Life goes on...

Hmmm..... what can I say? I had a good week #3 at my clinical... none of my patients were harmed (thankfully) and I got to spend a wonderful weekend watching the Aliens trilogy with my incredible husband. Aside from that, I am growing tired of not seeing Lucas everyday, driving every weekend, the numbness in my toe (and calf), and today on my drive back to Greensville my "permanant" crown fell off... less than a year after I got it put on.... WTF?!?! *sigh* life is good.... but still stressful.

A little bit about where I'm at now...

My current clinical is in Greenville, NC (about 2 1/2 hours away from where we live) and I am doing inpatient rehab which means that I work with patients in the hospital who are medically stable but need to work on building up their strength before they can go home. Most of my patients are neurological patients, meaning they have some sort of brain or spinal cord injury. I also work with patients who may just have a lot of medical problems and need a lot of assistance, such as people with multiple injuries from a car accident. So we do fairly basic things like practicing walking, climbing stairs, working on balance, and sometimes learning to use and maneuver a wheelchair. So far it is going really well but I've had some rough days... there is so much to learn about being safe and not hurting your patients while trying to challenge them to do something that is difficult too. On Monday I had my first patient fall; that is never a good feeling. Everyone assures me that I did everything I could have, but that it just sometimes happens... but it is still hard not to feel responsible or like I should have done something different somehow. Despite that incident, I love the hospital and the facility in which I get to work.. there is so much equipment to work with, and the people are really friendly and wonderful to work with. If this hospital was in Greensboro I would be applying there for sure!
Outside of clinical life is going well too. We got our tickets to go up to Alaska for Rachel and Jordan's wedding today... I am glad we will get to be there for this special event! Lucas and I are handling the distance well, I think better this time since being together for 2 weeks in Italy and my being able to come home on the weekends helps a lot too. Otherwise, I'm keeping busy trying to exercise daily and I'm currently reading a book called "Love life for every Married Couple" by a chrisitian doctor about how God has designed every marriage to be a love affair... So far I don't think some of the priniciples really apply to us (it's geared towards couples who are struggling) but it still has some really good points and lessons to be applied to our marriage. That's all I've got for now...

The Inevitable

Well, it finally happened. I dropped my first patient. I knew it had to happen eventually but I think that part of me was really hoping that it never would. Honestly, the thing that annoys me the most is that I'm pretty sure the patient did it on purpose. So there you go; I feel like crap. That's what's new in the life of Rachel.

Transitions...

It's weird to think that we've already been back over a week and that I've moved to Greenville and have already finished a week at my new clinical site; man does time fly! Our last day in Rome was very relaxing... in fact, other than seeing the San Calisto cattacombs, we pretty much didn't do anything; probably the perfect way to end a busy trip. In the meantime I have moved to Greenville, NC to complete my 3rd clinical rotation at Pitt Memorial Hospital. So far, I love it. The hospital is massive, the rehab gym is phenomenal, and my CI (clinical instructor) is a lot of fun. I also love that Greenville is only 2 1/2 hours from home so I can go home on the weekends without much hassle and see Lucas and all our friends. This weekend I went home and we went to a charity event to benefit Multiple Sclerosis. I got to catch up with the Morgans and the Tishlers, so it was a good time.
As I reflect upon our trip to Italy I find that I am surprised at which moments I remember with the most fondness. For example, especially after visiting the cappucian crypt, I did not anticipate the overwhelming sense of faith and peace that I felt while visiting the catacombs of San Calisto, where archaeologists estimate around half a million Christians from 140AD to 350AD were buried, nor did I expect to remember eating dinner sitting on a curb watching a turd float by as one of my favorite moments. Lying on the grass in the field of miracles, gazing up at the Sistine chapel, listening to music watching the sun go down over St. Mark’s basilica at the Café Florian, dancing with Lucas in San Marco square, sleeping every afternoon in Rome, sitting on a curb eating a goat cheese and prosciutto sandwich with local workers, and realizing how much Lucas loves me after he lost my laptop are some of my favorite memories of Italy. It’s interesting that while seeing the Coloseum, the Pantheon, and so many other sites were amazing, they don’t compare in my memory to the moments I shared with Lucas. :) I have almost completed uploading photos to our shutterfly account, if you would like to see all of the pictures I took, click the link here: http://lucasandracheldargis.shutterfly.com/

