sun. You pretty much had to list everything that had to do with family, credit, acquaintances, where you've lived, worked, medical history, etc. I then had to create a resume (which I haven't done in forever). I moved last year and also mis-placed my Social Security card, so I had to go to the local SS office to get a new one. That took around a week. I then went down to Charlotte, from Asheville, to meet with the Health Professions Officer. It was there that he asked me a ton of questions and got all of my paperwork together. Because I had LASIK before, I had to get my old records and any other medical records to him as well. After meeting with him for 2 hours, I had to get a thorough physical. They tested hearing, eyesight, drew blood, drug test, alcohol test, disease tests, as well as others. The exam was at 2:30pm and I couldn't eat from 10pm the night before. I was STARVING. So after they drew blood, they gave me a pack of crackers until I could get some real food (which would later turn out to be Wendy's ugh). After gathering all of my information, he sent it to the NAVY board to be reviewed. They then had an officer meet with me in my town to discuss and go over my security clearance. This is standard practice and takes about an hour. This guy had went to the court house and found EVERYTHING out about me. There was nothing bad, but he had me explain every single traffic ticket that I had gotten. I haven't had one in about 3 years, but on my record was 4-5 of these. Anyway, I finished up that and was told that it can take about a month longer before I will hear anything. If I'm accepted, I'll go over the pay, benefits, and time I must put in to "pay back" this scholarship.

NSU Interview

Brit went down a few days early with my mom, but I wasn't as fortunate (had a presentation in one of my classes), so I went down the next day. I thought I'd give a review of Nova after attending my interview there. First off, the city is awesome. I love the beach and this school fit my personality to a "T". The school itself is very clean and up to date. The campus is beautiful and it seems like everyone gets along well.
(Front of the building where optometry classes are held)


(Just finished my interview)

After the interview, we had a day to get to know the city. The city was nice, however, the driving of the old people there is ridiculous. If you waited a half a second after the light turned green, you got honked at. Ha! We ended up going out to eat that night (to a place that Fran, the admissions rep, told us about). We all ordered crab, however, the only way you could eat is with your hands and a wooden mallet (to crack open).
(The place we ate)




The next day, we just enjoyed the day at the beach. We walked along the beach and had a couple of Sangria's on the pier. The best thing was being able to sit outside at 10pm with a short sleeve shirt on. When I boarded the plane in Asheville, the temperature was around 40. The entire time in Florida, the temp was in the 80's. FANTASTIC! :) I can't wait to move down here!

UIW Interview

It's been a couple of weeks since I attended the UIW interview in San Antonio. All in all, the city is fantastic. I have heard so many great things about the city of San Antonio, so I really wanted to enjoy myself while I was down there. I flew down the day of the interview. Brittney dropped me off at Asheville Airport around 5 am and the long day continued. While sitting in the lobby waiting on my plane, I looked across and noticed a man reading an Optometric Practice magazine. This was very odd since I was on the way to my interview. Nevertheless, I didn't think much of it until I boarded the plane and I was sitting right beside this man. Come to find out, he was an Optometrist in a city 15 minutes from mine. Since my mom is in optical, I asked him if he knew her and he did. Odd. After connecting from Atlanta, I met a young couple that was moving from Florida back to their hometown of San Antonio. The entire trip, they told me how San Antonio is so much better than Florida. This made me even more excited. Once I got to San Antonio, I got my rental car, checked into my hotel, and relaxed for 30 minutes. Two days prior to my interview, I started to get sick so by the time I got to the interview, I was feeling like crap. I took a quick shower (although I already had my suit on etc), to try and make myself feel a little better. I then went to my interview (which was right across the street).

Pulling up the school, I was very unimpressed. I'm not sure why, but the school was just very odd. Nothing like the aesthetics of Nova. Nevertheless, I didn't let this bother me and continued inside. Once inside, I met with several other students. We all sat in a conference room and heard the long spill of everything that UIW has to offer. After doing so, they took us back in pairs and broke us up into 1-on-1 interviews. After this, we toured the school and was then free to leave.
(This is the outside of the school)



The tour was, how to put it.....? Lame. There were no students on campus and the tour was given by a faculty member. He was nice, but seemed to brag a lot. He talked about how nice their equipment was and how it was his initiative that brought it all in. I don't want it to seem like this is a knock on the school, but I've been in optical for 10 years and I've seen a lot of this equipment (the same models) for the past 8 years.

After leaving, I dropped one student off at the airport (so they wouldn't have to get a taxi) and dropped another off at his hotel. This was after a woman let her car roll back into the rental car I had on the interstate (no damage luckily). After, I made my way back to the hotel and got out of the suit. I was anxious to watch the UNC game (sweet 16 game), so I made my way out to a bar to watch it. I went down to the Riverwalk that everyone raves about and I must say, this place is GREAT. Awesome area. I found a local bar to watch the game and met some very interesting guys. I must admit, San Antonio had the nicest people that I've ever met. I then left and found a Mexican restaurant to try some "Tex Mex". I could eat this food for breakfast/lunch/dinner. FANTASTIC. I then got back home pretty early (9pm or so) and went to bed. My return flight was the next morning.
(The River Walk)



All in all, the city was fantastic, the school was (in my opinion) below average, and the people were great. If Nova and UIW could switch cities, I'd MUCH rather live in San Antonio than Ft Lauderdale (this coming from a beach bum). I'll get some Pictures up within the week.

Nova Southeastern University

I've been to two interviews so far and have been asked to attend many more (WesternU, PUCO, SCO), however, I only went to two. The first I went to was NSU and LOVED IT! The only negative thing about the school is the cost of living in the area, therefore I attended the UIW interview in San Antonio (cost of living is SUPER cheap). After visiting UIW, I knew that my choice would be NSU. I can't believe that I can actually say that I will be in Optometry school next year! EXCITING! I have worked very hard for this and I still have a little bit of work ahead of me (I must take an Anatomy and Physiology course over the summer). It's an exciting time and I can't wait to move down to Fl. I have also applied for the HPSP scholarship with the NAVY. I'm still awaiting to hear back if I am accepted into that. Other than that, it's the end of the semester and I'm playing catch up in many classes as many deadlines are approaching, but it's so hard to focus after finding out that a new chapter will soon be starting in my life.

I'm going to Optometry School!

It's been a blast! I finally received some interviews in this particular order....
1. NOVA
2. UIW
3. WesternU
4. Pacific
5. SCO

I am ecstatic that I received interviews at all these schools. I went down to NOVA a couple of weeks ago and it was a blast. Enjoyed the tour, the city, and of course....the OCEAN! All along, NOVA has always been my top choice, however....this was my first time going to the school. I have interviews scheduled for UIW (mainly because I heard the city is really awesome) and SCO. I declined interviews at WesternU and Pacific. After a couple of days, I received my acceptance to NOVA, so now I can at least say that I will be an OPTOMETRY STUDENT next year!!!!