Journal+9+-+Sneeze+2

For the next 40 minutes I am going to write about the broadest topic possible for me: my future hopes and dreams. A few things that I'd find necessary to involve in my future would be my family, horses, and a career in the medical field. None of it is set in stone, but for now, this is how I see my future playing out. After high school I hope to go to an accredited nursing school and get my RN degree. I was thinking about attending a very prestigious nursing school, such as UPenn's School of Nursing, but after some early thought I figured it would be better for me to attend a more affordable and closer school to home. I discovered that the main reason I wanted to UPenn was because I thought it would help me find jobs later in life, but after some research I found out that it doesn't matter which school you go to if you want to pursue a career in medicine. All the employers care about is that you got your degree and you have experience. Right now I have my sights set on attending the nursing program at York College, which I heard is the best program at the college. It would be close to home, so I would be able to live with or near my parents while I'm attending, and it would be MUCH less expensive. Plus, there are academic scholarships available at York College, whereas UPenn doesn't give that opportunity since every single student that gets accepted there has very advanced learning abilities. After graduating from undergraduate nursing at York College, I hope to work for 1 or 2 years as an RN at a hospital or specialized practice in York. I'd like to work in the ICU so that it would give me the appropriate knowledge and experience to be able to pursue my graduate degree. Hopefully it is also possible for me to job shadow a CRNA during this time. This would give me an idea of what the life of a CRNA is like before I apply to graduate school to become a CRNA. CRNA stands for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. They are similar to anesthesiologists but they don't get paid as much and they don't require as much schooling. Usually they assist anesthesiologists in the OR and sometimes they administer anesthesia themselves. I would get my CRNA degree at York College, which has one of only less than 90 CRNA schools in the country. The number of CRNA schools are expected to increase in the near future, though. The CRNA program at York College will take 32 months, and when I graduate I will finally be able to get a job as a CRNA. After saving enough money, I am going to move to a farm somewhere in York County with enough acreage to have a few horses. I will move my horse Cinnamon with me and he will FINALLY have his own barn where I will be able to feed him and put him out in the pasture whenever I want. At the barn where he currently is staying, he only gets fed a limited amount and the owner of the barn controls when he goes in and out of his stall. My mom will also get a horse and keep him at my barn for free. She has always dreamed of having her own horse barn, so I think she will be equally happy if I have my own and she can visit whenever she wants. Depending on how busy I am at this point, I might start up my own baking business. Even though I don't do it often, baking is a lot of fun and I'm very interested in all types of cooking. I try to help my mom in the kitchen whenever possible, but our kitchen is small and we don't have our dishwasher installed yet so there isn't much cooking or baking that goes on in the house. Having a baking business would be a great way to get some extra money while doing something I love. I'd just have to make sure that my bakery isn't TOO good, or else I'd probably be baking cakes all day and eating them. Once I have enough money I'd also have to take frequent trips to places like Colorado, Montana, and Alaska. Even though I love mountains, I've never seen the Rockies. I've only ever been to the Poconos, which you could hardly call mountains. They're more like big hills. A goal I have for the future is to survive skiing down the Rockies. If I meet someone, maybe I'll start a family, but I'm not the kind of person that desperately wants children. If it happens, it happens. If not, I'd have a house, a barn, and horses to myself and I'd have all the freedom I want. Plus, I'll have my mom, dad, brother, and friends, and that's all I really want.