An Update From Sherri

I want to do an update on someone every few weeks since everyone seems to be pretty shy about sending me news =). Sherri volunteered to be the first. You don't have to wait for your scheduled "update" to send me news or pictures of what you've been up to. Everyone wants to hear about it. Just a note, you can leave a comment as anonymous and sign your name at the bottom if you do not have a blogger account. I'm sure Sherri would love to see comments. Now, for some news from Sherri-

Anyways.. about me. I did have some good news from the summer. The program director encouraged me to apply for the coordinated master's program, so I did. I got accepted in July and found out that I would be getting a hefty stipend from the government for interning at the VA hospital. Well, I had about 2 weeks of orientation in August and September, one at the VA, and one at the university. It was just too much "do this and do that". I should've brought sudoku puzzles.

My first rotation is in public health, which is where I am right now actually. I've been working in downtown Portland, which is kinda fun. However, being at a computer all day is just tedious. I have developed an initiative to make the county health department a "breastfeeding mother friendly employer", which apparently is a pretty big deal in Oregon. Thankfully, I didn't have to teach a class on breastfeeding, like how to deal with mastitis and stuff. My next one is in patient foodservice at the VA, which is a commissary system. It should be interesting, but I have to be there at 6:30 AM. Death.

As for my "real life", Portland is great. Totally different than Utah and California. I have to ride the bus a lot (the hospital and university are on this huge practically inaccessible hill next to downtown.. I really can't describe it), and I've had some interesting experiences with public transportation and the people who use it. My ward is tiny. Since they have to have a YSA ward for like every single stake, there are 20 people in my ward. So yeah, I love it here and wouldn't mind staying here after my internship. It is so beautiful; every single day I feel lucky to be here. I'm renting out a room from a married couple in a renovated house. It's very nice, but my room is tiny. Let's just say I have some creative storage methods.

I hope everyone else is doing well in their internships so far.. I felt really nervous before starting the internship--I even started reviewing my Krause textbook and my medical terminology book. However, I don't know about you all, but I have felt very prepared and ready when I've been working. I guess Dr. Nyland knew what she was doing!

Btw, I wouldn't mind hearing from any of you. My e-mail is sher.fech@gmail.com and my new number (I got rid of the Utah one as quickly as possible) is 503-962-9066.

Sherri