This post is definitely long overdue, but I must say the past few weeks have been beyond busy, plus I haven't been able to focus long enough to sit down for longer than 7 minutes. I have officially started my practical's and still have classes and am in full force with my marathon training. Let me give you some details.
Practicals
We are now the first year physical therapy interns at the local Rehabsports Clinic here in Poznan. When we first walked into this place, I was blown away. The marble flooring and high tech equipment combined with people walking around in suits and ties was not what I expected at all. We were motioned to go to the changing rooms and put on our intern clothes which we were informed were white scrubs. When we walked into the main therapy room, we immediately felt uncomfortable. Why? Well because it turns out that we were not supposed to wear all white, but a white t-shirt and black sweatpants. Oops. We obviously upgraded our wardrobe the next time we went in. Our main therapist that we were working with is Rafal Hejna who is absolutely amazing at his job, which is probably why he was offered a job two days ago to be the personal therapist for Ireneusz Jelen who is one of the best Polish soccer players that plays for a French team. After working as a therapist for about 10 years, Rafal landed his dream job. It was really neat to see how quickly you can move up when you're good at your job. And Rafal is REALLY good at his job. I mean this in all seriousness.
One of the first days at our practical, we were checking our range of motion. I was one of the volunteers for internal and external rotation of the hip. Once we realized that my internal rotation was on the smaller scale, Rafal started to tell me what he learned from this one simple test. Ready for this? He says, "So Ola, you don't really wear dresses a lot. When you go out, you don't get too dressed up and don't wear heels. You also have lower back pain and you run a lot. Am I right?" I nearly passed out when he said all this because it was all true! That's when I realized that being a physical therapist is even better than I thought it was. Our practical training is basically all observation and sometimes we get to do things on patients, but not so often. The cool thing about working at the clinic we work at is that we are surrounded and I mean surrounded by athletes. Everything from a professional basketball player recovering from a pulled hamstring to a ballet dancer that dislocated her patella to a national soccer player post ACL surgery. I absolutely love working in that kind of environment. It's definitely high up on my list of places I would like to work at. The best part is this- most of the therapists actually travel with some of the sports teams. How awesome is that?
One of the things I learned the other day is probably something you guys are not going to be looking forward to, but I'm super excited about. One of our PT's said to us that when we do deep massage techniques, the goal is to inflict pain in order to relieve pain. And when we do exercises with patients, pain is not something that should be visible. You know what that means? You guys are my guinea pigs. Can't wait to try new techniques I learned on you!
So basically between classes and practicals, my days are packed. Oh and the running of course.
Marathon Training
Enough about practical training...onto the good old marathon training. I officially have a countdown on my dry erase board that currently says "16 days until Milan". That's right- 16 days! I just got the chills. I'm obviously very very excited and also very very nervous about the race. I wasn't this nervous about the Chicago marathon, but I think it helped that I was in my own city running the race with one of my best friends (shoutout to KayBren!). My mom and friend from my program will be coming with me to Milan. I don't know if I'm more excited for the race or to actually be in Milan- I mean, it's MILANNNN! Don't worry, I will take lot's of pictures. Today is the day that I'm supposed to run my longest run aka 20 miles, but unfortunately when I woke up this morning and pulled up my shades, I saw the unthinkable. It was snowing sideways. I mean- really? Come on! I put all my winter clothes away two weeks ago and refuse to bring them back. It's supposed to be sunny and warm starting tomorrow again- today's snow "flurries" are apparently just a freak falling so let's hope those Polish weathermen have it all under control and are getting this weather right. Milan, on the other hand, has been 60 and sunny for the past 3 weeks straight. I'm just hoping it doesn't rain when we're there- especially on race day! I will keep you updated with this whole Milan thing the closer it gets.
Mama
Guess who is coming to visit me?! That's right- Hanna is making her way over to the PL next week. I'm not allowed to say when exactly because she wants to surprise the fam (which they are REALLY trying to pry the day out of me). My cousin Robert said he would call me every 5 minutes until I told him when my mom was coming. Fortunately, he only called three times. Thanks Robson! Oh and guess who is making her way back to the US of A?! MEEEE!!!! My parents surprised me with a plane ticket back for Easter because I technically have three weeks off. The reason being, I'm the first group to do my practicals and the other group has their practicals during the Easter break time which I happen to have off. I will be missing literally one important class, but it's no big deal at all. Needless to say, I'm very very excited and so surprised because I did not expect to be home for Easter. I will be home from April 21st until May 10th- canNOT wait.
Other News
The rest of my time here has been pretty busy with school and practicals and running. I have been able to hang out with my friends though quite a bit. It was my friend Nathan's 25th birthday a few weeks ago and it was deemed a success by many to say the least. Then there was the traditional St. Patrick's Day celebrations which we also celebrated with green beer and whiskey and traditional Irish songs at an Irish bar called "The Dubliner." We even got to go bowling one night which proved to many that my friends and I are probably the worst bowlers Poland has ever seen, but it was very fun- I mean it was cosmic bowling! What could be better than that? The other weekend I fell victim to IKEA. That store is deadly when it comes to a college budget and fun college things, so I bought a few things that were absolutely necessary such as a lint roller, can opener and a few picture frames. I had to get a new can opener because the can opener I bought before, I had to youtube instructions on how to use it and still could not figure it out. Ha!
Alright my fwends, it is time for me to run over to the gym to pump some iron or something. Maybe some volleyball today? I have been awful about taking pictures lately, but I promise the next post will include mostly pictures and no words. Pinky swear.
Peace and Love!
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