First award-winning post
Guys. It is summer 2022 - June 9, to be specific - and I haven't seen most of you in over a month. Hope it's a good summer and you're not working too hard. This is my very first post of what I hope will become an award-winning blog. Pulitzer prize? Maybe. Do they even give Pulitzer prizes to bloggers?
The whole point is to get some information out there about the trip I am working on for next year. It has been entirely too long since the SUU Nursing students went anywhere. I've heard rumors that SheriDawn took a group of nursing students to the DR several years ago. That was before my time, so I'm not sure, it may or may not have been true. And Mark has tried to get nursing students to Taiwan for the past two years, which got cancelled each year because of Covid. I think he has given up the fight on that one. The way things are shaping up for Taiwan lately, I think it's a wise choice.
Which brings us here. Some of you have heard me talk about our family trip to Florianopolis, Brazil this past spring. For those of you who aren't in my Pharmacology or Community Health courses, feel free to stop my in the hall and ask me about my trip. I will wax eloquent.
I LOVED IT. Loved loved loved. It was the best trip of my life, truly.
The whole purpose of the trip was to take my daughter somewhere exotic for spring break during her senior year. She had been asking to go to London, but I didn't have a deep desire to go to London. Meanwhile, we had family friends who lived in Florianopolis, Brazil and had invited us to come stay. My husband was better friends with them than I was, I was a little hesitant about traveling to the southern half of the globe to stay with people I didn't know well. Craig assured me that it would be great so we went. And oh my laws he was so right. We will save my feelings towards these wonderful friends for another award-winning post.
The problem, though, was that spring break for Ellie fell towards the end of the semester for SUU - and not during a time that we were on break. The solution? Make it a trip all about business!! The whole reason I am going is to foster relations between SUU Nursing and the nursing program at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina!! To create opportunities for our students! I will be thinking about them the entire time! The fact that our friends live there, just two blocks away from the beach, has nothing to do with it!
This is the stance I chose to take. It worked reasonably well. Before I left, I announced in faculty meeting that I would be taking a BUSINESS trip to Brazil and would be gone. I got a lot of confused looks. I said again, a BUSINESS trip. It's a BUSINESS trip. I tried to say the word BUSINESS four or five times to cement it in their minds. Some of the faculty seemed to understand what I was saying, others didn't. Oh well.
Did I actually do BUSINESS while I was there? I did. I took a day and visited with the nursing faculty at the university. They were great. They were really kind. They showed me all over. They took me to lunch. They took me through the teaching hospital. They talked to me about possibilities of having the students come to visit.
And okay, yeah, it was just one day. The rest of the days I spent in the jungle or on the beach or hanging out with our friends. I still say that it counts as a BUSINESS trip.
Long story short, I am going back. I am taking a group of students next year, as soon as spring semester gets done. SheriDawn and Sierra are planning to come too. We are thinking 10-20 students. The focus will be on nursing but we will also do touristy stuff. It's no good going all the way to Florianopolis if you don't go to the beach and the jungle. Have I mentioned the beach and the jungle are the most beautiful things I've ever seen? They are.
Okay, I think that's it for right now. The first award-winning post needs to end somewhere. But more will be forthcoming.
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