Life as a dental student...and an RN!

On our way to school and work!  Unfortunately this is the best picture we could get this early in the morning... (Chris's head is just a litttttle cut off) :)  

First of all, I apologize for not updating the blog lately.  Life has been absolutely crazy busy and I feel like there are not enough hours in a day!  I keep telling Chris it's a good thing we don't have kids because we are so busy and it's just the two of us!  Every day when I get home from work I clean up the apartment, workout, eat dinner with Chris, clean up dinner, pack our lunches, make dinner for the following evening, iron our scrubs, and by the time all that is done it's time for bed!  Like I said..not enough hours in the day!

I started work last week Monday.  Last week was just orientation for new UPMC RN's, so it was pretty boring.  I do feel very proud though to be working for such a prestigious health system.  UPMC employs almost 60,000 people, and it is ranked one of the top 10 health systems in the world!  I feel very fortunate to be employed by such a great system.  This week I started working on my acutal unit, which is the Interventional Radiology Unit.  So far, I absolutely love it.  I work with great people, and they are all so willing to make both my transition at work and in Pittsburgh very positive. My hours will vary, but will always be daylight hours.  This week I worked 8-4:30 and then 5:30am-2pm for a couple days.  I am learning SO much and am very overwelmed, but I also love how much I am learning and how knowledgeable I will become.  As an RN in this department, I get to take care of patients before they go in for their procedure, I am in the procedure room during the actual procedure, and then I take care of the patient after the procedure before they either go home or back to their hospital room.  This department performs hundreds of different procedures, anything from placing a feeding tube to taking care of an emergency stroke patient.  I love the variety and I love being a part of the procedures; the doctors are all so willing to teach me what they're doing and why..so I am learning so much.  I also really like the varying shifts for different reasons.  Most of the mornings I am able to drop Chris off at school before I go to work, which is nice for him because he doesn't have to take the bus!  It also works out quite often that I am able to pick him up from school when I'm done with work; the hospital and the dental school are only about 1.5 miles from each other, which is very conveniant for us! 

Life is certainly busy right now, but I have to say my favorite part of the busy day is coming home to see my wonderful husband.  Even with our busy schedules we make time to eat dinner together and hang out every night, and every Friday night we have "date night," which includes a home-cooked meal, a walk to the ice cream shop, and then usually renting a movie.  We both agree it's the best night of the week; a great way to kick off the weekend. :) 

As always, thank you to our wonderful family and friends who continue to support us and pray for us.  We feel so blessed and SO loved! 

We love you all! :)

Love always,
Chris and Rachael

"Delight yourself also in the Lord; and he shall give you the desires of your heart."

Psalms 37:4

University of Pittsburgh Football!

This past Saturday Chris and I attended the first home game for the U of Pitt football team!  Chris has season tickets and it's only $5 for me to go, so we will hopefully make it to many of the home games this season!  It was a 6:00 game, but we picked up one of Chris's dental school friends and headed to the stadium to tailgate with some other fellow dental classmates.  Tailgating and the game were really fun; it's such a great atmosphere and it was really cool to see Heinz stadium (same stadium where the Steelers play).  The only bummer of the day was that it was SO hot outside.  I'm not sure what the exact temperature was, but it felt like well over 100 degrees.  Needless to say there were a lot of sweaty Pittsburgh fans by the end of the game.  I took a few pictures from the day! 

In our Pitt gear all ready to go!

One of the views from the stadium.  The terrain in Pennsylvania is so different from Wisconsin; we are still fascinated by this every day when we drive through the area!  

Great view of the skyline from the stadium!

Another view.

We were in the nose bleed student section!

Pittsburgh ended up winning 35 to 7; a great way to start the season!  The following day Chris and I got a few things done around the apartment and then were invited to a cookout at one of his dental friend's house.  It was a nice evening and it was great to socialize and meet more new people!  Chris didn't have class on Monday because of Labor Day, so we ran some errands together and Chris did some studying.  It was a nice relaxing way to wrap up the holiday weekend.  We have definitely met a lot of people since we've moved here, and every day things feel a little more comfortable in this new, enormous city!  I start work on Monday so that is yet another new beginning in our Pittsburgh adventure.  I will be working at a hospital very close to Chris's school; primarily day shift which will be absolutely wonderful!  My background and passion is in cardiac nursing, but I am excited to learn everything I can in my new department of interventional radiology.  It will definitely be a learning experience but I am excited and ready for a good challenge! 

Once again, thank you to everyone for your love and support each day.  We are empowered by your prayers, kind words, and warm thoughts.  We miss everyone so much, and continue to pray that God keeps you happy, healthy, and safe.  Since we moved here I have been holding onto some wonderful words of wisdom from Grandma Valentyn: "Give everything from your day to God..the day's triumphs, sadness, happy moments, and suffering; give it all to God and he will carry you through each day, because God never gives us more than we can handle."  This is something my Grandma has been telling me for years, and when I hugged her goodbye the night before we moved here she whispered these very familiar words to me again.  Thank you Grandma, and thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends...we are so blessed to have you in our lives!

Love always,

The Petersons

"For I can do everything through Christ, who strengthens me." 

Philippians 4:13 

First Visitors!

Barb and Dan came and visited us last weekend.  They arrived on Saturday evening and left early Tuesday morning.  It was great to see a familiar face and we enjoyed exploring the city with them!  Here are a few pictures from their visit.

Chris and me waiting for our very first visitors to arrive!

 The whole group!  They made it safely!

The German Brewery where we ate dinner..very good food and a very fun atmosphere!

We took a trolley that took us up the hill to get a great view of the city (Dan and I were a little nervous about the "steepness" of the hill, but we survived it!)  This is a picture of Heinz stadium where the Steelers and University of Pitt teams play!

