Here we go. Round two! Time to jump in and get our hands dirty in a new city full of new faces. I'll admit, when thinking of travel nursing purely in theory it's this great adventurous thing brimming with excitement and discoveries to be had! Which is definitely true, to an extent.
But there's something different about actually DOING it. Uprooting what little roots you had time to sink in three months and starting over again. You wouldn't think three months is long enough to form real attachments, but when it's all you have, even those short-lived bonds become precious. I can see why this is usually done by single people or childless couples. And even then, why it's not done for long. I like to think of myself as pretty unattached. Ever since college, I've never lived in one place longer than a year at a time. But this is another beast entirely, and it's taking some adjusting.
We now find ourselves in Baltimore, Maryland: home of Edgar Allen Poe, site of Fort McHenry and the creation of our national anthem, and hometown of the Orioles - yay Cal Ripken Jr! It's always been one of those iconic American cities in my mind. Right up there with D.C., New York, Chicago and Philly. Places I said I would visit one day. And there certainly are charming areas to be found here! Mount Vernon in all its upscale charm, Fells Point with its cobblestone streets, and Federal Hill with its rows of lovely brick town homes. But it's like something in the inner city went wrong a few decades ago and never quite recovered. There are entire blocks of board ups, homeless/thugs/clearly impaired people wandering the streets, and a very strong police presence.
Before arriving, we had decided to take housing downtown so we could be right in the thick of things. And we are...but it depends on what "things" we were hoping to be in the thick of, lol. For example, we went to our big neighborhood market (Lexington Market, circa 1782, literally) expecting a Pike's Place experience, only to be thrust in the middle of this dark, dingy maze of stands that only took cash and food stamps and people from every angle closing in on us. It was mildly terrifying, not kidding. We swiftly found our way back into the sunlight. In short, I've definitely seen worse in my life, and I think this will be good for us. But we are getting a swift education in inner city living and how to make ourselves as little like prey as possible :)
We're a week and some change into our assignment here at Johns Hopkins. [Aside: I've now learned that I've been saying it wrong - it's not John Hopkins, it's Johns Hopkins. Only no apostrophe or any explanation why the John is plural. A mystery I hope to uncover while here.] It's been a fast intro, but manageable, and thankfully the charting system is the same as the one we just left. At first, I was pretty intimidated by this place. It has literally birthed American medicine and surgery as we know it. Just check out its wikipedia facts. But while it has been the number one hospital in the U.S. for over 20 years, it is surprisingly like Sacred Heart (only a lot more sprawling and confusing). As nurses, we both seem to fit right in with the nurses on our respective units, which is a blessing.
Speaking of, we've also both been pleasantly surprised by the people we've encountered here! As east coast cities go, this one is far less abrasive than New Haven. All the nurses and doctors I've met have been kind and helpful, and people in our apartment complex are friendly. This. Is. Huge. For the longest time I felt like New Haven was out to get me, lol. But Baltimore seems to be more welcoming, at least on an interpersonal level. Hopefully we can get to know some folks and find a few of the city's gems. Oh, and Pat wants to go to a baseball game - yay for spring :)
No comments:
Post a Comment