Hello, hello! I hope everybody is doing well and hopefully not still freezing if you live up north. Texas is enjoying a mild 60 degrees, so feel free to visit us anytime!

I’ve spent the last two weeks diving into this spring semester, trying to figure out what I’m doing, and I’ve finally come up with an answer: it’ll be hard! But that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun.

To be honest, my semester probably doesn’t look very much like the semesters of most junior dietetics students, or even other juniors in my department! I just picked up my business minor at the end of last semester, so the majority of my courses are intro courses at the College of Business. The mix of classes forces me to use completely different skills. In the same day, I might learn how to make an income statement, stretch the limits of my brain with medical terminology, and discuss how to run a business. It keeps things fresh.

Alright, what courses am I taking, you might ask? This semester I’m taking five: Accounting, Intro to Business Technology, Basic Management, the dreaded Pathophysiology, and Nutritional Biochemistry.

Accounting and Business Tech

Accounting and Business Tech are two classes I’m taking strictly for my minor. Both of these courses are thankfully starting out slow. In accounting, we’re learning the very basics of what accountants work with, while in Business Tech, the professor is teaching us how to use Excel, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft Office tools. We’re able to do all the homework in class and I’m still learning. With how difficult some of these classes may turn out to be, I don’t mind that at all! 😉

Management

Because it’s needed for both my degree and minor, management is actually pulling double duty for me. I actually started to take this class last semester with the same professor, but realized I couldn’t handle how hectic it made my schedule that semester. It was hard to drop, because it’s a good class and a great professor, but I knew it would still be here for me this year. My classmates and I will learn what it means to be a good manager and what skills we need to become one. I hope to learn better leadership skills from completing this class.

Pathophysiology

So many pre-nursing majors have talked about how hard this class can be, so I was a little nervous going into it. However, I got my act together over the break for once and reviewed some A&P since that’s the backbone of pathophysiology! The class met for our first three hour lecture on the first week of classes, and to my surprise, I enjoyed it! The professor admitted the class will be hard and that in order to stay on top of things, we’d need to study every day. But for both lectures we’ve had so far, I can never say I was uninterested. Maybe a little grossed out by some of the pictures we had to look at, but I wasn’t falling asleep from boredom. Like she said, I’ve had to study everyday just because of how much material we go through, but I’m understanding everything.

Nutritional Biochemistry

I had to take a biochemistry class last summer, so this class will have some overlap with that. From what I can tell so far, the classes differ in two ways. The summer class was an introduction designed for all majors (yet I took it only with dietetics students!) and taught by a chemistry professor. My current class is taught by a nutrition professor in my department, so has much more of a focus on how it impacts nutrition. I don’t have a problem with chemistry, so I think I’ll enjoy this class.

Summary

These past two weeks have been hectic. With school starting back up, instead of homework, everyone’s dealing with organization meetings, catching up with friends, and getting used to being back on campus. It can be a lot at times, but I have a feeling that this is the semester where I’m going to have to go through hard things, but come out stronger.

How is your year going? What’s something you’re looking forward to?