Chris and I at the top of the hill

It's hard to see in this picture, but there are SO many bridges! 

Pittsburgh, our new home!  SUCH beautiful views of the city.

The tallest building downtown is UPMC (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) which is my new employer! :)

Chris and I again at the top of the hill.  The Duquesne Incline (the trolley that goes up and down the hill) has been in business since 1907!

On Monday, August 29, Chris had the honor of participating in the White Coat Ceremony.  This is a ceremony when the new class of dental students is recognized and they recieve their white dental coats.  It was a really neat ceremony, and it was nice that Barb and Dan could be there for it. 

Chris is the tallest one in the way back. :)

After the white coat ceremony we went out for dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate Barb's birthday.  The dinner was excellent and so was the company!

These are the huge smoke stacks right by the Longhorn Steakhouse and right down the street from our apartment.

One more!

It was great to have visitors and we welcome anyone and everyone who wants to visit us during our time here in Pitt!  We are glad the Petersons made it home safely and we are thankful they were able to come!

"May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else." Thessalonians 3:12



Our Apartment

One thing that has made this transition a little easier is the fact that we absolutely LOVE where we live.  Our apartment is so nice, and our location is so conveniant and more importantly safe.  We live about 5 miles from downtown Pittsburgh, and 2 miles from the University and the hospital where I will be working.  Right behind our apartment is the beautiful Monongahela River.  There is a really nice walking trail right between the river and our apartment complex.  Down the street are tons of restauraunts along the river, all with outdoor seating outlooking the beautiful scenery.  Chris has really enjoyed having a river in his backyard; he has been fishing several times since we've been here!  Right across the street from our front door is anything and everything we could ever need in terms of shopping: the grocery store (here their grocery stores are called The Giant Eagle), Target, Lowe's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Best Buy, Radio Shack, DSW Shoes, Macy's, Barnes and Noble, movie theater, an outdoor shopping mall, and lots of cute shops and restauraunts.  We literally have e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g!  It is so conveniant to run across the street whenever we need anything and be able to park right next to the store.  Downtown Pittsburgh is slightly different;  you usually have to park about 5 blocks away from where you need to go, unless you want to pay $7.00/half hour to park in a ramp.  One of the main reasons we chose to live here is because of the conveniant, safe location..much more similar to what we're both used to at home in Wisconsin!  The apartment complex is also very new, which we also love!  I took a few pictures of our apartment from the outside.  Later this week I will try to post pictures of the inside!   

 Our front door!

 Our front yard!

   Another view of the front yard...The window on the right is our living room window, and the window on the left is our bedroom window!

We are so glad we chose to live here; we absolutely love it!   



"Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”
2 Samuel 7:29

Life as a Dental Student...

Chris had one week of freedom from the time we moved to Pittsburgh to his first official day of class.  It was great to have one week together before he started school, because there was A TON to do when we arrived.  We didn't bring any furniture out here (only our bed), so we bought all of our furniture that week.  A lot of the furniture we bought required assembly, so I was thankful to have Chris home to do that!  It was a great week and we accomplished a lot.

Chris had his first official day of dental school on Monday, August 22.  They had one week of orientation, and his first official day of classes started on August 29.  Of course I took pictures of him on his first day of orientaiton and his first official day of class.  He was thrilled.

Life as a dental student has pretty much been exactly like everyone told us.  Chris is gone every day from 8-5 for the most part, and then he comes home and studies for most of the night.  Every night he comes home he has about 100 stories and experiences to share with me, and I really enjoy hearing about everything he does at school all day.  It's amazing how they just jump right in to everything; today Chris got to assist a fourth year dental student do a crown on a patient.  He was pretty excited and we both talked about how amazing it is that in no time at all he will be the fourth year dental student who knows how to do a crown!  He is so passionate and enthusiastic about learning dentistry; I know he picked the right profession!
    

A New Beginning

Hello from Pittsburgh to all of our wonderful family and friends!  Chris and I decided this would be a great way to stay in touch with everyone while we are living here.  So welcome to our blog!

As many of you know, on August 13 we packed up everything we owned and began our journey to Pittsburgh, where we will be living for four years while Chris attends the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine.  August 13 was actually the wedding day of one of Chris's roommates, so we left on Sunday, August 14 from Wisconsin Dells where the wedding was.  That Saturday was a very emotional day as we said goodbye to family and friends before we left for the wedding.  Chris's parents and my brother, Paul were invited to the wedding also, so we got to spend our last night in Wisconsin with them and all of our other SNC friends.  We had a good time but it was difficult to say goodbye to everyone at the end of the night.

Our drive out to Pittsburgh went very smoothly.  I was a little nervous about driving the truck with the trailer, but Chris and I took turns driving and we made it safely to Pittsburgh around 10:00 pm (It's an 11 hour drive from Appleton, WI to Pittsburgh..with the time difference it's a total of 12 hours!)  It was the first time we had driven into the city at night, and it was pretty cool to see the entire city lit up as we drove in!  (I attempted to get a picture as we drove into the city but was unsuccessful)  We unloaded the truck and trailer, put together our bed, and immediately passed out.  It had been a very long, emotionally draining 24 hours.

We have felt such love and support from our family and friends since we moved out here.  It's amazing how far a text/phone call/email goes when you are in a new city where you know no one.  Everyday we talk about how blessed we feel to have such wonderful people in our lives to miss so much!  I pray everyday that God will continue to give us the strength and courage to adapt to our new surroundings and bless us on our new journey together.  I also thank Him constantly for blessing us with amazing people in our lives.  We are truly blessed, and we continue to be blessed here, in this new place.  Thank you so much to everyone who has been so kind and supportive; we appreciate and love you all!   

Love always,
The Petersons

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference."