O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay! 'Twas an Awesome Time at my Internship Today!

Today I completed my first full day at my internship! I came galumphing back! I chortled in my joy! I had an awesome time!

I was extremely nervous this morning but luckily for me we had recently watched Tim Burton's version Alice in Wonderland and it was still stuck in my head. Jenny and I decided that today would be Frabjous day and that I didn't need to worry, I just had to believe six impossible things by breakfast. I did.

1. Today is Frabjous day
2. I am responsible and adult enough to be an intern
3. I am meant to do this
4. It doesn't matter if I fail
5. I am the lizard king, I can do anything (I found that graffiti in Tallinn, Estonia and it has stuck with me)
6. I will come galumphing back

Jenny always knows just how to encourage me. "You'll do great" is fine, "Believe six impossible things" is better. So, while I ate my cereal I pondered my six things and tried to mentally psych myself up.

I walked in at 5 to 8 and found a green folder that had a name tag stuck to it that said "Intern 106" and assuming that was me I sat down at that seat. As I looked through the folder and the huge orientation manual the clock struck 8 and it was time to begin.

Over the next 3 hours I learned about the inner workings of Acadia and important things like security and fire safety. I was also given keys and a swipe card and had my picture taken for a picture I.D. which made me feel extremely excited and proud. I felt like a big grown up intern! It was great.

I also learned that Acadia is the only Psychiatric hospital in the world to be a recognized magnet hospital. To put it simply, that's an accolade that means that Acadia has passed rigorous inspections and has proven to have an excellent level of quality in nursing. I was impressed, and I'm hoping that adds even more awesomeness to this internship. It was while discussing this that I realized I could stop being nervous and start being cocky. Acadia is possibly the best hospital in the world for me to do an undergraduate internship.

Right before lunch was a session with Acadia's Infection Preventionist. It was extremely informative, but it also made me feel squeamish and hemophobic. My appetite returned in time for lunch though.

I had a tasty turkey sandwich and a cookie and I got to eat with Dr. Ward, my supervisor, which was awesome. I like her a lot and it was great to just chat a little but also to run over to the HR office with her to figure out which parts of the orientation I had to go to as an intern.

After lunch we went over some of the legal aspects of working at Acadia hospital. My favorite moment was when the guy said "The thing about the rights of people with mental illnesses is that they're the same as everyone else. They're people too."

We also learned about EMHS, that group of hospitals that Acadia is a part of. It was during the break after this session that I knew I was in the right place. An impossible thing had come true. On the front page of the EMHS newsletter I got was a picture of a rabbit in a vest with a pocket watch, as well as a girl with a cat that could only be described as Cheshire.

Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said 'one can't believe impossible things.'

'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'

Of all the quotes to be staring me in the face...it was a good moment.

By far the most fascinating session, to me at least, was the last one I attended today. This session covered the recovery model at the Acadia Hospital. I think this session was at least as educational, if not more, than my three years at Houghton so far. We discussed Psychiatric Advanced Directives, which was fascinating and totally new to me. The most interesting thing I learned today was about their treatment of goals as equally important to symptoms, and the S.M.A.R.T. system of setting goals. This evaluates if a goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. It was awesome to be hearing from professionals in the field how this is actually done!

After I got out I walked him singing a song I had just made up about how cool I am.

I will be at Acadia 6.5 hours tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it. We'll be discussing therapeutic relationships. I could not be more excited! Look forward to reading about that as well.

Number of internship hours completed 9/105