Last week was orientation where we were given all of the information that we will need for the upcoming rotations and such. On day 2 of orientation I received my rotation schedule for the year and just about vomited on it. Yes, I actually felt nauseous. For those who don't know much about the internship I'll give you a quick run-down of how they generally work. All dietetic interns complete supervised practice rotations through (usually) 3 major categories of nutrition; Foodservice Management, Clinical Nutrition and Community Nutrition. Beyond that, each internship is a little to a lot different in how they break up those rotations, how many of each they require, where they send their interns to complete them and how quickly they are done. Some internship programs are paired with grad classes and some aren't.
There! you've now received a very general overview of internships in the dietetics world.
(Oh and most of them are 100% unpaid, very few offer a stipend but no wages.)
Now... My program is 12 months long, a very FULL 52 weeks long. I will be taking grad classes in succession with all of my rotations through Sac State but a lot of them, if not most of them, are shared with the dietetic interns at UC Davis. Kind of cool! Talk about networking.
So, back to my schedule and my nausea. My very first rotation as a dietetic intern will be my least favorite area of the field... Food Service, and I was placed at the facility that is the farthest away. What's "far" you say? Oh how does 60 miles one way sound? yup! 120+ miles to drive 4 days a week for 8 weeks.
When I started calculating my driving time and adding in and 8 hour (possibly 10-12) work day, the drive back, then whatever homework, studying and projects I need to work on, my stomach dropped and I felt a bit of a cold sweat.
But wait! There's more! After my Food Service rotation I get a nice 4 week community rotation in Sacramento (20ish minute drive) phew! Then .... my first clinical rotation is right back at the first hospital for another 9 weeks. All in all, I'm spending over a third of my internship year driving 120 miles everyday. Blech!
Needless to say, it has been a challenge accepting my schedule and what it means for my upcoming year. I'm really in for it. I just have to remember that this is done one day at a time.
Also, that Haagen-Dazs makes gelato now and this one seems to make stress melt away...
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I don't have any new meals to share. I haven't been making anything picture worthy and I've taken up eating like a bachelor, eating out of the container and over the sink. haha
I've rediscovered a pinterest find called Myfridgefood that I think might come in handy over this next year. you just select the ingredients you have in your fridge/pantry/kitchen and it gives you recipes that you can make with those items. Pretty cool! I'll be trying it out tomorrow hopefully. :)
Tomorrow is my first day of rotations and I'm kind of excited to just dive in but I'm really apprehensive for obvious reasons. I guess tomorrow I will see how the drive goes... Wish me luck!