Rome: Day 4

It was a good day. We began by sleeping in… oh glorious sleep how I have missed you! We had a leisurely breakfast and then meandered over to view the pyramid followed by St. Paul’s basilica. Compared to some of the other sights we’ve seen on this vacation, neither one were jaw dropping, although St Paul’s was an incredibly beautiful church. The pyramid, which was built as Gaius Cestius’ tomb and is now part of the Aurelian wall, had a protestant cemetery behind it which we also visited. The cemetery is also a cat sanctuary/shelter so I had fun petting the kitties (I miss mine!) Next, we attempted to see the Cappuccian crypt, a crypt decorated entirely from the bones of more than 4,000 monks, but it was closed so we retreated to our hotel for a picnic lunch in our air conditioned room. After lunch (and a quick siesta) we headed back to the crypt which Lucas found fascinating and I found very disturbing. Afterwards we hopped on the metro to return to the Vatican to see St. Peter’s basilica and marvel at its monstrosity. The truth is that while it is breathtaking and vast we both felt that it was rather over the top. However, that is apparently the style of the Baroque period in which the majority of the church was constructed. The sheer size of the church is incredible with the letters on the wall standing over 7 feet tall! The real highlight was also seeing Michelangelo’s Pieta, the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus’ crucified body; Michelangelo sculpted this when he was 24 years old… incredible! To end the day we visited the Borghese gardens and then found dinner in a quaint, but tasty, pizzeria.

Rome; the Eternal City

Where do I start? So much has happened in the last 3 days that I don’t even know where to begin. Rome is slightly overwhelming and definitely awe-inspiring. In a city with 2.6 million people and a 2,000 year history it’s easy to feel small and insignificant. In the last 3 days I have seen things I have only dreamed about including the Coloseum, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, Palantine hill, the Trevi fountain, the Spanish steps, the Vatican museum, and the Sistine chapel. Today I stood at the very place where Julius Cesar was burned, yesterday I stood in front of the tomb of Raphael in the Pantheon, and on Sunday I stood beneath Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel. Each day has been special and memorable and there is still more to see! Tomorrow we are going back to the Vatican to see St. Peter’s basilica; the largest church in the world, and later the cappuccian crypt, the villa Borghese gardens, and St Paul’s basilica.

We have been trying to take things slower in Rome since we have more time here. We have been doing only one or two sites in the morning and then retreating to our hotel room for a nap and to escape the grueling heat; it is truly unbearable. Then we head out again to see something else, have dinner, and explore some other corner of Rome. Last night we hired a local artist to sketch my portrait, something I have always wanted to have done. It was very intense being the focal point of an artist, and Lucas videotaped his sketching so later I got to see how he did it also. We think he did a very good job, but made my chin more pointed than it is ;) You are welcome to judge for yourself the next time you come over. Well, I think that’s all for now…

Florence

Day One: What a stressful day we had! We got up at 7:15 in order to eat, pack, and catch our bus to the train station to catch our 8:59am train. We became worried that we would miss our train when we didn’t get on a bus until 8:10 or so, of course, all worry was in vain as we made it to the train station by 8:40 and were waiting on our train to arrive when Lucas realized he left his backpack, with my laptop in it, on the bus. *Sigh* then the drama began. I won’t pretend that I handled the situation ideally, but we did handle it in the best way we knew how; which basically meant I yelled and cried and Lucas apologized and comforted me. We missed our train trying to track down his bag and in general trying to locate a number or someone who might be able to help us. In the end we waited at the train station and checked every #11 bus that came to the station until the next train to Florence at 11:59. At 11:30, with still no bag, we found our platform and I sat with bags and waited on the train while Lucas went to see if any more buses came in the next 10 minutes. Wouldn’t you know he returned with his bag and everything still in it just 15 minutes before our next train arrived! That, my friends, is a modern day miracle! I couldn’t believe it, God is so faithful! I couldn’t imagine trying to replace a brand new, $700 laptop anytime soon.
So we were finally on our way to Florence, only 8 Euros poorer and only 2 hours behind schedule. We arrived at 2pm and found our hotel, the hotel Andrea, a quaint hotel in true Italian style (meaning it’s small and very old fashioned). Fortunately the hotel recently installed an elevator so we didn’t have to haul our luggage up the 3 flights of stairs to where our hotel was located. We checked in with no problems, went straight to shower (we had run around all morning checking buses and Florence is HOT), and then had to get the desk clerk to show us how to turn on our AC (turns out it has a remote). Then we decided to wander around and get our bearings. We ended up exploring some local street markets, the Duomo, the Basilica di Santa Trinita, and watching the sunset over the Arno River. Be sure to check out our breathtaking pictures and the picture of Splinter, the oversized Italiano river rat that lives there!

