Wait, school starts when?!

I just got back from the most relaxing vacation. Six days on the shores of Waikiki beach in Oahu, Hawaii. Not to brag or anything, but it was B-E-A-UTIFUL! And a much needed chance to just kick back , put my feet up, and relax.
No studying, no emails, no thoughts of what’s to come (ok, so they crossed my mind, but I didn’t let them linger!).  I got my R&R and as the flight was circling LAX on Saturday night, I started thinking about all the great things I was going to do to finish up my last week of summer vacation: finish reading the new book I’d started, clean up my room, clear off my desk, do some shopping, get my hair cut. All those little things that I needed to get done but was looking forward to finishing up leisurely. The key word in that sentence is “was”.

Sunday night rolls around and I am planning out some things to do for the week, when a text from a friend comes in. It got me thinking about the new-student orientation we’re helping out with this Wednesday. Then I thought to myself, that’s odd, why would the orientation be this week, if class doesn’’t start till NEXT week?  That’s when it dawned on me. School wasn’t starting NEXT week, it was starting THIS week. This Thursday to be exact! All the pieces of information from three weeks back starting coming back to me: orientation is the day before class starts, fall quarter starts on Thursday… all of it whooshed in an whacked me (and all my plans) right in the butt.

So. Now it’s Tuesday night. Tomorrow I help orient the new nursing students, and with only a few precious hours of summer time left, I still only crossed off a few things on my “to-do” list. I don’t feel ready for this quarter yet. I needed that extra week to mentally prepare myself, to get my act together, step out of vacation mode and at least clean off some space on my desk to study! Oh well, there’s nothing I can do now but give it my all (though I think part of my brain is still in Hawaii). Back to school – here I come!