Dietetic Internship: Week 4

Monday, July 27th: Spent all day long (literally 10+ hours) working on my presentation, but ended up getting 95% of it done! Tomorrow is the first day of presentations, but thankfully I’m going on Thursday.

Tuesday, July 28th: 6 interns presented today, and it was such a wide array of topics ranging from HIV and vitamin deficiencies, the benefits of probiotics, ancient grains, fad diets, to DHA and EPA recommendations. Every presentation was different, which made a day that could’ve been super boring, actually really interesting. 

Wednesday, July 29th: Woke up early for a drug test at 9 (which I passed, not surprisingly). It felt extra sunny today, so I ended up going on a much needed long run at a local park for some vitamin D and endorphins. Came back home to put the final touches on my presentation and run through it once before going to bed. Girl’s gotta get her beauty sleep!

Thursday, July 30th: AKA Presentation Day. Woke up early to squeeze in a workout + a 45 min walk on the treadmill reviewing my presentation one last time. Threw on some business casual clothes and headed off to class! Today’s presentations were just as good as Tuesday’s! Today’s topics ranged from PCOS, gestational diabetes and vitamin D deficiency, non-nutritive sweeteners, baby led weaning (hollaaaa), nutrigenomics, and eating disorders. Surprisingly enough I felt really confident in my presentation and getting in front of everyone. Seriously, all of the other interns are so awesome that intimidation was not even a concern. My presentation + questions/answers at the end lasted about 23 minutes, but it felt like it flew by in 10. Hopefully this is a sign that I’m getting a liiiittle more comfortable with public speaking…the only other time I remember feeling that comfortable was in Intro to Public Speaking sophomore year in which I gave a pretty bomb.com speak on Justin Bieber after a um….later night out. College.

Anyway, after presentations were done, we had a handbook quiz and were free for the day by 3:45! A handful of us headed over to Thirsty Monk for a celebratory beer and some decompression before dinner. I ended up grabbing some awesome blackened salmon tacos to go and headed back home with one of the other interns that stayed with me for the evening. After a couple episodes of Chopped, we called it a night by 10. Love people who are on the same sleep schedule as me ??

Friday, July 31st: Katie and I started off the morning with breakfast at Green Sage cafe, where I got a plate of scrambled eggs, an amazing root hash & biscuit with jam. We both left with a carrot + lemon + ginger juice in hand before parting ways for our 2 week break! I headed back home to finish up some assignments. We were each taped during out presentations, and had to watch the tape back and self-critic ourself HAHAH. So, so painful. I can’t enough count the number of times I said “um”….ugh. Finished up my self-assessment before starting to pack up. We still have a handful of online modules to read and take a quiz on regarding HIPAA stuff that was supposed to be done today, but it wasn’t available on the website so our director postponed it, praise the sweet Lord. Instead, I filled my time with a short workout, lunch, and giving myself a mani/pedi before going on an evening trail run out near a local college. The trail wound around a little creek that many people were wading around in, and it was that perfect time of evening right before the sun has set and the temperature is perfect…the best end to the week. 

Saturday, August 1st: Say whaaaat, it’s already August?! August 1st has held some sort of significance to me every since my high school cheerleading days — we were given all summer to train and prepare to be able to run an 8 minute mile on August 1st, as well as be able to throw all of our skills, in order to score a position for the competition squad. Ever since then, I always feel obligated to run at least a mile until 8 minutes, however this year I didn’t get around to it…Instead, I packed up my car and headed home to Dalton for a much needed 2 week break! A 3 1/2 hour drive through winding roads and beautiful scenery…I’ll take it! I made it to town in time to visit Jillian at the pool for a quick catch up before going home to get ready for an engagement party. 

Sunday, August 2nd: Made my first trip to a “real gym” in a whole month this morning, and it felt good! I’m super thankful that my apartment has a small fitness room, but I sure have missed the feel of being in a gym. I pounded out a good 7 miles with some arm + ab work and called it a day. Spent the remainder of a perfectly sunny summer day at the pool with my parents and some of our family friends. Our director finally put the online modules up, so I spent my evening reading through those to prepare for the quiz. In bed by 10, no surprise there! 

Soooo, that’s it! I made it through the first month of my dietetic internship. While I am on a two week break, we do have a project due on our first day back that I will be working on, along with doing some clinical review to refresh my memory. Despite that, I’m still excited to squeeze in some catch-up time with some of my closest friends from both childhood and college, sit by the pool and read a good book, and hang out with my parents of course. That’s not to say I don’t love Asheville, because I absolutely adore it — from the weather, to the fresh and local foods, to the people and culture, I have already come to appreciate so much about my new home and can’t wait to learn more about it over the next 10 months.