back on the first of january i wrote a blog about the upcoming year, 2009. it was kind of interesting to see what i was looking forward to at the beginning of this year. some things happened and others were way off. overall it was a very great year, one of the best so far. despite being unemployed at the moment, i am officially a registered nurse and am done with school (for now). while that was one of the things i was looking forward to, so was getting a job. who knew that the recession and economy would be so bad? the hospitals can basically pick and choose who they want to hire and be really specific, like wanting you to have 3 years of experience. i am not sure where i can get that but i am still trying. back in july i took and passed my NCLEX to get my RN, so i have been seeking work since then. wow, six months and still nothing. while at times it is frustrating and embarrassing, i know that it will happen when the time is right. my whole family came up to see me graduate from nursing school, which was pretty cool. my sister had the honors of "pinning" me and everything was awesome. finally graduating was a good feeling. after graduation we went on a trip to alaska on a cruise! we drove up to seattle and then took a ship out from there. it was about a week of eating tons of food everyday. we got off the ship in several ports and saw lots of cool stuff. we went to check out glaciers and do shopping in gold rush towns. it was all pretty neat and we were up there for the longest day of the year, june 21, so it was pretty much light out all day and night. the last awesome thing this year was meeting jeremy, my sweet boyfriend. he has been a great friend and i really can't ask for more in a relationship at this point. things are wonderful and we are having a great time together. i even went to his family's house for christmas which was nice and not awkward at all. we've been together since january and it has flown by really quick. he is the best!
i haven't written anything in a month! i've been busy and i promise there was some excitement. first of all, i finished school and graduated! yeehaw now i am waiting to take my NCLEX, the national board exam for nursing. after i pass that i will be a RN. my parents, sister and uncle all came up from hawaii to visit and participate in my graduation ceremony. it was awesome. unfortunately, no pictures of graduation yet. sorry.
my big june event was a trip to alaska on a cruise ship! it was my first cruise and while maybe not the last, i don't think i'll be going on another anytime soon. it was a lot to take in, for sure. especially when it came to eating. most of the meals are included in the price, unless you want a fancier meal, then it is $10-$25 set price. we ate a lot at the market cafe, which was buffet style. towards the end we started eating more in the restaurants but you could still order as many appetizers and stuff that you wanted. it was a lot of eating, what we are really good at!
it was cool cause i got to spend a lot of time with my sister, who i miss a lot. we get along fantastically. i also spent a lot of time with my parents. it was nice but a little cramped. we all shared one room and i slept on a bunk! it was interesting and i wish we had two rooms. it would have been a lot more expensive tho i think. there was a lot to do on the ship, a lot of which i did not partake in - crazy dance parties, a pool and hot tubs, casino, bingo (played once). we did go to all the night time shows though, with the jean ann ryan company. they did 3 shows - andrew lloyd webber tribute, cirque pacific, and "band on the run" 70's. it was really neat and we saw the chinese all-star acrobats, which was badass! another awesome thing was the magic show! shawn farquar is a two time world magic champion and he was awesome! here is one of his best card tricks, it's amazing!
we did four different outings off the ship in different ports of call. one of the best was the glacier day. we went to see mendenhall glacier by taking a bus ride from juneau. the glacier was cool but it was far away, i thought we'd get closer but i suppose it is better if people stay far away from them.i also wanted to see the glacier calving, which is when big chunks fall off. but we did not get to see that unfortunately. too bad, but what we did see was maybe even better...a BEAR! it was a baby i think and who knows where the mother was. i was standing at a lookout trying to get a picture of the glacier when i look down and there is a bear! i said "oh my god!" and screamed like a girl. that probably wasn't the best idea but that's what happened. the bear didn't even notice me or the other people around. he was 10-15 feet away from me, only a 3-foot cement wall separating us. oh man it was scary!after that experience nothing was going to be awesome so we got back on the ship and went on our merry way. the plan was to go see sawyer glacier but for whatever reason it was not accessible, so we went up a different fjord and set sail for dawes glacier. it took over 2 hours and everytime there was a little bend in the road we thought it would be around the corner! it took forever and the scenery didn't change much. it was cold and rainy and we were standing on the bow so all the wind was going right into our frozen faces. it was pretty spectacular though.we also had stops in ketchikan, skagway and prince rupert, canada. we went on a scenic train ride in the yukon area and learned about the gold rush. basically there was gold in alaska and so a bunch of men went there to get some. what do a bunch of men need? a bunch of women. so in every gold rush town there were lots of brothels. we went on a tour of one...that's all i remember about skagway. my sister and i nicknamed it "skankway". and if you get a chance to go to prince rupert, canada - don't. there is nothing there! we're still not sure why we stopped there. so that was my trip.
now i am back in portland, studying for my exam and moving (again!). also i have to look for a RN job and start working. yikes! for all those who have been hounding me for a picture of my bf, here is one of me and jeremy at a park. we had just finished a big meal of sushi and were hanging out in the sun.
