Greetings from Iowa!

That was the title I planned on using to post while I was in Iowa last week. Unfortunately the apartment I stayed in didn't have WiFi, so the blog was put on hold.

I'm actually in Auburn for the week and just completed my first week of rotations at East Alabama Medical Center. I am loving every minute of it and learning more than I could have ever imagined.

But there will be plenty of time to update about the internship. This post is all about my trip to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Let's rewind to January 8.

Dad and I headed to the Atlanta airport at 5:30am Sunday morning. I was a bit nervous about traveling alone for the first time, so I wanted to make sure I had plenty of time to make my 10:30am flight. I made it through security without issue and promptly found my gate. I was proud, confident, and ready to soar the sky.

Unfortunately Delta had other plans.

The flight was delayed until 11:10am due to "aircraft maintenance." No big deal. A 40 minute delay would still have me in Minneapolis in plenty of time to make my connection. We boarded the plane and got ready for take-off. Now I know that my flying experience is rather limited, but when the lights started dimming and pulsing and making strange noises, even I knew something was wrong. After a few minutes of nervous anticipation, the pilot informed us that the internal computer on the plane had crashed and they were working to fix the problem. After sitting on the ground for close to an hour, they informed us that the plane was not cleared for take off. Since this was Plan B, they weren't sure what Plan C would be. Possible flight cancellation? Grrrrrreat.

I was fortunate enough to be sitting by a precious couple from North Dakota. The wife took me under her wing and told me that if her daughter were traveling alone, she would want someone to look after her too. God definitely had a hand in that seat assignment.

Plan C ended up coming through and we finally left Atlanta at 1:30pm and landed in Minneapolis at 3:00pm... just in time for me to miss 2 connections to Des Moines, Iowa. I spent the next 4 hours in the Minneapolis airport reading The Hunger Games and eating a hamburger and fries. (Yes, I know. The irony is not lost.)

My flight left Minneapolis at 7:15 and I FINALLY arrived in Des Moines at 8:30pm. I took at shuttle to the campus in Ames, got checked in to my apartment, and settled in around 11:30pm. Even though the day was exhausting and much longer than anticipated, I was thankful to be in my temporary home and ready to begin my adventure.

The rest of the week went much smoother. We started every morning around 8:00am and ended around 8:00pm. The days were jam-packed with internship information, review sessions, guest speakers, and homework.

We were told the weather for the week was supposed to be mild and dry, meaning 40 degrees and no rain, snow, or ice. Monday and Tuesday were sunny, beautiful, and down-right pleasant. I had avoided the frigid cold of the mid-west in winter.

Or so I thought.

When we left class Wednesday, we were greeted by this waiting for us outside.

I was surprised by the difference in Iowa snow and Alabama snow. I thought all snow was heavy and wet and I was dreading the cold that comes after having your clothes and hair soaked to the bone by melting snow. But the snow in Iowa is dry and light enough to make what could only be described as "snow-tornadoes" in the parking lot. It was quite interesting.

The snow was the fun part. What's not so fun is the 12 degree temps with -6 wind chill. Holy cow... I thought I would never thaw out.

The rest of the week was snowy and cold and made me truly miss the south.

But the weather was just par for the course and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything. I met a ton of fantastic ladies and even a few guys. (Out of 54 people in attendance, 5 were male!) I feel like I spent at least a month with these new friends, rather than just a week! I am so thankful to have made these friendships and hope we can all stay in touch.

{My community of practice: the Mocha group!}



I flew back into Atlanta Sunday, January 15 and was greeted by my dad's smiling face. It was confirmation that I was almost done with this part of my adventure.

Dad drove me to Auburn where we met my mom at Lee's house. She brought my car and my luggage for week 2 and took me to Walmart for groceries.

The last few weeks have seriously been a blur and I know July will be here before I know it. This program is accelerated and requires 50 hours of supervised practice every week. But I can do anything for 6 months and cannot wait to be able to say I am a registered dietitian.

This blog has been long enough (Lee just asked if I was writing a book), so I'll update about my rotations later.

I'm off to eat dinner with friends and spend some time getting some much needed R&R.

Until next time...