Day Two: Oh my feet are killing me. We did a bunch of exploring today which was a lot of fun but my feet are starting to revolt! We began the day by sleeping in to a decent 9:00 (we are on vacation after all) and then enjoyed the complimentary breakfast and coffee in the little dining room near the entry. They had a nice assortment of cereals, pastries, rolls and cheeses, and my favorite… coffee. I also had a lovely cheese Danish… yum. We started our touring by walking over to a fort which turned out to be just an old fort; nothing to see on the inside, and then proceeded to the Santa Maria Novella church which was closed… so we headed on to the mercato centrale and checked out the local produce. For lunch we ate at this hole-in-the-wall that Rick Steves suggested and had procutto and goat cheese sandwiches on homemade bread sitting curbside with locals… I thought it was yummy and quite the experience. Throughout the day we also saw the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, the Chiesa di Ssan Michele, statues in the Palazzoo Vecchio courtyard.
At 2:00 we had reservations to enter the infamous Uffizi gallery which houses famous works of art by Rembrandt, Leonardo DaVinci, Botticelli, and Michelangelo. We spent a good 2 hours exploring and appreciating the progression of art from medieval times to the Renaissance and beyond. Fortunately we had a great audio guide to help us better appreciate what we were looking at. After the Uffizi we walked a couple blocks over to appreciate the Chiesa di Santa Croce to see the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo (plus an amazing church). Apparently the pope had wanted Michelangelo to be buried in Rome but the Florinians stole his body away in the middle of the night and had him buried in Florence as he had requested while alive. And Galileo had been exiled due to his outrageous thinking that the earth revolved around the sun. It wasn’t until 100 years after his death that he was moved to this honored tomb. At this point we retreated to our hotel to rest before venturing out for dinner. We found a quaint café and had brushetta, salad, lasagna, and wine… yummy!

Day 3: What a great day! We decided to make today a leisurely day since yesterday was pretty crazy and headed straight to Pisa to view the infamous leaning tower of Pisa. We enjoyed an hour train ride to Pisa viewing the incredible countryside and arrived at the station in Pisa at around 11:30. We decided to walk to the tower, about a 30 minute walk, getting a feel for the small town. As we rounded the corner in contemporary Pisa, suddenly, there was the tower looming crookedly over the town. We spent the next couple of hours taking our “holding the tower up” pictures, perusing the souvenir stalls, and laying on the field of miracles that is home to the leaning tower, the baptistery, and the duomo. We then headed back to the station, stopping for lunch along the way at a pizzeria where we got 3 pieces of pizza (2 for Lucas, 1 for me) and a bottle of water for less than 5 Euros and then got some excellent cherry gelato next door. After the train ride back we retreated to our hotel for a quick 20 minute rest break and then were off to the Piazzale Michelangelo and the San Miniato church.
After catching our bus, we made it to the San Miniato church just in time for the daily Gregorian chants that are sung every evening at 5:30; it was soooo beautiful. To hear the Latin being sung in a massive church with amazing acoustics; incredible. Next we headed out to get some breathtaking pictures overlooking Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo. Finally, we caught a bus back and got dinner at a little place we found with an all you can eat buffet for 6 Euros-that is a steal here! The food was actually quite good if not a little different. We sampled potatoes and hot dogs (weird combo), sautéed veggies, sausage and tomato tortellini, and several different pasta salads. After dinner, we called it a day heading back to our hotel to pack up and get an early night’s sleep to hit Rome, and hopefully the Vatican the next day.