hey

We´ve both had the exhausting week getitng up at 0500 every morning. Remind me not to get a job far away from home when I finish Uni in a years time, please. This is killing me-I´m most definitevly not a morning person. Or a set-the-alarm-to-0455-person. Well-I didn´t have to wear a uniform like Caroline who´s placed in a war veterans ward. (check the pictures...) Us and the brunettes started our placements this week. In mental health wards. Quite intimidating in the beginning, I didn´t really know what to say and not to say to patients. And the staring was what got me puzzled me the first day. I had to focus real hard to not stare back. Luckily there was lots to read since the nurses kept feeding me with information sheets and articles on mental health. Once the patients were familiar with me being there-and I was more relaxed-we all settled. Mental health nursing is very different to general nursing. It involves mentally taking care of someone and that can be quite the challenge. I´m really happy to be at the same hospital as Lillian, we´re at opposite wards and can feed of eachother during lunch breaks. I´ve had a couple of experiences that threw me off a bit. I didn´t get a chance to talk to the nurse afterwards-It would be interesting to hear the rationale for her actions but I have a feeling she wouldn´t see any wrongs with what happened. Sometimes you just think to yourself that you would never do that. Or hope that you would never treat a patient like what I observed. Then there are other times when you experience nursing at its best. I´m here to learn so there might be some nurses I just prefer to work with and ask questions to. Our first week has been spend settling in to the ward-tomorrow is the start of a new week when I am observing ect. That´s one thing Australians are big on-not ect itself, but abbreviations. (We reckon there should be a list for next years students of the most health related common abbreviations...like AD, GP, D/C, OCD, RN, EN and so many others. Anyone recognize any of those?)

Patients and nurses are quite interested in Norway and everyone keeps introducing us by "...and they´ve come all the way from Norway" like it was the moon or something. But I don´t mind being the entertainment and keep telling people what they want to hear. Like everything about the fjords. And that no-you can´t really surf on them. And yes, we do whaling-and whale meat tastes awful.

I did some retail therapy once starting my placement. Since we´re not wearing uniform where Lillian and I are, we´re required to wear our own clothes. And they must adhere to standards of not being to revealing or inviting and most definitively not involve anything you could see yourself strangled with. Like scarfs. And you´re required to wear covered shoes.

In a couple of weeks time I´m going to Brisbane. About time you say-I´ve been in Australia for over a month, nearly two. And still hasn´t been back to Brissie. Well-the Valley Fiesta seemed like a great opportunity to go and catch up with a few dearly missed friends. Looking forward to meet you up there, whoever is in town. And possibly spend a whole day without freezing?

cheers,

Hanne